Friday, February 24, 2023 – Day 65
We sailed under the bridge on the way to our dock!
This picture is from a park across the bay.
G’day mates! We haven’t needed our jumpers since we pulled into Sydney, the weather has been awesome! The mozzies have made a bit of a meal of me, but I’ll live!
School kids, in uniform, seemingly on a field trip, were a common site on the streets.
Our first day in Sydney we took a tour of the city and saw the old and new architecture. The city has done a great job of using every available space, (buildings have been built right over major roads), the downtown is just packed with interesting buildings! They have a law/code saying that buildings over 100 years old cannot have their exteriors changed. They can update the interior and add on a modern ‘wing’, but the original building exterior needs to stay intact. It makes for an interesting juxtaposition of styles!
In the evening we went on a harbor dinner cruise. It was a beautiful evening! We’ve had so many rainy days since leaving Florida that seeing this much sunshine and warm weather was a real treat.
The water gave us a great vantage point to see all the huge skyscrapers under construction alongside the other modern and old buildings. As we sailed through the harbor, we came upon the first jail in the middle of the harbor. It is like a version of Alcatraz in San Francisco. Interestingly, Sydney has a very San Francisco-esc feel with its hills and dense mix of buildings. The difference: Sydney is remarkably clean, with a very safe feel.
Now a National Park, this former penal site and defensive facility was commissioned in 1841, completed in 1857 and decommissioned in 1930’s
After dinner we sailed back into the harbor with amazing views of the city at night.
Our second, and last day, in Sydney we opted to explore on our own. We walked across the city to the Botanical Gardens and the Art Museums. We were in search of an Aboriginal art exhibit we’d heard about. On our walk we passed beautiful green spaces interspersed among the buildings. They even have their own Hyde Park in the center of town.
We found the exhibit we had heard about, but it turned out to be a contemporary exhibit by Aboriginal artists, not older pieces showcasing the tradition work of ancient Aboriginal artists.
Disclaimer: The following is our opinion, not ment to offend!!
Some of the modern art obviously had roots in the traditional art forms, but let’s just say Jeff and I have vowed we will henceforth skip modern art galleries. We just don’t get it. One of the pieces was an old tire hung by a jute rope on an unfinished 2×4 frame… yup, a tire swing. Nostalgic, sure. Art worthy of space in a gallery, I’m not so sure. Even when I don’t understand the art, I can typically appreciate the effort and skill required to create a piece, but this left me wishing I could have sat in on the planning/funding meeting when the pitch for the tire swing installation was given! Oh well, it’s quite possible I’m just exposing our lack of sophistication! OK, back to fun travel stuff…
We thoroughly enjoyed Sydney and would come back anytime. It has so much to explore! It was sad to come to the end of our time in this beautiful city.
As we left Sydney Harbor for the last time, we got to witness the sun setting over the iconic skyline. Ever the skilled photographer, I managed to take a picture of my finger while trying to capture the beautiful event! I didn’t set this up to look like I was touching the sun, but it’s kind of a fun accident. (This may be a clue as to why I don’t understand more ‘sophisticated’ art!)
After Sydney we moved north along the sunshine coast to Mooloolaba, Australia. Mooloolaba is a neighbor of Brisbane, a more recognizable city. We opted to go to the Australia Zoo while in this port. This zoo was started by the parents of Steve Irwin, the famous ‘Crocodile Hunter’, as a reptile park. The Irwin family are still a very large part of this zoo/wildlife park. The park has grown into a 700-acre zoo with beautiful green spaces, shaded meandering walkways and play/picnic areas for kids and families. I think it was the prettiest park like zoo I’ve ever seen. It was also a fun learning experience. We got to pet a Koala (their coats feel like sheep’s wool) and get up close to many more. Kangaroo and Wallaby were roaming freely in a large section that visitors walked through. We saw a show in the ‘Crocoseum’, a large Ampitheater, with exotic birds and a very large crocodile! There was an emphasis on saving our environment and educating kids & adults alike. Then came the giant salt-water crocodile! What you don’t see in the next two pictures are the number of other handlers ready to offer assistance if anything goes wrong during the encounter. This croc was really huge!
almost standing on its tail to reach its prey.
Our next Australian port was the Whitsunday Islands (Airlie Beach). We got to see lots of beautiful coastline and pristine white sand beaches. The next day we were on to Cairns (pronounced by the locals as Cans). Cairns was our gateway to the Great Barrier Reef! The Reef is the largest living thing on earth and can be seen from space. Did you know that the coral that makes up the reef is an animal, not a plant. It is also a UNESCO site stretching some 1,430 miles along the coast of Australia. It is an incredibly important ecosystem for the world’s oceans, as it is home to such a vast number of marine species.
We didn’t have an underwater camera, so I’ve used some of our fellow travelers’ photos and stock photos to document a few of the things we saw while snorkeling.
We constantly consider what a privilege it is to be here to see these amazing natural wonders in person! We are overwhelmed by the beauty God has created for man to enjoy!
It took us 1.5 hours to get to the reef via large catamaran. The sea was very, very rough, and it rained so very hard on the way to the reef. We donned our ‘stinger suits’ to protect us (head to toe to fingers) from the poisonous jelly fish that are prevalent at this time of year here and slid into the churning water. We didn’t see any jelly fish or sharks, so we were good! The divers with us saw turtles and stingrays, but we didn’t. I really wanted too, but the ocean was just too rough to feel safe staying in longer. We rocked and rolled on the 1.5-hour trip back to the pier. It rained harder than I think I’ve ever seen it rain and the wind blew like crazy. It seemed we got wetter in the wind driven rain than we did in the ocean! We couldn’t get dry on the covered deck with the rain coming in sideways through the open sides. We stayed soaking wet until we got back into our room on our cruise ship. That hot shower felt mighty fine and drying off was a real treat. My fingers were wrinkled for the rest of the evening! It was a memorable outing for sure!
Today we visited Thursday Island, Australia. Located at the very northern tip of Australia it is our very last Australian port. Thursday Island is part of a 274-island archipelago in the Torres Strait which runs between mainland Australia and Papua New Guinea. Its elevation is just over 24 feet above sea level and the population is just under 3,000. The indigenous peoples of this area are different culturally and genetically from the Aboriginals of the rest of Australia. There is an almost Rastafarian vibe here with a version of Creole spoken by the locals.
The color of the water is muted by the overcast skies, but it was glorious!
Thursday Island has a very small town. It was raining, again, but we set out determined to see what we could. We got to see a very small, but nice cultural center depicting the art and lives of the indigenous peoples. There was once a thriving pearl industry here. The ocean is still the lifeblood of their economy. Reef Pilots who specialize in guiding ships through the Great Barrier Reef and the Torres Straight are based here.
We made our way to the one and only market in town to pick up a few things we’ll need in the coming weeks. I know we complain about rising prices at home and maybe things have gotten this bad while we’ve been gone, but these poor people seem to be paying so much for their groceries. It is a very remote location, so we expected higher prices. But… a package of 10 tablets of generic Zyrtec was $12 US (Amazon lists a package of 100 for $8.99). Food items looked very high as well.
This Anglican Church was dedicated to the people who perished in the largest maritime disaster in Australia at the time.
After making our purchases we waited with under an awning for the rain to let up. That didn’t seem to be happening, so we decided we’d head to one of the 4 pubs in town to dry out a bit and check out the self-described, “best pub in Australia”. We didn’t get there. Walking towards the pub we came upon a group of fellow travelers who said the captain was calling us back to the ship early and we were to head to the tenders for the 45-minute trip back to our ship. Apparently, the sea swells and currents were preventing our cruise ship from staying at anchor. We’d arrived at 8 am and been scheduled to leave at 5 pm, but the return to ship order went out about 11:00 and we were back onboard by noon. The onshore crew and tender crews did such a good job of finding everyone and getting us all safely back on board.
We’ll now be at sea for the next three days as we sail to Indonesia. Our first stop is scheduled to be Komodo Island, where we hope to walk among the Komodo Dragons, the large lizards we’ve seen in zoos.
We sincerely hope all of you are well! We enjoy having you travel virtually with us as we document our experiences, we sure wish you were with us physically! We miss you!