February 17th, 2024

Today was a very busy full day. It started at 6am when I got up to watch the sail in to Sydney Harbor. They had a commentator in the Explorers lounge at the front of the ship on deck 7 so a lot of people were out there but also a lot of people were out and about on the open deck just watching our arrival.

First glimpse of the Sydney Opera House The Opera House with the Harbor Bridge

Sunrise was at 6:22am but there were clouds on the horizon

We docked right next to the Harbor Bridge and across from the Opera House. It is a prime spot.

Deck 8 of our ship with the bridge in the background.

We had the included tour which was a drive through of Sydney and the outlying areas and it started at 8am. We had a great guide who gave us lots of good information. We went to some scenic overlooks to see the harbor and then we went to Bondi beach which is a very popular beach and they even have a show about the lifeguards of Bondi and it follows actual lifeguards.

The beach had beautiful powdery sand and water was clear and no shells of any kind. Lots of surfers.

The tour took us around the city and then back to the Harbor Bridge. One of the most popular attractions in Sydney is the Harbor Bridge climb where you get to climb to the top of the bridge. You have a safety harness on and there are over 1300 steps you have to climb. Kathy would love to do this but I never would. Our friends Linda and Michael were doing this today and we wondered if some of the people we could see on the climb were them.

You can see 2 sets of climbers on the very top and in the middle.

After the tour we wandered around an area called “The Rocks” and this is where the convicts first settled in Sydney. Sydney was originally a penal colony and most people got sentenced here from England for 7 years. One of our guides said that it did not matter what crime you committed, from robbery to rape or murder you got 7 years. At the end of the 7 years you were free to return to England but you had to pay your own passage and since you have been a prisoner for the last 7 years you have no money. So most stayed in Australia.

Now The Rocks is hotels and shops and lots of restaurants and pubs. We picked up a few souvenirs from some of the street vendors. The temperature was a high of 86 and not a lot of clouds but the humidity was high so it was warm.

We had lunch at a pub and sat outside but got a seat in the shade.

After lunch we went back to the ship and dropped off our purchases and came back out for a 2:30 pub tour of The Rocks. This was offered by the ship but it was full so we went on Trip Advisor and booked it independently. There were 4 other people on our tour and the guide told us that the ships tour was a bus full and instead of everyone getting to pick what drink they wanted they just put some pitchers of beer on the table for them to try. We had a couple from England and a couple from Canada and Kathy and I. We went to 4 different pubs and all historical and all used to be hotels and some still are.

2 of our stops on our pub tour.

They have a very good cider here and the guide told us that anything in Australia with the name cider has alcohol in it. I had cider and Kathy had beer. They were very generous with the glass size.

The 6 of us from the Pub tour at one of our stops overlooking the harbor bridge. While we were having our drinks another group of climbers came down from the bridge in their overalls and harnesses.

We had to hustle from the last pub stop to get back to the ship where we were meeting friends that had been on the 21/22 world cruise with us and lived in Sydney. Roger and David had invited several couples to come to the house they were staying at for dinner. The people invited were an assortment of friends they have made over the years on Viking cruises. 3 of the couples could not make it due to other plans but 7 couples were able to. We all left the ship together, Roger and David were given day passes to come on board, and we took the tram from Circular Quay to Kingsford which is where they are house sitting. It was nice getting out of the city and seeing the houses and the suburbs. They had ordered in a ton of Thai food and had several bottles of wine and we had a very enjoyable evening and got to meet new people that are on our cruise.

Our dinner group. Roger had just said something inappropriate which we were all laughing at.

We had a very pleasant evening and left around 9:30 so we could walk back to the tram station and catch the Tram back which was about a 30 minute ride. I call it a tram because they is what they call it but it is a lot like a subway train just much cleaner. They call it a “light rail”.

We walked back to the ship and got onboard around 10:30. We wanted to be onboard before 11:30 because they are moving the ship from our prime docking space to one a little farther away. There is a larger cruise ship coming in tomorrow and they will get the nicer spot. Glad we got it for 1 day.

I did go take some pictures of Sydney at night from the top of the ship.

Harbor bridge at night

Opera house by day and by night

Harbor bridge with the half moon setting City of Sydney at night

As I am finishing this up it is after midnight and we are in the process of moving to a different terminal. This one is not as convenient and we will have to take a water shuttle to get to the city. We will stay in Sydney until 6pm tomorrow night and then we get to sail back under the Harbor Bridge and past the Opera House to get to the open ocean, heading north to Brisbane.