Heading Off To The Downunder

We’re off again! The bucket-list item is to step on all seven continents.

Downtown Sydney

We’ve done four (North America, South America, Europe, and Antarctica) and decided that this year’s big trip would be a visit to Australia and New Zealand to bring the total to five.

Royal Botanical Garden

When we initially started to plan this trip last year, we weren’t really sure how to approach it. Australia is a huge (about the same size as the United States) and diverse (geographically and culturally) country. The likelihood that this could be our only visit “downunder” meant that, to see a lot of what these countries have to offer, it would take more time and money than usual.
Initially we started looking at renting a camper van that seemed to be very popular and driving the 9,000 plus miles around the coastal perimeter with occasional dashes into the interior when there was something interesting to see, and doing all of this over a 2-3 month period.

Beautiful Flowers

Our Ship for Next Week

This made sense after looking at wireless coverage maps showing network coverage concentrated along the entire coastline, but very little in the outback interior. After perusing several blogs of people who had done such a journey, we figured we had a plan. However, after digging into the details and talking with several people who had visited and warned that we would be disappointed with the returns for our efforts, we searched for an alternative.
Plan B fell into our laps when we found a 32-day Royal Caribbean cruise that circumnavigated the continent and included 7 ports of call in New Zealand. We would be able to see many of these countries’ highlights from the ports of call and extended shore excursions.
Our travel agent came up with a pre-cruise land tour that included Sydney and surrounding area with an interior visit to Alice Springs and Ayer’s Rock. She worked out the details and we were set.

The Sydney Opera House

The Famous Harbour Bridge

On T-day (travel day) daughter-in-law Kristin delivered us to the New Orleans airport. We were flying to Dallas to catch a 16-hour nonstop Qantas flight to Sydney. It was going to be a really long day, and the idea that we would leave on Thursday and arrive on Saturday only seemed to add to its length.

It took some explaining for Jane to understand that crossing the International Date Line would do away with Friday. Our trip to Dallas wasn’t good. First, we were about 30 minutes late leaving New Orleans. Have you ever noticed how airline pilots always tell you that “we should be underway in 10 or 15 minutes,” only to repeat that announcement in 10 or 15 minutes?

Pronounce This!

No sweat though, we had a 2½ layover in Dallas. We were nearing the end of our flight when the plane started to fly in big circles. Yep, we were in a holding pattern due to a big storm approaching the Dallas area which had things backed up, but “we should be able to approach in about 20 minutes,” announced the pilot.

Coming Into Sydney Harbour

Twenty minutes later another 10 to 20-minute announcement was made. Finally we approached and landed (HARD!) an hour late. Landing is one thing, but taxiing to the terminal at DFW always seem to take forever, and we were anxious to get to the Qantas gate, having discovered that we were sitting 3 rows apart for the flight to Sydney (our seat assignment differed from what our agent had confirmed).
We needed to get this corrected for such a long flight. Scrambling through the terminal with Jane in high heels, we hopped aboard a tram to the international terminal and our gate. It was storming violently and lightening was striking all around the area.
We were one stop away from our exit (the last stop, of course), when the tram’s tinny computer voice announced that the train was shutting down due to the bad weather, and passengers should exit and walk to their gates.

Mrs. Mcquarie's Chair

Macquarie's Point

We bolted off the tram and scurried along the concourse. Luckily our gate was located halfway down the terminal so we didn’t have to run the entire length. As for the seating issue, a young Aussie named Lance agreed to swap seats so we could sit together.
We were over an hour late leaving DFW, but we had a really nice flight. It was our first flight on a jumbo Airbus 380, and it was fine. We had upgraded to premium economy which got us bigger seats and space and a better level of service which Qantas does a great job in providing. That is, the flight was great right up until the customer service manager came and told us that our checked bags were still in Dallas.
Seems the weather shut down ground crew operations and our bags didn’t reach the plane. But Qantas handled this well with necessity bags, a $160 AU credit card, and the promise that our bags would arrive tomorrow.
We left satisfied and caught our transfer to our hotel.

At Bondi Beach

Harbour Bridge

It was only 0800 when we checked in so we thought we would walk around to exercise and sightsee. Our first stop was at Sydney’s Royal Botanical Garden. The garden was established in 1816 and has over 67,100 plants from around the world and is next to the National Herbarium with over a million species preserved, including some collected by botanist Sir Joseph Banks aboard the Endeavor, dating back to 1770. We saw many of the original government buildings that were built by New South Wales governor, Lachian Macquarie, who ruled from 1810-1821 and was responsible for introducing much new development and reforms to the colony. Winding our way down towards the Sydney Opera House, we spotted our ship, Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas, moored at the Circular Quay on which we would circumnavigate the continent. We got some late lunch, perused some shops, and headed back to our hotel for the rest of the day. We turned in early hoping to reduce the jet lag we expected to encounter the next day.

Difficult to Construct

Jet lag or too much sleep found both of us awake at 0330. No use fighting it, so we got up to in-room coffee where Capt. Larry worked on the blog and Jane read and organized the documents we would need for today’s tours. At 0800 we headed down to the lobby to meet the driver of our first tour, a tour of Sydney’s highlights. The driver arrived at the appointed time and we found that we would touring with 3 other couples, all American. We saw many of the Sydney area highlights including the Royal Botanical Garden (again), Darling Harbour, Hyde Park, Bondi Beach, the Harbor Bridge, and the Rocks, which gave us a lot of information about Sydney’s history. Our half-day tour of Sydney introduced us to many interesting areas that we realized were located relatively close to our hotel. When our tour ended, we headed back to our room, had a quick lunch, and headed out for our scheduled tour of the Sydney Opera House.

The Opera House

No first time visit to Sydney would be complete without a tour of the Sydney Opera House, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a complex that the city is obviously extremely proud of. Located on a headland adjacent to the famous Harbour Bridge and overlooking the Parramatta River, the complex is the crown jewel of a harbor walk area that is enjoyed by tourists and locals alike. But construction of the site was not without controversy. Construction began March 1, 1959 under the guidance of Danish architect Jørn Utzon who won an international design competition. Originally projected to be completed in 3 years at a cost of $3 million, the project encountered numerous delays and cost overruns due to the engineering and construction problems that had to be solved. Opening in October, 1973, at a cost of $102 million, the multi-venue opera house is host to opera, ballet, concert, and theatrical performances. Over 1.2 million people attend more than 1,500 performances each year, making it one of the busiest performance venues in the world, and additionally, the site toured by over 7 million visitors each year. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour which took us into various halls and provided us with interesting information on this distinctive structure.

Main Concert Hall

Opera House Roof Tiles

After we finished our tour of the opera house, we migrated over to the Rocks area which featured open boutiques and markets on the weekends. Jane had read where a German Oktoberfest was featured in one area of the Rocks during September and October. We followed the street boutiques and stumbled upon the Lowenbrau Restaurant which headquartered the Oktoberfest celebration. We were seated in front of a German band and ordered our supper- Pork Knuckle with Mashed Potatoes and Sauerkraut for Capt. Larry, the Sausage Sampler Platter with Sauerkraut for Jane, with beer all around. Our meals arrived and we struggled to consume it all (they don’t provide take home boxes). After we finished our meal, we roamed through more street boutiques and an open air market before heading back to the hotel for the evening. It was a great first couple of days for our Australian experience.