Seen the World...
It's official; I have now been to all 7 continents of the world. This has been an amazing past 3 years so far with all my travels. Australia has been wonderful. I arrived in Sydney, Australia on the night of Valentine's Day and literally dropped my bags, rinsed, and went out for a night on the town. There were only 2 of us, but we were determined to have a good time. According to my schedule, I was supposed to be on the ship all day the next day so I wanted to see the nightlife since I thought it would be my only night out. 
The next day we boarded our new home on board the ms Amsterdam that was strategically docked in an area called 'The Rocks" harbor right between the Sydney harbor bridge and the Sydney Opera House. I was overwhelmed. I was here. Even as I woke up that morning in my hotel room, I had an amazing view of the skyline with the bridge and the opera house outside my window. We scrambled to get our rooms on board and get a little situated. We managed to get through the red tape and get our I.D.s so we could go out in port for the day. Well those who at least weren't scheduled to man the ship. The 3 of us stuck on board unpacked and got settled and then had a notion to try and get out on land. It worked. I guess we weren't in the system just yet. I went out that evening for a good meal and some social time in the city and then went out later again for a night on the town and had an absolute blast. The next morning I was up bright and early to experience the city. I walked around and the vibe was just amazing. I went to the opera house to see it up close and personal. I didn't get a chance to go inside, but just to be there was amazing. We strolled through the city, which had the bustling energy of NYC, but a coolness of Paris or Vancouver about it. I DEFINITELY have to visit this place again and investigate it more. We went to a place called Pitt Street where there was a busy outdoor shopping area. 
Much like the Third Street Promenade in L.A. I wish we 'd had more time. I would definitely like to have seen and experienced more of this great city. I did make it over to the bridge. We had a bridge climb scheduled for when we were supposed to be here, but it had to be cancelled because we wouldn't be here on the day it was happening due to our schedule change. There was a pillar you could freely walk up into for about $8.00 and that was just fine. The views of the harbor and the actual bridge were amazing. I'm sure the experience of climbing the bridge would be fantastic, but there was no way we could arrange something in the time we had. We left the city in the afternoon and sailed for Cairns. It would take 2 sea days to get there. Cairns was a lovely resort town. Not much to do there. There were lots of tourist and beach shops. It really reminded me of Hilo, Hawaii. A resort town definitely and supposedly a great place to snorkel. I, however, was battling a cold and didn't want to aggravate it by going under water. I heard from other sources though that because of the rain, the snorkeling wasn't good that day since the water became so murky. We just hung out at an Irish pub where I got a lovely dish of Guinness Stew. It was pretty much like Irish stew, but the sauce was prepared with the famous Irish brew called Guinness. We left that night and sailed for our next Australian port of Darwin. It would take 3 days to get there. Today I sit on board in Darwin because of our in port manning duties. Oh well. The sun is hot though, so I went out for a bit, but only a bit. Whoa! For now I say goodbye to Aussieland, but I hope to be back here really soon.
The next day we boarded our new home on board the ms Amsterdam that was strategically docked in an area called 'The Rocks" harbor right between the Sydney harbor bridge and the Sydney Opera House. I was overwhelmed. I was here. Even as I woke up that morning in my hotel room, I had an amazing view of the skyline with the bridge and the opera house outside my window. We scrambled to get our rooms on board and get a little situated. We managed to get through the red tape and get our I.D.s so we could go out in port for the day. Well those who at least weren't scheduled to man the ship. The 3 of us stuck on board unpacked and got settled and then had a notion to try and get out on land. It worked. I guess we weren't in the system just yet. I went out that evening for a good meal and some social time in the city and then went out later again for a night on the town and had an absolute blast. The next morning I was up bright and early to experience the city. I walked around and the vibe was just amazing. I went to the opera house to see it up close and personal. I didn't get a chance to go inside, but just to be there was amazing. We strolled through the city, which had the bustling energy of NYC, but a coolness of Paris or Vancouver about it. I DEFINITELY have to visit this place again and investigate it more. We went to a place called Pitt Street where there was a busy outdoor shopping area. 
Much like the Third Street Promenade in L.A. I wish we 'd had more time. I would definitely like to have seen and experienced more of this great city. I did make it over to the bridge. We had a bridge climb scheduled for when we were supposed to be here, but it had to be cancelled because we wouldn't be here on the day it was happening due to our schedule change. There was a pillar you could freely walk up into for about $8.00 and that was just fine. The views of the harbor and the actual bridge were amazing. I'm sure the experience of climbing the bridge would be fantastic, but there was no way we could arrange something in the time we had. We left the city in the afternoon and sailed for Cairns. It would take 2 sea days to get there. Cairns was a lovely resort town. Not much to do there. There were lots of tourist and beach shops. It really reminded me of Hilo, Hawaii. A resort town definitely and supposedly a great place to snorkel. I, however, was battling a cold and didn't want to aggravate it by going under water. I heard from other sources though that because of the rain, the snorkeling wasn't good that day since the water became so murky. We just hung out at an Irish pub where I got a lovely dish of Guinness Stew. It was pretty much like Irish stew, but the sauce was prepared with the famous Irish brew called Guinness. We left that night and sailed for our next Australian port of Darwin. It would take 3 days to get there. Today I sit on board in Darwin because of our in port manning duties. Oh well. The sun is hot though, so I went out for a bit, but only a bit. Whoa! For now I say goodbye to Aussieland, but I hope to be back here really soon.
posted by Chris | 12:12 AM
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