Sydney! 

After a couple of days of relative rough seas coming from Noumea across the southern Pacific we arrived in Sydney harbor to much calmer waters.

We were last in Sydney about nine months ago on our Australia/New Zealand adventure. Sydney is one of those cities that calls you back and when you know you are going to return, you get excited just thinking about it.

Sydney is one of the truly great cities of the world. A vibrant center, exciting architecture, good transportation, water, water everywhere – a city that uses its water as no other, perhaps not even Venice – and, either beaches or mountains within a few minutes’ drive from the city center. Sydney is a city of around five million people. People of all ethnicities, backgrounds, religions, political orientation, and whatever other way one might want to characterize them.

Sydney is almost 200 years old in terms of its initial settlement, but is has a young, vibrant feel and just walking around one sees some of that vibrancy in the shops, the people, and the almost unbelievable variety of food choices – continental, Chinese, Malay, Korean, south African, eastern Mediterranean, south American, native Australian, seafood, vegetables, meats (some of which would never make it in the good ole US of A…). Couple those things with an almost impenetrable local argot (although English is believed to be spoken as well…) and you can imagine yourself in the true Land of Oz.

OK, enough rhapsodizing about what has rapidly become one of Bonnie and my favorite cities (and countries). On to some details of our Sydney adventure.

Yesterday when we landed and cleared customs, we went for a walk downtown in the Circular Quai area to re-familiarize ourselves with the area.

Last year we had stayed in Sydney for several weeks between two cruises and we had an apartment overlooking the Sydney harbor – Sydney Harbor Bridge to the left and the Sydney Opera House to the right as we looked from our apartment balconies. We did a little credit card therapy to replenish some toiletries and replace one of Bonnie’s lost dress tee shirts (that’s another whole story that I will spare you at this time…). We came back to the ship early in the afternoon to get ready for our night at the opera. Forget about the Marx Brothers, this was truly a night to remember.

We knew that one of the perks of being World Cruisers on this ship was that there would be several special events for World Cruisers only – a night at the Sydney opera was one of the perks. We were told that we should meet at the appointed time on the tender deck. Strange, we thought, since the regular gangway was located several decks above the tender deck. We figured it was just to get everyone assembled for the parade out to the busses and the drive to the opera house. Wrong! On the tender deck, we were shepherded onto one of the local harbor cruise boats and were treated to a harbor sightseeing cruise as our introduction to the night and as our transportation across the harbor from the ship’s dockage to the opera house.

We arrived at the opera house and were led to the rear patio overlooking the harbor, the bridge, and a massive tent that had been set up for dinner. As we entered the patio, there were three aborigines in costume and paint with native instruments welcoming us. We had cocktails on that patio and awaited dinner. Once we were ushered into the tent, we were greeted by another aborigine and members of several tribes. We were “smoked” in as honored guests. The smoking ceremony consisted of several young women carrying logs upon which were piled smoldering eucalyptus leaves. The aroma of the smoldering leaves permeated the entire room and was actually quite nice – certainly better than some pipe and cigar smoke I have been exposed to. They then proceeded to give us a show with both interpretive dances and a lesson in what the various paint lines, dots, symbols and other body markings meant. In all, a rather unique welcome to a rather unique country/continent.

Our welcoming committee

New friends...

The smoking ceremony

After dinner, we were shown into the Joan Sutherland Pavilion of the Opera House and treated to a performance of Tosca. What a treat!! Neither Bonnie nor I are opera buffs – as were many in the audience – but just to be able to sit in that great hall and to hear an opera under in those magnificent acoustics was something not that many get to do. We finally made it back to the ship by about 11:15 and literally fell into bed.

The next morning we decided to take it easy and visit the city’s renowned botanical gardens, have a nice lunch, and enjoy our last day in Sydney. After getting back to Circular Quay, we walked over to the Botanical Garden and proceeded to check out Government House and Mrs. Maquarrie’s Rock. Government House was nothing special, except that it was a large imposing structure that was at one time the residence of the Governor prior to Australia’s independence. The Botanic Garden, on the other hand, is simply magnificent. It covers several hundred acres of prime land right in the heart of the city and teems with activity at all times. We must have seen several hundred walkers, joggers, game-players, and countless tourists taking pictures – including yours truly…

The Botanic Garden and the City

No need to tell you where this is...

That is a rock overhang carved out by wave action

I can't get enough of this vista...looking out over the harbor from Mrs. McQuarrie's Chair.

Ed on his throne...no, not that one , you evil-minded person...This is called Mrs. Maquarrie's Chair since she was the wife of one of the first Governors and liked to sit on the point at the end of the Botanic Garden and look out over the harbor.

For lunch we returned to one of our favorite little hole-in-the-wall restaurants: Memak Malay. Since we will be traveling to Malaysia and Indonesia, we considered this a necessary training venue. We then returned to the ship after calculating we had walked over 7 ½ miles that day! Tomorrow is a sea day that begins our next leg – 13 days around Australia and up to Bali, Indonesia. Here is a preview:

Stay tuned…