Report About Our Stop in Sydney

 What a day it was. Perhaps the best yet.

We had to be dressed and topside by 6:00 if we wanted to witness this great event.So we were up and on deck in lots of time but we were surprised to see hundreds of passengers ahead of us.

This arrival has been described as the most beautiful sail in so the Harmony choir arranged to sing as the ship passed the Sydney Opera House. They choose to sing Waltzing Matilda

and Australia is Still My Home. Because of our early arrival the choir had to be ready to sing at 6 am, therefore the dress of the morning was Princess Bathrobes. Their new name was the Bathrobe brigade. Surprisingly it looked as if all 138 of them were there.

The sunrise over the opera house did not disappoint.

Kind fellow passengers took my picture so I have proof that I was there.

Before going to breakfast we took many more pictures of the city skyline. We even spotted the Canadian embassy.

We went to Horizon court and had breakfast and then returned to our room to get ready for our day. The forecast on the stateroom TV said it was raining but it was not! Even though it was still early the temperature was already up to 22 degrees so I decided to wear a sundress. It was a wise decision because it was around 36 by the time we returned to the ship.

Because this is Saturday it is "Duck day" so we had to hide a duck before we headed off of the ship. This time it was placed on the floor between sofas across from The Wheelhouse Bar.

This is the beginning of another segment of the cruise. About 100 passengers are leaving us and about the same number of passengers will arrive. Because of that there are welcome banners in the atrium

When we were allowed to disembark we were met by tourist guides and the provided us with a map and told us where we might find Christmas tree ornaments. So we headed out and soon found our way to an area called The Rocks. Apparently there is a craft market every Saturday and Sunday and we were in luck because this was Saturday. It was an amazing market with stalls of everything you could imagine and with every price range. Everything from 5 dollars to hundreds of dollars. It was very well organized and very walkable.

One stall was called Seven Oaks which is also the name of a shopping center in Abbotsford.

Another sold interestingly shaped fried potatoes.

One business was called The Tea Cozy. My friend Margrett came to mind right away. They served many kinds of tea and they sold home made tea cozys, most were knitted.

This sign was the most amusing. It read 

Welcome to the Argyle Oracle.

Please come in and buy something really expensive/

I found 3 very nice items for the tree. They are magnets that I can convert and they are done in wonderful aboriginal art. One is the shape of the continent, one is the shape of the Opera House and the third is in the shape of a boomerang. 

We continued to walk and found ourselves under the bridge. A different view for sure.

I checked out a few places looking for a currency exchange and no luck. They are not opened on Saturday. We were lucky that the craft market was operating and not so lucky with finding a currency exchange. 

We decided to check out the other direction from the ship but we were soon tired and Ken has trouble walking on cement for long so we headed back to the ship but not before finding another souvenir.

We had lunch in Horizon court, dining rooms are closed on port days.

Then we had a little rest and enjoyed the view from our balcony. We are lucky to have the Opera House on our port side. Wonderful view of the harbour and the ferries coming and going.

We dressed for dinner and presented ourselves at the Bordeau Dining room. We were given a wonderful table for 8 which was right at a port side window. The wait staff is excellent and we had good dinner companions so we asked to be assigned to this table. I was not cold and I was not wearing a sweater or a shawl. The dining room head told us that the problem with the Provence would be corrected, but we are glad for the change.

One of our table companions told us about the amazing ferry service. She used the ferry to get to and from the zoo. The ticket for the zoo and the ferry ride was only 15.00. Apparently that service is available for many of the attractions around the harbour. I wish we had known about that because we definitely would have taken advantage of it. I find that the tourist people do not really promote the things to do near the ship. Instead they tell you about excursions that are costly and hours away. Not everyone wants to be gone all day, not all of us want to walk for hours and not all of us want to spend a hundred dollars or more at each port. 

Because of the great location of our balcony and because sail away is not until well after eight we decided to skip the comedian show and spend the time on our balcony.

It was a magical evening. Warm summer breezes and much activity to enjoy made it so wonderful.  The sky filled with amazing dark clouds and mother nature put on a display of lightning and thunder. The thunder was loud and the sounds echoed off of the amazing high rise buildings that surrounded the harbour. Later we brought out a blanket and just enjoyed the evening.

Then at around 9:00 much to our surprise we were treated to a fireworks display. It was wonderful. Then it was repeated again about 15 minutes later. 

I googled it and learned that this happens every Saturday night so we were so lucky to be here on a Saturday and so blessed to have the perfect place to view all of the festivities.

Oh yes, the duck was still there!