Welcome to Sydney .....

There is nothing like the feeling of sailing back in through Sydney Heads to make your heart swell with pride and bring a lump to the throat. Even though the morning was cold and windy, the decks were full as we made our way through the heads completing the final stage of our wonderful world cruise for most passengers ..... braving the winds, passengers of all nationalities were enjoying the vista of this magnificent harbour .... the most beautiful in the world .... the sun broke through and it was a fabulous warm, sunny day. The sea was rough during the night as we rocked and rolled in our beds ... to excited to sleep anyway .... and so we arrived back more than an hour late, which definitely complicated the disembarkation and embarkation process for the rest of the day.

We had arranged to have breakfast with Randy and Carol before they headed to the airport for the long flight back to California ... we met up with many of our friends and the crew that we have become friendly with .....  many teary goodbyes...... and all too soon the announcements were made for passengers to meet in their designated embarkation areas.

Col and Judy were our table mates until Dover and since they had arranged to come to the pier to drive Jo and Garry (and their mountain of luggage) home .... we walked off the ship and were happy to meet up with them in the terminal until Jo and Garry finally left came through the door ... about two hours late. While we were talking to Judy and Col about our shared love of cruising and future cruises, they mentioned the Diamond Princess cruise from Singapore to Sydney in November ... I could actually see a light bulb flash above Arnold’s head .... gazing into my crystal ball ..... I can see a visit to the future cruise sales specialist in our futures … maybe as early as tomorrow.

Once all the luggage had been safely secured in Col’s 4WD, we said our last goodbyes to our cruise buddies and headed to Darling Harbour. We wandered up to Paddy’s market to buy another  ‘just-in-case’ bag .... we haven’t finished packing yet .... and decided to have lunch at Chinatown .... yum cha ..... wonderful salt and pepper calamari ...... white wine .... and relaxing in the sun .... a divine afternoon for the last port of the trip. We walked back in the sun, and watched the deck crew busily painting out all scrapes and scratches -the evidence of the adventures that the Dawn Princess has shared with us over the past 104 days...

Lunch in Chinatown

Preparing for the next adventures...

The ship was scheduled to sail at 4.00pm, so all aboard was at 3.30pm. .... we arrived back at 3.00 to absolute chaos in the terminal ..... long queues of passengers still being processed through immigration ... and many disgruntled campers .... one American couple were complaining loudly that they had arrived on their flight at 6.30am. and had been at the terminal since 7.30am (surely this is a lesson about arriving the day before and enjoying the facilities of the hotel as late as possible) The terminal is not adequate with food, coffee and toilet facilities for up to 2000 waiting passengers ... it was never designed to be a long term waiting area ... and we saw the flow-on effect of the late morning arrivals ..... smiled sympathetically ... and guiltily ducked in through the ‘transit passengers and crew’ entrance.

Wecome to THE PALACE!!

Our belongings had been moved over to our new stateroom when we got back.... we  have dubbed our new accommodation ...‘The Palace’ ..... a luxurious mini suite .... so we spent a bit of time organising ourselves, checking out all the facilities ... and of course, I had to have a long bubble bath and enjoy my latest book!!!

We enjoyed our final sailaway for the cruise on the balcony of ‘The Palace’ ….. Sydney turned on a spectacular sunset as we sailed past the city and out to sea on the final leg of our remarkable voyage. Since we are only onboard for two nights, Rui organised a table for two for us in the dining room .... we didn’t want to join a group at a large table and then leave in a couple of days..... and we had a great meal together .... toasting our usual table buddies ... and then returned to ‘The Palace’ to enjoy a movie and glass of wine.