Sydney, Australia

We arrived at the mouth of Sydney Bay shortly after six am. and sailed into the harbour to the rising sun. Very impressive to say the least. It took about half an hour to cruise up the bay to the our dock which was just across from the opera house and just around the corner from the Bay Bridge. Disembarked to a rainy sky and decided to take the city's public tour bus for a two hour trip out to Bondi Bay and back. Saw primarily residential areas that had been over priced small communities that went bust as Sydney started growing and then recently started booming again as people left the city for the suburbs. Now most of the real estate is very over priced. The area is a very interesting mix of the old and the modern intermingled with gardens and parks, beaches and cliffs, and curving, hilly streets. Everything is clean, and green and lovely. And of course the people are very warm, friendly and helpfull. A really great place to visit and one we might come back to someday.

After lunch back on the ship, we took another bus tour around another part of Sydney. This was tour included the business district, the Apartment, high rise district, the Arts and Entertainment District. The sun came out so we got off at a botanical garden and walked around a little then reboarded the next bus and continued the tour through China town and the old quarry district, now a mix of residential and commericial areas, We got off at the casino and made a small donation before reboarding the bus to return to the Dock area. Then we walked to the Opera house, a very busy place as Carmen was playing that evening as well as a couple of different plays. (there are at least 4 theatres in the "opera house") Arleen almost stayed behind because La Bohem was playing the next day. All in all, our day in Sydney was wonderful and the night time sail away was just as spectacular as the sail in. We only took 250 pictures of the place so here are a few of them.