… to sea …

… and then to Melbourne. A day at sea provides time to rest and relax. Our only scheduled activity was a free mid-afternoon wine tasting, which we were able to share with our friend, Alan. The wines were interesting, particularly a Three Blind Moose cabernet. Our first sea day was also our first formal night; we met our tablemates, Terri and Lyn, Nancy and Lynn, and David and Victoria (yes, like the Beckhams). The Aussie Boys were the entertainment; we had met them on the World Cruise at a party thrown by our friends, Lee and Troy.

We sprang out of bed early in Melbourne the next morning to be ready for our 8:30 am departure for Ballarat and Sovereign Hill. We stopped on the way at the Ballarat Wildlife Park. We were greeted by a hillside of kangaroos, all waiting to be fed by curious tourists. Many had joeys still nursing in their pouches.

  

Next was feeding time for the Tasmanian devils – who crunched through several live mice. Their jaws are incredibly powerful, and can cut through a cow’s leg with a single bite. My favorite animal was the warm and wooly wombat. This curious creature, weighing about 70 or 80 pounds, is nocturnal; he had been awakened by the keeper and snuggled sleepily while he was carried around. Of course no visit would be complete without a koala!

 

Hands washed thoroughly, we re-boarded our bus for the town of Ballarat, in the heart of Australia’s gold mining region. The Australian gold rush was slightly after the California gold rush, starting in 1852. Several huge nuggets were found, and towns sprang up overnight to accommodate the would-be miners. Ballarat’s streets are lined with charming Victorian frame houses, festooned with lacy gingerbread trim.

 

Our next stop was the Williamsburg-like recreated town of Sovereign Hill. Authentic buildings were moved to the site and additional structures built to simulate a gold-rush era mining town. A wheelwright built wheels, a tinsmith formed gold pans – and frying pans, a smelter poured a bar of gold, and various stores, bakeries and hotels were open for business. We had a delicious sausage roll and apricot tart for lunch.

  

Schoolchildren who visit are soon decked out in era-correct clothing and sit in the schoolhouse doing lessons.

 

There was also livestock – horses, sheep, ducks, handsome turkeys.

   

After strolling through town, we ventured into the Gold Museum to see some of the largest gold nuggets in the world. One is Goldasaurus, found nearby and unveiled in 2003. From 1851 to 1916 the mines in the Ballarat area produced nearly $14 billion worth of gold.

 

Back in Melbourne an hour and a half later, it was time to board the ship and have dinner. We spent the rest of the evening in the ship’s Thermal Suite, soaking in the pool and napping on the ceramic lounges…. zzzzzzzz…..

… to the Rocks Markets and the Opera House.

Last time we were in Sydney, we spent a great afternoon wandering through the many stalls at the street markets in Sydney’s Rocks area, open on Saturdays and Sundays. On the way, we stopped at the Museum of Contemporary Art, interesting - and free. Some of my favorite exhibits were:

    

Leaving the museum we were quickly in the midst of the markets, offering food and all kinds of unique handicrafts.

 

 

We spent so much time browsing we barely had time to walk back to the hotel and change for our tour of the opera house, followed by the musical, South Pacific.

 

 

 

Up close, the lines of this magnificent building are breath-taking. The architect was a fanatic for details – notice the two colors of tiles used, and that some tiles have a matte finish while others are shiny. The performance was also outstanding. Even the restrooms are meticulously designed, with undulating stalls, lighted paper recesses, and floating sinks!

  

The nighttime view of the Harbor Bridge and Luna Park was amazing.

The next day we walked back to the markets for more browsing, checked out of the hotel, and went through the tedious process of embarkation. We sailed out of Sydney harbor around 6:30 pm, bound for Melbourne. So nice to be afloat!

… to Manly …

… to spend some time with Bev and Alan, friends from the Grand World Voyage.

We caught the 10:00 am ferry to Manly, which turns out to be a double-ended ship, with bows at both ends. Here is our ferry arriving in Circular Quay, along with HDR painting photos of the iconic Harbor Bridge and Sydney Opera House.

 

It was another beautiful morning, clear and sunny, about 70 degrees. The trip to Manly went through Sydney Harbor, almost to the mouth of the harbor, and took about 30 minutes.

Bev and Alan met us at the Ferry Terminal, and we took a short walk to Manly Beach, on the Tasmanian Sea. We stopped at a beachside café for coffee and tea, and to catch up on the past 18 months.

 

Alan took us for a leisurely drive up the eastern coast for about 40 kilometers, stopping at various beaches along the coastal roads, including Freshwater, North Curl Curl, Dee Why, Collaroy, Barren Head Reserve and Palm. We stopped for a photo at Barren Head Reserve.

 

We had a delicious lunch of fish and chips at the Boathouse Palm Beach Café, a charming restaurant at North Palm Beach. We started the meal with a toast to our friends, Lee and Troy Harden, who were there in spirit with us.

 

Bandicoots are an endangered species of small mammal in Australia, and we were intrigued to see the following signs. Especially interesting was the statistic that only 6 bandicoots were roadkilled in 2012, vs. 12 so far in 2013.

 

Bev and Alan dropped us at the Manly Ferry Terminal for the trip back across the harbor. What a lovely day!

… to the smoky Hunter Valley …

… on a wine-tasting tour.

Australia is currently experiencing a spring of unseasonably high temperatures and serious bush fires, raising fears of even worse fires to come this summer. Many tours have been cancelled but Hunter Valley was deemed safe enough for a trip on Thursday. Our Red Carpet tour guide, Don, picked us up at the hotel around 7:30 am, for the two hour ride to Hunter Valley’s famous wineries. Hunter Valley is where Australia’s wine industry was born; a pioneering Australian would-be vintner traveled to France to study wine-making techniques. Returning to Australia with vines and tools of the trade, he was given land in Hunter Valley by the government for his experiment. The vines took, and the rest is history. Although Hunter Valley now only produces about 5% of Australian wines, it is hailed as the oldest wine region, and is home to many fine boutique wineries.

We took the Pacific Highway, an amazing six-lane highway which cuts straight through residential and commercial neighborhoods, with traffic whizzing past stores and houses. First stop: morning tea and a quick stroll at the Australian Reptile Park in Somersby. This was a lovely family-run wild animal park, where the animals roamed freely and approached us with no fear.

 

Kangaroos and emus took food from our hands.

 

 

Wallabies perched on the rocks; surprisingly beautiful dingoes (who knew?) lay in the sun – behind a fence.

 

The playful Tasmanian Devils were also fenced, but romped with their keeper, even snuggling with him while he showed us their sharp white teeth.  

 

Along the road we saw charred trees from previous fires, and smoke in the distance from the current blazes. Bush fires are particularly bad because so much of the bush is eucalyptus, which has very oily leaves. In the heat the leaves release oil into the air, where it quickly combusts. Next stop: The Smelly Cheese Shop to taste cheese and olive oil.

 

The Brokenwood Winery was close by for our first wine tasting. We tasted 12 different wines, 4 whites, 6 reds and 2 dessert wines. Australia is best known for two wines: Semillon, a white wine which can be drunk shortly after bottling, or aged up to 12 years; and Shiraz, a red wine which should be aged at least a few years, and can be aged 20+ years. Is someone looking smirky-eyed?!

 

We followed the wine tasting with a wine lunch at the Hunter Valley Resort; four courses were served with four glasses of wine, two reds and two whites. Anyone who wanted could do an optional beer tasting at the Resort following lunch.

We weren’t done yet. Our next stop was at the Oakvale Winery, an immaculate facility where we tasted another 11 wines and an apple cider. The cider was delicious and we bought a bottle to share on the cruise.

 

But that wasn’t all. At the Hunter Valley Gardens we stopped for shopping and a chocolate tasting. Everyone but the driver snoozed on the way back to Sydney.

Back at the hotel we had only time to drop our bags before heading by cab to the Entertainment Quarter for back-to-back comedy shows at the Comedy Store. We arrived at 6:35 for a 7:00 show, and decided to try to eat dinner before the show. The lovely people at Ablaze Bar & Grill talked us into trying a tapas meal, which we consumed in 20 minutes - with a glass of wine – and made it to the show on time.

Wil Anderson headlined the first hour-long show, followed by the Spring Comedy Carnival, 10 comics performing for two hours. It was a very full day!