Jan 23 Sydney and back home

I'm a little late in getting the wrap up to the trip posted, but I also have excuses.  First was the jet lag following the day and a half trip from the boat to Boca. 

 Second, we didn't get to go back to our condo, but had to spend two nights in a hotel because they were resurfacing the walkways and we couldn't get to our unit. 

 Third, after arriving in the hotel the laptop bag fell and splintered the LCD screen internally. It sort of worked, briefly.  I used that brief time to make sure everything was backed up, then spent the weekend bringing the new laptop up with the programs I normally use.

The Cruise Director told us to get up at 5:15am if we wanted to see the passage through the heads into Sydney Harbour.  We had missed seeing the harbour on the sail away since it was delayed until 3:30am due to public address problems. 

 In keeping with the theme of the cruise, anyone who got up at 5am lost out on an hour's sleep because we didn't pass through the heads until about 6:15am.   I was fortunate to awaken just as we were inside.

 We were probably delayed by the huge ship you can see pulling into the primo parking spot right on Circular Quay.  That ship's too tall to fit under the Harbour Bridge.

 Final breakfast at our favorite table

 Past the Opera House

 We fit underneath the bridge.

 Looking back at the bridge as we pull into the White Bay Cruise Terminal

 We've decided that business class is the only way to travel.  You can actually get some sleep in these seats.

The cruise turned out to be less than we had hoped for.  But we still love Australia, it's a neat place to visit.

Jan 22 Eden

Last stop on the cruise.  Tomorrow we disembark in Sydney and begin the all day (a 48-hour day thanks to the date line) flight back to Florida.  To add further insult, when we get back we won't be able to get back into our condo.  The walkways are being repaved and access to the units is impossible for 3 days.  So we get to go to a motel.  This work had been scheduled for December so I had hoped to avoid it, but it was cleverly scheduled to occur just on our return.

We've had something really cool about this trip I haven't mentioned before.  When we boarded and got to our room the little sign said our room steward was Edmon.  Edmon had been our room steward for the second half of the Around The World cruise in 2016.  Could this be the same guy, on a different ship and a different room?  It was!  He's a great guy, keeps the room neat in spite of our efforts, and it's been a pleasure to have him again.

 Last night on the Bass Strait was a beautiful sunset.  And the sea was calm again.  That strait can have impossible weather at times.  I guess we were lucky.

Another omen for this day, although we had sunshine on the terrace while eating, it was raining over the land.

We've had four previous tender ports canceled due to weather.  There was speculation that this port would suffer similarly.  But the bay was flat and calm, and we motored ashore with no problems.

 Like so many Australian cities, they're really happy to see us, with lots of volunteers. 

In our preparation for the trip we had found the Eden Heritage Walk so we wandered about the town looking at their history.  This flag mast dates back to 1861 and was at the lighthouse, now in the center of the city.

 

 Eden Log Cabin, was a Girl Guides Hall when erected in 1936.

They have several nice beaches with not many inhabitants -- about 3500 according to the local volunteer on the shuttle bus.  And the beaches have some sargasso.

 An ocean front cemetery so the occupants have a great view.

Great Southern Inn, the best in town and the only in town, according to our shuttle volunteer.  I think he was stretching the truth since there are several others in town.  Eden is located almost exactly halfway between Sydney and Melbourne by road, about 500km to each from here, so it makes a good place to split up the drive.

The Killer Whale Museum.  Whaling and timber were the big industries earlier in Eden, now it's tourism.  A killer whale named Old Tom was a town favorite since he'd help herd the whales into the bay, making it easier for the locals to harpoon.  Old Tom was fed some of the less attractive parts as a reward for his services.  Old Tom's skeleton is in the museum.

A depiction of the perils of whaling done in tile outside the museum.

 It's a compact town, easy to walk around in a couple of hours.  They're working on a wharf for the town (now scheduled 2019) so it won't be a tender port much longer.

Jan 20 Burnie Tasmania

We traveled across the unusually placid Bass Strait to arrive at Burnie early this morning. As I see it, Tasmania is to Australia as Australia is to the rest of the world: an island at the very edge of civilization.  While most of Oz is red, Tasmania is much greener.  The primary product seemed to be wood and wood products like paper.

The town was out in force to meet our ship.  The mayor and his wife posed for photos at the gangway.  The town-supplied shuttle bus, complete with several volunteers, took us from the port to the Makers' Workshop, devoted to explaining the making of paper.  Also for sale were several other offerings from artists and craftspeople.

They had several papier-mache sculptures that I liked.

 Our rental car was right next door and we headed south towards Cradle Mountain National Park

 We passed through lots of what I call "Weyerhauser" forests, full of softwoods all about the same age, with areas off clear-cutting nearby.

 An overlook with our first view of Cradle Mountain.

 Dove Lake with Cradle Mountain.  The notch is the cradle, with the bump being the baby's head. There is a walk around Dove Lake--6K--but we only walked to Glacier Rock--beautiful.

 The theme of the park seems to be slow-growing ferns and lichens.  This rock displays some of them.

 We ate lunch at a hotel/restaurant/art gallery just outside the park.  This is one of their sculptures.

 Right next to the gift shop is another sculpture, with stuffed animals as the medium, symbolizing a tree.  I think.

 Wilmot Lake, a stop on the way back, is a hydroelectric facility.  Tasmania, unlike the rest of Australia, seems to have lots of water.  Our Melbourne friends seemed to be envious.

 Lots of agriculture--various veggies, we think.

 When we returned the car and waited in the Makers' Workshop for the return shuttle, I found this map on the wall.  Without planning it, we followed the orange loop on the map out to Cradle Mountain and back.

 This is an inside joke.  The ship's newsletter said the ship would leave at 8pm, with the last shuttle leaving the Makers' Workshop at 6pm.  And the shuttle was the only way back to the boat.  On the morning ride out of the port, the volunteer said the last shuttle was at 5pm, to a chorus of complaints.  Apparently all was figured out eventually, but many people came back early due to bad information.

Jan 19 Melbourne

Due to personal errands we didn't get to spend as much time wandering around Melbourne as we might have liked.  Having said that, however, it was HOT.  The Australian Open tennis tournament was underway in the city and they measured the temp at Centre Court at 66C.  Seems a little too high, but you get the idea. That was the report from our Tasmanian Cruise Director.  Fortunately it seemed to be a dry heat in the city, not too humid but the breeze felt like someone had just opened the oven door.

An old pier slowly rotting

 Melbourne skyline

 Flinders Railway Station, a local landmark

 The front door of the train station -- the famous place to meet someone "under the clocks"

 Right across from the clocks is Yound & Jackson's.  We ate here in 2005.  The food is still very good.

 The Block Arcade in downtown Melbourne.

 Some portions were air-conditioned.

 Melbourne has an extensive tram system

 An interesting way to disguise digging up the pavement a little further down.

 The Yarra River cuts through the middle of town.

 Our lunch location and a tennis themed beer advertisement.

 The city as seen in our wake.