Sydney and beyond
Wednesday & Thursday, 26 &27 February, at sea enroute to Sydney, Australia.
We really needed this two day break from all the activity from New Zealand. I needed to catch up on the blogs and rest from all the excursions we did. Both Sue and I are having some mobility problems with our hips and back. I'm glad we didn't wait another year or two to do this world thing.
Wednesday was an absolute gorgeous day at sea with very calm seas and a following wind with sunshine. Perfect for relaxing one our balcony or up on the outer decks. You could hardly feel the ship moving.
Thursday morning we had a few showers but not enough to really curtail any activity. They have the option to close the roof on the aft pool area if the weather becomes rainy or too cool.
There is a lot going on entertainment wise but I need to work on these blogs. Sue takes in a couple things but most of the stuff we don't really get excited about. We are content to spend most of it relaxing in our stateroom or balcony.
We hear from the Queen Anne Today show on TV that we will be disembarking around 1340 guests in Sydney! This is surprising to me, but it shows what a popular destination Sydney is. One of the people we befriended is getting off and will spend a month here before flying home to the states. We will certainly take a bunch of new guests (1315, I found out later) as well but I doubt we will be at capacity. Our steward, Regine, says he is only aware of four staterooms on this deck that won't be filled.
We had to fill out yet another Travel Pass document and everyone on board has to have a face to face contact with our passports and the immigration authorities before anyone can disembark. We went through this same thing in San Francisco. We are scheduled to meet at 8:30 in the theater for our tour group to be checked and than leave on our only scheduled excursion at 9AM. We will be here for two days, we have nothing scheduled for our second day.
We are in bed Thursday night around 9PM when the Captain comes on the intercom. We know this is something unusual because most of the announcements take place outside the stateroom, and if you want to hear them, you have to open the door or tune the TV to the Bow Camera channel and listen. In room announcements from the Cpt. happened twice before when they had an emergency and needed blood donors. Anyway, she says that they are experiencing a propulsion problem and we are only making 12 knots when we should be making 20. They are working on the problem but they already know we will be late arriving in Sydney by at least two hours. This is going to screw up a lot of plans for the people disembarking with travel plans moving forward. Also our excursion was planned for a 9AM departure and was supposed to last eight hours. So, she just wanted everyone to be aware of this and to be prepared for changes in schedule. She said new program times would be distributed in the AM with updates. In addition, we are to set our clocks back another hour at 2AM, so this adds to the confusion.
I wake up at 2:30 for my normal bathroom visit and I check the TV bridge navigation page which shows the time and ship's speed and direction. We are making 20 knots! Hooray. They must have gotten it figured out. The delay is a bit of a blessing as we had set our alarm to get up at 5:15AM in order to get up and dressed and out to see our arrival in Sydney. They had made such a big deal about the iconic harbor with the Opera House most of us are familiar with the Harbour Bridge. The Opera House's Danish architect supposedly got his inspiration from when he was peeling an orange! So, this delay will allow us to sleep in a little longer.
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| Our first view of the landmarks. |
They opened up the forward observation deck which is normally restricted to the crew. It gives and unobstructed view forward for our entrance into Sydney Harbor. It is another beautiful day and there is quite a crowd gathered and more coming as we get closer in. A couple of tugboats welcome us with their water cannons and escort us in.
Quite a welcome. There is also two people dressed up in inflatable Koala bear costumes. I take Sue's picture with them and they are busy doing the same for others.
Link to Sydney welcome:
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipN8Uwq2Dc7NS_LTdFLWdVzHoXqPrERp2tXN5Q6K
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| The iconic Opera House |
We will be tied up at the OPT, Overseas Passenger Terminal. This is a much desired pier as it puts us right downtown and between the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. This is known as the Circular Quay (pronounced "kee").
I take lots of pictures while we are getting tied up as we have time before we need to meet in the theater to wait to be escorted to the terminal for the mandatory passport and declaration requirement. We are as predicted over two hours behind schedule and by the time we wait in line for nearly an hour, we finally board our tour bus and we leave just before noon for our Discover the Blue Mountain excursion. We originally were scheduled to leave at 9am and return at 5PM.
We make our way through the city and before long we enter NorthConnex tunnel. This tunnel is the longest tunnel I have ever been in. It is 9 km (5.6 miles) long. A twin tunnel with three lanes of traffic in each tunnel. It links the Pacific M1 Motorway to the Hills M2 Motorway. But it is by no means the longest tunnel in Sydney! The WestConnex is 22.4 km (14 miles)! It takes about half an hour to get out of the city and I am somewhat surprise to see all the trees and other greenery, from palms and flowering bushes, ferns and the cream-colored trunks of the Eucalyptus Gum tree. There are also huge Moreton Bay fig trees, also known as the Australian Banyan.
The surrounding area is getting quite hilly and we occasionally pass through towns but they don't slow us down on this M2 Motorway. Not much agriculture going on. probably too hilly for that. Mostly vegetable production, nursery and flora, and poultry, both meat and eggs.
We are constantly climbing and we finally get to our first destination which is a Mountain Heritage Hotel just outside the town of Katoomba.
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| Hotel grounds |
It is perched on the a ridge which gives fantastic views of the Blue Mountains and their accompanying valleys. the grounds are meticulously groomed and I can see why it is rated 4.5 Stars. We were given a choice earlier of either baked chicken or rump steak and both Sue and I chose the beef as we find it lacking on board ship. There are three buss loads in our group and they manage to get everyone fed and out the door in about an hour.
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| View from Hotel grounds |
It was very good, better than anything we have gotten so far on the ship without paying and extra $65 each to go to Sir Samuels Steak restaurant on board.
We are not far from our next destination of the Scenic World where we will board the steepest passenger railway in the world.
There is a line of course and after about 20 minutes we board and hang on for the 310 Meter trip down a 52 degree incline to the bottom where there is a series of trails for exploring the Jamison Valley
The boardwalk takes us by the original mine entrance and they have a display of the coal cars used and a bronze statue of a mule pulling a coal car.
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| coal cars |
There is also a display of the tools used back in the day. The mine was active in the 1880s and operated until the Great Depression forced its closure.
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| coal mining tools |
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| Inside the gondola |
We are the next to last gondola ride back to the summit. We go through the mandatory gift shop and Sue buys a smashed penny souvenir from each of three machines that used to cost two quarters plus your own penny.
Now, they provide the penny and you use your credit card to pay AU$ 3.50 for each penny! I wasn't paying enough attention but I wondered what they were using for pennies. Australia hasn't had a penny coin since 1964.
We are the last to board the bus before we head back toward Sydney. I think they cut out part of the tour because I believe we were supposed to have a gondola ride across Jamison Valley which would have been pretty cool. They do make one more stop at a scenic overlook and we get out and snap a few photos.
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| Overlooking the Jamison Valley rain forest |
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| Rock formation called "The Three Sisters" |
It is 7PM when we arrive back at the OPT and we have a short walk to get back aboard and relax before considering what to do for dinner. We end up at the buffet and each have a quarter baked chicken with soft-serv ice cream for dessert.
Saturday, March 1
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| View from floating dock |
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| White Ibis |
A lot of the people are photographing our Queen Anne as she is the dominant figure along this wharf. One cache takes us to the pontoon docks just past the Opera House and there are three Asian fisherman there.
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| Sue signing log |
I try to ask if he is having any luck but he doesn't seem to understand what I'm saying. Anyway we find the cache which is magnetically attached to a steel support beam. We sign the log and take a few pictures from this angle of the Opera House, ship and bridge.
On the way back there is a park with some very large Fig Trees which has the cache hidden inside the crevice's of the trunk.
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| Australian Banyan Fig Tree |
I find it but was hesitant to probe around in spaces I'm not sure what is lurking in there to bite me. I do locate it and Sue logs our find and I place it back and something in there brushes my fingers! No bite, but that is always my concern.
Cache was inside crevice on right
As most of us know, convicts from Britain and Ireland were sent here to do hard labor to help develop the area.
I borrowed this from google:
- The British government began transporting convicts to Australia as a way to relieve overcrowded prisons and reduce the use of the death penalty
- The first fleet of convicts set sail for New South Wales in 1787
- Other convict settlements were established at Moreton Bay (Brisbane), Norfolk Island, and Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)
- Convicts were forced to work hard, often in manual labor like building roads, cutting timber, and making bricks
- Female convicts often worked as servants or in laundry and cleaning
- Conditions on board the ships that transported convicts were often terrible
- Many convicts died from disease
- It's estimated that 20% of Australians are descended from convicts
- Many prominent Australians are descended from convicts
- The convict era is a complex and controversial part of Australian history
I thought that was worth sharing.
There are a lot of restaurants along the waterfront here and a lot of them have calamari, but we are not hungry since we had a late, large breakfast. Of course there are all kinds of shops as well. Sue is continuously looking for a purple hat to replace the one she has worn for so long and it is time to replace it. But, there are lots of hat of all kinds and colors but none like she prefers. She does however, buy some Koala bear stuff which is in every shop.
We make our way back to the OPT which contains Squire's Landing complete with restaurant and bar. James Squire is evident as his name is on a lot of different beers, including one of Sue's only acceptable beers, ie. Ginger Beer. We order one for her and I get a local lager beer.
We have had enough for one day and make our way back on board as the all aboard time is 4:30. We are looking forward to the "sail out" as it is referred to so we can get some more photos. We will spend tonight and a day at sea before docking in Brisbane.
We normally check the dining room menu before deciding where to eat. It was a good thing otherwise we would have missed an opportunity to try a different meat! Kangaroo! Some of you on Facebook may have seen this post already. Kangaroos are harvested from the wild only. There are no kangaroo farms. The government allows up to 20% of the kangaroo population to be harvested for processing and inspection.
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| Our Entree choices |
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| Appetizers and sides |
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| As you can see by the amount of silverware, I ordered plenty of appetizers and sides |
I don't know what I expected, but I would order it again. It had a mild beef-like flavor, fine textured and not "gamey" at all.
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| Kangaroo plated |
Sunday, March 1
While at dinner last night, there was talk of the an approaching tropical storm named Andrew. It was expected to be upgraded to a Cyclone and could get winds high enough to make it a Category 4. So we weren't too surprised when our captain came of the ship's intercom and gave us the bad news. Brisbane had shut down their port because of the now Cyclone Andrew. This meant of course that we would not be docking in Brisbane Monday as scheduled. We were very disappointed because we had an excursion booked for the local zoo and Koala bear sanctuary. This may have been our only chance to see a Koala up close and personal as well as a kangaroo. But there is nothing we can do about it and as the Captain said. these things happen while at sea and we just have to work around them. So, we will spend an extra day at sea before visiting Airlie Beach on Hamilton Island, a day earlier than planned. The same goes for our next stop at Cairns. We will however, be spending an extra day in our final Australian port, Darwin.
And indeed, Sunday night was the roughest the sea had been since we got on in New York. The stateroom was continuously creaking and rocking and rolling. But Sue, even though she is battling a head cold, didn't seem bothered by the extra movement. I didn't sleep well myself.
Monday, March 2
The news is that we passed through and are north of Andrew. At one time, it was a Category 4 and is expected to hit the Queensland coast Thursday. They are still preparing for the expected flooding and high wave damage around the Brisbane area. We are actually in a part of the Pacific called the Coral Sea. That might ring a few bells with some history buffs remembering the Battle for the Coral Sea. It was the first time since Pearl Harbor that the Japanese advance was checked. The Coral Sea is named because of the predominance of coral and particular, the Great Barrier Reef.
As I sit here on our balcony finishing this up to publish, it is a beautiful calm, sunny day. The Pacific is smooth with little or no white cap activity. We must be in a major shipping lane because we have been seeing cargo and container ships off to our starboard all day.
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| Getting piloted through the Coral Reefs |
I currently count twelve, there might even be more off the port side. Some are heading north like us and some south. We almost always overtake them as their average speed is 14-16 knots where we are doing 20 knots. As I said that, I come to check our actual speed and it is 13 knots! I wonder why that is. Coincidently, I see a small size boat making its way toward us. And with great timing, our captain makes her daily noon time announcements while at sea, that we have slowed to take on a pilot to guide us through this area. This is because of the shallow waters and coral reefs. So that explained both of my observations. We are now down to eight knots and probably have the pilot aboard.
I hope you are enjoying these ramblings as I try to make them interesting and informative.
I may not have another until after Darwin as we don't have much sea time in between. After Darwin, I will have six sea days before we dock in Hong Kong. A place where I have visited several times in my Navy days and it was my very favorite overseas port. It will be interesting to see how it has changed, particularly since it is back in Chinese control.
Until then....
Nice read, Dan. Thx
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