Several sea days in the first part of this trip, so apologies for the lack of port/shore excursion photos. So just to pass the time, here’s a few action shots of lobster thermidor, sushi, & soft-shell crab. 🍽️ 🥢

Another one. Twice in 3 nights is a little heavy, but we’re on vacation, so what the hell.

Next up today was Quad bikes - both hands on the handlebars at all times, so no in-action-pix. But great fun to zoom around the island and up and down the beach.

So, after a lazy sea day, we have arrived at Moreton Island. It’s an activity-rich place for Aussies to come and engage in all sorts of outdoor pursuits. Last year when we were here on the World Cruise, our parasailing adventure was canceled because it was too windy….so we booked a helicopter ride instead. Not sure how those two things went together, but whatever. We also snorkeled the Tangalooma wrecks, a series of ships which were deliberately scuttled, to produce an artificial reef for divers & snorkelers. We used one of those cool “sea scooters”, a propeller-driven device you hold in front of you, to zoom around & explore the wrecks. This time, we finally did the parasailing. Great fun.

So. After the very pretty sailaway from Sydney Harbor, we had a sea day, no port, to just relax and settle in.. Nice to have breakfast of grapefruit juice, hot tea, and eggs Benedict from my favorite table on the ship. The view:

Don’t quite know why, but I really love this bridge.

OK, we’ve sailed out of Sydney harbor, in search of adventure. The Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House are a lot more fun after dark, when they’re lit up like a Christmas tree, but it’s still one of the best sailaway ports.

This was the view out the window of our Sydney hotel room on Sunday. And shortly before the skies opened up, a real ol’ fashioned Midwest-style thunderstorm. A real “frog-strangler” as Andy Griffith would have said. (Produced the second pic). We happened to be out at brunch so we were drowned rats by the time we got back to the hotel. Thunder as loud as I’ve ever heard it. It was glorious.

So, Asia here we come! We sail out of Sydney in about an hour, in search of adventure up the Coral Sea coast, to Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan (assuming China behaves itself), Japan, Korea, and ends in Shanghai. Wooohoooo!

Stay tuned……news to come!

OK, 5 airports and 37 hours 27 minutes later, we're back home. it wasn't exactly the adventure we expected - there will always be travel to look forward to, and with any luck it'll be back to the really good kind. Thanks for coming along everyone.

 

When you get back from dinner, occasionally the housekeeping staff has left a little gremlin on the bed, wearing your glasses

Around the ship.

Whale skeleton.

In the gear.