Sydney, Part I

jpetesd

G’day, fellow adventurers! Buckle up for a tale of high seas and missed inspections. We made it to Australia but not without some drama.

Australian Immigration requires a face-to-face inspection at the first port you arrive in on a cruise ship. Seems fair, right? That was supposed to happen for us in Tasmania, but the devils wouldn’t let us enter port due to rough seas. Missed that one. Eden, our next scheduled port, wasn’t equipped to do face-to-face. Missed that one, too. After 4+ days at sea, we arrived in Sydney…shaken but not stirred.

Sydney is on Australia’s southeastern coast and surrounds Sydney Harbour. The city is famous for a couple of iconic landmarks: the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We got up close and personal with each as we passed through the harbour.

We kicked off our time in Sydney celebrating Kris’ birthday. Few people can celebrate a birthday like Kris.

We strolled around the Opera House and the Botanical Gardens. Then, we hopped on a ferry to Manly Beach. No, it’s not a beach filled with macho dudes. It’s a vibrant little beach town with a jaw-dropping walking path along its pristine shore.

We snagged a reservation at Polo, our favorite onboard restaurant, to cap off Kris’ special day. It’s booked for reservations before the ship sets sail. We had two reservations before sailing. We only got this one because of the birthday girl’s special day! Sydney even topped off the evening with a fireworks display.

We bid farewell to the Nautica in the morning. But fear not, mates! We’ve got four more days of Aussie adventure ahead of us before heading home.

Our itinerary promises some cool things, and I’m excited to share the antics with you. G’night mates. May your dreams be filled with kangaroos and Vegemite sandwiches.

9 thoughts on “Sydney, Part I”

  2. I commented to Bill yesterday that we hadn’t heard from you in a while. Glad all is well!! Belated happy birthday to Kris. Biggest upset of the day in the first day of March Madness was Oakland (Michigan) upsetting Kentucky. Another upset was Duquesne (Pittsburgh) upsetting BYU. We knew KY was vulnerable and they definitely were last night! Tennessee was the only 1 of 4 SEC teams to win. 4 more play today including gators against Colorado. and the big boys – Auburn, Alabama and also Texas A&M which can be dangerous. All for now. Enjoy Sydney! hard to believe you’ll be home soon. It went fast. Safe travels. xo Mary and Bill

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  4. Amazing pictures and a Happy Birthday to Kris! You’re correct, not many people can celebrate like Kris! I’m glad to see she was able to shop some also. That’s a given! I love following your journey! Thanks for the great pictures and look forward to your daily updates!  Mary Lynne and Jim ❤️

    Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad

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  5. Disappointing you missed the 2 ports 🫤. You’re back on land now for a few days with more things to discover. We’ll look forward to future updates, which I already know includes kangaroos. 

    It was nice Kris could celebrate her 66th in Sydney and great that Nautica and the city chipped in to provide special reservations AND fireworks for the main event!! 

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  6. Pete,

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    div>I’m going out a limb here but considering all your “sea time” I’m thinking you bought the drink package ??

    Sent from my iPhone

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