Sydney

How ya goin'?  We must be in the land of Aus.  It's been 26 years since we first visited here and we both wish we could stay longer.  It has been a jam-packed two days in Sydney.  We could not ask for a  better location for our accommodation.   From our balcony we look directly across to the Sydney Opera House and  behind is the Harbour Bridge.  
For our first day we purchased a city  rail pass and headed to the Blue Mountains, which is a two-hour train ride out of Sydney.  They are called the Blue Mountains because of the blue haze in the air, which results from Rayleigh scattering of sunlight by the very small particles of vapor emitted by the abundant Eucalyptus trees.   On our day there it was cloudy with periods of rain so it was grey instead of blue; but what better way to experience the rain forest in the Jamison Valley?  We took a hop-on hop-off bus that was included with our train ticket.  The view from Echo  Point was brilliant, overlooking a rock formation called the three sisters and the cliffs bordering the Jamison Valley, as well as giving nice views of more distant mountains. We toured around on the bus and got off at the Skyway which is a tram with a glass floor that takes you across a small valley to the cable car and Funiclar Railway.  We took the cable car to the valley floor.  The valley has three paths on boardwalks of 10, 30 and 50 minute duration and we took them all. A sculpure exhibition was held along one of the walks which provided for some good and not so good art on the forest floor.  I liked the piece which was a giant sale tag on a gum tree that said "Complete dining room set $299."   While we walked these paths, the rain started to get fairly heavy and persistent.  At the conclusion of our walk, we took the funicular railway back up.  It is the steepest railway in the world with a grade of 52 degrees in some places.  I was glad we took it going on the upward journey because it would have been really scary going down!   By the time we left the valley floor the area was completely socked in with mist and rain which did not make for the best hiking conditions so we opted to visit the village of Leura before taking the train back to Sydney.    
We spent the evening walking around the area in Sydney known as the Rocks.  The Rocks is a trendy area of shops, restaurants and pubs around Sydney Harbour and the Harbour Bridge.  While we were under the bridge we saw people with headlights doing the night bridge climb tour.  For around $225 you can climb the Harbour Bridge.  It is very popular and they do a roaring business. We saw about 30 people climbing that night and the next we saw five or six different groups of at least 15 people doing the climb during our 30-minute lunch break.  
On our second day in Sydney, we opted to stay in the city and explore the sites.  For $35 you can get a ticket for the hop-on hop-off bus, which does a 90-minute loop around the city, along with commentary, but we chose to walk.  We began the day at the Royal Botanical Gardens which, when it was designed, contained more than 3000 species of plants.  These gardens are spectacular with fountains and ponds, interesting birds and lovely gardens such as the rose gardens, the herb gardens,  the palm gardens, tropical gardens and the begonia gardens.  It was at the begonia gardens that we found these massive spiders that build webs that are 3D in shape.  The webs are about 1/2 meter in size.  One of the gardeners saw us observing these spiders and told us that these spiders were brought into space on one of the shuttle missions to see if they could build their webs in micro-gravity conditions.  Apparently, the spiders had no difficulty adapting to the lower gravity, building webs that are more symmetrical than the webs they build in the gravity of Earth.  
While we stared at the web we caught movement in a tree overhead and saw that two of the nearby trees were full of very large fruit bats suspended from the branches.  When they occasionally roused from their slumber to spread their wings, these bats showed wing spans of about a metre.  The gardener told us that they are considered an endangered species and are protected, but their numbers are rapidly increasing and there is some talk of trying, once again, to control them as they seem to be regarded as something of a pest.  Later that night as we sat on our balcony waiting for the sail away, we saw scores of these bats leaving the park and heading across the Harbour to feed. 
After the botanical gardens we walked to Hyde Park and then the two big neo-gothic cathedrals: St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral and St. Andrew's Anglican Cathedral.  Next we hiked to Darling Harbour which is another upscale area with shops and restaurants and a lovely Chinese Garden which had some outstanding Bonsai trees.  You can dress up if you wish in Oriental costume as you walk the gardens to get into the spirit of the gardens and enjoy tea at the tea house.  After the Chinese Gardens, we walked to the aquarium which, while interesting, was not nearly as good as the Ocean Centre in Maui.  As the Cel remarked: "That was all right, but the Maui Ocean Center blows it out of the water, so to speak."  
Then, after stopping for supplies, we headed back to the ship.  Everyday items proved to be rather expensive: nail polish remover $5.95; deodorant $6.29 Australian (1 AUD = 1.06 CAD.)  The other interesting tidbit is that pennies are apparently no longer used because after the cash register indicated the total of our purchases, it then rounded the total to the nearest 5 cents.  
Next we sail along inside the Great Barrier Reef to Cairns.

Cruise tip: if you want to go the the Blue Mountains from Sydney go to the city transit office and buy a Blue Mountain day pass for about $50.  This will give you a ticket to Central Station, a train ticket to the Blue Mountains in Katoomba, and a ticket for the hop-on hop-off bus.  Then buy a $25 ticket from your hop-on hop-off bus driver to take the Skyway, Skytram and Train into the valley.  Plan on an all day experience.  

Cruise tip 2:  buy your Sydney aquarium tickets online and if you go later in the day it is 1/2 price which appeared to us to be an appropriate value versus the full $35 entry fee you pay at the door.

Pictures from Australia

Burnie Birds

Sunset leaving Burnie


Sailing into Sydney


Didgeridoo Dude


Artwork


Caption not Required


View from our Balcony

Spider


Fruit Bats

Burnie

It was 20 degrees this morning when we arrived in Burnie, with clear blue skies!  You can tell this is a lumber town by the amount of pulp and paper at the ports getting ready to be shipped.  Burnie is a small port with a population of about 19,000.  The buildings in town reflect an art deco feel. When we exited the ship we were greeted by the mayor who was dressed in full regalia, which must have gotten a bit warm.  It is a great community as evidenced by all the volunteers who met the ship and were at the tourist centre.  Everyone in the town was very friendly.  Prior to leaving the ship we needed to go through customs and it was reminiscent of being at the airport with long queues and stern looking customs officials.  Once ashore if you had not chosen a tour you were taken to the town by shuttle bus which dropped you off at the first stop of the tourist information centre alongside a beautiful boardwalk that followed the beach.  During our travels we saw the ships photographerwho travels the town on roller blades to capture video and photos. We wandered around the town and then found a delightful city park called Burnie park.  This park on the hillside had walks leading to a waterfall and past flower gardens  that were just past their prime.  The roses were still lovely but the rhododendrons were already wilting, which made us glad that we did not shell out the $30 for a cab ride to the rhododendron gardens.  After buying  a Ukulele song book we found a pub where we tasted Tasmanian beer prior to returning to the bus headed for the ship.  When we arrived back at the ship the security officer welcomed us back home which made me the think that, yes this did seem somewhat like home,at least for now and a few months more. 

Cruise tip:  the town provides a free shuttle and at this port you are not allowed to leave the port unless you are in a bus.  Total time to walk the town centre was about 20 minutes.  
The Cel's cruise tip: Boag's (pronounced bogs) Draught is an excellent beer.

Sea day on the Tasman Sea

It is amazing how fast a sea day goes by and the pleasant surprises that can occur that you do not expect.  Today was a blustery cool day which made the walk around the decks even more trying but before you know it you have spent two hours doing physical activity and that includes pathetic attempts at ping pong.  This level of physical activity will be difficult to continue at home due to the numerous distractions that seem to be present at home but missing on the ship (like work for example).  Yesterday was also a blustery day; you could see your breath and I would have sworn for a moment I saw snow.   Today I had no time for lunch because I wanted to do the free betting at horse racing (at which I won nothing), followed by a port talk on Sydney (where we learned that we could get to the Blue Mountains by taking a train for $20 versus the $279 ship tour), followed by a wine tasting of New Zealand and Australian wines, followed by a wonderful piano recital featuring classical music and the music of Gershwin.  The music reminds me of the evenings I spend with my mom at the symphony.  The music director's talent is absolutely amazing and his recitals are a delightful surprise on this cruise.  The celebrity on this portion of the cruise is 80-year-old Gavin McLeod, who appeared on the Mary Tyler Moore show and portrayed the captain of the Love Boat, a role which won him the honor of being the spokesperson for Princess Cruises. He seems to pop up at every event.  But the Cel and I are both more interested in listening to the astronaut.  With so much to do and enjoy, it doesn't much matter that the weather is cool and windy.  We had another surprise yesterday when the Cel won a lithograph at the art auction.  After making our choice from the lithographs, we got a phone call later to say that the piece we had chosen was no longer available.  So we had to go back to the gallery and make another choice and, as it happens, the only available item we liked was by an artist with the coincidental name of Carol Bergman ( yes, we chose the picture before we learned the name, but the name cinched the deal).  

Cruise tip: If possible travel on a ship that has an independent port lecturer.  As you can see they can save you hundreds of dollars on your independent excursions.

Pictures from New Zealand

Strange public bathroom










Waterfalls in Milford Sound












Strange public bathroom











Auckland











Milford Sound

Fiordland National Park

Today we are cruising through scenic Fiordland National Park.  We will be entering four sounds: Milford Sound, Thompson Sound, which leads into Doubtful Sound, and finally Dusky Sound.  All of these were named by Captain James Cook and his crew when they explored this region in the 1770s.
It is a cloudy, rainy, misty morning as we enter Milford Sound. There is only one word to describe the scenery: stunning.  Last night it started raining and it continued to pour throughout our journey in and out of Milford sound.  While you would suppose that this would spoil the scene, in fact it enhanced it because, though the tops of the mountains were often shrouded in mist and clouds, the rains have produced absolutely magnificent waterfalls.  The waterfalls are everywhere, flowing down massive sheer granite rock faces, some of which rise several thousand feet above the level of the sea.  I have never seen so many waterfalls coming from such massive heights in such volume.  It makes the wall of falls in Jasper National Park minuscule by comparison.  The mountains in the fiords reach elevations of over 4000 feet and the waterfalls begin right from the top.  This area is the most beautiful I have seen in New Zealand.  In addition to the wonderful scenery, the waterway is full of sea life in the form of sea lions, seals and dolphins and multiple types of birds.  As we traverse to Thompson Sound in the Tasman Sea we pass humpback whales.
Thompson Sound is also shrouded in mist but now an occasional shaft of sunlight breaks through the cloud cover.  The mountains in this sound are more rounded in contrast to the sheer cliff faces of Milford Sound and the waterfalls are less prominent but still fantastic.  Thompson Sound is one of the most seismically active locations in NZ and in 2001 it was the epicenter of a 6.1 earthquake.  After Thompson Sound we enter Doubtful Sound named by Captain Cook after he had doubts about the ability of his ship to exit the sound.  These two sounds are only accessible by sea as the road network is poor at best.  Doubtful Sound has a number of small rounded islands throughout and has a serene appeal to it. Our final fiord is Dusky Sound which we reach after a foggy jaunt in the Tasman Sea.  I am beginning to get a sense as to why they say the crossing of the Tasman Sea to Australia may be rocky.  
The skies begin to clear at Dusky Sound, so named by Captain Cook because that was the time of day when he first spotted this fiord.  The sound has a length of 26 miles.  A number of the features within the sound were named by Cook and his sailors.  Names include Dentention Cove, a place where the ship was stranded due to lack of wind, Goose Cove, where Cook's men released some geese, and Ducks Cove, which was given the name due to the fact that they shot 14 ducks at that location.  This sound has the fewest waterfalls but the verdant islands and seabirds make for a great day viewing the scenery. As we exit Dusky Cove to transit the Tasman Sea to Burnie, Tasmania, we reach the southernmost point in our journey at 45 degrees 48 minutes south latitude.    Our goal is to post some more photos when we get to Burnie.

Sea terms:
Fathom: is a nautical measurement coming from old English word " faedm" which means to embrace and is 6 feet in length. It is so named because its original measure was the distance between the fingertips of a man's outstretched arms.  Burials at sea are conducted at a depth of 6 fathoms (as opposed to 6 feet on land). and it is from this we get the expression to "deep six" something.

Auckland New Zealand or "The City of Sails"

Another glorious day down in the Southern Hemisphere. It is sunny and the temperature is about 20 degrees.  A great day for walking.  Auckland is commonly referred to as the "city of Sails" as the harbour is flanked by hundreds of yachts.  Once the ship docked we were off.  First stop Sky Tower.  The tower is 328 meters high.  The high-speed elevator, which travels at 18 kilometres per hour, takes 40 seconds to get you to the main observation level at a height of 186 metres (610 feet).  A second high speed lift takes you to the Sky Deck, which is at 220 metres (722 feet).  The admission cost is $28 and it is well worth the price.  The views at the top are spectacular.  You can see as far as 80 kilometers on a clear day, which we were fortunate to experience.   Below the Sky Deck at 194 metres is the observatory buffet restaurant.  This is also the level where you can do a controlled 'base jump' that gets you to the bulls-eye target on the ground in 11 seconds!  The cost of the Sky Jump is $225.  Alternatively, for a similar price you may do the Sky Walk, where you walk completely around the outside of a tower on a 1.2 meter-wide platform.  Of course, you are connected to a safety tether during the walk.  We opted to stay inside and walk over the glass floors, which give you  pause prior to taking the first step.  
From the Sky Tower we headed for the Auckland Domain a huge park in the centre of town.  We stopped to watch some cricket and I counted some twenty cricket pitches.   Included in the park are the Winter garden Greenhouses, duck ponds, traditional gardens from the 1800's and a Memorial Museum and cenotaph.  The flowers were in bloom similar to the end of August in Calgary as fall is just around the corner here.  Some of the highlights in the  Museum included; a full sized Maori meeting house, a full size war canoe that seated about a  hundred warriors, Edmund Hillary's ice axe used in his climb of Everest, a full sized Spitfire, Zero and Buzz Bomber aircraft and a room that simulated the effect of a volcano erupting in Auckland as the whole city is built on a dormant volcano.  We collected  a pamphlet on emergency evacuation procedures for volcanos.  It is interesting that they anticipate any future volcanic eruption to be beneath the sea, so the warning sign of a pending eruption would include a region of warming ocean that would kill many fish and other marine life and eventually actually start to boil and give off steam. 
From the Domain we trekked across the University of Auckland, a lovely campus, to Albert Park, which was designed to commemorate Queen Victoria and is a traditional English formal garden.  From there we checked in at an internet cafe on the main retail street of Auckland, called Queen Street.  After catching up with emails, we went to the Auckland Art Gallery, Toi O Tamaka.  One of our favorite pieces was the uniquely-shaped bench that twisted and turned in all manner of directions for the entire length of the sculpture terrace.  It was fun to try and sit on some of the weirdly angled sections of this sculpture!  After walking for over six hours, it was time to use up the rest of our New Zealand  money and what better way than tasting the local Pilsners on a delightful terrace overlooking the harbor.  Mmmm good!  Then back to the ship for dinner where the Cel had scallops in a shell and I had Wahoo.  For those unfamiliar with Wahoo it is a fish similar to a tuna steak.

Cruise tip: Although for $40 you can get a day pass for the hop-on hop-off bus, we recommend that you put on your walking shoes and get ready to explore.  Must sees are the Skytower, the Auckland Domain, the War Memorial Museum and the art gallery. The entry to the War Memorial museum is only $10 and the art gallery is free.  Of course, there are several other museums and attractions that would be worthwhile, such as the Maritime Museum, and Kelly Tarlton's Undersea World and Antarctic exhibit, but there is only so much time in the day.