Sydney in a day

Our day started early when my alarm went off an hour too soon—but it actually turned out to be a good thing as our ship was just arriving in Sydney. I stepped out onto our balcony, saw the view and grabbed my camera just in time to take photos as we sailed under the harbor bridge. Ronnie took off for the opposite side of the ship and got some beautiful photos of Sydney’s iconic Opera House.

sailing under Sydney Harbor Bridge

Good Morning, Sydney!

Sydney Opera House (photo credit: Ronnie)

After an early breakfast in our room, we took a 30 minute cab ride to the Taronga Zoo, home to over 4,000 animals. The weather was perfect, and we spent about 3 hours there, covering maybe 1/4 of the grounds. Between the animals and the amazing harbor views, it was definitely worth the trip.

entrance to Taronga Zoo

cute little guy posed for me

I was very lucky to get this shot of this cute little koala bear. Koalas sleep as much as 20 hours a day, only waking to eat. He was the only one that was awake. A diet of only eucalyptus leaves provides little energy. There are toxins in the leaves that would be poisonous to other animals but they have a special digestive system that contains a bacteria that breaks down the toxins.

relaxing kangaroos

 

partial view of Sydney skyline and Harbor Bridge from Taronga Zoo

I’m still not feeling great, so by mid-afternoon I was really dragging. We caught yet another cab back to the ship. Ronnie rested, then found the energy to go exercise, while I showered, washed and dried my hair, put on my night gown and played with my pictures. The decision to use room service for dinner was a no brainer!  

Sydney's estimated population is approximately 5.64 million. One could spend weeks exploring it, and even then, it wouldn’t be long enough. We did what we could in the short time we had, but we only experienced a tiny bit of it. I would say that this type of cruise is just a “snippet” of many different places – just enough to know if you might ever like to go back for a real visit.

So our day ended as it had started – taking pictures from the balcony of Sydney’s beautiful harbor skyline. 

 

A sunny day at sea

We continue on our journey with another sea day as we head for Sydney, Australia. The sun is shining and that means more outside activities in addition to the regular sea day offerings.

Ronnie attended a Christian men’s breakfast early this morning, then headed to his ukulele group practice where he taught the others to play Happy Birthday and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. This means that most of the others are beginners as well, and that’s a good thing – none so far advanced that she/he can’t learn something.

From there he hurried back to the room in order to meet with the guys in his weekly BSF zoom meeting. Since his meeting is usually at 7 pm, that translates to 10 am (currently) our time, so he should be able to make the remaining meetings in this year’s study. Mine, unfortunately, normally meets at 11 am, which means I’d be meeting during the middle of night, so I’ve had to drop out for these last few weeks. It’s been a really good study of Israel’s exile and return this year. There is so much we can learn by studying the Old Testament – it really helps to understand that “scarlet thread” that runs through the entire Bible, doesn’t it? 

After lunch, we joined others on the pool deck to see who won the ship building contest. Contestants had to build ships from materials they could scavenge around the ship or while in port. They had to be seaworthy (meaning they would float in the swimming pool) and received the most votes. Congratulations to our friends Jim and Diana and Kevin and Wendy for their 1^st place win!

 

 

Kevin and Jim put their craft to the test

some of the other contenders

ahoy, mateys!

nice job, Bob, Curt & Eilene!

This afternoon we will hear the guest lecturer James Grant-Peterkin as he finishes up his talks on Australia. As always, there are various activities going on throughout the afternoon, evening and even into the wee hours, but we plan on pizza in the Wave and an early turn in. Arrival in Sydney is 5:30 am. We have tickets to visit the Taronga zoo, which should be interesting. Hopefully we can make it – we both woke with sore throats this morning. Ugh!

James Grant-Peterkin, an excellent speaker and story teller

 

 

Noumea, New Caledonia

Today is Monday, April 6 in Noumea, New Caledonia. It is also Easter Monday which means that all the businesses are closed. We docked in Noumea early this morning. Noumea is a port city and capital of the French overseas country of New Caledonia. It was founded in 1854 as Port-de-France. French is the primary language spoken here. 

 

partial view from our balcony

another balcony view

Unlike our most recent ports, this city has modern buildings, a large public market, museums and St. Joseph’s Cathedral. It is also home to the University of New Caledonia (est 1999), numerous boutiques, a coral aquarium, a hydroelectric plant and a nickel refining plant at nearby Duiambo Point. 

I would have enjoyed seeing some of the local sights, but basically the city was dead today. It was a happy coincidence for Ronnie because we didn’t have to rush to get off the ship this morning and he was able to take another 3 mile run on solid ground. That doesn’t happen nearly often enough to suit him, so I’m always happy when he gets to do that. 

There was a large grocery market an easy walk from our ship that was (surprisingly) open, so I walked over and picked up some treats for our room stewards. We are quite fond of them, and they seem to like us too.

After lunch on the ship, we walked around the town for an hour or so. We first strolled through some craft booths at the port, then headed to Place des Cocotiers (Coconut Square). The entire town was completely closed down except for just one other business. 

Peace Square

 

Fontaine Celeste (Heavenly Fountain)

I was hoping to visit China Town, thinking it might be open, but obviously they took advantage of the Easter holiday and closed their businesses as well. I snapped a few photos as we walked along but was soon happy enough to head back to the ship.

 

Chan Dang Vietnamiens Statue

Chamber of Commerce

 the other open business

Goodye, New Caldonia

By the way, I recently read the novel “Miss Benson’s Beetle” by Rachel Joyce with the setting of a New Caldonia rain forest. I would recommend it if you’re looking for a new read. Parts of it are laugh-out-loud funny with a little bit of “sad” thrown in. If you read it, let me know what you think of it.