Sydney and Melbourne
Saturday 19th November 2005
A quiet day reading and sitting up on deck. Only a few days to go to Melbourne. Our fellow passenger Heide is getting excited about our arrival in Sydney on Monday. She’s been away from Australia for over a year visiting relatives in Germany. We are also beginning to think of the coming winter (??) summer (??) in Melbourne and around.
Utrillo cinema club watched Howard Hawke an amusing caper movie.
Sunday 20th November 2005
The last Sunday aboard for us! All passengers were invited to aperitifs with the Commandant and officers, and then to eat with them at their table. The chef, as usual put on a stunning feast. Parma ham and melon, feiulleté d’escargots, magret de canard avec sauce caramel, cheese (of course), and gateau norvégienne flambéed with Grand Marnier (baked Alaska). All washed down with liberal amounts of wine. A good lunch was had by all.
Then out on deck to sit in semi-shade and try to finish the books we are reading.
We arrived in Sydney around midnight, but none of the passengers waited up to watch as large ships now dock in Botany Bay, and do not come in past the splendour of Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. We’ll be able to get on shore quite early tomorrow.
Monday 21st November 2005
Awoke to find the ship berthed in Botany Bay. Heide was all packed up and ready to be collected from the ship to go home to Firefly. Immigration easy – though the officer was embarrassed to find that my birth place, Douglas, was in the Isle of Man and not Scotland as he had thought.
We headed off in taxis to the Convention Centre in Darling Harbour as it will make a good place to meet up to get taxis back in the evening.
The local tourist office has a wealth of useful brochures, one of which gives routes for walking tours all round the harbour. It suggests that a fit person can do the whole thing in 8 – 10 hours but with no stops for the view or meals! The route is broken down into bite size chunks, which we liked. We started at Darling harbour which has been beautifully created as a leisure area very close to the city centre. We wandered on through the Rocks area up to the wharves at Circular Quay. On the way we passed lots of little precincts with shops and cafes, including Nurse’s precinct which has a particularly interesting antique jewellery shop. I managed to avoid spending any money there this time, but I may go back!!
At Circular Quay we got a ferry over to Manly, a very popular area of Sydney with lots of lovely shops and great beaches. We had thought of taking the tour boat, but were advised [well we think] by the tourist office to take the public ferry instead. Cheaper. Managed to sit outside on the ferry, and had excellent views of the Harbour bridge and the Opera House. The main beach at Manly has fantastic surf and lots of people were in the sea. There are volley ball courts along the beach with lots of rippling muscles on display. Many people’s transport along the esplanade was by roller blades and skateboards, often at breakneck speed. There’s also a much quieter beach with safe bathing for children just at the side of the ferry terminal.
The main road (a pedestrian precinct) from the wharf across to the beach is full of shops and restaurants. We found an Internet Café and updated the blog, and also bought an Australian sim card for the mobile. The internet café had loads of small ads for campervans, many of which are only about $3500 AU, about £1500. Makes us think whether we might buy one for our time in Oz.
We had lunch at a small Thai café – too small and informal to call a restaurant The food was excellent. We had a bottle of good Australian white wine and the whole bill came to $37, about £15. Not bad for a delicious meal people-watching on a beautiful promenade overlooking the beach.
We were heartily amused by some of the unfortunate language effects caused by the name of the town; ‘Manly refuse’, ‘Manly bus’, ‘Manly cleaning services’ promote some interesting images in the mind.
We arrived back at the wharf with time to sit in the Bavarian Beer Bar before getting a ferry back to the heart of Sydney. Again, great views of the main sights, but the other way round. Kit was sitting next to an old Australian who turned out to be a bit of a character. We walked back through the main business district to meet Jeanine, Raymond and Luc (the cadet) at Darling Harbour and get taxis back to the ship.
We’re not allowed to walk around Sydney docks – unlike any others we’ve visited. We pressed the required button at the gate and waited, but the courtesy bus took a while to arrive. We went straight up for dinner, but as it was now 7.15, Aurel had thought we were not coming back and cleared our starters away! Sudden scuffles and they reappeared. The main course was excellent fresh liver in delicious gravy. All meat, vegetables and fruit and other foodstuffs used while the ship is in Australian waters have to be bought in Australia. The ship’s own supplies must be under lock and key all the time we are in Australian waters. It is an offence to take any food items into Australia, though Heide was allowed to take her jar of Vegemite (bought in New Zealand) in with her! The regulations are very strict, and officially prohibit the import of any animal products including wool used in crafts. Liz didn’t declare her tapestry! Happily we didn’t have any soil on our shoes or other animal products or open food containers.
Tuesday 22nd November 2005
Following a little joshing, the captain has agreed that the Utrillo will depart at the convenience of the passengers. This means that today we can have a leisurely breakfast and then go up to the bridge to supervise the departure. And so it proves. Departure scheduled for 0900 and we’re in the open sea by 0920. I guess the boys know how to do this and will get along just fine without our supervision. We think that we’ll leave the boat tomorrow afternoon and go to the rented apartment. Its nice to think about an environment that isn’t constantly noisy – engine ventilation, air conditioning [efficient but noisy] and stable.
I guess we’ll have to drink our farewell champagne this afternoon whilst the depleted cinema club can watch a film in French without English sub titles. Pas mal. Les Choristes – charming film. However we discover that the ship is not expected into Melbourne until 1700 tomorrow and won’t be leaving until 2200 on Thursday. This suits us very well as it means we can have two more of chef’s wonders, and can pack at leisure on Thursday morning, and catch a taxi after lunch. Much more civilised. It also means the champagne farewell to Raymond and Jeanine will take place on Wednesday evening.
Wednesday 23rd November2005
Melbourne is another great city to approach by sea. We can see miles of beaches that seem to be fairly accessible to the city. I guess most of it is not commutable, but as we’re not commuters we might well drive a little further, against the rush hour to find an empty beach. We’ll se, but it looks hopeful.
It’s a long and convoluted approach. The pilot joins us around 1300 and we make a long sweeping turn between two headlands. As we’re not really welcome on the bridge while the pilot’s aboard, we can’t see the charts. It seems we must be almost there, but then everyone sits down and starts reading papers. We steam at full speed for another hour across the bay. It must be a critical first turn to have the pilot aboard, and there was a lot of taking of reciprocal bearings. As we approach the city we start a hard turn to the right. Have we changed direction, back to Sydney? Apparently an outbound ship has not cleared the channel, and we have to delay ourselves while they exit, and a circle will do it. After a slow circle, we enter the channel. Its really very narrow, and we can understand why we had to wait until it emptied. The pilot and the captain turned the boat around and we backed into our berth.
The container handling is impressive. Lots of container ‘shepherds’ rushing about, lorries queuing to be unloaded, containers into and out of the ‘farm’. Raymond described it well as an ants nest. Everyone knows where they are going – its like a ballet.
Champagne in the passenger’s salon. Raymond brings Crème de Cassis [never Sirop which is sweeter and useful for children’s drinks] and so we have Kir Royale. Raymond and Jeanine are very modest drinkers, and so Liz and I drink the lion’s share. Consequently our language skills improve – or at least we think they do. After dinner we’re all a little tired, so no movies and early to bed.
Thursday 24th November 2005
Touchdown in Melbourne.
The container handling starts in the middle of the night as usual, but we’ve become used to it. After breakfast we use our new local phone to call the terminal bus for Raymond and Jeanine and also a taxi to meet them at the gate. We’ll be doing the same later. Liz is packing, and I’m writing this - the last entry in this section of the diary. Tips for Aurel and Chef, close the email account, leave money for a couple of bottles of wine on the officer’s lunch table. Small chores, but hopefully leaving happy folk behind us. You never know when we’ll meet again. Aurel’s giving up the sea, and is going to start a B&B in Romania. Next year maybe…….
A quiet day reading and sitting up on deck. Only a few days to go to Melbourne. Our fellow passenger Heide is getting excited about our arrival in Sydney on Monday. She’s been away from Australia for over a year visiting relatives in Germany. We are also beginning to think of the coming winter (??) summer (??) in Melbourne and around.
Utrillo cinema club watched Howard Hawke an amusing caper movie.
Sunday 20th November 2005
The last Sunday aboard for us! All passengers were invited to aperitifs with the Commandant and officers, and then to eat with them at their table. The chef, as usual put on a stunning feast. Parma ham and melon, feiulleté d’escargots, magret de canard avec sauce caramel, cheese (of course), and gateau norvégienne flambéed with Grand Marnier (baked Alaska). All washed down with liberal amounts of wine. A good lunch was had by all.
Then out on deck to sit in semi-shade and try to finish the books we are reading.
We arrived in Sydney around midnight, but none of the passengers waited up to watch as large ships now dock in Botany Bay, and do not come in past the splendour of Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. We’ll be able to get on shore quite early tomorrow.
Monday 21st November 2005
Awoke to find the ship berthed in Botany Bay. Heide was all packed up and ready to be collected from the ship to go home to Firefly. Immigration easy – though the officer was embarrassed to find that my birth place, Douglas, was in the Isle of Man and not Scotland as he had thought.
We headed off in taxis to the Convention Centre in Darling Harbour as it will make a good place to meet up to get taxis back in the evening.
The local tourist office has a wealth of useful brochures, one of which gives routes for walking tours all round the harbour. It suggests that a fit person can do the whole thing in 8 – 10 hours but with no stops for the view or meals! The route is broken down into bite size chunks, which we liked. We started at Darling harbour which has been beautifully created as a leisure area very close to the city centre. We wandered on through the Rocks area up to the wharves at Circular Quay. On the way we passed lots of little precincts with shops and cafes, including Nurse’s precinct which has a particularly interesting antique jewellery shop. I managed to avoid spending any money there this time, but I may go back!!
At Circular Quay we got a ferry over to Manly, a very popular area of Sydney with lots of lovely shops and great beaches. We had thought of taking the tour boat, but were advised [well we think] by the tourist office to take the public ferry instead. Cheaper. Managed to sit outside on the ferry, and had excellent views of the Harbour bridge and the Opera House. The main beach at Manly has fantastic surf and lots of people were in the sea. There are volley ball courts along the beach with lots of rippling muscles on display. Many people’s transport along the esplanade was by roller blades and skateboards, often at breakneck speed. There’s also a much quieter beach with safe bathing for children just at the side of the ferry terminal.
The main road (a pedestrian precinct) from the wharf across to the beach is full of shops and restaurants. We found an Internet Café and updated the blog, and also bought an Australian sim card for the mobile. The internet café had loads of small ads for campervans, many of which are only about $3500 AU, about £1500. Makes us think whether we might buy one for our time in Oz.
We had lunch at a small Thai café – too small and informal to call a restaurant The food was excellent. We had a bottle of good Australian white wine and the whole bill came to $37, about £15. Not bad for a delicious meal people-watching on a beautiful promenade overlooking the beach.
We were heartily amused by some of the unfortunate language effects caused by the name of the town; ‘Manly refuse’, ‘Manly bus’, ‘Manly cleaning services’ promote some interesting images in the mind.
We arrived back at the wharf with time to sit in the Bavarian Beer Bar before getting a ferry back to the heart of Sydney. Again, great views of the main sights, but the other way round. Kit was sitting next to an old Australian who turned out to be a bit of a character. We walked back through the main business district to meet Jeanine, Raymond and Luc (the cadet) at Darling Harbour and get taxis back to the ship.
We’re not allowed to walk around Sydney docks – unlike any others we’ve visited. We pressed the required button at the gate and waited, but the courtesy bus took a while to arrive. We went straight up for dinner, but as it was now 7.15, Aurel had thought we were not coming back and cleared our starters away! Sudden scuffles and they reappeared. The main course was excellent fresh liver in delicious gravy. All meat, vegetables and fruit and other foodstuffs used while the ship is in Australian waters have to be bought in Australia. The ship’s own supplies must be under lock and key all the time we are in Australian waters. It is an offence to take any food items into Australia, though Heide was allowed to take her jar of Vegemite (bought in New Zealand) in with her! The regulations are very strict, and officially prohibit the import of any animal products including wool used in crafts. Liz didn’t declare her tapestry! Happily we didn’t have any soil on our shoes or other animal products or open food containers.
Tuesday 22nd November 2005
Following a little joshing, the captain has agreed that the Utrillo will depart at the convenience of the passengers. This means that today we can have a leisurely breakfast and then go up to the bridge to supervise the departure. And so it proves. Departure scheduled for 0900 and we’re in the open sea by 0920. I guess the boys know how to do this and will get along just fine without our supervision. We think that we’ll leave the boat tomorrow afternoon and go to the rented apartment. Its nice to think about an environment that isn’t constantly noisy – engine ventilation, air conditioning [efficient but noisy] and stable.
I guess we’ll have to drink our farewell champagne this afternoon whilst the depleted cinema club can watch a film in French without English sub titles. Pas mal. Les Choristes – charming film. However we discover that the ship is not expected into Melbourne until 1700 tomorrow and won’t be leaving until 2200 on Thursday. This suits us very well as it means we can have two more of chef’s wonders, and can pack at leisure on Thursday morning, and catch a taxi after lunch. Much more civilised. It also means the champagne farewell to Raymond and Jeanine will take place on Wednesday evening.
Wednesday 23rd November2005
Melbourne is another great city to approach by sea. We can see miles of beaches that seem to be fairly accessible to the city. I guess most of it is not commutable, but as we’re not commuters we might well drive a little further, against the rush hour to find an empty beach. We’ll se, but it looks hopeful.
It’s a long and convoluted approach. The pilot joins us around 1300 and we make a long sweeping turn between two headlands. As we’re not really welcome on the bridge while the pilot’s aboard, we can’t see the charts. It seems we must be almost there, but then everyone sits down and starts reading papers. We steam at full speed for another hour across the bay. It must be a critical first turn to have the pilot aboard, and there was a lot of taking of reciprocal bearings. As we approach the city we start a hard turn to the right. Have we changed direction, back to Sydney? Apparently an outbound ship has not cleared the channel, and we have to delay ourselves while they exit, and a circle will do it. After a slow circle, we enter the channel. Its really very narrow, and we can understand why we had to wait until it emptied. The pilot and the captain turned the boat around and we backed into our berth.
The container handling is impressive. Lots of container ‘shepherds’ rushing about, lorries queuing to be unloaded, containers into and out of the ‘farm’. Raymond described it well as an ants nest. Everyone knows where they are going – its like a ballet.
Champagne in the passenger’s salon. Raymond brings Crème de Cassis [never Sirop which is sweeter and useful for children’s drinks] and so we have Kir Royale. Raymond and Jeanine are very modest drinkers, and so Liz and I drink the lion’s share. Consequently our language skills improve – or at least we think they do. After dinner we’re all a little tired, so no movies and early to bed.
Thursday 24th November 2005
Touchdown in Melbourne.
The container handling starts in the middle of the night as usual, but we’ve become used to it. After breakfast we use our new local phone to call the terminal bus for Raymond and Jeanine and also a taxi to meet them at the gate. We’ll be doing the same later. Liz is packing, and I’m writing this - the last entry in this section of the diary. Tips for Aurel and Chef, close the email account, leave money for a couple of bottles of wine on the officer’s lunch table. Small chores, but hopefully leaving happy folk behind us. You never know when we’ll meet again. Aurel’s giving up the sea, and is going to start a B&B in Romania. Next year maybe…….
posted by Liz and Kit at 11:10 AM
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