Sea Day after Sidney

Thursday 26th February - Mild morning (24 deg C) and calm seas on our way to Brisbane. We’re due to dock at 07.00 and I’ve finally found out where we will be docking ‘Grain Terminal, Fisherman’s Island’, about 45 minutes from downtown Brisbane. By afternoon, it was hot and sunny so I spent some time reading my new book on the top deck, dinner was good and after dinner we had a quiet night watching tv.

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Sidney

Wednesday 25th February - Lots of changes today, we got a new captain, Captain Lubrano left to return home for the pending birth of his second child. Our new captain is William Kent, from Lincolnshire in England. We also might have a new assistant cruise director, though there’s some confusion about this, and we have a whole bunch of new incentives to encourage people to use the casino, since last segment it was frequently all but deserted. In addition, somewhat strangely I thought, we have 6 tradesmen flown in special from UK, who will be converting some large cabins into smaller ones, adding toilets etc. Why they had to come all the way from UK, I don’t know, maybe to do with union contracts, anyway they’re on board ‘til Guam. We also lost 267 passengers and got 200 plus new ones.
We were up at 05.00am to see the sail into harbour as I wanted to get some pictures of the bridge and opera house. Disappointingly we didn’t pass under the bridge (above) to dock at Darling Harbour instead we docked at Circular Quay on the seaward side of the bridge. Anyway the sun didn’t come up until we were actually docked, so all the pictures were night shots, but still worthwhile.

Around 09,00am, we walked off to the information centre and booked the hop-on/off bus, normally A$30 for the day pass, but if you say you’re a senior, it’s only A$20. There are two bus circuits included in your ticket, Sydney explorer and Bondi explorer, so after changing buses, we arrived at Bondi beach (above), nice little bay, pretty standard seaside town. Fortunately it was a beautiful day, high 70’s and sunny, and we spent a couple of hours admiring the scenery and dipping a foot in the ocean.

Back on the bus, we decided to get off, next, at the Maritime Museum, check out the shopping then walk over the foot/monorail bridge (left) to Darling Harbour. Next we were off to the Opera house, beautiful spot, Sydney downtown and harbour front sparkles like a diamond, lots of money here, I could spend a week easily, there’s lots to do.

We spent the early evening enjoying a few local beers in a harbour front café, before taking an hour and a half to walk the fifteen minutes back to the ship. Lots of local colour on the walk back including these aboriginals? (above). Two things about the hop on/off bus: it’s great value at the equivilent of US$15 for a full days use, but you get what you pay for. The Sydney explorer advertises buses every twenty minutes, at one time we waited over 30 minutes past its’ due time. The Bondi explorer is supposed to be every 90 minutes, when we waited at Bondi beach, the bus arrived on schedule but wouldn’t take any passengers. To quote the driver ‘Get off my bus, I’m going for lunch’, another bus arrived 35 minutes later. So expect to be standing around on some occasions, although it’s an inexpensive way to get around, I wouldn’t use it again, too much time wasted standing around. Back on board, we had a quick dinner on deck and watched the sail away at 10.00pm. Below, Izzy and me at the Opera house and me sitting on the top step of the Opera house, then the opera house as we left in the evening.

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Sea Day before Sidney

Tuesday 24th February - Quiet day at sea today, weather is getting a bit warmer and many people were preparing to depart in Sydney. We had a ‘get together’ at 05.00pm and again at 09.00pm for our group of passengers who regularly sat out at the pool deck tables. Derek & Marilyn will be spending 5 weeks touring in Australia before heading back to Alberta, Carol will be flying back to Georgia, Janet will be flying back to Alabama & Anina will be flying back to Switzerland, all be leaving tomorrow, we’re sorry to see them go. Dinner was set to an American theme with the dining room decorated in red, white and blue, the turkey was pretty good.

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Burnie Part 2

Well since last post, we’ve had a nap, woke up at 03.00pm and decided, spur of the moment, to go back into town to buy a hat. On the shuttle to town, we met Libby, volunteer guide, there are 40 volunteers who do rotating shifts, I don’t think there’s anywhere else in the world with so many volunteers, they make any visit worthwhile. In town we bought the hat and then walked up to Kmart, keeping an eye on the time as the last bus back was at 04.30pm. In Kmart we replenished some of our supplies and got back to the bus stop in time to catch Libby’s bus on its’ next round. Back at the port, we were greeted by the sounds of the bagpipes, playing on the dock. I spoke to the bandleader, they were Burnie Highland Pipe Band, established 1941 and played for every ship visiting the port. The bandleader had been to Scotland and had actually been to Cambridge, when I mentioned where we came from he immediately said he’d been to the highland games there, small world.

Back on board, we decide to skip dinner since I wanted to see the sail-away at 06.00pm. It was a great decision, as we sailed out the pipe band marched down the pier following the ship, playing all the way, it would have brought a tear to a glass een. It was such a special send off and the crowds on board cheered and clapped as everyone dockside waved in time to the pipes, it was quite a moment. I’m going to download some pics now, then we’ll be off to the Bistro for some Italian food.

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Burnie, Tasmania

Monday February 23rd - We arrived at Burnie around 07.00am and since we had pre-cleared Australian immigration, we didn’t have to wait long to disembark. It’s the 4th largest port in Australia and very industrial but the little downtown area was quite pleasant and the people couldn’t have been nicer.
At the bottom of the gangway, when we left the ship at 08.30am on a cool and overcast day, the mayor in his mayoral regalia along with his wife (see above), welcomed us personally and the town had exceded all expectations providing a nice lapel pin to every passenger.

A free shuttle to downtown(Mount St shown left) ran every 15 minutes and at each stop there were plenty of volunteers in their distinctive blue vests. That’s the positive side, on the other hand, there’s not much to see in Burnie other than shopping, though if you’re there in the evening you can watch the penguin parade at the Burnie Little Penguin observation centre.


It was quite a nice walk along the ocean front boardwalk (shown above - 20 minutes each way) to the observation centre, though I’d have liked the weather to have been a little warmer. We headed back to the ship at lunch time and relaxed for the afternoon. There were tours and taxis offered at the tourist centre (first stop on the shuttle) along with lots of information, the second stop was for shopping downtown and the last shuttle stop was for internet access at A$6 per hour. As warm as the welcome was, I’m not sure why Princess chooses to stop here, I guess the main reason is to sell their tours to the surrounding areas, ‘Cradle Mountain national Park’, ‘Devonport & Don River railway’ and ‘Launceston & the Tamar valley’.

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