2 - 1 Sydney Australia, Opera House, Bondi Beach, Itinerary 2nd half

 The second leg of our trip starts today in Sydney Australia.  First leg from Bali to Sydney covered 3820 nautical miles and three countries.  This morning we were to enter the famous Sydney harbor at 6:30 am for the best in the world view of a harbor.  I got up at 5:30 am - we were already docking.  Darn I missed seeing the famouse Opera House at the entrance. We did see it later in the day on our tour of the city.

Sydney is the largest city we've visited yet at 5.3 million.  The #1 photographed item in Australia is the Opera House.  The  designer was Danish architect Jorn Utzon, who at age 38 won a competition in 1957.  It was a unique design (inspired by wedges of orange slices) said to look like the sails of ships.  The construction was difficult costs high, so the original young architect came under great criticism and stress. He did not finish the work.  An Australian team led by Peter Hall finished the building in 1973.

Returning to the beginning of the day (5:30 am):  all was not lost, as the big city skyline backed by the sunrise was pretty darn nice.

Our first task this morning was to finish packing (lightly) and move to another room.  The ship was buzzing as a majority of the passangers were headed home today.  Many of our new friends were leaving the ship, it was a little sad.  Some PAX elected to to stay in Sydney instead of going straight home to be amongst the first in the world to ring in the new year. We packed and waited until the new  room was available and new key handed over.  Unpacking took just 20 minutes.  Afterwards we had a motor coach tour of Sydney, a nice summary of the highlights.

                                

                This is summer vaction.  Everyone is outside and in a good mood!

Next stop on the tour was Bondi Beach, one kilometer long with world class waves.  It's high on the list for tourists.  There were lots of  beach bodies on display.

    The surf at Bondi is part of the attraction, people playing in the big waves, surfing classes, and surfers.  There is a life guard stand on the beach, but more obvious is the volunteer surf and rescue team ( in yellow and red).  We saw their boat head out three times in the 45 minutes we were at the beach.

The crowds are a lot bigger here than in Newcastle (yesterday).

Adjacent to the beach is a workout/weight lifting area outdoors.  Seemed to be more of an opportunity to show off, rather than workout.  There was even a pole, with a free demo.  

We are officially on the 2nd half of the trip.  New room, new guests.  Here is the itinerary.

There are quite a few sea days.  Traveling during the holiday does have a disadvantage. Stores, and tours are shutdown.  I wonder what Vikiing will do to entertain us for three straight days????

Last night's show was honoring the staff, then a performance of the Beatles music.  Great music, good show.  A lot of couples left early, we stayed for the full show.  I guess they had packing to do.

                    Tomorrow we are on our own in Sydney.  Ship doens't leave port until 6:30 pm.