Sydney, Australia February 28-29

Sydney Opera Houaw

As in Auckland, we arrive in Sydney early - at 6:00 AM. This is necessary because of the ferry traffic during rush hours in the morning. The ferry traffic is the second busiest in the world, exceeded only by Hong Kong. The Queen Elizabeth is parked just across from the Opera House, in downtown Sydney.

Wombat

Penguin

We have rearranged our side-trips because Cunard is having a special dinner tonight (off the ship) for World Voyage travelers. We will be in Sydney for two days. The first day we leave early for the Blue Mountains. This trip takes us away from Sydney, into the spectacular landscape West of the city. Our first stop is the Featherdale Wildlife Park which houses most of the animals and birds native to Australia. In addition to Koalas (which are not bears as it turns out, but marsupials), there are wombats, Tasmanian Devils, Dingos, Kangaroos, Wallabies, Emus, and Penguins in addition to the variety of birds and lizards.

Kangroo with a "Joey"

The three sisters

From the wildlife park, we drive into the mountains - an area that has been compared to the Grand Canyon, to view the rock formations and vistas. Unlike the Grand Canyon, the floor of the valley is actually rain forest, so it is very dense and green down below. After viewing the rock formation called The Three Sisters (the name is based on an Aboriginal myth), we have lunch in a revolving restaurant. After that we take the world’s steepest perpendicular railway 700 feet down to the rain forest below. After walking on wooden platforms through the forest, we arrive at a cable car that takes us back to the top. Even with some traffic problems (accident on the highway), we are back at the ship in time to change to formal attire for our dinner at the town hall.

Sumner and Jean in the Blue Mountains

It is an impressive management of logistics - transporting 800 guests from the ship to the town hall, using a fleet of buses. The main reception hall is large enough for all of us, seated at 100 tables, with a large pipe organ taking up one complete wall at one end. Dinner and wine are served, and a 20 piece band with a singer entertains us during dinner (after the pipe organ, and a choir of little girls have finished). There is room for dancing as well. We are greeted by the head of Cunard - who has flown to Sydney to be with us. Clearly this is the way Cunard encourages customer loyalty.  We are amazed at the number of people who have taken multiple world cruses with Cunard - sometimes as many 8 to 10.

The next day we have a tour of Sydney. We are guided through the areas of the city, and out to Bondi beach - the closest beach for surfing to Sydney. After our tour, and a quick lunch in the Pub on the Queen, we walk through the Rocks - an area of Sydney close to the docks - that has preserved some of the old buildings and narrow streets.

This evening we will be transported to the Opera House for a performance of Puccini’s Turandot. The ship will sail at midnight, after we return. The production was impressive - as was the “new” ending to the opera - Puccini never lived to finish the opera.







About 1,000 people are coming and going from the Queen Elizabeth in Sydney. Many new faces on the ship. We learn that the first day in Sydney was the hottest they have had all year. Being in the Blue Mountains the first day meant that we experienced considerably cooler temperatures during the day. The second day was the wettest. We were glad to have our raincoats for our trip to the opera.  The ship sails at midnight from Sydney - a lovely harbor. We stay awake to watch. In two days we’ll be in Brisbane.