Day 37 - Friday Feb 3 Sydney, Australia Day 3

Sydney Day 3 photos

position at 6:45 am: S33:51:31 latitude E151:12:37 longitude
(Sydney, Australia)
temperature: 68F, cloudy
distance since FLL: 13,222 miles

We awoke to a cool, gray, rainy morning. It was a very pleasant relief after the hot days we have just had. We were up just before room service delivery time and decided to stay indoors for breakfast today. We are happy to report that after the disappointments of yesterday that Clay received Raisin Bran (2 boxes as requested) and Debbie received a chocolate croissant! Hurray! Debbie also ordered a ham & cheese omelette and an English Muffin, just in case. It looked like a good start.
We headed out towards Circular Quay and the bus stops for our last 1/2 day here and our planned Bondi Explorer Bus trip. We got down there early so we could window shop. Debbie has been thinking about her souvenir and is thinking that an Australian Argyle diamond would be perfect. She would like to shop for a loose one and have it added to her 10-year anniversary pendant to commemorate our trip and our 2nd 10 years together. We'll see. There is a shop right near the bus stops that has loose Australian opals on display that has her interest, but we have yet to be there when it is open.

We were sitting under the bus shelter when the first Sydney Explorer Bus came up. The driver chatted us up and we discussed our plans. He made a very good suggestion for us to take a short walk on the Bondi Explorer route and still get back in plenty of time. The Bondi buses come 30 minutes apart vs. 20 minutes for the Sydney Explorer. The Bondi Explorer also takes 2 hours to make the loop. The Sydney Explorer is a 33-kilometre loop and the the Bondi is a 30-kilometre loop. When the driver for the Bondi Explorer Bus pulled up he looked at us suspiciously. When Debbie pulled out her 3-day Sydney Pass and put it in the machine. He snorted and said, "I knew you had to be prepaid, else you'd never have bothered to come out in this." Apparently, the Aussies are very averse to a day without sunshine! We found the weather to be just drizzly and overcast and cool and comfortable. But, from the reduction in traffic and Sydneysiders out bustling about on foot, you would have thought a blizzard had struck! It was amazing the difference between yesterday and today and we are not just talking about weather. Do these people honestly stay home if it rains? Evidently, they do! We developed a new-found liking for the city today and wish it could have been like this the whole time! Now, it did cut into the views. But, that made for classic vacation moments for us, when the bus driver stops and says "on a clear day...". We loved it. The Bondi Explorer, unlike the Sydney Explorer, has a couple of photo op stops. This is a very nice touch, especially since the next bus is 30-minutes away. The first photo op stop was at Rose Bay Convent, which is actually now a school. It would have been fantastic views back to Sydney, on a clear day. We got out and took the misty photos anyway. We can add it to our extensive, "on a clear day" travel shots collection. We consulted with this driver and he confirmed our previously suggested bus departure and walk. So we got off his bus at The Gap Park and walked back to the previous stop in Watsons Bay overlooking the original Doyle's Seafood. Sadly, it was far too early for seafood and Doyle's was closed. Fortunately, there was an ice cream shop directly in front of the bus stop and the timing was perfect for a cone of Hokey Pokey for Clay. (The Hokey Pokey in New Zealand was far superior!) Then the next bus was there. We got on and it turned out that the stop we had walked from was also one of the photo op stops. Off again. The driver did let Debbie and another passenger who happened to also have to return to reboard Voyager out for a quick couple of photos at Bondi Beach as well. Of course, there were only 3 couples on the bus and it was the second bus of the day which had only had us on it, so a minute or two was not likely to impact anyone. By now, Debbie and Clay had thoroughly discussed her diamond souvenir plan and it turned out that the center of commerce in Argyle diamonds was a small shop we had buzzed through in the QVB yesterday. Debbie had been ignored but Clay had been approached by a man in charge who had offered loose diamonds! We checked our literature and found a couple of other, closer shops that we could exit the bus early and walk by on the way back to the ship so that became the new plan. We also very much enjoyed the suburbs of Sydney that we drove through this morning. Much more than we liked Sydney itself the last 2 days. We did not find loose Argyle diamonds at the first shop, but that and the second shop was were we learned that we had missed our opportunity at Mondial's for a selection of loose Argyle diamonds. We saw a small selection of them at the second shop and also learned that we will probably not find a stone like what Debbie has in mind for any thing close to the amount of money she is thinking of spending. Oh, well we will have to keep our eyes and minds open and see what else presents itself. We did make it back to the shop by the bus stop with the loose opals. We quickly did a lot of souvenir/gift purchasing. All in all, a very enjoyable morning. Sydney today was lacking everything that we had disliked about it earlier in the week. It is very strange how weather affects people. The streets and cafes were practically deserted during the same time period today as they were packed, noisy and overwhelming during the day before. That plus not sweltering made all the difference in how we liked it.

We went up to the Aussie seafood barbie on the pool deck for the sail away at 1pm. It was still cool and overcast, but it was alright. Once we reached the heads, it was out in to the Tasman Sea and suddenly it was very windy and chilly. The seas are not calm anymore. Everyone got run off the pool deck by the wind. We relaxed and caught up with things in the cabin and then it was time for exercise classes for Debbie. Total body toning was pretty well attended and Jacquie held a winnowing class. It is not likely to be as heavily attended next time! Then basic yoga, since the ship was rocking pretty good, it was very basic and relaxing. A good class. Tonight is formal. There is the segment's block party at 6pm and the captain's welcome reception at 6:30pm. We had our most heavily attended block party yet! We had Staff Captain Daniel Green on our hall this time. It was fun catching up with him. We have new neighbors in both the cabins directly across the hall from us. None of our immediate neighbors from this side of the hall attended. We skipped the welcome reception, so hope that the captain did not have any exciting announcements that will not be publicized in other venues. Clay got to have 6 oysters on the half shell again. This time they were Australian rock oysters. They were much, much smaller than the New Zealand version which Clay really liked. But, he enjoyed these too. Then he had a fish the waiter told us had been purchased in Tahiti, so it was not local. Debbie had pasta and steak again. But, she did have the steak off the main menu instead of the simplicity menu. Branching out! We watched "Shopgirl" on TV and then to bed. Tomorrow is a sea day and Debbie is keeping her fingers crossed that she can make exercise classes and get some laundry done because it is pretty rough this evening.

Sydney Day 3 photos