Sydney - Our Final Frontier (in Australia)

Welcome to Sydney

Early Thursday morning we pulled into Sydney Harbour for the final time and organized ourselves for an expedited departure.  We chose this option so that we could get off the ship early and get going on our Hop-On Hop-Off Bus tour of Sydney.  As we were pulling into our berth at Circular Quay, the sun was rising behind the Sydney Opera House

I know that you have seen a similar shot before, but we are nostalgic about our trip and this iconic landmark deserves another view.  By the way, this is the most photographed landmark in Australia.  Now you know.

As many of you know, Australia is the world’s second driest continent, second only to Antarctica.  Consequently, they look for ways to conserve and use water as wisely as possible.  One of the more unique methods is this vertical garden.

This building, known as One Central Park, (what a unique definition of Park!) is the world’s tallest vertical garden.   The green façade has 250 species of native Australian plants and flowers.  It is one of the most ecological buildings in the world, and has the world’s biggest membrane microreactor (think municipal wastewater treatment).   Very cool!

We jumped off the bus at the Sydney Fish Market.  It is the southern hemisphere’s largest fish market.  Hmm, that perhaps explains the size of these pelicans!

It seems these guys were lining up early for this shop’s lunch time special!

Our next stop was the Chinese Garden of Friendship in downtown Sydney.

It was opened during Sydney’s bicentennial celebrations in 1988 and was named the Garden of Friendship symbolizing the strong bond between China and Australia.  These gardens are the largest outside of China.  The gardens are a peaceful oasis and a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of the busy downtown metropolis!

Back on the bus, we passed near the Sydney Harbour Bridge and spotted some climbers.

It was really neat to see the group of climbers (just left of the platform left of the tower), as we were booked for a twilight bridge climb this evening!

And here we are at the summit of the bridge!!  Have a look at the gear that we are wearing.  There is nothing on us that is not tied down.  Our glasses, the headphones you see, and even the hat (that you don’t see) are all tethered to your (very fashionable!) jumpsuit.  As you can also see we are tethered to a steel cable, so while it appears quite daunting, the climb itself is quite safe!

It was a great experience.  Sonya threatened that she would get even with me for coaxing her into this, but if you look at her beaming face, you can tell she was happy she did it!

OK, here are a couple of pictures from the topside of the bridge (courtesy of Brigdeclimb).

A few facts about the bridge and the bridge climb are in order here.

Bridge climbing started in 1988.  By its 20^th anniversary, more than 4,000,000 people had climbed the bridge. Yes, there are a lot of similarly crazy people out there – Sonya and I are not alone!

1,390 steps (round trip)

134 metres (439 ft) above sea level or, as our guide put it, 5.2 seconds if you take the direct route!  You figure it out.

52,800 tonnes of steel

6 million rivets

It takes about 3.5 hours to complete, of which almost one hour is preparation/suit up time.  You also spend some time waiting during the climb, because they send a climb team out as often as every ten minutes, with up to 4,000 people climbing the bridge on any given day.

After the climb, Sonya said, “OK, you pushed my buttons three times – I earned that pearl!!!”  No comment.

On Sunday evening we joined our travel friends Chris and Bernice for dinner. 

We met these two on our tour of Sicily and Malta last year.  They also did the Kimberley tour a few weeks before us, so we were eager to get together and compare trip experiences.  Our experiences were very similar and equally great, and somewhat costly.  If you look closely, you will see that Bernice and Sonya are wearing very similar pearl necklaces!

Chris and Bernice are interested in traveling to Croatia, so we will see if our schedules line up to meet them over there next October.   Here’s hoping!  The evening disappeared all too quickly and we look forward to seeing each other again.

The next day we joined a tour to the Blue Mountains.  Now, most of you will be aware of the fires in Australia.  As luck would have it, the smoke impacted our trip as well, but we persisted, nonetheless.

Our first stop was the Featherdale Wildlife Park.  Although we had been at other wildlife parks, it surprisingly does not get repetitious as each setting is unique.  In the interests of brevity, we won’t repeat pictures of animals that we have shown you before.  We must show you this one however!

This is an Echidna – a very prickly fella (Chris, this one is for you)!  This unique waddler is one of only two mammals that lays eggs.  Yes, you read that correctly – the other is a platypus.  Both are found only in Australasia (New Guinea, Indonesia, Australia). 

The Blue Mountains are neither mountains nor are they truly blue.   The area is covered with Eucalyptus trees that give off an oily vapour.  The sunlight refracts through this vapour and creates a blue aura when seen from afar.

Here is a panorama shot of the escarpment.

As you can see there was considerable smoke in the area.  Here is another perspective of the smoke.

While the picture taking was quite limiting because of the smoke, we enjoyed the outing and the day, nonetheless.

We returned to Sydney via the extensive ferry service.  As we returned to Circular Quay, we caught this picture of the Sydney Harbour Bridge – yes, the very one we climbed.

This provides a better perspective of the size of the bridge.  We climbed from behind the towers on the right side of the picture to the flags at the top of the bridge and back.

Back at our suite, we looked out the window to see the impact of the smoke on the city.

This picture was taken an hour or so before sunset.  The impact of the fires in Queensland and New South Wales is felt over much of Australia.  We are reminded of the fires in British Columbia, Alberta and California, but the situation in Australia brings this to a whole new level.

As if to accentuate the point, the next morning the air quality index in Sydney was 10 times what is considered hazardous levels.  We had planned to visit the Taronga Zoo in the morning but chose to stay indoors with the windows closed to minimize the impact of the air quality. 

In the afternoon we met our travel mates Mike and Kerrie from our Western Wildflowers tour at the Sydney Aquarium.   The aquarium is built into (if I can use that word) the Sydney Harbour.  It has more than 13,000 fish and other sea and water creatures, comprising over 700 species.  The facility is impressive and as you walk through the walkways with fish and ocean creatures swimming all around, you don’t realize that you are essentially walking in the Sydney Harbour!  Sonya took her usual 100 pictures but given the number of pics you have seen before; we limit this posting to two from the aquarium.

This is a dugong feeding on seagrass. Dugongs are mammals that belong to the manatee order.  What is fascinating about these, is that they are more closely related to elephants (yes you read that correctly) than they are to other marine mammals!  

And these types of creatures are the reasons that you saw Sonya and me in long sleeved shirts while we were snorkeling.   These ones are appropriately called Moon Jellyfish.  While the stingers on this species target small prey, the stingers on their cousins called Box Jellyfish are much more dangerous and even lethal to humans.  The box jellyfish were the ones we had to be concerned about while we were snorkeling.   Fortunately, we did not see any!

After our visit to the aquarium, we went for dinner with Kerrie & Mike to a Vegan restaurant in Sydney called Alibi. 

An odd name, yes.  The food was scrumptious.  Neither Kerrie nor Mike are vegan, but they agreed that the meal was one of the tastiest! Sonya says – “Future Vegans”!.  

As with our other friends, the time disappeared too quickly, and we hope to see them on one of our next travel adventures.

Speaking of vegan food, a trip would not be complete if Sonya didn’t come home with a vegan cookbook or two.

I think that the actual count is around 5 or 6, but that is just a rounding error in comparison to her total cookbook count!

We leave you with a few interesting facts about Oz. 

(Statistics taken from http://population.net.au)
The population of Australia is around 25.01 million. 
Largest metropolitan  populations (as of 2018):
Greater Sydney                                    5.48 million
Greater Melbourne                              5.00 million
Greater Brisbane                                 2.48 million
Greater Perth                                       2.28 million
Total of these four cities                    15.24 million
Percent of total population 61%


Australia comprises approximately 7,692,000 square kilometres.

Area of greater Sydney                     12,300 square kilometres 

Area of greater Melbourne               10,000 square kilometres 
Area of greater Brisbane                  15,800 square kilometres
Area of greater Perth                          6,400 square kilometres
Total                                                44,500 square kilometres
Percentage of total area 0.58%

This means that the remaining 9.77 million Australians share 7.648 million square kilometres, giving an average density of 1.28 persons per square kilometre.

 If you count the cities, you get 3.25 persons per square kilometre.

Canada's population density is approximately 4 persons per square kilometre. USA is 91. 

And so, our Oz adventure comes to a close.  We had a tremendous time in the land down under.  We learned that, although our Aussie friends may be a little more British that we are (and definitely sound more British than we do!), the values, principals and lifestyles are very similar to we Canucks. 

I said earlier in the blog (but it merits repeating); we have made new mates and learned new words, we have drank new wines and sang new songs.

Until we meet again,

G’day mates!

SnP

Cruise - The Final Four

Adelaide

On Sunday we arrived in Adelaide, South Australia.  Australia is the world’s fourth largest exporter of wine, after France, Italy and Spain. That is very impressive for a country of only 25 Million people!  Australia produces over 1.25 Billion litres of wine each year.  Every state in Australia produces wine, but South Australia is the largest producer, accounting for almost 50% of the annual wine production.

Viticulture (the cultivation of grapevines) dates back to 1788, when vine clippings from South Africa were brought to Australia.   Since then, Australian vintners have experimented with different ways of blending regional varieties to produce bold fruity wines.  In fact, some European vintners are now offering wines made in the AUSTRALIAN style!

South Australia is home to the Barossa Valley, the most well-known of Australia’s wine regions.  It produces one-fifth of the country’s wine and accounts for a significant portion of total wine exports.
The Barossa Valley was settled in 1842 by Prussian (German) and Silesian (now Polish) Lutherans seeking religious freedom.  German was the first language spoken in the Barossa valley, with many schools teaching in German until the outbreak of WWI.  Immigration by German people was banned from 1914 to 1925, and the German language was actively suppressed by the Australian government during the war.  Many names of German origin were changed.  Lutheran schools were closed and re-opened as state schools teaching in English.

It almost goes without saying therefore, that we toured the Barossa valley.  As we drove through the area, we were reminded of driving through the Italian Tuscan countryside last year.

The hills are not quite as rolling as Tuscany perhaps, but the grain fields intermixed with vineyards and olive orchards certainly look familiar.

The contrast of the colours is interesting.  Here we have the grain fields that are ready for harvest, and the deep green colour of the vineyards that are early in their season.  

Our first stop was at the Seppeltsfield winery.  If you have not heard of them, you are not alone.  They do not export to Canada as a rule because dealing with each provincial liquor authority is more troublesome for them than other markets such as USA, so they focus on those markets instead. Wow – we are missing out on some fine Tawny port-style fortified wines. Come on Canada…get it together!

As we were leaving, I went to check on the health of this year’s cuttings grafted onto the vines.

Now in my expert opinion (as if!), the vines look very healthy.  Check them out and see what you think!

In the afternoon, we visited Jacob’s Creek winery, one of the biggest exporters of wine.  A family business in the beginning, they are now owned by Pernod Ricard, one of the world’s largest producers of alcoholic beverages, who claim to have the most comprehensive portfolio in the industry.  Some of their more well-known brands include Chivas Regal, Jameson Irish Whiskey, The Glenlivet, Kenwood Wines (California), Kahlua, and many more.  Obviously, they have great respect for Australian wines and the Barossa Valley!

You will recall that Sonya said that she has packed enough clothes for an 80-day cruise.  Well, given the state of our luggage, I had to forego purchasing any wines, because we have no room!  Ah well, such is life!  Onward and upward to Kangaroo Island.

Lest We Forget

On the morning of Remembrance Day, the crew had a ceremony in honour of and in thanks to those who served.  The ceremony started at 0600, and shortly after the ceremony began, the sun rose.  It was a very moving ceremony.  Among the tributes was, of course, the poem by Canadian physician Lt. Col. John McCrae.

In Flanders fields the poppy blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

The next poem that was read was one written by Moina Michael. 

From Wikipedia:

On 9 November 1918, inspired by the Canadian John McCrae battlefront-theme poem "In Flanders Fields", she wrote a poem in response called "We Shall Keep the Faith". 

After the war was over, Michael returned to the University of Georgia and taught a class of disabled servicemen. Realizing the need to provide financial and occupational support for these servicemen, she pursued the idea of selling silk poppies as a means of raising funds to assist disabled veterans. In 1921, her efforts resulted in the poppy being adopted as a symbol of remembrance for war veterans by the American Legion Auxiliary, and by Earl Haig's British Legion Appeal Fund (later The Royal British Legion).

Here is her poem:

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet - to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead           
In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.

In honour of Remembrance Day, here is a picture of my dad just after joining the Royal Canadian Army.

And one taken of him at work:

Brigadier J.D.B. Smith talking with J.A. Braconnier (my father) a dispatch rider with the 10th Canadian Infantry Brigade at Rijssen, Netherlands May 30th,1945.

Shortly after the completion of the ceremonies, the Captain came on the loudspeaker to advise that, once again, the seas were too rough to carry out tender activities to get us ashore, so the stop at Kangaroo Island was cancelled.  We therefore set sail for Melbourne ten hours earlier than planned.  We both were disappointed to miss out on this epic stop, but as before, safety first.

The hotel staff scrambled to create on board activities for the guests given the change of plans.  Sonya took a tour of the kitchen to learn about cooking for 1,280 guests and almost 600 staff.  Many cruisers return again and again to cruises because of the food.  Needless to say, a good portion of the hotel staff are devoted to mealtime activities.  The kitchen has 82 staff responsible for food preparation and  97 service staff responsible for food and beverage delivery.   Thank goodness the airlines only weigh the luggage, not us!

Here are a few candid shots of the kitchen and staff:

Tandoori Chicken for lunch is being prepared!

Now this is a mixmaster!

No Sonya, you cannot have one – make do with your Thermomix!

Here are interesting data about food service:

100 gallons of soup are prepared each day
3 refrigeration rooms, 4 freezers, 3 thawing rooms, 5 dry stores

Dish-washing:

3,000 dinner plates daily
7,000 dessert plates daily
5,000 glasses daily
endless cutlery, plate covers, ramekins, etc.!

WEEKLY Grocery List:
8,500 lbs. meat (of which 2,000 lbs must be bacon!)
18,040 eggs
4,000 lbs. poultry
2,000 lbs. fish
2,500 lbs. seafood
200 gallons ice cream
12,500 lbs of vegetables (A BIT LIGHT SONYA THINKS)
1,636 bottles of wine
450 bottles sparkling wine and Champagne

I wonder how much more 1,280 passengers weigh at the end of a cruise compared to the start!

Melbourne

The way into Melbourne is quite tricky from a navigational perspective.  To get there, a ship must travel through an area known as “The Rip” or “The Heads”, because of the large tidal flows through a relatively narrow channel.   This picture gives a bit of perspective as to why they call it that.

The local pilot joins the ship outside of “the RIP” and pilots the ship all the way into Port Melbourne, total transit time about four hours.   When we got dock side, the crew tried to dock the ship using the onboard thrusters (see prior blog).  However, the winds got up to almost 40 knots (75 km/h), so they had to abandon that attempt and call on tugs to assist the docking procedure.

It is said that Melbourne can experience all four seasons of weather in one day.  Such was the case on the day we docked!   We saw sunshine, pouring rain, strong winds, hail, and sunshine again, all in the course of about three hours.

When we arrived in Melbourne, one of our shipmates told us that the Broadway show about Gander, Newfoundland was in town.  A bit of background is required here.

Gander was chosen for construction of an airport in 1935 because of its strategic location, at the Northeastern tip of North America.  At the time of its completion in 1938, the Newfoundland Airport was the largest on the planet, with four large paved runways.  At the beginning of WWII, 12,000 British, Canadian and American servicemen were stationed here, and Gander became a post for the Royal Air Force Ferry Command.  After WWII, Gander was a hub for refueling trans-Atlantic flights. Once jet engines were invented this refueling stop was no longer needed, so Gander only saw a few flights per day until 9/11!  Then …

The story is told in a Broadway Theatre presentation called Come From Away.

We enjoyed the show thoroughly, as did the entire audience, if the standing ovation says anything! This musical tale of how this small town of 9,000 people hosted the world is a winner of Best Musical all across North America.  It is ironic that we had to travel more than halfway round the world to come see a musical about Canada!

Continuing in the Come From Away vein, we stopped for a bite to eat at an Irish Pub just down the street from the theatre.  I saw a fellow wearing a Saskatchewan Roughriders Hoodie, so as he walked by, I said, “A stubble-jumper!”  He turned and said, “You must be one to recognize one!”

It turns out that Austin and Patty are visiting family in the Melbourne area.  They will be in Melbourne for the Western Conference Final and the Grey Cup games. 

As was said in the show, we all come from somewhere, so we all Come From Away!

The next morning, we joined a tour of another animal park and an open-air recreation park (named Sovereign Hill) themed on the heady days of the gold rush in Ballarat, Victoria (about 110 km west of Melbourne).

Unlike the rescue park at Greenough, this animal park is more of a traditional zoo.  They have more than 50 kangaroos from Kangaroo Island.  Unlike mainland kangaroos, these have no natural predators and as such are not fearful of humans.  Consequently, they have free roam of the park.  Sonya caught two males having a friendly boxing / wrestling match. They didn’t seem to mind her camera in their faces.

It didn’t last long however, because they saw a group of tourists coming and knew that food was at hand, so they called a draw and hugged before coming for food.

At this park, they also had koalas.  This guy was apparently calling out for females to come round!

Apparently, none of the females heeded his call.  A short time after the above picture, we came around the corner, only to find him napping!

Koalas sleep from 18 to 22 hours per day.   Apparently, they need more sleep than most animals because eucalyptus leaves, their primary diet, contain toxins and are very low in nutrition and high in fibrous matter, so they take a large amount of energy to digest. They are so lazy and have such poor eyesight they won’t even go 50 meters to find a new tree!

Now this ferocious little guy is known as a Tasmanian Devil.  You may remember the cartoon from the Loony Tunes series when you were young.  Well, here he is in living colour and the cartoon is closer to reality than you may realize! National geographic says that these guys, “have a notoriously cantankerous disposition and will fly into a maniacal rage when threatened by a predator, fighting for a mate, or defending a meal.”  Apparently, we were challenging this one! Unlike other marsupials, this guy is strictly a carnivore, and eats small rodents, birds and anything else that they can catch.

Onward, then.  The next little critter that we came across was a Wombat.

This is a cousin to the koala and therefore a marsupial as well.  This animal is also native to Australia only.  Adults weigh 20-35 Kilograms (45 to 75 lbs), and when you see them in a field (as we did on another tour), it would be easy to miss them, as they look like a big rock. Surprisingly, when threatened they can run up to 40 km/h (25 mph) in short bursts.  To put that in perspective, Hussein Bolt, the world’s fasted runner, was clocked at 28 mph.   Pretty fast, for a short pudgy guy!

Now as warm as Australia is in various sections, it does have indigenous penguins.

Aptly known as the Little Penguin, these guys were raised in captivity, but the wild ones are found at Manly Beach (near Sydney), and on a few islands on the southern coast of Australia.  It has been some time since we have seen penguins!

You may have seen the video I posted earlier about the dangers of Australia.  Well here is a close-up of one of those dangers.

This guy is known as the Common Death Adder.  It is reputed to have the fastest strike in the world! Fortunately for us, this one is behind glass! 

After the game park, we went to Sovereign Hill, an outdoor museum that replicates the goldrush era in the Ballarat area.  Started in 1851, it lasted into the late 1860s, and led to prosperity for the then new colony of Victoria.

While there, we learned about the discrimination faced by the Chinese who came to Victoria to find gold. Generally, an entire town back in China would sponsor a young man to head out to the gold fields in order to help their entire town back home out of poverty. 

These were the lodgings of the miners back in the day.  The tents held up to 6 men (3 on a bed, 3 on the floor), depending on how poor or well off they were. The Chinese were taxed 10 pounds (US$20) upon arrival by ship to Victoria. This tax did not apply to anyone else.  Furthermore, the Chinese also had to pay an annual residence tax of 4 to 6 pounds per person.  Discrimination continued well into the 20th Century.  When Australia became a nation in 1901, they adopted a White Australia policy, wherein only Caucasians were allowed into the country and granted citizenship.  This policy was progressively dismantled between 1949 and 1973.

Because the Chinese were not fully conversant in English, they often used the services of a translator.  He was an employed by the colony, and would help with tax collection, interpreting the rules for the Chinese workers, writing letters home and so forth. The shack above was his “office”.

There was also a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) on the site.  Despite the discrimination, the TCM practitioner also treated many Caucasians in the area, as he was often the most competent medical practitioner in the area at the time.

As we walked through the town, we came across a re-creation of an 1850s 10-pin bowling alley, where the pegs and the balls were all wooden.

Now, they had good reason for this, as the wooden ball that you bowled weighed a great deal.

As you can see, I had great technique in throwing that ball.  Notice how straight I released that ball!

Now if Sonya had snapped this picture about ½ second later, you would have seen 7 pins down.  Unfortunately, the way they split would have made it highly unlikely that I could have bowled a spare!  It was fun trying it, but modern-day bowling is a great deal easier!

As we left Ballarat, we drove through the downtown area.  As you see the ornate verandas and balconies of those period buildings,

display the great wealth brought by the gold rush.  These period building are a wonderful tribute to the boom times and add to the charm of the town.

Burnie, Tasmania

The next morning, we arrived in Burnie, Tasmania to visit Cradle Mountain.   As hot as Broome was when we left (38C), Burnie was cool, and the mountain setting even cooler.

As you can see from the mist at the top of the picture, it was raining and very cool.  The temperature up the mountain was about 7C degrees if memory serves.  In fact, just two days before we arrived, the roads to Cradle Mountain were closed because there was snow!  Now, we did not sign up for snow, but perhaps the cool weather allowed us to acclimatize a little before we head back to winter in Edmonton!

As we walked through this temperate (as opposed to tropical) rain forest, I was reminded very much of the Ancient Forest that we visited in Northwest British Columbia in 2018.  The one exception is the smaller palms that you see to my right as I cross the river.

Australia is a land of many climates, from the hot dry desert, to the snow in Tasmania, and everything in between.  Here are a couple more pictures of the verdant slopes of Tassie.

Back on board the ship, we are headed for Sydney where we will spend 5 days before we head home to Edmonton.

Here are some statistics for our circumnavigation portion of our cruise:

Average speed: 14.9 knots
Miles traveled: 7,891
Fuel Used: 462,301 Gallons

See you in Sydney for the last part of our trip!

SnP