We departed Ile des Pins, New Caledonia, about 3:00 PM on Saturday, February 8th, and after 2 full sea days, we reached Sydney Harbor at about 7:00 AM on Tuesday, February 11th. We would have two days in Sydney, which we were very happy about—there are always plenty of exciting things to do in Sydney! We had lived in Australia from May 1973 to January 1978, so we were very familiar with the country. But we lived far closer to Melbourne than to Sydney, so although we visited Sydney a few times when we lived in Australia, to us there were many unexplored parts of the city. And except for our visit to Sydney during our 2012 world cruise, our previous visits were almost 40 years ago, so there were many, many changes to the city and the surrounding area. “All aboard” would be at 5:30 PM on February 12th, and we wanted to make the most of our time.
Sailing into Sydney Harbor (or “Harbour” as it is spelled in Australia) is a treat in itself. The harbor is huge, and sailing in we passed north and south heads at about 6:15 AM, and continued on past Shark Island, Bradley’s Head Lighthouse and Fort Denison before reaching Sydney itself. Seeing the Sydney Harbor Bridge, the Sydney Opera House and Circular Quay (pronounced “key”) slowly emerge into view as we passed Bradley’s Head Lighthouse made us feel like we were coming home—and we were very excited. There are two places in Sydney Harbor where cruise ships can dock—Circular Quay and White Bay. Of course we were hoping we would be able to dock at Circular Quay, since it is right at the city center and next to “The Rocks”—the historical district where the first settlement in Sydney was made in 1788. (We still find it remarkable that the east coast of Australia was only first explored by Captain James Cook in 1770—just 6 years before the American Revolution!) But docking at Circular Quay was not to be—this location only allows for one cruise ship at a time, and another ship had arrived before us. Actually which ship is allowed to dock at Circular Quay is a bit complicated. Any ship which is too large to pass under the Sydney Harbor Bridge and therefore cannot reach White Bay Harbor on the other side is given priority at Circular Quay. Our Captain, Jonathan Mercer, said he was tempted to tie a tall mast onto the top deck of our ship so that we could claim we were too large to pass under the bridge! But never mind—we passed under the bridge, and soon were docked at White Bay.
Earlier on our cruise, Bill went on line and obtained tickets to see the opera “Carmen” at the Sydney Opera House for 7:30 PM on February 11th. So after our arrival, we disembarked our ship to catch the free shuttle from White Bay to Circular Quay—and we packed our “opera clothes” into our backpacks since we didn’t intend to return to the ship until after the opera was over.
The drive to Circular Quay took about 30 minutes, and upon arrival, we were in the heart of the city. We had no definite plan for how to spend our day, but were considering several possibilities—one of which was to do something we had never done—take a “hop on-hop off” ferry through Sydney Harbor and visit Fort Denison, Shark Island, Watson’s Bay, Manley Beach, Taronga Park Zoo, and Luna Park. (“Hop on-hop off” means you can take the ferry—which acts as a shuttle—to one stop, get off and visit the sites there, and then take a later ferry to another stop, eventually returning to your starting point.) And although this was a very tempting way to spend the day, we decided instead to take the “hop on-hop off” Sydney Explorer Bus—again something we had never done before—since Pat wanted to do some shopping in Sydney and this was the last western port of our cruise.
The explorer bus was great! It was a “double decker” bus with an open top, and as we got on, we were given ear buds which we could plug into our seats providing commentary as we drove through the streets of Sydney. The bus took us first up George Street—a main shopping area--, past the Queen Victoria Building and Town Hall. Next the bus went through Hyde Park where we had a great view of St. Mary’s Cathedral, and then into King’s Cross—which is the “red light” district for Sydney. Past King’s Cross, we proceeded through the Botanic Gardens and down to the waterfront where we had great views of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Retracing our steps, we went back up College Street to the historic Central Railway Station, and then down Harris Street where we saw the Sydney Fish Market. At the end of Harris Street, we turned around and went back towards the city center along Darling Drive and had great views of the west side of Darling Harbour—including the Maritime Museum and the Sydney Convention Center. At Harbour Street, we took a left and went down the east side of Darling Harbour, eventually coming to the southern base of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and The Rocks district. After passing The Rocks, we were heading south on George Street and nearly back to where we started, when we saw some promising places for lunch and got off the Explorer Bus. Bill had a hankering for some good old Aussie fish and chips and we set off on foot in search of our quest.
It wasn’t long before we found what we were searching for, and we soon were enjoying our fish and chips in an outdoor back patio of a restaurant on George Street. Fortunately there was a pub next door so with two pints of beer and our fish and chips on the patio, we were all set. (The restaurant where we ordered our food didn’t sell beer, but fortunately they allowed us to bring beer from the pub to our table on the patio.)
After lunch, we continued down George Street on foot until we were back at the starting point of our “hop on-hop off” Explorer bus. Since we had a 24 hour pass, we could “hop” back on—which we did, and the bus took us north on George Street forPat to do her shopping.
We got off the bus near the Queen Victoria Building Mall, and first went into Woolworths to pick up a few sundry items. Next we went down Park Street to the Post Office—Pat wanted to get some postage stamps so that she could mail some postcards. When we arrived at the post office, there was a long line—in Australia, post offices can be used to pay utility bills, property taxes etc. Bill decided the wait in line would be long, so we made plans to meet in front of the Queen Victoria Building in about 45 minutes, and Bill went off to explore the interior of the building which is now a mall with very high end shops.
Bill’s walk through the mall was interesting—about 80% of shoppers were Asian—which was very different from when we lived in Australia in the 1970’s. And the interior was historic with stained glass windows and huge ornate clocks hanging from the ceiling. Bill wasn’t interested in buying anything, and soon it was time to meet Pat outside the building.
After a mix-up as to where we would meet, we finally connected—it turns out that Pat was able to purchase her postage stamps very quickly once the coin operated stamp machine was pointed out to her. We still had some time before making our way to the Opera House, so we decided to walk down Market Street to the Sydney Tower Eye.
The Sydney Tower Eye is similar to Seattle’s Space Needle—a tall spire in the middle of the city, open to the public and at the top a restaurant and observation deck with great views. The tower is 927 feet high, the tallest building in Sydney, and when it opened in 1981, was the 4th tallest building in the world. We thought it would be fun to go up in the tower, have a glass of wine and some snacks in the restaurant, and then get some great views of the city from the Observation Deck.
Unfortunately, our hopes were dashed when we realized that the restaurant and observation deck were operated by two different entities and that visitors could buy a ticket to the restaurant (which had a minimum amount that must be spent!), but would then have to come back down and buy another ticket to go up to the observation deck.
We decided to have a glass of wine and some snacks at a restaurant at the base of the tower, and contented ourselves with the observation deck only. When we were ready to go up, it was pointed out that for an additional charge, we could take a “Skywalk” from the observation deck. The Skywalk involved going out of the observation area and onto a transparent glass platform which gave visitors the impression that they were “dangling in space”. We weren’t game for that—Bill hates heights—so our observation deck only tour began with the “4D Experience”—in which we wore eyegasses provided to view a 3D light show in a theater on the ground floor. Afterwards, we were whisked up to the observation deck in an elevator where we had great views of Sydney Harbour, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Royal Botanic Gardens, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Hyde Park, the ANZAC War Memorial, Darling Harbour, and of course the Queen Victoria Building.
After about 45 minutes, it was time to start making our way to the Opera House, so we changed into our “opera clothes” in the restrooms at the top of the tower, went down, and started retracing our steps down Market Street to George Street. By this time we were starting to get tired, and when we realized how far it was—and how much time it would take on foot—to reach the opera house, we were on the lookout for a taxi. Fortunately we were soon able to hail one, and within a few minutes we were walking up the steps of the opera house in our opera clothes—and very grateful for the ride!
At the Opera House, Bill collected our tickets from will-call. The opera started at 7:30 PM, and since we had a few minutes before it started, Pat got some food—and wine--from a “cafeteria style” restaurant inside the opera house while Bill went to check our backpacks in the cloak room. On the way back, Bill met up with our French Canadian friends, Gaston and Carol Lacroix, and they joined us at the restaurant for a few snacks and a glass of wine before it was time to enter the theater.
We had seen the opera Carmen only once before, in England in 1986, and we are not huge opera fans, but the Sydney Opera House is an experience in itself, and when we saw the opera “Turandot” there during our 2012 world cruise, we thoroughly enjoyed the experience. By purchasing tickets early and on-line this time, we were able to get excellent seats—in the middle and 7 rows from the stage. There was one intermission, and the opera was wonderful—very, very well done. Even the horses came out to do the final bows at the end!
After the show, we had made arrangements to walk back to the shuttle stop on the other side of Circular Quay with our friends Don and Lili Tremblay. On the walk back, we saw lights, music, and groups of people enjoying themselves in outdoor pubs on the waterfront. While it was tempting to join in, by this time it was after 11:00 PM, we were very tired, and we knew we had a big day planned for our second day in Sydney.
So after a 20 minute walk, we all—the 4 of us plus many other people from the ship who went to the opera—reached the shuttle bus stop. After a 20 minute wait, the shuttle arrived, and we were astounded to see that the bus was full of young crew members from the ship who were just then coming into Sydney! The crew members on our ship work very, very hard, and they rarely have an opportunity to go ashore and enjoy themselves. So when they do get a chance, they make the most of it—even if that means their free time in Sydney starts at 11:30 PM. But they were all young and in their 20’s, so we were certain they would be able to find some entertainment somewhere. Our shuttle was the last one of the evening, so when and how they got back to the ship, we have no idea!
Our shuttle arrived back at our ship about midnight, and we immediately went to bed. The next day would be a busy one, full of adventure.
Our second day in Sydney started about 8:30 AM when we disembarked our ship and walked to the port shuttle stop. During our 2012 cruise, we met and became friends with two Australian sisters—Ady Mischok and Jo Pofandt. Ady and Jo live in Brisbane, but happened to be in Sydney for a concert at the same time we were there. We had been in communication with them, and they very kindly offered to take us on a trip to the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. When the idea of the Blue Mountains first came up, Ady and Jo asked us if we had ever been there before—and we had to honestly answer that we weren’t sure. When we lived in Australia in the 1970’s, we visited Sydney several times and although we don’t remember having visited the Blue Mountains at that time, it was 40 years ago and therefore it was possible that we did visit and don’t remember. But we all decided that if we couldn’t remember visiting, it would be the same as a new experience, so the Blue Mountains was how we decided to spend our day.
Ady, Jo, and Ady’s son Danny Mischok picked us up in their rental car at the pier, with Bill in the front, Danny driving, and the girls in the back. We left Sydney heading west on the M4 freeway, passing Emu Plains, Springwood, and Wentworth Falls, arriving in Katoomba—the gateway to the Blue Mountains—a little over an hour later. From Katoomba, we drove south, into the Blue Mountains National Park, and to the Echo Point Lookout. But at the lookout, the mountains and valley below were covered with clouds and we couldn’t see anything!
Ady and Jo suggested that we wait a little while to see if it cleared up, and while waiting we met some of the passengers from our ship who were on a Shore Excursion to the Blue Mountains. Of course their view was cloudy as well, but unfortunately they were on a tight schedule and didn’t have time to wait for the view to clear. After a few minutes, they were off to their next destination, and we decided to walk the half mile trail from the lookout to the start of Giant Stairway. Giant Stairway has over 800 stone and metal steps and leads from the top of the cliff where we were to the floor of Jamison Valley.
At the top of the stairway we were very glad that we waited for viewing conditions to clear—the view of the valley and the mountains on the other side was breathtaking! From this point, we were able to see the Railway, Skyway, and Cableway that make up “Scenic World” across the valley. And these looked interesting so we decided to walk back up the trail to Echo Lookout and drive there next. The viewing conditions back at Echo Lookout had cleared as well, and the views there—particularly of the rock formations known as the “Three Sisters”—were stunning.
It only took us about 5 minutes to drive to Scenic World, and outside the Visitors Center, we were greeted with the wonderful sculptures of an elderly Koori man and three young Koori girls. (The term “Koori” is preferred over “Aboriginal” by indigenous Australians.) We purchased tickets for all three attractions--Railway, Skyway, and Cableway—and headed to the Railway for a trip down to the floor of Jamison Valley. The trip down in the railway was amazing! Originally built in the 1880s to carry coal, it’s the steepest railway of its kind in the world, and tilts at a whopping 52 degree angle. We were both very happy when we arrived safely at the bottom!
From the bottom of the railway, we walked along an interpretive trail to the bottom of the Cableway. In the 1800’s, coal mining occurred in the valley, and along the pathway we saw displays of mining equipment, a ventilation furnace, a coal mine entrance, and signs describing the flora and fauna. There was even a full sized bronze statue of a horse and coal car, and Adi couldn’t resist hopping up onto the horse for a ride!
We took the Cableway from the bottom station back up to Scenic World Top Station with beautiful views along the way. As soon as we reached Top Station, we climbed into a Skyway gondola for a ride across Jamison Valley to the Skyway East Station. It was on this ride that we had our most spectacular views of the Blue Mountains—especially Katoomba Falls, which had water falling from the top of the canyon all the way to the bottom of the valley. At this point we were starting to look at our watches. All aboard was at 5:30 PM, and it was time to begin the return journey to Sydney. So immediately upon reaching East Station, we returned to Top Station via another Skyway gondola going in the opposite direction.
Upon reaching Top Station once again, we got back into the car, and left the park, stopping in the town of Katoomba. We saw a fish and chip shop, and decided that we had to stop for a late lunch. Fish and chip shops in Australia are very different from anything found in the U.S.—they occur along the main street, offer a variety of deep fried foods, and are one of the many things we missed when we left Australia in 1978. We tried to order “flake” (Gummy Shark) which was what we were used to when we lived in Australia, but were told that flake was normally only found in fish and chip shops in the state of Victoria. So we ordered another type of fish along with potato cakes and soft drinks—and everything was absolutely delicious and the way we remembered Australian fish and chips!
We left Katoomba, and had a fairly uneventful drive back to Sydney. This was a Wednesday afternoon, and there was some traffic, but fortunately the traffic was going out of Sydney for the afternoon commute—not into Sydney as we were going. We arrived in Sydney after 5:00 PM, and we felt were cutting the time a little close, but also felt confident we would have no problem making it to our ship in time. But then the unexpected—we missed our exit off the A4 Western Distributor Freeway, and were forced to cross the ANZAC Bridge. (“ANZAC” stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps—a World War One army corps of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force.)
Now we were under serious time pressure to get back in time. As we drove across the bridge, we could see on our left, the m/s Amsterdam docked at the White Bay Cruise Terminal—we wondered if we would make it back in time to catch our ship!
At the north end of the bridge, Danny quickly made a “U” turn, and soon we were back on the bridge heading south towards the terminal. Of course, this time the traffic was very, very heavy with people leaving Sydney at the end of their work day. But we made it to our ship with about 5 minutes to go, quickly said our thanks and goodbyes to Adi, Jo, and Danny, and boarded our ship. But it wasn’t really “goodbye” to Jo—since she was flying back home to Brisbane the next day, she offered to be our tour guide in the afternoon on the day we arrived in Brisbane. And we had every intention of taking her up on her offer!
The m/s Amsterdam departed Sydney about 6:00 PM on Wednesday, February 12th, and we had a beautiful sail away through Sydney Harbour and past north and south heads into the South Pacific Ocean. We don’t think we wasted any of our time in visiting this beautiful part of Australia. From here we would head north along the coast of Australia and with just one sea day, we would arrive at our next port of call—Brisbane, Australia, on Friday, February 14th.
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