Sydney, Australia

Got up at 6:30 am to watch the ship come into the Sydney Harbour. The sun had just started rising in the sky. There were at least a hundred of us on deck around the front of the ship watching the Sydney Opera House appear in the distance. Many of the crew came to the front of the ship and started clapping, happy to see the beautiful Sydney skyline. It was impressive. Our ship was cruising into Sydney Cove to the cruise terminal building. (Our stateroom balcony is on the port side so as we stood on our balcony we could see the Opera House right off our balcony.)

We met Mary Anne and Harry out on the Lido deck and had breakfast looking out on Sydney Harbour Bridge. We had decided to see Sydney by using the Hop On and Hop Off bus. We jumped onto the bus, close to the terminal and went up to the top deck. We had a great view of the sights of the city and a running commentary. It was decided that we would go the one hour and a half on the bus and take the entire tour and then take the detour to Bondi Beach. The following are some of the sights we got to see: Queen Victoria Building, Town Hall, Kings Cross, Parliament House, Hyde Park, Chinese Gardens, The Rocks, Darling Harbour, and Circular Quay where our ship was anchored. We then hopped onto another bus and took more of a residential tour of the city to Bondi Beach. We found the beach to be very crowded with young people. We sat down in an outdoor cafe across the street from the beach to have a lunch. The day was sunny and hot - just perfect for touring. We walked along the beach. The sand was so fine. A helicopter was hovering above the waters. There were three shark attacks in the past three weeks. In fact, the next day, there was another shark attack. Surfers were out catching the waves and people were standing in the water waiting for the waves to lift them up and then down. No wonder this is such a popular area.

We caught the bus back in to the centre of the city. Doug and I decided to walk to the Opera House and had a drink in one of the outdoor cafes surrounding the circular quay. We could see our ship all lit up. Many of the attendees to the Opera House were outside enjoying their drinks during the break. Hundreds of people were enjoying the warm evening eating out. The little ferry boats were taking passengers home. The atmosphere was lively with couples walking hand in hand. After a stroll inside the Opera House, we walked up the stairs to the Botanical Gardens and enjoyed all the roses in the Rose Garden and listening to all the birds chirping and singing in the huge tall trees. We saw many beautifully colored parakeets and heard them making a racket. The gardens had many people strolling or sitting on blankets chatting with a bottle of wine. It was 8 pm in the evening and the city was alive.

On Sunday, we decided to go into the Rock's area to look around the market place. It reminded us of Strathcona Market. We then hopped a bus to Darling Harbour and strolled around that area. We walked into George Street and decided to take a look at one of the prettiest malls in the world called Queen Victoria Building. It had been renovated inside and held high end stores. I had a coffee and Doug strolled around the entire five floors. We then walked back to the ship to read on our balcony and watch all the activity in the harbor in front of us. We watched tourists being given a tour of the harbor waving to us from their tour boats.

All of us at our table agreed that Sydney is a beautiful city and we would all come back to visit.