We got our aching bodies going and had breakfast onboard and then split up. Mark took his tuxedos and suits to a dry cleaners in Pyrmont (they wouldn’t clean them onboard). Pamela took pictures of circular quay wharf with its many floor markers.
Mark made his way back to Pam - we basically now have clothes scattered all over Sydney now ready for collection in 2 weeks. Pam had managed to snag a couple of Sydney Opera House tours tickets for lunchtime but before that we managed to visit the Chinatown area. Not as good as London.
The transport system in Sydney is absolutely fantastic and very easy to navigate and get around. It is also very good value for money. We got back to the opera house and had a very enjoyable tour. Pam here, this was a tour I never thought we would see, we were so lucky. At the start of the tour we were given headphones and a receiver each so that we could hear the guide, we were also told their would be lots of steps ( 300 steps) in this tour. We also had to store out bags in a security area as they were not allowed inside. The tour consisted of visiting the concert hall and the Joan Southerland Theatre (we were not allowed to take photos in the venues). The concert hall was mainly used for the symphony and there is a Disney concert going on this week which our guide was very excited about as she had tickets. The theatres are used for Opera and ballets etc. In total there are 6 entertainment spaces and lots of steps to get to each of them so not very accessible if your mobility is bad. Pam picked up a guidebook and another key ring, to add to her enormous collection at home, at the gift shop.
We made our way over to The Rocks area where we started our visit with lunch/afternoon tea at the well recommended Tea Cosy cafe.
Then we thoroughly explored the rocks area with its alleyways and old buildings and we could easily picture it as a very dangerous area many, many years ago. This is one of the oldest parts of Sydney and we are sure this pictures do not truly reflect it’s magnificent character.
We were back onboard after 40,000 steps in 2 days to witness the Sydney Sailaway. We caught up with our friends Sandra and Paul and exchanged stories. It was quite emotional saying goodbye to this fantastic city but we knew we would be back in 2 weeks time to see more of it.
We had a very late dinner for 2 in the Meridian restaurant where we both had pheasant wrapped in bacon with vegetables and it was one of our best meals onboard. We then caught up with our quiz partners Lesley & Chris. We did the spinnaker quiz and the usual team won with 20/20 though someone shouted that they should all be shot which made us laugh as they do spoil the quiz for everyone else.
We ended our day with the late theatre show by a duo called Strings Alive. This was a husband and wife group from Adelaide. The husband played piano and guitar and the wife played violins and sang. They were supposed to play with the Arcadia orchestra but the orchestra members swapped at Sydney and no drummer made it on board. Strings Alive have performed on cruise ships for over 20 years and so were very professional under a difficult situation and played amazingly well with lots of energy. They played music ranging from Irish ballads to Queen songs.
Yet again we fell to sleep instantly as we were exhausted but extremely happy.
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