Sydney

24th/25th February
Arrived early morning to wind and rain. At anchor today so we need to tender into the harbour for our Blue Mountains trip.

We visited the Featherdale Wildlife Park first to see all the indigenous Australian animals. Kangaroos, cuddly koalas, wombats, cassowary and the really cute fairy penguins.

After stopping for lunch we continued up to the mountains where the visibility was virtually nil and on to Scenic World.

Our first ride was on the Scenic Cableway, which is Australia's biggest cable car, and descended 545 metres into the Jamison Valley. We then travelled on the Scenic Skyway between the cliff tops above the valley and walked through the rainforest. At 270 metres it is the highest cable car in Australia. Lastly we took the Scenic Railway back to the top. This was our fave! It travels at a 52 degree incline and is the steepest passenger train in the world.  A bit like a fun fair ride! Sadly we didn't see much because of the adverse weather conditions but we still enjoyed it. A worthwhile trip but check the weather if you go there!

An absolute deluge of rain overnight that was so heavy it sounded more like thunder and went on for ages. Thankfully the ship has now moved into Circular Quays harbour so it's easy to get on and off whenever we wish.

Our new dining neighbours, a nice couple Sandra and Robert from Wimbledon, got off today. They were only on for five days so we didn't get to see them too often. We enjoyed their company when we did though.
They will be replaced by an Australian couple going to Kobe, Japan.

The weather on the 25th was much better. We caught a taxi into town to visit the Sydney Tower. Just over $10 NSW.  Very much like the Sky Tower in Auckland. We then went into the 360degree Bar where it slowly rotates giving good views over Sydney. There is a minimum $20 spend to go in. The Tower is in the Westfield Centre which holds many of the high end stores. We had a quick look around the shops before returning to Central Quays. As usual the sail away from Sydney is lovely to see with spectacular views of the Bridge and Opera House.

So many changes in the restaurant tonight. There was a change over of 1100 guests today and a few of the restaurant staff.

We have a day at sea now before Brisbane.

Captain's Nautical Anecdote: Scraping the bottom of the barrel -
In days gone by chefs used to scrape the obnoxious smelling slush from the bottom of a barrel containing salted meat and sell it for candle making.