Disembarking and leaving new friends…

Getting off the ship was a piece of cake, thanks to our suite perk of being “Disembarkation Ticket #1.” We just went down to the gangway at 0730 and once the formalities for the ship were over, off we went.

Greg had gotten up before oh-dark-thirty and come downtown to photograph the ship coming into port so he was there to meet us. All would have been perfect if we hadn’t forgotten one bag. Because we didn’t realize it until we were at Greg & Yolanda’s, back into Sydney we had to go! Could have been worse—we could have been at the airport about to board our flight.

Yolanda was able to get off work early so we went to Ribs and Rumps, a restaurant that was highly recommended. Shouldn’t have been—$250 later we walked out the door. What did we get for $250? A dinner for four: a hamburger, an order of ribs and rump, an order of ribs, a salmon order, some beers and two cocktails. Now I know why the Aussies don’t tip! $250 for what should have been a $100 meal INCLUDING tip in America. Oh well, live and learn! I’ve learned that Australia is a bloody expensive place to eat out!

So we are back in the real world. Nobody to make the bed and bring fresh towels every day. No dinners where we get up without thinking about the bill. No parties where we leave the mess of dirty glasses and empty bottles and come back two hours later to a spotless room and deck. No more entertainment after dinner other than old movies on television. On the other hand, we now have internet that doesn’t take an hour to send an email, we have martinis that don’t cost $10.25 each, and we don’t have to dress for dinner (that last is a mixed blessing—we both kind of enjoyed going to dinner somewhat dressed up even on non-formal nights).

Best of all, however, are the friends we have made on this fabulous trip. Thank you to all those on board who helped make our trip around the world into a very memorable and wonderful journey of a lifetime.

Leaves are turning but it’s MAY!

  Some San Francisco photos

Pam hanging on the cable car like a tourist!

Randy on the cable car like a resident!

We have fond memories of doing what nobody can do any more: help turn the cable car on the turntable! What fun that was.

Pam and the GoCar we plan on renting in Barcelona (aka Barthalona)

We got to Sydney with minimal jet lag (Randy) and not-so-minimal jet lag (Pam). (Jet lag: Otherwise known as circadian desynchronosis—sounds much better, doesn’t it?) Anyway, we made it but had to wait for our hotel room so decided to go to Greg’s house by train, thus killing the proverbial two birds with one stone. We now know all we need to know to get around Sydney by train. Hope we don’t have to use the buses ‘cause we haven’t mastered those yet!

Ian brought us an Australian phone and after several missteps we have succeeded in 1) activating it, 2) actually making a call, and 3) both sending and receiving a text message. We have yet to succeed, however in making even one call on our international phone.

After all our angst over the train, we had more angst over our rental car and driving in downtown Sydney. Well, Randy drove; I had the angst, we both kept saying, “Drive LEFT!!!” and we made it in one piece to the Blue Mountains, one of the prettiest areas of Australia that we’ve seen. The views of the Jamison Valley and the Three Sisters were helped immensely by some of the best weather they’ve had here in a while. Most of the general stores have umbrellas for sale outside on the sidewalk; that should tell us something about the USUAL weather here!

I've never seen a Guinness with a picture in the foam!

One of the goals I set for myself—Goals! Doesn’t that sound lofty?—is to try a new beer in every town. The problem is that it’s awfully hard to take a picture of draft beer. Oh, what a problem! Today it was Coopers Pale Ale that I tried at a neat little bar, the Old City Bank. Randy couldn’t resist a Guinness, not exactly either new or Australian!

Our hotel in Katoomba is the Carrington, an old, old hotel right in the middle of town. It was built in 1880 but extensively remodeled so everything looks old-fashioned but functions as brand new. Even the tiny elevator! Inside, you think you’re in the late 19^th century, but it works like the newest high-rise elevator.

Pam and her ever-present camera on our "deck" at the Carrington (we do have to share with the other rooms)

Champagne on our anniversary eve.

Now, THAT'S a pool table!

The view from the "deck" in the front of the Carrington

We did the real touristy stuff yesterday (11^th) and today: we went to Scenic World and rode the Railway, the “steepest railroad in the world” (Guinness says so!) at a maximum of 52 degrees; the Cableway; the Skyway (they’re really big on “ways”) and walked the—guess!—the Walkway. So beautiful! The eucalypts may be spewing their “blue” vapor (hence, the “Blue” mountains) but the views were spectacular. And on one of our walks we got to see a pair of Australian King parrots! Not that they are uncommon, but it’s fun to be able to get close to such a beautiful bird. Can you guess that I love scarlet?

Male Australian King parrot; the female was similar except for a green head. Her belly was scarlet, as is his.

One of our hikes

I don't know what this bird is, but it's very common and lots of white when it flies

I just couldn't resist this!

Oh, yes, it’s almost autumn here so the trees are turning colors spectacularly. And some have dropped their leaves completely already!

It’s our anniversary today and we’ll have a wonderful dinner here at the Carrington. They’ve even left a bottle of champagne in our room for us. So nice!

Still months and months away

But planning is more than half the fun!

I should put in some of the details here: We are departing Sydney (SYD) on 16 May 2012 on the Sun Princess but we will leave the US before that First Class (!) on United Airlines to SYD.

Among other things, our 50th anniversary is right before we get on the ship so I want to find something to do on the 12, 13, 14 of May. Something spectacular and really romantic. Not to mention wanting to give Randy something to commemorate our spending 50 years together! Guys are NOT easy to buy for, however, so I will have to think about this for the next few months.

I also have to think about getting our reservations back home from SYD!

It may even be time to start some of our checklists. The one thing I'm sort of worried about is visas. We need visas for many, many countries. So I have to look into how to do that in a timely manner.

Where we will spend 104 days next year

Our itinerary is at the top of the page, so you can see all the ports we will go to. At least we HOPE we will get to all those ports! This year's cruise missed one or two as did the cruise the year before. We hope that next year at this time we will be at sea, about to dock in Tahiti.

This is a view of the rear of the cruise ship, the Sun Princess and our cabin is on the left (I believe I should say the PORT) side of the ship, four openings up from the bottom. If you're REALLY curious you can go to www.princess.com and find C746, our home for 104 days.

And I love this photo of the Sun Princess leaving Sydney on an absolutely gorgeous day. Soon (273 days!) that will be us!