Post World Cruise (3rd) in Sydney and Departure for Home Day (Feb 12th and 13th)

Post World Cruise (3^rd) in Sydney and Departure

Day #38-Sydney day #3

My first night off the ship and I found that I was still feeling I was being rocked to sleep by the ship at night. I love that feeling.

 

After having a nice breakfast at the sumptuous breakfast buffet at the Intercontinental Hotel, I walked over to Circular Quay then, up to Harbor Bridge. Along the way, I could not take my eyes off of the stunning Sydney Opera House. That is one of my favorite structures. It has such a beautiful design.

It was tricky to find the multiple sets of staircases leading up to the harbor bridge. I walked through the intricate maze of streets in the Rocks district passing some of the oldest buildings in one of the first districts of the city.

I was happy to finally reach the top. In all, it took about 20 to 25 minutes from my hotel. This includes a few stops to look at the map to verify I was headed in the right direction.

As I walked along the bridge, I just stared at the glistening opera house, so pristine, housed in its own little world it's a little I was surrounded by glowing, iridescent blue water, seagulls flying about, tourists along the harbor front, happily posing for photos in front of this magnificent structure.

I decided to walk half way across the bridge, a walk which was approximately 15 minutes in duration. I slowly strolled back, descending various staircases while exploring the cafés, shops, open market, and food stalls, in the trendy Rocks area.

It took me forever to locate the rocks Discovery Museum nestled away among the labyrinth of streets in the rocks area.

The museum shares the history of pre-European Time to the present day using interactive displays and four permanent exhibitions that include discussions of the port, the colony, and the activism during the 70s that succeeded in preserving the historical Rocks area. Included were exhibits about the gadigal people, the colony built by British convicts and European settlers, the thriving port filled with merchant ships and new immigrants, and finally how the rocks has flourished as a treasured precinct.  Importantly, my tour guide from two days ago recommended this museum as one of her favorites and believe it or not, there is no admission fee.

 

Next, I decided to take a slow stroll up George Street, one of the main arteries of Sydney, lined with many shops, cafés, administrative buildings, and government centers and more.

 

30 minutes later, at Liverpool and Dixie streets, I found Chinatown. I was a bit disappointed because it was much smaller than what I had expected. I suppose I was very spoiled by the vast extensive Chinatown in Singapore. There were no more than three blocks with mostly Chinese restaurants and a couple of souvenir shops. Singapore is Chinatown is composed of street after street replete with large merchandise-filled stores and shops with only a few restaurants nestled in between the merchandise. Although this was distinctively Chinese with all of the red lanterns, it almost wasn't worth the long walk. However, I did enjoy my stroll on George Street. In the end I was so exhausted and had walked more than 18,000 steps, so I decided to sample the metro system. I bought a one-way city ticket for four dollars for  the 3 stops back to circular Quay.

 

I strolled around the area that staring at my beloved Sydney Opera House a bit more before heading back to my hotel at 4 PM. 

 

Dinner was with friends and friends of friends at seven chophouse five minute walk from the Intercontinental Hotel near Australia Square.

 

Conversation was lively and included mostly travel politics.

 

I headed home after 10:30 PM knowing that my wonderful 38 day adventure had come to an end.

I slept well for the second night in a row felt the movement of the ship, rocking me to sleep at night, in my hotel bed.

Sydney observations: fast-paced, cosmopolitan, ethnically diverse, polite people, expensive, beautiful city, spectacular architecture with the old juxtaposed with the new, lots of construction – apparently second only to Dubai in the number of construction cranes found in the city. In direct competition with the city of Melbourne for most cultural city in Australia.

Learned that voting is mandatory in Australia.

 February 13

Next day at airport: ran into guy who stood our group up for dinner Thursday. I just said hello. He asked me what I did for two days in Sydney. I asked him and he said I had a couple of drinks. SMH.

My first two pieces of luggage were included. I informed them I weigh less than 90 lbs. and do they give consideration if my luggage is overweight since the average passenger weighs 165. No of course. My third cost 200AUD plus extra 75 AUD for weighing 30.6 kilos---17 pounds overweight. Total about $193US total. Not too bad. I had invested so much time trying to get someone to take a suitcase (or two) off the ship for me when it returns to Ft Lauderdale April 30. Glad I decided to simply bring all of my luggage with me. That way I don't have to stress about retrieving bags at the port in Fort Lauderdale at the end of April. So many things could've gone wrong.

 

I spent almost a 30-hour travel day and a half complete with a 15 hour flight from Sydney, Australia to Dallas, Texas, a five hour layover, a three hour flight back to Miami. I crossed 14 time zones.