March 7th - March 9th Sydney and Cairns.

On  Tuesday March 7th I climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge while Nancy took a Harbor cruise and toured the Modern Art Museum.  We had dinner at Chat Thai, which was excellent, and the saw the Australian play "Away" at the Sydney Opera House.   We retired to our hotel, the Hotel Russell, which is located on the oldest section of Sydney.  It is an excellent hotel in the perfect location.   We had found out before we arrived it is often counted as one of the worlds 10 top 10 haunted hotels.  That night, a circuit breaker in our room tripped, as we were getting up to notify the staff we found there was water on the bathroom floor and splattered on the bathroom wall, that was not there when we came back earlier, and we did not do it!!!   Very cool.  

 

View of the Sydney Harbor Bridge - if you look closely you will see three groups of climbers, climbing up from the left on the top of the arch.

On March 8th we flew to Cairns.   We took an Ariel tram up a mountain going over a dense tropical rainforest.  At one point we stopped for a ranger guided tour.   At the top we toured a butterfly sanctuary and had lunch before taking a train back into Cairns, past a great waterfall. 

 

Ranger lead tour - note the large tree behind him is actually two trees, one is in the middle and the second one is a tree that actually grows down with lots of trunks.  While it will eventually crush the tree in the middle, not before it's trunk structure has become self supporting.

 

Waterfall we saw on both the cable car and train ride.

 

Butterfly checking the time on Nancy's watch.

On March 9th we took a small group boat tour to the Great Barrier Reef.  We went snorkling twice, for about a hour each time.  The reef had some of the prettiest coral we have ever seen.   

 

A shark that swam under us at the Great Barrier Reef. 

 

One of our boat our guides.   Note the massive giant clam near the center of the picture.  

March 4th to 6th. Brisbane, sea day, Sydney

On Saturday March 4th we arrived in Brisbane.  We took a taxi into the city where we caught a tour boat for an hour and fifteen minute ride up the river past magnificent house after magnificent house.  The locals clearly love their river and there were people picnicking beside it, walking and jogging near it, and finally people boating on the river.  We arrived at the Lone Pine Koalas Sanctuary.   There we saw probably a hundred cute koalas, kangaroos, dingos, and other wild life.   It was really a special place.  

 

Nancy, Roger, and Waffle

 

Nancy feeding a "Roo".

After visiting the Sanctuary we took the tour boat back to Brisbane and a taxi to the cruise ship. Sunday was a sea day.  It started out calm, but by evening the waves were very rough.  The ship was bouncing all over the place. We practically needed seat belts for the bed.   The waves were splashing past our 6th floor balcony.   But we survived the night and sailed into Sydney.  

We dropped our bags at the hotel.  (Hotel Russell, that is listed on some of the top 10 haunted places in the world.). We walked over to the Sydney Opera house past stunning views of the Sydney Harbor Bridge.  The Sydney Opera House is amazing, containing six different venues inside for Opera, plays, concerts, and other events.  We enjoyed an hour long tour of both the inside and outside.   From there we walked the beautiful Sydney Botanical Garden and had a nice lunch in the Garden House Cafe.  After lunch it was back to the hotel to check in and rest.   In the early evening we took a taxi to the Queen Victoria Building.  The building was opened in 1898, and is gorgous, both on the inside and out.  It is now a large four story, two block long mall. We visited a gallery that specializes in the art of Dr. Seuss and chatted with the owner. Inside were large prints and original drawings by Dr. Seuss. What a surprise to find it here! For dinner we ate at the Medusa, a Greek restaurant.  With wonderful lamb kabobs.

 

 

The Sydney Harbor Bridge that Roger will climb tomorrow to the top. 

 

Nancy in front of the Sydney Opera House. 

 

Inside the Queen Victoria Building. 

Feb 26th to March 3rd Lautoka Fiji, Noumea New Caledonia, the Coral Sea

On Feb 26th we stopped in Lautoka Fiji.  We were not interested in taking any of the ship shore excursions.  We looked at some of the crafts being sold on the dock and then enjoyed a quiet day on board.  

Feb 27th we sailed to Noumea, New Caledonia, arriving on the 28th.  New Caledonia is the largest island in the South Pacific, after New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.  It was a two day stop in Noumea.  The first day we walked around town, going to the Maritime Museum and World War II Museum.   Both were very nice.  On the way back to the ship we happen upon a fabric store, so we used up some of our French Polynesian money purchasing fabric.

The next day, March 1st, we finally got our snorkeling trip.  We took a small boat out to Signal Island.   The water was fairly deep and somewhat cloudy, but it was a great trip.   The coral was amazing, some of the healthiest I have seen. The guides were excellent in finding sea creatures. 

 

A White Tipped Shark that swam under us as we snorkeled. 

 

 

A Sea Turtle sleeping on the bottom.  

 

Sea Turtle with a Romora hitching a ride on its back.  

 

 Coral near the surface. 

 

A selfie, I never looked better.  

March 2nd and 3rd were sea days.   We attended lectures, bingo, trivia, the evening shows, and washed clothes.  Tomorrow the 4th we arrive in Brisbane.