Welcome, from the Land Down Under! When we were planning our sail around the world, Australia was on our list of stops. We were so looking forward to sailing into Sydney Harbour, passing the Opera House, and the Harbour Bridge. Unfortunately for us, at the time, Australia was “Covid Closed.” So, this current journey is not aboard TRANCE, it’s on the Viking ocean ship Orion, which will be circumnavigating the continent with 2 stops in Indonesia.
The captain and crew arrived in Australia 6:30am on Tuesday, February 24. We spent about 21 hours in planes “sailing” through the air, Philadelphia to Dallas to Sydney. Our original flight, which was cancelled, was to depart on Monday the 23, but due to an arriving blizzard that dropped almost a foot of snow at our house, we were able to switch our flights to leave a day early.
The day was spent walking around the CBD (Central Business District) area of Sydney. From our hotel we walked to the Customs House to see a 3D model of Sydney under a glass floor.
Our next destination was the Sydney Tower Eye. The tallest building in the city, with an enclosed observation deck that has a 360° view.
Lunch was on the agenda next. We stopped at Anason, a Turkish tapas restaurant within the Barangaroo wharf area.
Next stop, to walk to the crest of the Harbour Bridge.
An UNESCO World Heritage Site
Total miles walked 6.9.
Day 2. The remaining of our group arrived today, Ken, Sheila, Shirley and Wendy. We spent the day aboard a double decker hop on hop off city tour bus, that also included a ferry boat ride with a stop at Watson’s Bay. We disembarked the ferry there and had lunch at Doyle’s on the Beach.
After returning to Circular Quay, wharf area where the ferries are, as well as a stop for the rail system, we walked to The Opera House.
Construction on the Opera House began on March 1, 1959 and was completed October 20, 1973. The Sydney Opera House has a total of 1,056,006 roof tiles on it. Inside, the foyers were surprisingly minimalistic with concrete walls and ceilings. Yet, we hear inside the five concert halls, it’s majestic.
In the evening we took the night time bus tour around Sydney and across the Harbour Bridge.
The city architecture is quite diverse, with the historic sandstone buildings surrounded by the contemporary styled ones. Many Sydney streets are lined with tall trees, also it is hillier than we expected, and there are steps in many areas.
Total miles walked 1.9
Day 3. Dan and I along with Ken and Sheila participated in the morning walking tour to The Rocks section of Sydney. This area is the historic birthplace of modern European settlement.
Afterwards our group gathered to get on the hop on, hop off bus big bus again to the Sydney Fish Market for lunch. It was fabulous!
For dinner we made reservations at Tapavino, a Spanish tapas restaurant, located on a cobblestone alley. The food and wine were excellent!
Total miles walked 5.0.
#MyVikingStory
Sailing Trance 
Your descriptions and pics are awesome as always! Wish we could be a frog in your pockets did you bring the Garmin so we could track you 😎
LikeLike
Thanks Joy! You can track the ships AIS here: https://www.cruisemapper.com/ships/Viking-Orion-1334
LikeLike
So glad you made it to Australia. We were there in 1995, and one of the fond memories was seeing the winners of a national quilt show being displayed in one of the historical buildings at Sydney’s original waterfront. The quilts depicted the “Colors of Australia” – it was truly amazing with everything from coral reefs, jungle scenes, the red center rocks to desert vistas. Hope you can also visit some other areas, but it is like trying to see the USA in a short time. Will you be able to see any of NZ while you’re in the area? Not to be missed if possible. We rented an RV in Christchurch and drove around the South Island – discovered our US AAA membership was good there, got lots of free maps, found free campsites and many great tourist spots and hikes. Have wonderful travels and keep on doing it while you can. As you know, the experiences and memories are priceless!!!
Patty Tompkins
LikeLike
Glad to hear from you Patty! I like that on many of our posts you have comments of memories that you were there too! The quilt show you saw sounded amazing! I was tempted to go a quilt shop in Sydney but it was way to far of walk. During our stop in Bali we may get a chance to see batik fabrics being printed. The cruise ship does not stop in New Zealand, guess that will be for another journey.
Marlene
LikeLike