Sydney, Australia Day 2

February 27th

We actually slept in this morning, not getting up until 7:30. I guess both of us were tired. 280 people were getting off the ship this morning, so the buffet was crowded so they could get their last meal. They were off the ship by 9:30 and then we were allowed to go ashore.

We decided to spend the day near the ship in a area called the Rock’s. Since the craft market was closed today we checked out the area and found some very interesting stores. One was filled with antiques that were nicely priced for purchase but then again the cost to get them home would prohibitive. At noon I decided to go to lunch and headed to Hart’s Pub, part of the Rocks Brewing Company. It boasted that it carried 12 rotating micro brews, so I ordered a pint from the Rock’s Brewery called Hangman Ale and Betty got a coke. Bill was $16.00!! Then we ordered lunch, Betty had a crocodile wrap and I ordered a BLT. Betty enjoyed the croc (tasted like chewy chicken) and the BLT was basically a ham sandwich as they do not not know what bacon is. Total bill for both was $34.00. Like I said previously it is very expensive here. The beer there was excellent but not at $11.00 a pint. It was also very strong in alcohol, I was very dizzy when I left the pub. We then walked back to the harbor area and spent the afternoon people watching.

We returned to the ship and went to the buffet and had a light dinner, then went to our cabin and sat on the balcony doing more people watching. At 7:15 we had a General Emergency Stations drill, the ship wanted us to attend but it wasn’t required so we opted not to go. With all of the issues Costa and Carnival are having we probably should have! At 7:45 we backed out of berth and headed back out the way we came in, the Opera House now on our side of the ship. I got some nice pictures of it, the Sydney Bridge, Amusement Park and the city at night. We sailed back out into the Tasman Sea and began our passage north along the coast to Cairns, Australia. (Pronounced ‘Canes’, why can’t they just spell it correctly!) What a great time we had, always need more time here. It was sad because this will probably be the last time we will be in Sydney, but we’ve said that before.

 

We have three days at sea, but we need the rest plus we will sailing right thru the Great Barrier Reef. Ga’ Day, No Worries!  (Australian speak!)

Sydney, Australia Day 1

 

February 26th We sailed into Sydney Harbor. Unlike our last cruise, our balcony is not facing the Opera House but the passenger terminal. The sail-in was beautiful as the Pacific Princess choir sang Waltzing Matilda and The Australia song, a nice touch. There was a light drizzle but it turned into a beautiful day.

We left the ship at 9:00am and headed to the Opera house to pick up tickets for a performance tonight at 5:00pm. Then we decided to go to the weekend market at the Rocks, but we made a wrong turn and ended up at the Pitt Street Mall. Before getting there we went in to the this old building dated 1881 called “The Strand” and once inside it was as if we were walking into the Old Arcade in Cleveland. See photo below.

In the basement we found an electronic store and were able to buy a converter for the beard trimmer. Luckily we found a very pleasant employee who helped us buy the right converter. We then continued south and visited the Queen Victoria Building. It has over 160 cafes, restaurants and boutiques. Then we walked to the Town Hall, a very impressive building. Sydney is filled with beautiful old buildings intermixed with the new.

We had walked so far we decided to continue to Chinatown as we were never there. The walk was much further than we originally thought, and mostly uphill. It was lunch time and Betty picked a restaurant called the “Golden Harbour.”

 

We sat down and every 2 minutes a server walked up and asked if we wanted this or that.  It was difficult to understand the waiter, he barely spoke English, and then with an Australian accent. Luckily the couple sitting next to us explained it was Dim Sum. Before I knew it we have all this food on our table, Gee Geen dumplings, green tea unfiltered, pork stuffed buns, egg rolls, barbeque pork pieces. Every time you order something they stamp this paper with a code, we had no clue on what this was costing us. Everything was excellent, if we were here longer we would return for Dim Sum. The bill was only $40.00 with tip. We then decided to go to Paddy’s market, the oldest community market in Sydney, a very large market carrying everything imaginable. (Mostly junk.) We headed back to the ship, we thought it would be mostly downhill but it wasn’t. Along the way we stopped at a bar called Cheers. I had a nice cold beer Coopers, only one since a pint cost $8.50. We got to catch the end of the East/West basketball and it was good to see LeBron James lose.

When we left Betty spotted a barber shop  offering haircuts for $10.00 and begged me to get a haircut. Well I finally gave in and got a one. The shop had 12 chairs and 10 were full. I didn’t have to wait, it was the fastest haircut I ever got. It probably took him 10 minutes and he did a good job too. Amazing that a haircut is cheaper than a beer, although I would rather have a beer. We finally got near the ship but decided to go to the street market as it is only open on Sunday.

Back at the ship we dressed up to go to the Sydney Opera House for a performance of Greatest Opera Hits on a Sunday Afternoon. The artists were Jane Parkin, Jacqueline Dark, David Corcoran and Andrew Moran. All had excellent voices and they performed 16 hits including The Flower Song from Carmen, Avant de Quitter from Faust and Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific. The performance was very interesting and enjoyable and a great experience.

After the Opera we strolled along the harbor back to the ship. I finally got to enjoy a cigar I purchased in Nicaragua. It was amazing how many people were out enjoying the evening, all the restaurants and bars were full. It is expensive here. Beer prices vary from $8.00 to 15.00 for a pint and meals prices are very high.

Cruise Summary 2nd Segment

January 28 to February 27, 2012

Ports                    Distance(Nautical Miles)        Speed(Knots)

San Diego-Honolulu                2265                              16.8

Honolulu-Nawiliwili                       91                             13.0

Nawiliwili-Pago-Pago                2281                             17.0

Pago Pago-Dravuni Island          683                             18.0

Dravuni Island-Bay of Islands   1023                            12.2

Bay of Islands-Auckland              124                              9.7

Auckland-Fiordland N.P.               863                            15.6

Fiordland N.P.-Burnie,Tasmania  957                            15.4

Burnie Tasmania- Sydney            521                             15.1

Total distance travelled from San Diego to Sydney

                   8,808 Nautical Miles    10,129.2 Statute Miles

Total distance travelled from San Diego to Sydney

                  13,473 Nautical Miles   15,475.95 Statute Miles

Burnie, Tasmania, Australia

 

February 24

For those who were wondering, Tasmania is an island and a State of Australia.

Burnie, Tasmania, is a major industrial center and one of Australia’s largest and most significant deep water shipping container ports, handling over two million tons of cargo each year. Burnie is where you can access pristine World Heritage-listed wilderness and the unknown beyond. (I always pictured Tasmania as being all wilderness with Tasmania Devils running around, not big industrial ports.)

Upon arrival 12 Australian officials boarded the vessel to conduct a full passenger face to face passport inspection. Each and every passenger had to be inspected, passports swiped and stamped, then checked at the gangway before we proceeded ashore. Hopefully we will not have to go through this at Sydney since we don’t visit another country in between. Australia is the place that has the little Beagles that are trained to sniff out any food that people try to smuggle ashore. Bringing any food or plants into the country is strictly prohibited due to the threat of insects, however passengers still try to stuff sandwiches and fruit into their bags.  Luckily the process was quick and we were ashore at 9:30. Because this is a working port a shuttle was provided to take us into town.  They take security and safety seriously and do not allow pedestrians on the pier. We were greeted by the Mayor(he made sure we knew he was the ‘real & only mayor of Bernie’) on the dock. Everyone was given a pin from the city.

First thing we did in town was to go to the bank and exchange some US money for Australian money. Our plan was to find the Hop on/off bus to the whiskey distillery, unfortunately the bus was not running. Cabs were about $60.00 so we gave up that idea. We then went to K-Mart to see if we could find a beard trimmer, and finally had success. However, we were so excited that we found it after searching many ports, we failed to realize Australia has their own unique plug that of course doesn’t fit into the converter we have. Now we have to spend our  time looking for an Australian converter. I went into a betting parlor but it was too early to bet on the horses so I probably saved money. We then went to lunch at a place called “Mecca” Betty had lamb pizza and I had Spaghetti Bolognese, both were very good. If you like lamb then New Zealand and Australia are the places to be, it is wonderful here. The service left a lot to be desired though. My tip matched the service, zero, I’ve only done that a few times in my life. Back outside we went to the Bottle Store and bought some beer to take back to the ship. There was a beautiful boardwalk to the Maker’s workshop where the shuttle picked us up for the return to the ship. It was a very nice walk along the Bass Strait and I got to enjoy a cigar. We visited the Little Penguin center but we did not see any as they are out at sea during the day, returning at dusk. We then went in the workshop and paper museum, this area used to be known for its paper factories. The people in Burnie were very friendly and welcoming, it would be a nice place to visit for a bit of time. Wish we had more time to explore the countryside.

Penguin Statue in Penguin, Tasmania

We got back to the ship at 4:00 and welcoming us was a Bagpipe band playing for our send off to Sydney. They were wearing kilts and Aussie hats, and were required to wear the safety vests!

We sailed out of the harbor at 5:00, heading northeast towards the south eastern corner of the Australian mainland. We are scheduled to arrive in Sydney on Sunday, February 26th.

February 25th     Sea Day

Only one sea day, how sweet is that! Today’s trivia is the last day in the segment, we have people leaving the ship so we will have to recruit new members. The problem is we are losing our members from the United Kingdom and half the questions are from there. We never won, came close but that only counts in horseshoes.

We had a talk by Gavin MacLeod titled “Mary & Me” He recounted his life over seven years with cast members of “The Mary Tyler  Moore Show”. Quite interesting talk, but dwelled on the death of Ted Knight too long and also the health of Mary Tyler Moore. In the afternoon we went to see the video of the Make-A-Wish Jump by Lorna Grey, our trivia partner.  I don’t think I could do that base jump, Betty could for sure as she is crazy.

Tonight evening entertainment was Lion’s Den, a vocal trio who specializes in the sound of the harmony groups from the 50’s to the 90’s, Platters to Bee Gees. Well, I couldn’t stop laughing during the first two numbers and wondering why was I sitting there listening to three Australians of Oriental decent trying to sing Frankie Valli songs. It was very funny. But by the third number it vastly improved and at one point the lead singer of the trio sang a Phantom of the Opera song which was outstanding. I was glad we didn’t walk out.

Overnight we continue sailing  on a north easterly course along the South Wales coast until we arrive in Sydney. This sail-in is one of the most interesting of the ports we have visited. We are docking right next to the Opera House and the iconic Sydney Bridge which is the best location.

Cruising to Tasmania, Australia

February 22    George Washington’s Birthday

Woke up this morning to the same weather, very overcast and a light drizzle. During breakfast we saw a rainbow, we never saw one in the middle of a sea. We are sailing west thru the Tasman Sea. The Tasman Sea is the body of water between Australia and New Zealand and covers an area of approximately 2,380,000 square miles. This morning we were 650 miles from Burnie, Tasmania, our next port.

Betty attended another culinary demonstration given by Chef Antonio. She learned all the Princess Cruises culinary secrets, none of which she will ever use at home.

The weather finally cleared up around 1:00 in the afternoon, we now have blue skies with large white clouds above. It is cool, around 62 degrees.

We did trivia in the morning and did average. We have a good time playing and it keeps us involved. At afternoon trivia we tied for first place but lost the tie breaker. Betty did laundry in the morning and luckily she didn’t get beat up. There has been one fist fight in the laundry so far, one woman punched another for taking her clothes out of the washer. (This happens on every cruise we go on, which is why I think the men should do the laundry.)  To have the ship do your laundry is very expensive, for example a pair of socks is $1.25, T shirts $2.75, slacks $4.50 and shirts $3.50. Betty can do a load for $4.00 washed and dried, so it is a lot cheaper. (And or so much more fun.) The funny thing is every time she does the laundry, the next day that offer all you can fit in a laundry bag for $20.00.

We had a port talk on Burnie, Tasmania and it looks like we can take a hop on-hop off bus to various locations. We will see what happens on shore. The ships tours don’t seem interesting and of course too expensive. It sounds like a very interesting town.

Tonight was formal dinner night in the Club Restaurant. Betty looked beautiful all dressed up, of course she is always beautiful to me. I should have taken a picture!

February 23               HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOANNE

 

This morning we awoke to another beautiful sunrise, most sunrises at sea are amazing. We were at breakfast when the sun finally peaked through. We started the day with clear skies and a temperature of 52, with a forecast of 64 for the high. The forecast for tomorrow is clear skies temperature around 70 degrees.

Betty attended the Scholarship at Sea: Naturally Australia, explaining why Australia is unlike any other place in the world as a result of geological forces and climate changes.

After dinner we attended the evening show, the 2012 Pacific Princess World Cruise Choir. It was formed in 2010 by David Crathorne, the casino lounge piano player. This choir has an all-time high of 62 passengers and they put on a very good performance.

Betty was disappointed as we sailed across the “Roaring Forties” as it wasn’t really roaring. It was windy, but the waves never got really big. The last time we sailed through this area the ship was really bouncing around, dinner plates were crashing off the tables.

We were glad to see tonight come as tomorrow we will arrive in Burnie, Tasmania, Australia after 5 days at sea. We only have one stint of 5 days at sea at a time, then we have one of 4 days but most will be 1 to 3 days.

Fiordland National Park

February 21

Today would have been my mom’s 91st Birthday, she would have loved this place! Quiet and serene and absolutely beautiful.

We entered the National Park at 7:45 with overcast skies and a light drizzle. At first we thought it was a bummer that the weather was not sunny but the number of waterfalls caused by this rain and the hanging mist just made it beautiful. We have sailed this before in nice weather, and feel the rain and mist made it mysterious. Our schedule today is as follows:

7:45 We entered Milford Sound

10:00 Exit Milford Sound

1:00 Enter Thompson Sound and Doubtful Sound

2:45 Exit Doubtful and Thompson Sound

4:00 Enter Dusky Sound

5:45 Exit Dusky Sound

Unfortunately pictures cannot capture the beauty and majesty of the sounds. We spent the day either on the balcony or inside our cabin watching the scenery and looking for wildlife. I caught a glimpse of a seal but nothing else. Humpback whales were sighted but of course we missed them. There is a pod of about 70 bottlenose dolphins that live exclusively in Doubtful Sound but for a reason they have not yet determined, the dolphins are dying out. It remained heavily overcast all day.

Even with all of this beautiful scenery we still took time out to eat!

We exited the last sound at 5.15 and at 5:35 we reach the most southern location of our trip at 45 degrees Latitude and the rest of our voyage will be heading north.

We invited Gus and Carolyn ( our dinner partners from our 2008 World Cruise to join us for dinner since Barb and Woody decided not to come to the dining room for dinner. We had a wonderful time and conversation with them, it was just like the 113 days we ate together before.

Tonight’s show was Chris Gable an award winning instrumentalist. He claims to play 6 instruments but only played the saxophone and the clarinet which he was excellent at. But he also sang and that left something to be desired.

We are now cruising to Tasmania and will be at sea for 2 more days.

Sailing to Fiordland National Park

February 19

Today was a wonderful day, a day needed to rest up from the previous ports. Once we turned the northern edge of the North Island of New Zealand and entered the Tasman Sea, the waters were still and looked like a mirror. The cost line was rocky and very sandy. There were several lighthouse atop the rocky shore. We saw whales, dolphins, hundreds of jellyfish and even a fish as the water was very clear. (There was even a fish with a big fin which I decided was a shark.) We could watch the dolphins swimming underwater than exploding to the surface. It was an amazing day and the best for sightings on all the miles we have sailed. Below is a few pictures of the Tasman Sea and the sunset.

On board now is Captain Stubbing, of Love Boat fame. Yes Gavin MacLeod. What an amazing career he has had and the number of movies he has been in. He gave a talk for over an hour on his multi-faceted career in music, on stage, in television and in film. It was very interesting. Tomorrow he is talking about his friendships with Tony Curtis, Cary Grant and Steve McQueen and shares stories from both on and off the set of his films. Surprise, he is also a spokesman for Princess Cruise Lines, so it is actually commercial too!

 

February 20th         Happy President’s Day !

Today as we continue sailing down the New Zealand coastline, the oceans are no longer smooth as glass but mildly choppy. It is warm and we have kept our balcony door open most of the day. We get the sun in the afternoon but it still nice to sit on the balcony. We have seen Australasian gannets, Royal Albatross and Oyster catchers but have not seen any Yellow-eyed Penguins yet. They say it is possible along this coast. I had another Photo Elements class and my head is spinning from it. I hope I retain some of the information.

The Evening Show times were changed so we caught the end of it. The entertainer was Peter Paki, a New Zealand variety entertainer.  At the end  he did a Haka impersonation which was rather funny, and he sang the Haka song in English. I’m glad we missed the rest of the show however, it was marginal at best.

Through the night we will continue on our course to Fiordland National Park. We are scheduled to arrive around 7am.

Auckland, New Zealand

February 18                HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZEKE

Below is a picture of the rock with the hole in the wall.  Some people actually paid money to take a ‘tour’ through it!

We arrived here in the City of Sails at 7:30am. The sail in was very interesting with the fog laying over the cliffs. Below is a picture of the Auckland Sky Tower at first sighting, then just prior to docking.

Notice how clear it became in about 15 minutes. It was absolutely clear when we were at the dock. Now look at the pictures below what happened 15 minutes later. It lasted for about 30 minutes then cleared up and was beautiful all day.

We left the ship shortly after we were cleared by immigration. Our plans for the day were to visit the Auckland Zoo and go to the top of the Sky Tower. The city had ambassadors walking or riding Segway's, and we needed their assistance to find the bus to take us to the zoo. The city bus cost the two of us $6.80 each way, we won’t complain about RTA prices at home. Of course gasoline was nearly $8.00 per gallon. The entrance fee to the zoo cost $36.00 senior rate which is only for residents of New Zealand, but the woman let us in anyway. We walked for nearly four hours, seeing a lot of animals.  Below is a picture of the biggest hippo we have ever seen.

Afterwards we caught the bus back to city center and went to the Sky Tower. It is over 1,076 feet tall, the tallest man-made structure in New Zealand and 15th in the world, with view of up to 52 miles in every direction. It has 1029 steps to the main observation level, needless to say we took the high speed elevator. The main observation deck is 610 feet high. Below is a picture of Betty on the observation deck, over her right shoulder is our ship.

We then went up to the Sky Deck which is 772 feet tall. A fellow passenger, Lorna Gray, did the jump from the Sky Deck as part of a charity event for Make A Wish in England. She survived and raised over $5000.

After viewing the city from this height we decided to look for a place to have dinner. We walked around the downtown area but ended up at the Americas Cup Harbor where an actual Americas Cup sail boat is on display. We went to Danny Doogan’s for dinner, they had a special Roast and a Pint for $20. The beers were great and on the beer list. It is amazing what beers cost here, on average they are $10.00 a pint! (However that did not slow Bill down.) We strolled along the harbor so I could smoke a cigar before returning to the ship to catch the show “Haka the Legend Folkloric Show” featuring the songs, music,dance and costumes of the Maori culture. Of all the Pacific islands, I think the Maori culture is the most interesting.  

Exhausted from the day we returned to our cabin to watch a little TV before falling asleep. We missed the sail out at 11:00pm, never even heard the departure horn blow. The ship sailed north to do a semi-circumnavigation of New Zealand from the northern end of the North Island to the southern end of the South Island on our way to the Fiordlands for a day of scenic cruising. New Zealand is one of our favorite countries, there is so much diversity in culture and topography.

Bay of Islands, New Zealand

February 17, Substitution  Port

One of the most socially and culturally significant locations in New Zealand, the Bay of Islands is possibly more famous for being exquisitely, even breathtakingly beautiful. In many ways, it is the cradle of modern New Zealand, for it was here in 1840 that the British made a pact with Maori chieftains which changed the course of the country’s history. The treaty of Waitangi was signed here, guaranteeing Maori tribal authority, enabling the peaceful purchase of land and granting the British the right to govern the country.

The sail in was beautiful, the sky was blue and pink on all around the ship. The beautiful islands were covered in mist. It is only 62 degrees this morning but forecast to go to 68 degrees, a welcome change from the humid 80’s. The pictures below do not do it justice. The top one is taken aft and the other from the port side of the ship.

We went ashore around 9:00 am, the day was absolutely beautiful, 70 and partly cloudy. We spent half the day in Paihia, New Zealand visiting shops, museums and the library where Betty updated her Kindle Fire. We then took the ferry to Russell, New Zealand, an historic seaside village. Below is a picture of New Zealand’s oldest operating petrol station -  no prices were posted so we couldn’t compare. The picture on the right is a whaling boat from the late 19th century.

For lunch we went to the Duke of Marlborough Hotel and Restaurant on the waterfront. Our view from our table was amazing and very relaxing. Betty ordered a Cuban sandwich, after getting it she said apparently they were never to Cuba or Miami. I ordered Fish and Chips and it was excellent.  I had a few beers which I will update on the beer list. We finally decided we better get the ferry back to Paihia, New Zealand and take the shuttle to the ship. As luck would have it the line for the tender was very long so I went to the Bay of Island Yacht Club and had another good New Zealand beer.

As we left it started to rain, guess we were lucky. We are now on our way to Auckland, New Zealand which is only 80 miles away so looks like the Captain will be doing loops during the night.