Sydney and the End of the Road (For Now)

A highlight of this adventure was always going to be sailing into Sydney Harbour and viewing our country through the eyes of foreigners and I am happy to report that reality didn’t let us down.

We awaken around 515am Wednesday 19th February just as we pass through Sydney Heads – perfect timing. It’s dark but the shadowy heads are just visible although looking smaller than expected, no doubt because our cabin is located on the equivalent of the eighth floor of a high-rise building.

We have dealt with customs – conveniently brought aboard after New Zealand to handle the 1950 (coronavirus free) arrivals, and we have said our farewells to many new acquaintances. Whilst we will be continuing on to Brisbane nearly half of the ship will be disembarking here – the cruises midway point.

For the first of our two-night Sydney sojourn, the Arcadia will moor in Sydney Harbour (tomorrow we move to the main passenger terminal) and as we sit on our balcony enjoying our room-service breakfast, the rising sun slowly reveals Sydney in all her glorious splendour. The Opera House sparkles, the Bridge looks magnificent and the hues of the harbour glorious. It feels good to be back in Australia.

With both a 50th birthday and a wedding to attend in the forthcoming fortnight, today for me is all about outfit shopping, so whilst Darryl explores the nearby Royal Botanic Gardens, Lady Macquarie’s Chair and Circular Quay, I hit Pitt Street Mall.

Day two and today we become real tourists. We awaken to find ourselves moored at the main terminal and visible from our bed is the Sydney Opera House. The day is spent re-familiarising ourselves with Sydney via the Hop-On bus and the changes to the city, especially Darling Harbour, blow us away, as does the cleanliness of everything. Having visited so many overseas cities recently, Sydney is definitely up there with the very best.

The day ends with us enjoying ourselves on Arcadias back deck. Rather than fight the Circular Quay crowds at street level, we elect instead, to stay on board. Here, with the best of what Sydney has to offer surrounding us, we sit back, have a few beverages and soak up the views.

Our final day at sea finds us slowly making our way up the eastern seaboard of Australia. We are always within sight of land which is fantastic, and we have internet which is even better.

At 9 pm, after enjoying our final three-course meal in the Meridian Restaurant we check Google Maps and find we are just passing Brunswick Heads. As the Cape Byron lighthouse winks at us, the moment becomes unforgettable- we have just lapped the globe.

Saturday morning – 22nd February and that’s it, it’s time to disembark and make our way home to Brunswick Heads. Our 119-day odyssey visiting 23 countries is over. In all, we travelled on 28 trains (not including those in London) for nearly 15,500 kilometres and we spent 49 days at sea, sailing approximately 32,027 kilometres. It was an absolutely incredible experience and yes, I am looking forward to the next one but not for some time yet.

So that’s it for the time being – time now to work on turning this adventure into a new book and get back to our bowling. Thanks all for taking the journey with us.