After days of rain in Cairns, the morning of February 6, 2025 was sunny and warm, but also really humid.  We thought briefly of the snorkeling that might have been but were mostly just grateful that we got it in.

Our main activity of this day was to transition from Cairns to Sydney. 

At the airport we saw a currency collector for charity.  It is always interesting to take a peak and see the various types currencies.  We saw a couple 5000 denomination bills. A little research later, we learned that 5000 Indonesian Rupiah were worth 31 cents in US currency.   It only looked like a huge amount!

It was much less dramatic flying into Sydney compared to coming in on the Westerdam, before sunrise, a few days before. I think I’d like to show you those pictures again!

We settled at our hotel and walked around a bit. We had a delicious Chinese dinner at the number 1 Chinese restaurant in Sydney – no insignificant stat! The dinner was delicious but we took no pictures.

The next morning was our first in Sydney!  We began with my least favorite kind of tour, a panoramic.  The tour was part of our package with Globus and involved riding around in a bus, listening to a guide talk about things you may or not see depending on your seat on the bus.   Pictures on these types of tours are usually poor because of glare from bus windows.  That being said, our tour guide was very nice and gave us some good information. 

We were able to get out of the bus a few times, like at this nice viewpoint to see the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge.

Sydney Harbor is the world’s largest natural harbor and the Harbor Bridge is the largest steel bridge in the world.  It was built by a company in England and used local steel, stone and labor.  The granite pylons at each end are purely decorative to honor Australia’s sacrifices is World War I.  The steel arch is self supporting.  The bridge opened in 1932.

Atop the bridge are two flags.  The Australian Flag is part Union Jack (representing its ties to Britain) and part stars in the shape of the southern cross (representing the states and territories).  The second flag on the bridge represents the aboriginal peoples.  

The people on the bridge were on a tour to climb across the bridge from one side to another.  It is “a thing” but we didn’t know to do it – and we probably wouldn’t have done it even if we had known!

This picture shows the north head and south head at the entrance to the harbor.  The ocean is the Tasman Sea, part of the Pacific Ocean.  

We went to the famous Bondi Beach.  Bondi is from the aboriginal language meaning “tumbling water” or “water over the rocks.” There were a lot of surfers at the beach but no good waves while we were watching.  There are over 100 natural sand beaches in Sydney and its suburbs. 

Sydney has a red light district as indicated by this building.  Prostitution is legal as long as the negotiation does not take place in view of a church or school.  Both genders are available on street corners, but not in shop windows.  Learning that surprised me.

The most interesting place our guide took us was to Mrs Macquarie’s Point at the end of a peninsula within the harbor.  Mrs. Macquarie was the wife of Major-General Lachlan Macquarie, Governor from 1810 to 1821. 

Our guide told us that Mrs. Macquarie was not happy with her husband’s posting and longed to return to Britain.  The governor had convicts cut a chair in the sandstone so she could watch the ships coming and going – while she longed to be on one of them.  

The inscription refers to a road, also built by convicts, that used to exist between the government house and her chair. The Macquarie Point area is now a park.

Our morning tour left us at Darling Harbor, one of the two primary harbor areas in Sydney. We had about five hours before our Sunset Dinner Cruise.  It was quite warm and only going to get hotter. We decided not to walk to the hotel and back again.

We dawdled over lunch and then made our way to the Maritime Museum. We almost always find Maritime Museums interesting and we could be in air-conditioning for several hours.   Yet, even as the air-conditioning called, we started with the ships outside. 

The Duyfken is a replica of the first European ship to reach Australia.  It arrived in 1606 and was repelled by the aboriginal people.  

This gentlemen tells visitors about life onboard the Duyfken for the crew of 20 Dutch sailors. They were on a six month voyage.  We sat with him about ten minutes which was not long enough for how interesting he was, but way longer than we wanted to sit in the hot, stuffy, cabin!

The next ship was the HMAS Vampire.  It was the third of three Australian-built Daring Class destroyers.  Built from 1952-1959, it was one of the first all welded ships in Australia.

The Vampire was mostly in South East Asia. However, it was assigned to escort the royal yacht HMS Britannia in 1977 during the visit of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip to Australia.  The Vampire remained in service until decommissioning, in 1986, when it was given to the museum.   

Our final exhibit outdoors was the HMAS Onslow, one of five submarines in the Australian navy.  It was decommissioned in 1999 and gifted to the museum.  

The motto of the Royal Australian Navy’s submarine corps is “Strength, silence, surprise”.   It had soundproofing on all equipment to make one of the quietest class of submarines ever built.  Onslow travelled enough miles to circumnavigate the world  more than 16 times.

Finally…indoors and AC!

We saw watercraft from Australia’s first people.

We learned that the Royal Australian Navy flies a national (blue background) flag at the bow and the Australian White Ensign on the stern.  The White Ensign is the flag for the navy.

These are the alphabet flags used by the Royal Australian Navy.

The yacht, Blackmore’s FIRST LADY, was sailed by Kay Cottee on her voyage around the world. Cottee was the first woman to complete a circumnavigation by herself, non-stop, and without assistance.  The journey took 189 days, leaving Sydney in November 1987 and returning in June 1988. Just a few days into the voyage, the yacht suffered damage to the wind-powered generator due to rough seas.  She faced several severe storms during the journey, but Cottee was able to stay in radio contact with family and supporters throughout. 

The Spirit of Australia is (or was) the Fastest Boat in the World.  Builder and driver, Ken Warby, reached 317.6 mph in October 1978 at Blowering Lake Dam in New South Wales, Australia.

Two men died trying to beat Warby’s record.  The first was Lee Taylor at Lake Tahoe, Nevada in 1980 and the second was Craig Arfons at Jackson Lake, Florida in 1989.   The museum did not provide information as to whether the Warby record has been broken. My internet search was inconclusive.

We headed across the harbor towards our evening activity.  On the way we were able to watch a few boat races.  We were told that competitors from other countries, male and female, come to Sydney and race each other and the women’s national team.  The Australian women’s national team always wins – told to us by a perfectly non biased Australian.

Our dinner cruise was with Captain Cook Cruises.   It was nice.

We had dinner and motored around the harbor.  As we passed a navy ship we were told to look for the red kangaroo.  The kangaroos were added to the ships sailing from Australia when they still sailed for Britain

We had entertainment.

These buildings have condos – two owned by Russell Crow (who is generally present) and one by Nicole Kidman (who isn’t). It is the high rent district!

There were SO MANY sailboats in Sydney Harbor on a Friday evening!!

We passed under the Harbor Bridge and by the Sydney Opera House. Touring the Opera House was our activity for the next morning and will be the subject of the next post.