Onward to Australia

Crossing the Tasman Sea was not fun.  We had about two days of rough seas, meaning that the swells were 15’ to 25’.  Our cabin is on the 6^th level and mid-ship so we didn’t experience the brunt of the continual motion, but 15 minutes up on Deck 11 in the Observation Lounge was enough to unsettle my stomach for the entire evening.  Chuck, on the other hand, went back up to 11 and spent a few hours watching the sea, munching on canapés, and enjoying his nightly martini.

Our 1^st Australian port was Hobart, Tasmania, land of the Tasmanian Devil.  

We visited an animal park where we were able to get up close and personal with koalas, kangaroos, and wallabies, and then proceeded to Port Arthur, originally a penal colony and now a rather lovely tourist attraction sporting restored buildings, vast lawns, and lovely gardens.  On our way to Port Arthur we traveled through orchards of cherries and apricots.  Another major crop is the opium poppy, which is under strict government control and used for the production of Codeine, Morphine, etc.

We had a brief stop at Kangaroo Island, which doesn’t have any kangaroos, but is home to huge pelicans, some standing at least 3’ tall.  Pelican with a mouth full of fish on the right below.

In Adelaide we rented a car and headed to the hills – Australian wine country.  We travelled thought the Adelaide hills, a mix of vineyards, apple orchards, and groves of eucalyptus (gum) trees and then on through the Barossa Valley, home to some of Australia’s best wines.  The Barossa is quite wide, with vineyards in the valley and gum and pine trees on the hills.

 

We didn’t know what to expect in the next port, Geelong, 4 hours away by ship from Melbourne.

We left the ship early in the morning and strolled along a wonderful boardwalk/esplanade full of whimsical painted wood carvings, 

a gigantic ferris wheel, an enclosed salt water swimming area (too many sharks to swim outside of this enclosure),

 and a water skiing race where the power boats were traveling about 100 mph!

We decided to skip the 4 hour journey to Melbourne on the Silver Spirit, and took the train in (1 hour trip).  As soon as we got in, we purchased bus passes and off we went to the shopping district.

We had a wonderful lunch at Laurant (reminiscent of Blums), shopped some more, and based on a tip from a very nice young man who worked of an edgy designer went to Mamasita’s for dinner.  He told us the street name, to look for a 7-11, and that the restaurant was next door – no major signage – just a door and an interior staircase.  He warned us that it got crowed so we were there by 6:00 pm – we joined the waiting line that was half way down the stairs and when we glanced back the line was out the door and down the street.  Needless to say we had a great Mexican dinner, better than many we’ve had in Mexico, with lots of young locals in a hopping atmosphere – the Margueritas were spectacular.

Melbourne is known for Skydeck 88, the highest public vantage point in the southern hemisphere.  It took 38 seconds to ascend and the views were amazing.  We’ve included a photograph of the very long Melbourne railway station from ground level and from the 88^th floor in hopes that it will give you an idea of how high we were.

The weather was sunny, hot, and humid upon our arrival in Sydney.  Since it was the 1^st time the Silver Spirit visited this port we had a special tug escort into the harbor and helicopters circling above us.  Everyone was out on the observation deck snapping photos and enjoying the show.

After visiting the Annie Liebowitz photo exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art, we hopped on a ferry and headed to Manly Beach for a very nice lunch at Hugo’s on the pier.

The couple sitting next to us ordered a chocolate pizza for dessert.

Sydney has a plethora of bays and coves and we explored a number of them, as well as the Queen Victoria Building shopping center (very old, very beautiful building),

and opera house area where hundreds of people dine along the river before the performances.