Tag: SoPac24

Sydney, Part I

jpetesd9 Comments

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.

Fiji

jpetesd5 Comments

Bula, Fiji. Welcome to Fiji Friday!

Fiji is about 685 miles west of our last stop in Samoa. It is an archipelago of over 330 islands. Out of this dizzying array, around 110 are permanently inhabited by 900,000 Fijians.

We docked in the bustling capital city of Suva, located on the island of Viti Levu.

Today, we ventured inland to Koromakawa Village on the scenic Navau River.

At the village, we boarded a longboat with four other passengers and a guide and headed upriver through a tropical rainforest filled with lush landscape.

The heart of the jungle was filled with bamboo plants. These weren’t your garden-variety bamboo stalks. These mammoth plants were bamboo on steroids. They stood towering and looked suspiciously like giant marijuana plants – as a friend of a friend once described, in hushed tones and with a wink!

Waterfalls were plentiful. The large one in the video was so powerful that it was hard to catch my breath as I tried to swim close to it.

Post our aquatic escapade, we were treated to a Fijian lunch back at the village. By treated I mean we were practically adopted.

Fijian culture places a strong emphasis on communal living. Residents of the small village were all on hand to treat us to a meke (traditional dance).

As we wave goodbye to Fiji, we head to our next destination. I will tell you that it involves three days at sea to get there, so it’s a long way.

The captain warned us of some “motion in the ocean” as we left port. We’re expecting 30-40 knot winds for the next 24 hours. Kris is not looking forward to that. 

Wish us luck!