Leaving Sydney and crossing the Tasman Sea…

On Tuesday the 10^th, we needed to check out of the Marriott and move to the Rhapsody of the Seas. Normally, the Royal Caribbean fleet comes in to the pier to tie up, but this particular cruise had a conflict with The Rotterdam from the Norwegian Cruise lines…so Rhapsody was tied out to a buoy in Sydney harbor…right across from the Sydney Zoo. This meant we would need to board a tender …..a smaller boat to take us to the ship.  So packing was completed on Monday evening……so we could get up and use the morning on Tuesday as a ‘shopping day’. Which is exactly what we did.

 Doug and Randy set out to find coins which Doug collects and had thoroughly researched. Camille and Kay set off to find Opals…deemed a ‘must’ since almost all worldwide opals come from here….and other requests from home.  Based on a recommendation, we visited a jeweler specializing in Opals that was right down the street from the hotel.  They worked hard to educate us all on where Opals come from…..how to judge the value……and then basically convinced us to ‘buy what you find pleasing…not based so much on the value, and other’s opinions. So after a head start….Doug and Randy caught up with the girls…..and eventually, all shopping requirements were met.  (But we don’t want to ruin any future surprises!) The Girls headed off to the ‘Rocks’ for some additional items / requests. The Boys headed off in search of more coins…..Doug shopping and Randy navigating…but all on foot. New coins here are sold at the Post…or Post office….so we visited about 4 different ones in downtown Sydney. The last was the best….but still short a couple. So we headed to a Numismatics shop…..but they really only dealt in old coins. They referred us to M. R. Roberts….which is a hole in the wall shop a level below the street …..not easy to find…..but probably the place where we should have started. Almost all coins procured….we hustled back to the hotel to check out….grab a quick lunch…and take a ‘maxi-taxi’ to the dock to check in, clear customs, get our official cruise card / room keys…and head out to check out our domain for the next two weeks. All went smoothly…including getting a tax refund for local Aussie taxes…..which technically makes us exporters. Scary thought….

 We boarded the ship, passed security, and headed to our rooms. In an earlier Post I had shared that we were upgraded….so we both have balconies and larger rooms than we had planned. (While we are still thankful that they upgraded us…..the business behind it was to resell the lower cabins at a bargain price.  Since we booked a long time ago….we paid top dollar based on the economy today. We have run into several folks who really got a great last minute deal. But hey…no worries man! ) We explored the ship….signed up for some of the ‘deals’ on board ship (like unlimited Diet Coke for the cruise, bottled water at a discount, etc.) ….checked out a couple of the cocktail bars, and headed off to dinner to meet our wait staff. Luggage didn’t make it to the room until after we finished our ‘second seating’ dinner….so we unpacked and called it a night.

 Tuesday was the worst weather we have had…a little rain…wind and overcast. So a good day to spend shopping and getting settled on the ship. On Wednesday, we took a tender into Sydney…then took a ferry back to the Zoo….very close to the ship where we started.

 The Sydney Zoo is in an awesome location on the opposite side of the harbor from downtown Sydney. It is built on a hillside….so first activity was to ride a gondola lift up to the top. 

Wonderful ride over the top of the animal cages, etc….and a breathtaking view back across the harbor of the Opera Center , Harbor Bridge, and downtown. We tried to visit animals we may not see much in Milwaukee Zoo…so lots of Koala, Kangaroo, Wallaby, a birds eye view of giraffes, and a huge variety of birds. Perhaps the most time was spent watching some keepers put three Australian Pelicans through their paces. They followed them around and did tricks for fish…..and they are huge!  Fascinating! We probably saw 1/3 of the Zoo…and I doubt you could see it all in two days. We needed to get the 3 o’clock ferry back to circular quay, and then make sure we caught the last tender to the ship @ 4:30. We had to do a little shopping too……because all that diet coke needed was something to spice it up a bit. So the water bottles that came off the ship…were full again going back to the ship.  Imagine that!

 

Caught the 4:00 pm ferry…..passed ‘muster’ at 5:30….and headed up to watch the ship set sail. It was fascinating…to the boys…to watch the crew pull the anchors and set free from the buoy. Waving goodbye to Sydney for a couple weeks…we were on our way. Sydney is a very unique harbor….you sail in / out through two prominent cliffs which we visited on our bus tour…..but inside the protected harbor is huge. Like no other city….so we really enjoyed our view from the ship…and due to an abundance of wind, and it being the middle of summer….there were sailboats and races going on everywhere. One got so close, he warranted a toot on the ship’s horn from the captain. Standing on deck….that will make you jump! Said farewell to land around dusk…and headed across the Tasman Sea to the sounds of New Zealand on Valentines Day. As we compose here we are about 300 Nautical miles out….almost 1000 to NZ….so under some good steam….about 16 knots Traveling through ‘rough’ seas at 8 – 14 feet waves…..but relatively stable. All getting our sea legs..and getting dressed for our first formal night….after a day of vegging out at sea.

 Glad to hear that you are taking care of getting that snow pile down for our return….keep up the good work!