DAY 48 - WELCOME TO SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

Had A Wonderful Dinner At The Crystal Dining Room Last Evening ✔  Enjoyed The Reception At The Captain's Quarters ✔  Enjoying Sydney, Australia ✔  

Greetings from Down Under.

Before dinner last evening, we watched the sail away from Newcastle.  In honor of our visit, they fired off cannons from the shore.  Our first visit to Australia on this years World Cruise is a reminder of how much we love Australia and its people.  We enjoy their sense of humor and their warmth and friendliness.  We also feel the same way about New Zealand.

We forgot to mention that Keith had a classic answer to a question the tour guide asked all of us on our way to Hunter Valley for wine tasting.  She asked if anyone had any allergies that she should know about.   A couple of people answered before Keith said "wine".  There were some good laughs after Keith's answer.

Our tour guide was very perceptive.  This was her first time escorting a Crystal Cruises tour and towards the end of the tour she said that her observation was that our group acted more like a family (we often talk about the Crystal family) and also like a club.

A view of Newcastle Harbor during our sail away.

The tugboat accompanying us out of the Harbor.

The Pilot Boat

Before dinner we ran into Cruise Director Rick Spath.

It was nice to be back at our table  in the Crystal Dining Room after having dined at Prego the past two evenings. Rick Spath dined with us.   These were the dinner menus.

We each began our meal with a salad. Keith had his standing order salad and Anne Marie had the Medley of Assorted Lettuce Salad..  

We each tried the fresh New South Wales Hapuku Fillet Entree.  As background, in the morning Keith stopped by the Crystal Dining Room and asked Headwaiter, Franz what he knew about this fish.  Franz was not familiar with the fish and checked with the chef.  At that point the fish had not yet arrived to the ship.  When we arrived to the Crystal Dining Room, Franz told Keith that he tried the fish at lunch and it was delicious.  

The fish entree was just outstanding.  It was a nice sized fillet, cooked to perfection and its taste was enhanced by the sauce that accompanied it.  This is a photo of the entree and the photo does not do justice to how delicious this fish entree was. We give it an A++++ and we recommended it to several people in late dining to try. We also had a side order of vegetables, a baked potato (Keith), mashed potatoes (Anne Marie).  Keith had strawberries for his dessert and part of the sugar free Tiramisu that Anne Marie ordered.

After dinner we went to the Captain's Quarters for a cocktail reception which had been rescheduled from a few days ago due to the rough seas.  There were several guests in attendance along with some of the ships officers. We had a great time.  Captain Glenn updated all of us on the arrival time for Sydney and also about Crystal's first visit to Newcastle.  The irony is that we did feel quite a bit of movement during a portion of the time we were at the Captain's Quarters but eventually the seas began to calm.  

Today we arrived to Sydney, Australia.  This is our third time in Sydney.  It is one of our favorite cities from around the world.  It is a beautiful city and one that is easily seen by foot.  Today is turnaround day as this first leg of the World Cruise ended in Sydney while the second leg of the World Cruise begins at this port of call.  In total, we traveled 6,982 nautical miles or the equivalent of 8,029 land miles from Los Angeles, California to Sydney, Australia.

We enjoyed another good sleep on the ship as we made our way to Sydney.  Keith was up early and worked out at the Fitness Center.  He was alone for the entire workout.  Anne Marie worked out for awhile and then we enjoyed a nice breakfast in our room.  During Keith's workout, he saw the Pilot come onto the ship before our sail into Sydney Harbour.  At the same time he watched the last quarter of the New York Giants/New England Patriots Football Game since we had missed this while on yesterdays wine tour.  When Keith went to the Lido Cafe for coffee he thanked the Lido Deck Stewards who have been working there many of whom will be moving either to Tastes, the outdoor Swimming Pool area or to the Lounges.  He also spoke for awhile with friend John and then with Linda after she arrived to the Cafe.  Keith wished John and Linda a wonderful time in Sydney and then safe travels to Maui where they will be vacationing for a couple of weeks.  We have really enjoyed seeing John and Linda on this voyage.

This is a view of the Sydney Opera House that we took at around 6:00 AM this morning.

We thought we would begin with some information about Sydney.

It is one of the very well known cities of the southern hemisphere with a population that exceeds four million people. There is so much to do and see in Sydney. Its harbor is one of if not the most beautiful harbors in the world. A very well known building is the Sydney Opera House. Another well-known site is the Sydney Harbor Bridge which many locals and tourists enjoy walking across. Sydney is also very well for it numerous and its beautiful beaches. Other major tourist sites include The Rocks and Millers Point, the Traronga Zoo, Sydney Aquarium, Australian Museum, Chinese Garden, Sydney Olympic Park, and so many other locations they are too numerous to list.

In 1770, Captain James Cook claimed the east cost of this continent for England and at the time he named it New South Wales.  Initially, this continent was used by England as a penal colony.  In 1787, 1,000 convicts were taken from England over to this continent.   The area where these convicts first set foot is now known as the Rocks.  This area has lots of hotels, restaurants and stores and is a short walk from the Harbor, the Opera House and the Japanese Gardens.

Much has changed and today Sydney is a top tourist destination as well as a wonderful place to live.  The famous harbor bridge connects the area near the Harbor known as Sydney Proper with the area to the North. 

We met friends Bob and Glo at 9:00 AM and spent the morning with them in Sydney.  For those of you who know Andrew who used to be Chief Concierge on the Crystal Serenity we spoke to him as soon as we were off the ship as he now works for the ground operator of tours in Australia.  We will be traveling to the various ports we will visit on this side of Australia.  It was great to catch up with him.

There was a slight drizzle for the first thirty minutes of our walk. We wore our rain jackets because if we didn't it would have poured. We first were on a mission to find a particular store so we had the directions out.

One of the buildings that we visited is quite unique in its architecture and is now home to a wide range of stores, restaurants and coffee shops.  This is one of several clocks.

It is Summer time in Australia and there are several displays of pretty flowers all throughout the city.

During our walk we ran into several fellow guests.  We also ran into bandmaster Raphael and he told us about this place that he had just bought coffee and said it was the best he has ever had on land.  We went over there for coffee and Anne Marie, Bob and Glo each had coffee (Anne Marie had cappuccino coffee

and Keith tried some) and we agree that it was delicious. The place is called Mecca Express located on George Street across from the Four Seasons Hotel.

We went back to the ship for lunch.  On the pier we ran into Mimi Weisband, Vice President of Crystal Cruises Public Relations and her husband who will be on this leg of the World Cruise as the Discovery Channel will be making a documentary and also Vice President of Crystal Cruises Land Programs who is here for meetings and to get things ready for an upcoming World Cruise event in Melbourne.

We enjoyed a nice salad entree in the Crystal Dining Room and also a flute of Champagne to toast the start of the second leg of the World Cruise.

We went back out later in the afternoon for a couple of hour walk.  We will post more about this tomorrow.

Later this evening we will be going on a cocktail cruise with Bob and Glo and afterwards we will be going to Prego with them.  We picked up the tickets for the cruise earlier today and Keith had ordered them several months ago from home. As it turned out there was open seating in the Crystal Dining Room.

We also learned that on this leg of the World Cruise that the Discovery Channel will be filming on board the Crystal Serenity.  They are producing a documentary on the Crystal Serenity called Mighty Ships.

Keith and Anne Marie