Sydney to Brisbane - and beyond.

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The arrival in Sydney was a culture shock after the sparsely populated wide expanse of the west coast. The train came to a halt after what seemed like ages, crawling through suburbia. The city was ‘tall’ and ‘noisy’. Hustles and bustles were mixed with sadness and goodbyes as the new friends we just made travelled on in various directions.
After collecting the mountain of luggage…thank goodness for extra Lizzie hands! should take a leaf out of her book and cram our lives into one bag!! AS IF !!
Our transfer from train to taxi went well, we had to wait for a large disabled taxi with a wheelchair bay in it, to fit us in!. the crazy singing woman rattled our cages as her friend pretended to be disabled…well…a walking stick suddenly appeared….no sight of one when she danced down the carriages, and they pushed their way to the front and stole our BIG taxi..the cheek. Can’t tell you what Lizzie renamed her!! Tensions were eased by the laughing taxi driver from Kenya….got us all giggling….Murdo suddenly regressed and starting talking in jungley bush as he greeted the guy with a hearty ‘Jambo Joseph’

Our apartment was not far and we approached it from the back. Looked somewhat dubious until we stepped out of the taxi and then its entrance appeared very grand…oooher we said…seems nice. Got into the lift and found our way in….to our penthouse apartment with everything we needed. Lizzie even had her own bathroom,, but even better I had a washing machine!!!!

Murdo opened up the curtains and Sydney flooded in…gob smacked. you’ll see the pictures they say it all!

We dumped our stuff, had a drink and then went exploring. Lizzie went to the bank and off to the opera house to buy us all tickets for a ‘wee gig’…sooooo excited about that. We then meandered into Sydney botanical gardens which were lovely and next to the water, weather was hot hot. We turned a corner and discovered something that entertained us for the duration of our stay…giant bats known as flying foxes..millions of the little beggars..we stayed watching and snapping them for ages. Of course the next best thing we stumbled on was the café where we munched and talked amongst the food grabbing pelicans and blue dragon flies and watched the bats scrapping in the trees to secure their spot.
We continued to meander through the gardens and emerged to Murdos delight outside Sydneys art gallery where he unexpectedly came face to face with a whole room of pre-Raphaelite paintings, never seen his tongue droop so much as he staggered with emotion from one painting to the next…bless…his poster at home now will mean so much more!! A good time was had by all there.
Time to explore the city next as we walked towards its centre. We passed its grand cathedral but could not go in as worship was going on. We found a square with a fountain and had some fun with the cameras. Further in town we could see its famous tower and decided we might like to climb up it. We navigated ourselves to it but when we got there we were too scruffy to be allowed in…bummer…all those disappointed tourists…they don’t want no riff raff in Sydney. We decided it was worth a return visit with our glad rags on. but didn’t quite make it back there.

Not to be deterred by our knock back we carried on with our expedition towards its infamous ‘Rocks’ (Sydneys west end, Byres Road and Ashton lane) where we found a quaint olde worlde restaurant to eat our tucker. Peaceful, atmospheric and amazing food from a minute outside kitchen!!! Laughed , wined and dined and moved on. Only a street away we got beguiled by …wait for it….a shop/café with everything made of CHOCOLATE!! It was the Guylian shop and we went a little mental with choc puddings, choc drink and of course chocolates!! Result!!!! Other side effects were Lizzies manic sweats and my nausea!!! No pain no gain he- he.

Tired and satisfied we ambled home via a didgeridoo / aussie trinkets place and we had a crash course on blowing the suckers, lizzie was best..must be her luscious lips!!

Picked up some provisions and went back to the apartment where Murdo connected up all the computer stuff, Lizzie surfed the Aussie soaps…and I of course..did some washing!!
Played with reflections in the rooms mirrors with the cameras, they were huge and we contorted till we wet ourselves!!!! Bed 1am - what a day..


Day 2
A little extra zzzz were had by all and we enjoyed breakfast whilst looking over the harbour. Today was to be our special treat from Lizzie. Off to the opera house to see The Magic Flute which meant trying to cram the whole of Sydneys tourists sights into a few hours. Something we felt confident we could do but as the day went on we probably underestimated the task. However a great day was had as we walked down to Darling Harbour and we saw the various sights by foot and by monorail. Our venues included the ice ream shop..well it was scorchio, some water sculpture, paddys market , China Town where we picked up oriental nibbles and walked back to the apartment.
We scrubbed up well and put our glad rags on ….didn’t want to be rejected again…..and set off early to find a nice restaurant over looking the harbour as we had our pre theatre meal. Found a lovely one called the Opera Café, which had right posh food that tasted great. Time to leave and we decided to have pudding in the opera house. Glad we had our glad rags on as we sat in their main restaurant and ordered cake!! Scrummy to the tummy! ((( From Murdo’s notes: Then up to our centre view seats to watch the magic flute by Mozart. It was in two parts and was fantastic to watch and hear. The orchestra were a delight to listen to and the cast on stage performed brilliantly. The production was sung in German with subtitles shown above the stage and the cast performed the speaking parts in English. The opera had a very Australian feel to it with jokes and dialog with a local slant - made it a very memorable experience. It was all the more memorable by the fact that I had not planned to go inside the opera house, just take pictures from the outside. The whole thing was organised by Lizzy - A great and unforgettable gift. It was one of those once in a lifetime experiences - wish I could have videoed the whole thing… If we had tried, there was a wee Gestapo type man who had warned Lizzy “no photography - not even self portraits” and throughout the performance he kept looking at Lizzy whenever someone took a photo and the flash went off - didn’t seem to be to concerned with other peoples camera antics - was watching for a chance to feel her collar. After the performance we spent ages taking photos of the opera house and the harbour area. It looked magical at night… What a truly magical and memorable day - thanks Lizzy, you are a star.)))) back to Judi---- Time to be seated and we found our seats , settles ourselves and then got a telling off from a man when we tried to take photos of the theatre inside. before the performance began of course…we weren’t allowed despite the fact that the theatre looked like the turning on of the Blackpool illuminations as Everyone else took photos..Odd..Lizzie knew the name of this man as she called him the same as the mad woman…must be related to each other…oops. We sneaked a couple of photos before we left our seats though.
The performance was amazing, colourful, vibrant, amusing, great acoustics and a lovely atmosphere. Me and lizzie giggled during the interval as we witnessed the near scrap between 3 women as they discussed to fever pitch the shortages of toilets throughout the theatre venues of the world….very entertaining…then found out they were all cruisers and thought I hope you’re not on our ship…or worse I hope I don’t become like them aaaaargh!!!
We so, so enjoyed the experience, happy and ..should I say a little silly..we slowly left the theatre in small stages as we had to stop in places as numerous photos shoots had to be done from Lizzie and Murdo!!! A trip down Hollywood’s memory lane as Lizzie became Marlin Munroe and Murdo, Fred Astaire and Me, Ginger Rodgers as we danced our way down the opera house steps!!! Luckily we weren’t arrested ….others probably thought what a shame…but they’re harmless, just leave them alone!!
I just think we didn’t want to leave the special moments we were having together.

As we walked on we stopped at the other Guylian shop…yes you have read right, they were less than half a mile of each other. and you just cant walk past one, never know when one will stumble upon one again. Quickly recalling our previous nights shenanigans, we opted for the lighter package of choosing 2 takeaway chocs each and sucked them as we walked along the harbour.
Such a lovely night beckoned us to stay out so we walked around the harbour having a close look at a kinda sister ship the Queen Victoria of our vessel before ambling back through the ‘Rocks’ which was heaving and bustling with the usual night life inhabited by the young ones. Me and Murdo were shattered and after sharing a little of Aussies TV with Lizzie we left her to it and crashed very happily to bed.

The next morning brought its sadness as Lizzie was leaving to go back to Brisbane today. She had things to do and places to go. An exciting new job to prepare for and even more exciting a training day with the rspca for voluntary work, which would be using Lizzies Saturdays for awhile. It was lovely to be together for so long…she will be well missed. However im glad she is having such an experience and hope she fulfils all her dreams.

We had a small breakfast, Lizzie packed and then we left Murdo downloading and transferring holiday photos so we could all have copies of them, and we went for a swim high up (on the 24th floor) in our apartment building. Nice and easy…
We left with Lizzie to walk to the train station to see her off…no big sad long goodbyes she asks, we will be meeting again on Monday. So off she went and I did the mommy crying thing. Murdo was great and distracted me by taking us on a boat over the harbour to spend the afternoon at Taronga Zoo. It was very hot. We had a lovely afternoon; however I’m not sure I was much company, things got easier as the day went by. The zoo was good and sad at the same time. We walked through kangaroos and saw the backs of koalas. There were millions of ducks and some poor old sad elephants and a lonely old bear that we wanted to let loose. Ice cream was good, always does the trick, found a quiet place to sit which then became LOUD as a jazz band played the whole afternoon and echoed out over the zoo. Well. maybe the animals like jazz…us humans weren’t that enthralled with its din …quite out of place we thought. Saw jelly fish in the water as we waited for the ferry and felt glad we hadn’t gone for a swim here!!!

Back on the mainland we took a Murdo’s special short cut home which should have taken about 25mins which ended up 2.1/2 hours via shops and things and with sore feet. Then we went to see our ship docking and got caught up in the spirit of it all as we joined the crowd of onlookers welcoming her in. quite emotional to see folks waving like mad at their relatives who were to disembark and who were waving back. A Titanic moment. Mixed emotions still as I was missing my wee girlie like mad but excited about mine and Murdos lovely imminent adventure. All a little tooo much and both of us a little frazzled as we got home. Ordered dinner in, slobbed a little then started the packing. To our delight whilst dining the big bats started flying over the harbour and one flew right across our window, amazing to be at eye level with them, just like something out of the movies. Loads flew passed, we wondered who their prey was to be !!! Exhausted we fell into bed with an air of childness about us as we waited for tomorrow to come..you know …the Santa feeling!!.

Day 3
Up bright and early, finished the scraps left in the fridge for breakfast and finished the packing which seemed to take ages. We just made it out of the room in time, and us and all our luggage, started our next leg of our hols.

We only had a short distance to travel because we could see our boat from our window. It was lovely seeing her lit up the night before. We embarked with no bother, a lengthy process. Our room was not ready and we had to wait in the restaurant for 2 hours. I had a reporter tap me on the shoulder to ask if I would let them photograph me as one of their younger passengers for their advertising brochure. I said yes but I wasn’t a youngster and told them my age, but needed the loo and asked if they could wait, they said yes and I went to the loo, when I came out they were nowhere to be seen. So I sat down for lunch with Murdo and shortly after I saw them disappearing with a young blond girl….cheek….she pinched my limelight….obviously a much younger specimen..he-he.. I lost my chance, all for a wee wee!! Murdo said they are trying to attract a younger cliental…it is a bit like Zimmer land …and says the older ones will soon be popping off so they need to gather new clients. Oh well, we do feel like we are the little’uns on board though.
We were excited to be here. My heart was still heavy missing Lizzie. Murdo was anxious to see the cabin and get us moved in. When he got in he felt that it was a little sparse, which has turned out to be a godsend as we have soon filled it up. Took 7 days to find spaces for everything, our cabin steward has been very patient as he tip toes around our clutter, nice Indian man called Walles. He leaves us chocs every night, can’t but help like someone who does that!!!
We have a large balcony which since booking has had a lid put on it so now no sunshine gets to it, however no one can see our smalls drying, not like her downstairs who displays all...!!!
We inspected every cupboard and gadgets provided. Dumped all our stuff then went onto shore to do ….believe it or not…more shopping Aaargh!!! Murdo had only one pair of trainers and his brogues as he forgot to pack his other shoes. After wading in the sea at monkey mia with his trainers on to protect his nail ripping wound they were now stinking to high heaven and needed replaced. We walked and walked and walked and walked. Could hardly find any shoe shops, we looked for a general department store, don’t seem to exist here. Eventually we found the right shops 10 mins before closing time and got his footwear sorted!!! By this time the heavens had opened and we only had shorts on, got an ickle wet. We wanted to go back and buy a didgeridoo but had left it too late as the shop had shut, so felt disappointed as we wanted to put it in our musical corner back home!!! How it would ever have played is another thing,
It was after 10 when we got back on the boat, unpacked some stuff and then went on deck to see sail away at midnight. It was awesome; Sydney harbour was amazing with all its lights and splendour. The bridge looked good too. The pictures Murdo could take of the opera house, because of how high up we were, were stunning. We were standing on the deck by the big horn and not thinking it would be sounded that late at night, stayed were we were as it was a good view…we were wrong and my ears are still ringing!!!! The bats joined us to for the earlier part of the evening and flew over us as they sought their prey. Magic.
1am we went to bed and fell asleep to the rocking of the boat, and so our cruise began.


Day 1 at sea
Sunday
Had a huge lie in to catch our breath. Spent most of the day unpacking, wondering around filling in forms and getting our bearings. Got dressed up and went to meet our dinner companions. They will be the same for the whole journey, unless they get off!
We have a spinster teacher, a couple whose business selling steam cleaners, a man who worked for Stoke potteries (and looks uncannily like my Uncle Brian) and his wife and an elderly gentleman who had been recently widowed and whom I adopted as my granddad. lovely fella. The restaurant is very nice, formal and stately. One or two nights a week we are invited to dress in suits and evening gowns and the other nights are smart casual. There are other areas where you can eat in yer slobbies.
The day went quickly and bed was welcoming. Felt shattered after our hectic tour of Western Australia, great memories though and a fab time. After dinner caught the onboard rep doing their version of the sound track of Mama Mia, entertaining and good looking and talented youngsters.
Alls well- seeing Lizzie tomorrow- and quick to sleep.

Monday
Ship docked today at Brisbane-granary wharf, port of Brisbane which was an hour away from the city centre. Very hot day with a gentle breeze. Excited because we were being met by Lizzie and the lady she is living with Linda, and her daughter.
It was good to meet them and we spent the day together. Linda is a primary teacher and kindly offered to share her house to Lizzie for a token fee for as long as she wanted. They are lovely people and all get along famously which was very reassuring for me to know Lizzie was in a good place.
We set off for the long drive back towards the city but bypassing it as we were driven to a view point (Mt. Coot-tha lookout) that allowed us to see all of Brisbane and the surrounding areas. I have to say it was lovely, I liked Sydney as an exciting place to visit but this place was gorgeous and very lush, I imagine a good place to live. We stayed at this point for lunch and ice cream as we talked and got to know each other better. It was all very comfortable and fun..lovely. I bumped into Terry the older man on our table whilst we were there and we both pretended we were old friends seeing each other for the first time in ages and gave big hugs..silly I know but a funny moment!!!

The next port of call was to be the Lone Pine Koala sanctuary, self explanatory. As we drove we saw the ‘real’ Brisbane with lovely houses and estates (schemes-for the Scottish readers!!) all very spacious, colourful and clean.
The sanctuary had more than just koalas; we got close up to kangaroos and wallabies and fed them. They had snakes, lizards, turkeys, chickens, guinea pigs, dingoes and we got REAL close to the flying foxes (the big bats).
Of course the highlight of this visit was to be able to cuddle the koalas-check out those photos, magical, I wanted to squeeze mine!!! Got a kiss instead. They are well looked after and only allowed to give so many cuddles before they were put back, the keepers knew not to get them distressed. Fantastic trip.
Before returning to the ship we went to Linda’s house and saw were Lizzie was ‘dossing’ what a lovely house with a great garden were we sat and drank and talked. I got a sneak view of Lizzie’s room so now I can see her in my thoughts snuggled up cosy and safe and cute!!! Her photo with her koala sits in our cabin as a daily reminder of a lovely day.
It came time to leave and Linda kindly drove us back with Lizzie to the ship. We talked and laughed along the way, but saying goodbye was heart wrenching, my wee poppet felt good to hug, was hard to let her go…. So proud of her and encouraged her to keep working hard so she can do her next leg of her world tour. She’s beautiful, strong, bright and brave. We have a lot to thank dear Murdo for- who by the way shed a tear or two too! it was a very special trip for us all.
We boarded the ship and went to our cabin and hung over the balcony waving our arms furiously and blowing kisses as Lizzie and Murdo captured the moments in their usual ‘clicking’ manner. We watched until they disappeared right out of view.

***** And a note from me ******
We left port with much tears and emotion - unfortunately I didn’t have a zoo to take Judi to this time, so the next best thing was to go to the restaurant to watch the animals there at feeding time (joke). Then on to the onboard theatre to see a comedian perform.
Then to bed. A very emotional day for Judi.
We look forward to the next leg of or adventure which will see us at the Great Barrier Reef. The ship Stops at a place called Yorkeys Knob in north western Australia.
By the way folks, we are a bit behind with the blog but are typing like mad to get it up to date. As some of you will know, we are currently steaming towards Guam, which means 4 days at sea. Will have the next instalment done soon, then we should be up to date.

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Comments

[Catriona]

Having fun at sea?
Hello are you having fun at sea? Your Blog is fantastic! Great descriptions and pics. Syndney looked incredible. Missing you loads now, seems like you've been gone for ages. It looks like it really is the trip of a lifetime. Take care and dont get run over by any zimmers! Ps where is Guam?! X