Long flight to Sydney

March 11 - 13, 2019  Flying to Australia

We are waiting to board our ship, Majestic Princess, in Sydney. In the background is the Sydney Opera House.

We departed home midday on March 11, flew from Cinci to Chicago, then to San Francisco, then to Sydney. It was 25 hours total, and the final nonstop to Sydney was 15 hrs. Whew!

In the Cinci Airport, we bought 8 little bottles of booze to enjoy on the flights and at the two stopovers. 4 Cooper's Craft Bourbons, 2 Miles Gins, 1 Vodka, and 1 American Honey. We did indeed enjoy them! We watched several movies each. Not enough sleep before arriving in Sydney at 8 am on March 13. We completely lost March 12th by crossing the International Dateline.

Once off the plane, we found the Princess transfer group and had to wait quite a while for our bus. We both were texting and e-mailing back home, me with Sarah to ask about #Badcat and Janet to discuss stuff with Aaron. The bus ride to the port was crowded with traffic, and when we got there, we still could not board for 90 minutes. We did check in our luggage, but then walked around.

We walked at the base of Circular Quay and watched all the busy activity with the ferries coming and going. Turning south, we came to this park, Macquarie Park, with an anchor and cannon from the Sirius ship. The Sirius was the man-of-war flagship which escorted the First Fleet to Australia, sailing from England in 1787. The fleet arrived in Botany Bay in January 1788, and then anchored here at Sydney Cove. Sirius was wrecked off the coast of Norfolk Island in 1790.

 We then strolled up Bridge St past many stately buildings. We passed a marker for the Tank Stream,  which was the fresh-water river that prompted the British to establish their colony here in 1788 (rather than at Botany Bay, which had no fresh water). The river still trickles down, but it's underneath all the current buildings.

We wandered on back to Circular Quay and came across dozens of these Australian White Ibis birds, begging the tourists for food.

Rather than the usual guitar-playing busker, here in Sydney was this Aborigine all painted up for the tourists playing his didgeridoo. Janet got his picture first, and then gave him money.

The busy port, with passengers waiting to board the Majestic. There are the White Ibis and pigeons, the Harbor Bridge in the background, and the Museum of Contemporary Art to the left.

A statue of William Bligh, of Mutiny on the Bounty fame. However, 17 years after the Bounty mutiny, in 1806, he was appointed Governor of New South Wales with orders to clean up the corrupt rum trade. (His actions directed against the trade resulted in the Rum Rebellion, during which Bligh was placed under arrest in 1808 and deposed from his command.)

We still had wait time, so I walked up to The Rocks where there was a Visitor's Center to get maps and info. Janet stayed on the dock to listen to a busker, but the authorities removed the singer for not having a proper license.

We boarded the ship at 12:45, put our backpacks in our room near the back of the 10th level, had lunch in the buffet, and walked around the ship. We were amazed at how much nicer the layout and furnishings were compared to the Norwegian Escape. Here we were in the 17th-level forward lounge with views of Circular Quay. We listened to Dave Upton, the ship historian and travel guide, discuss Sydney and Australian history.

It began to rain, so there are droplets on the window for this photo of Circular Quay with the many ferry boats, and skyscrapers behind.

We were supposed to depart at 6 pm, but we were delayed until 7:30. By then, we had gone to dinner in the main dining room, and we were seated near a window. As we backed out and slowly cruised out of the harbor, I got a few photos.

In the distance under the Harbor Bridge were the lights of Luna Park, built in 1935 and only one of two amusement parks in the world (the other being Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen) protected by government legislation.

Not a good picture, but I still had to take a photo of the Opera House as we passed by. If our departure had been on time, this scenic cruise out of the long Sydney Harbor would have been in daylight, but at night there wasn't too much to see besides lights in the distance. We checked out the piano performer, but didn't think she was to our liking. The theater show was a guy imitating Freddy Mercury. We liked it fine, but I kept falling asleep.

Just 1300 miles to New Zealand!