Harbour City

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Geo: -33.8671, 151.207

Three days at sea after Auckland sailing to Sydney. Across the Tasman the weather was rather grey and stormy so the passage was slow and quite up and down. We continued to win at the quiz even though Roger and Judy had left. Our best performance was a 20/20 and then as we had tied we answered the tie-breaker question which was "How many storeys in the Empire State building, exactly, 102. Our perfect performance. Because of our slow progress over the Tasman we were going to be late into Sydney. Instead of 7am our arrival time was changed to 12pm. Most people were very upset as that threw plans way out of kilter. However, we couldn't do much about it.

It actually worked out better for us. Steve, our stalwart quiz partner was able to do one last quiz as we had a final one this morning, which we won again!! Then it was everyone up on deck at 10am to watch us sail into Sydney Harbour through the Heads. What a magnificent sight. As we approached the harbour mouth we could see the top of the Bridge over the low hills and then the spectacular sights of the bay as we passed the Gap and proceeded up and under the Bridge. It was a cool overcast day with a strong breeze whipping around but so enjoyable.

Our docking spot was at the new White Bay Cruise Terminal. We could see the huge Explorer of the Seas at Circular Quay but we went under the bridge and up towards Darling Harbour. We backed into our docking spot and tied up about 12-30pm. We said farewell to Steve and Sue and promised a reunion in 2017 when we go to London for the World Champs. We were able to disembark about 1-15 and then had to clear Customs and Immigration. Once through there we bought Ferry tickets and walked about five minutes to the ferry stop to go to Darling Harbour. It was very overcast and windy so we found a Thai restaurant, the Thaiphoon, and had a lovely lunch.
Then it was a wander through the nearby shopping complex where I bought thank you cards and back to find a bar with WiFi. this was at the Helm, a bar next to the Aquarium, overlooking the ferry station. We had a wine or two there and used the WiFi while chatting to a fellow passenger from the ship. Afte a short time it was time to return to the ship. It was disappointing to have so little time in Sydney.
We went up on deck for the Sail Away and watched as we went back under the Bridge, past the Opera House and back out through the heads. Sydney Harbour is truly a magnificent sight.

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Comments

[Brenda Pearl]

Thanks for having me along on your cruise!!!