Happy Halloween

Sat. Oct. 31

Happy Halloween everyone. The atrium is decorated for the occasion and there will be some Halloween entertainment tonight.

Today is a sea day and we have been busy...we slept in, had a late brekkie, relaxed in a lounge by the pool, went to Maxtone-Graham's third lecture on the ocean liners past, took a brisk walk on the promenade deck, bought some t-shirts on sale, had lunch, took some pics of the Halloween decor and then needed a nap. We were exhausted. Now I am awake and thought I would catch up on my blogging. Have to squeeze it in before tapas and wine and dinner and Halloween fun. :)

Windy Wellington

Fri. Oct. 30

Today we visited Windy Wellington, a knickname given to the city because of the often windy conditions ( such as in Chicago). We arrived to a shower, but the clouds gave way to bright sunshine and coool temps:)
We missed seeing you Nicki, but Wellington gave us her sunny smile for our visit. Your city is lovely and the harbor quite a sight from Mt. Victoria.
We toured through the city and suburbs amazed at all the homes perched on the hillsides. Some of the homes actually have private trams to get to the front door. It truly is a city of hills, much like San Francisco.

We visited Lady Norwood Rose Garden and despite the fact that it was a couple weeks shy of the full bloom, we saw many roses in bloom. We also went into the garden house and saw many varieties of other plants and flowers.



We went to dinner in the dining room and were sat with four ladies. They were very nice but it was awkward for Joe not to have other men to chat with.
We went to see Liquid Blue perform in the Explorer's Lounge. They did 70s music tonight. We really like Summer, one of the vocalists. She sounds like a cross between Nora Jones and Sarah McGlachlin.

Unexpected Sea Day

Thurs. Oct. 29

We had an unexpected sea day because we were late departing Dunedin and the captain had to cancel Christchurch. We are on our way to Wellington, NZ
What does one do all day at sea? Here was our day.....Brekkie, laundry, Maxtone-Graham cruise historian lecture part 2, lunchie, nails, scoops (Joe), haircut (Joe), International cafe for specialty coffee ( We had to wait in line because it is so popular now), walk about promenade deck, dinner at the Crown Grill, super show with Liquid Blue, a great band and great voices.
Cool weather, comfortable seas, fresh salt air,:) It doesn't get any better than this we say over and over and over.....

Wed. Oct.28

Today we arrived in Dunedin. It was cool, overcast and 55. The weather held it together while we toured the Great Houses of Dunedin. We visited Larnach Castle, which was actually a Manor style house. The gardens were lovely and the view overlooking Dunedin and the Otaga Peninsula was breathtaking. We had a nice lunch in a hotel in Dunedin, did some shopping and visited another beautiful restored mansion called Ovelston. Then the wind and rain came. The 40 mile an hour winds forced us to stay in Dunedin for the night. The channel is narrow and keeping the ship in it was too risky. We will not be visiting Christchurch because of our delayed departure. We are disappointed but glad to know the captain puts the safety of the ship and the cruisers first.
Dunedin was a very friendly place to visit and very Scottish. The hills were covered by white and yellow flowers that are weeds to the residents, but lovely none the less. We saw plenty of sheep on the hills. As a matter of fact, when we were coming in the channel this morning, Joe started taking video and we were close to shore and could hear the sheep. The Rhododendrons are amazing here. I saw vibrant colors everywhere. They are at their peak in blooms right now.

Fiordland National Park

Tues. Oct. 27

The Tasman Sea was nasty last night. It got quite rough after we went to bed. The seas were at 8-12 ft. and the wind was howling at 45-50 knots. However, New Zealand greeted us this morning with sunny skies and calmer water. We are cruising through Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound was our first fiord. Simply beautiful. There was fresh snow on the peaks. We were there early in the morning and since the sun hadn't cleared the peaks, some of the pictures aren't as good as they could be. We next went to Thompson Sound. it was nice but lacked the snow that Milford had.

Two Days At Sea

Sun. Oct. 25-Mon. Oct.26

Our first day at sea was a relaxing one after I finished laundry and ironing!:) We had sunny skies with a temp of 68. The Tasman Sea was very nice to us. Today however, it lived up to its reputation. Seas were running 4-7 feet with 45 knot winds. It really wasn't bad nor did it stop us from doing anything. The sun was out most ot the day and the temp was 50. We are headed for cooler climate now and we have changed to long sleeves and jeans. We had a small shower in the morning.

We went to a port lecture this morning that covered the first three stops in NZ. Then we went to see an author named Maxtone-Graham. He has published several books on the Titanic and gives lectures on the subject. He is a marvelous speaker and we really enjoyed him.
We also took in a movie called "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" with Matthew McConaughey. It was pretty good.

Tonight is the first formal night, but we have decided to skip this one. There are 3 more this cruise. We plan on doing 2.

She's Here!!

Sat., Oct. 24

The ship is here and we boarded around 1:00 PM. It is another beautiful day and we will miss Sydney, but we are ready to move on in our adventure. We caught up on some laundry:( and unpacked luggage. We were a little worried because it took so long to get 2 of our bags delivered. But they showed up at 5:30.
We went to dinner in the dining room and then up on deck for sail away. Sydney Harbor is lovely at night and Joe got plenty of video. Unfortunately, I could not get good shots at night. We are now cruising on the Tasman Sea which is calm and serene tonight. More luck for us as the crossing of the Tasman can be rough at times. We are headed for Fiordland, NZ and will arrive on Tues. Oct. 27.

The Star holds 2600 people and has the same amenities as the larger ships in the Princess fleet. This ship has a covered pool along with the other pools which makes it convenient in rainy or cool weather.
So far the food and service have been very good. Our cabin has a couple of problems that we complained about, but they are taking care of it.

Fri. Oct. 23

Riding the Ferries


This morning we awoke to bright sunshine and warm weather. We took a 1/2 hour ferry ride to Manly beach . The water was a beautiful color like it is in Ft. Lauderdale. This ocean is actually the Tasman Sea. We will be on this body of water Sunday, enroute to New Zealand.
We found a Coles store here.This is where the locals told us to go for things we forgot from home or things we needed before boarding the ship. The prices here in Sydney Harbor are outrageous. In one store, they wanted $10.00 for a n 8 1/2 oz. bottle of Listerine . We were able to get a one liter bottle for that price in Coles. Still overpriced compared to the US, but we saved a lot by leaving the city.

In the afternoon, we took another ferry,a jetcat, to Watsons Bay to have a fish and chips lunch in Doyles, a popular restaurant. It is a very expensive place for fish and chips, so we tried their competitor . They advertised the fish and chips and a glass of wine for 12.95. Sure beat 29.00 a plate at Doyles.
The fish was nice and fresh and lunch cost us $26 total. It was the least expensive meal we had this week other then McDonalds.

We used the ferries a lot this week. They went everywhere we planned to go and it was fun to sightsee the different harbors along the way. We purchased tickets that were good for the whole day and could be used on any ferry, train, or bus. We would have been better off buying the tickets as needed. You only got your money's worth on the daily ticket if you made three round trips in one day.

Sydney is an expensive place to visit as is NY, San Francisco and other major cities. But it's charm and beauty far out weigh the cost. We loved it!

Jet Cat Ferry



Manly Beach.The big pine trees are right next to the beach. There are palm trees also. The climate is similar to Northeast Florida.


Joe at Manly Beach

The Sydney Opera House

Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009
Well as you can see, we have taken a lot of pics of the Opera House from shore and ferry.







Today it was time to go in the Opera House!

We awoke today to mostly cloudy skies, but no rain. Temps were in the low 70s, much cooler than yesterday. Pleasant walkabout weather. We decided to have brekkie without going brokie, and headed off to McDonalds.:) The hotel breakfast is verrry pricey as are many of the waterfront restaurants.

We went on a one hour tour inside the Opera House, visiting the drama theater, the symphony hall, and the opera theater. The theaters weren't as big as I thought they would be.The architecture of the building makes it appear much larger than it is. Jacoby Symphony Hall in Jacksonville is very similar to the symphony hall in Sydney. The Opera theater itself is not as impressive as the Met. We were not permitted to take pics in the theaters, therefore I have none to post.
It is an awesome place to visit however and a marvel in architecture.

Here are some close up pics of the tiles on the roof and the exterior of the building.









That's it for the Opera House. Tomorrow we will take a ferry ride to Manly Beach. It is a half hour away. We are looking forward to seeing the ocean down under. There are so many places to go on the ferry system. Did I mention that we love this city?

A visit to Taronga Zoo

Wed. Oct. 21, 2009

Another glorious day in Sydney. Sunny and warm with temps in the mid 80s. We took a ferry across the harbor to the Taronga Zoo today and got a picture taken with a Koala and her joey. The sun was very bright coming through the trees and this picture is not the best, but we also got the photographer's picture and it is a little better.


The baby was so adorable and I wanted to pet her so bad, but we were only allowed to have a picture taken with the bears. They let us use our camera as well as the video camera and they also took a picture which was included in this unique meet and greet. The joey was only 7 weeks old and we were fortunate enough to witness the little one leave the pouch for the first time. She climbed up another limb and started eating the eucalyptus leaves. They did not rush us out of the pen and answered many of our questions.



The kangaroos and wallabys were very quiet today. We went through a walkabout that brings you right up close and personal with them, but all they did in the heat was lay around. We tried to get a wallaby to hop away while Joe took video, but he didn't hop very much.



The zoo is huge and we could not do it all today. The heat was a factor so we came back around 1:30 and took a dip in the hotel pool. Then we went on another ferry to Darling Harbor for more sightseeing and dinner.
Darling Harbor reminded us of Baltimore's Inner Harbor. The Aquarium, The Maritime Museum, the Imax theater and the Mall all are in both harbors.

We're Here!!!

This is our first peek at the Sydney Opera House



We couldn't have asked for a more perfect weather day. Sunny and 80s.



The flight here was long and bumpy. There were several periods of turbulence, nothing dangerous but annoying. We slept at times during the 14 hours. We arrived at 8:30 and were at the Four Seasons Hotel by 10:00 AM. They had our room ready thank goodness and we showered and then took a nap. That refreshed us enough that we went to lunch about 1:00 and started exploring Circular Quay (pronounced key). This is a walk around Sydney Harbor. We took lots of pictures of the Opera House and the bridge. This is where the ferry system runs to other areas of Sydney. It is also where our ship will dock on Saturday.

This is our hotel.


Sydney is just lovely.We are near the historic district and the center of town. It has met our expectations and we can't wait to explore Sydney in the next three days.

We Are on Our Way!

Hello to all....
We have begun our trip to the South Pacific EEEEEEEEE! We flew to Houston and connected to a flight to LA, with 51/2 hours of actual flying and a five hour lay over in Houston that was supposed to be 3 hours. Seems the plane we were supposed to board didn't want to go. They moved us to another plane and it took time to move the luggage and prepare the plane for the trip to LA. We don't know what was actually wrong with the plane, but we never boarded it anyway. If it had to have a problem, thank goodness it was at the gate.

When we planned this trip, we decided to stay overnight in LA before taking the 14 hour flight to Sydney. We are so glad we did this. We really needed the break from flying and to get a good nights sleep. We left home on a 6:30 am flight and were really tired when we got here. We are at the LAX Marriot. We are planning to lounge by the pool and relax until our late ( 6:00 PM) checkout. We will then have dinner and leave for the airport about 7:00 PM.

We will land in Sydney at 8:30 AM on Tuesday , Oct. 20 losing a day as we fly. It will be Monday in the states when we land.