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Published: October 26th 2013
We had 4 days of port calls in a row and now we're on the last leg of our trip to Sydney which is our last port for this first portion of the trip and the first port for the second portion of our trip to Australia/New Zealand. We had no idea we were on two separate trips until we got on board, but that's the way it's counted. Now a lot of people are leaving the ship in Sydney tomorrow and a new group are getting on. We're going to miss our new friends Susan and Jon (from Canada) who were great about saving us seats for the nightly shows. We really enjoyed their company very much!
All the islands we visited during the last few days were wonderful and gorgeous. In Vanuatu, we an around the island tour with a spectacular stop at a waterfall and pool for the adventuresome swimmers. Plus there was a suspension bridge going out over the water that I just couldn't resist getting on until it got very wobbley and then those of us who had ventured out were told we couldn't be on that bridge because it was part of another tour, plus you needed to be in a harness to use it!
The New Caledonia islands were beautiful with lots of white, white beaches. The big city of Noumea, French-speaking and a big military operations center in WWII - one district of the city is still called Motor Pool) is very cosmopolitan and the little islands of Lifou and the awesome Ile des Pins were a treat. All the little islands of Ile des Pins are dominated by the very tall araucaria pines that stand much taller than the palm trees. All the New Caledonia islands are ancient limestone islands that are fragments of the supercontinent of Gondwana - lots of caves and grottos and relics of prehistoric Gondwana forests.
Anyway, more after our day in Sydney and the beginning of our new cruise. In Sydney we are docking directly across from the opera house and under the big bridge. Should have some great views!
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Laura H
non-member comment
G'Day
Loving your blogs! Fred thought the bridge incident pretty funny and could picture you saying over and over "Where's my harness?" OMG! Are you on a different ship now? We found following the site "Oosterdam position" best to keep up with you. It had links to a satalite image of each port that's awesome! Can't wait to hear more. Enjoy Austrailia!