Thursday, 10 November 2022

Continuing Across the Tasman Sea, Approaching Milford Sound, New Zealand

The Westerdam continues its southeast course across the Tasman Sea. The sailing is pretty smooth, considering that the ship is sailing at 20 knots, significantly faster than the usual 18. This is because our departure from Sydney was delayed from 6:30pm Tuesday to 3:30am Wednesday, supposedly because of a shortage of local pilots. We are making up some time and will arrive at our first port only one hour late. More about this when I get to Tuesday. But right now I head back to my last full day in Sydney:

Monday, 7 Nov 2022

Another Day in Sydney

I start out right at 9am today to make up for my 11am start yesterday. Instead of using public transportation, I start a walk along the edge of Darling Harbour, heading northward toward Observatory Park. The walk takes me past the incredible amount of construction underway in this part of Sydney. There are some remarkable construction sites--I guess I will need to return (in fewer than 30 years this time) to see the completed results.

In between the towering new buildings, the visitor can still find late Victorian and early 20th-century housing--today selling for vast amounts of money. This is true throughout the city, an interesting mix of the old and the new.

It takes about one hour's leisurely walk, with elevators sometimes available for difficult inclines--Sydney has a surprisingly large number of hills--to reach Observatory Park and the wonderful views of Sydney CBD, the Harbour Bridge, and North Sydney across the water.

A Panoramic View of North Sydney from Observatory Park

Sydney Harbour Bridge, Looking Northward from Observatory Park
(Notice Luna Park Amusement Center in Lower Left)

The Entrance to Luna Park, Viewed from Observatory Park
(Thanks to the 60x Optical Zoom on my Canon Camera)

The Observatory Building

From the Observatory it is a short walk, mostly downhill and under the Harbour Bridge roadway to reach wonderful views of the harbour and opera house.

But the aim of this walk is to enjoy the views from the bridge itself. There is an elevator to take me up to the walkway adjacent to the road and rail traffic that crosses the bridge. My intention is to climb up the first pylon (concrete structure below), for the views from the top. But alas, there are too many steps for me to make the jaunt. But there are great views from the bridge itself. So I walk about one-third way across before returning to the start and the elevator.

The Pedestrian Pathway

The First Pylon

The big surprise is that I witness the one-day early arrival of the Westerdam at the Overseas Cruise Terminal at Circular Quay. She arrives early because winds at the previous port were too rough for tenders. So instead of visiting that island, passengers get an extra half-day in Sydney. Later tonight, the ship will move further up the harbour to the White Bay Cruise Terminal, where I am scheduled to board tomorrow.

I visit a Starbuck's in a restored chapel building and then have a late lunch of Chicken Parmesan at a huge waterfront food hall. I take a taxi back to the hotel--too much walking this morning. I self-administer a required covid test and take a photo of the negative result on my iPhone, required by Holland America.

The web is very slow with photos today, so I will stop here and hopefully resume in a later blog.