Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef


Sydney is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. Sailing into the harbor you are surrounded by small islands and peninsulas jutting into the bay with lovely homes perched on the hillsides. We docked right across the way from the Sydney Opera House and its incredible architecture that reflects an expanding world. An interesting aside is that the architect that won the competition to design the Opera House only sketched his idea and it became the engineer’s responsibility to design the structure so that it would stand! The budget was 7 million dollars and it came in at 102 million. The design and construction was approximately the same time as the Kennedy Center was being built. Sandy and I toured the concert hall and opera stage and were very impressed by the acoustics and design of the theatres. Although the Sydney Opera House is world renown it can’t attract large scale productions as the stages are too small for the sets. Still magnificent though.
We toured the city of 4 million people and each neighborhood was distinctive and for the most part charming. Sydney is definitely a city we would love to visit again and spend more time. We traveled out to Bondi beach one of 38 beaches that are within Sydney’s limits and it was like turning the clock back 50 years. A large promenade in the middle of a crescent shaped white sandy beach had restaurants, dressing rooms, snack bars and souvenirs. Across from the promenade and across 4 to 5 lanes of road were grand hotels, restaurants and shops, shops, shops.
Sydney is one of two ports that we overnight and have the next day for touring. The first time we slept without the rocking of the boat since New York. Being right in the middle of the bustling harbor was fascinating. Ferries coming and going carrying workers and school children and of course tourists all day and into the night. Sandy and I were joined by Ivy and Harry, tablemates, as we took the ferry over to the zoo to find the famous orangutan that our lovely 93 year old new friend Mary Jones kept telling us about. We saw more kangaroos, koalas, elephants, giraffes and the place where the orangutan lived but alas – no orangutan. It was still quite worth it as the zoo was wonderful and we met a few very interesting and gracious people. One was a woman with a camera taking pictures when she heard the four of us talking and asked if we were Americans. We said yes from Washington, D.C. and she said she was from Washington State. She then asked me for a hug and started crying. Of course, I gave her a hug as she told her story of having just arrived in Sydney to meet her daughter who was coming in on another cruise ship in a few days time. Her husband of thirty some years died just two months ago and she was still devastated. She had flown to Australia and had a panic attack on the plane and all in all she needed a bit of comfort and sympathy which we all gladly gave to her. After 5 or 10 minutes of talking and still a bit of hugging all five of us parted as dear, dear friends although we were just strangers in a foreign land.
I’m not doing justice to Sydney so I’ll just repeat: it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world!
We set sail and moved up the coast to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. Great indeed – it is more than 1,200 miles long and hundreds of miles wide. Australia conserves the reef by only allowing fishing or touring at certain places that change constantly to allow the reefs to restore naturally. We took a catamaran directly from the ship to a floating platform an hour and a half away. There we snorkeled and had lunch. There was a submersible ship to allow viewing for those not wanting to snorkel and a platform with a helicopter for tours of the reef from the air. The weather didn’t quite cooperate as it was an overcast day and we didn’t get the spectacular colors of the fish and the reefs that are usually available. It did brighten up enough that when I went snorkeling after lunch the blues and violets and reds and greens and browns and grays were so much more pronounced than they had been in the morning. Lots of fish and yes I did keep my mask on my face.

Next Rabaul, Papua New Guinea….