Monday - Sydney

 When I awoke, Kelly was in the shower and the ship was already tied up in Sydney and was being prepared to unload. I slept like a rock but Kelly said she did not sleep well and was up numerous times in the night.

I grabbed the laptop and bought a couple eSIMs for us as our original ones had expired last night.... they were only 30 day packages. I found one for $5 for a gigabit of data over seven days. Hope it's enough. 

I jumped in the shower as Kelly finished grabbing her last bits and pieces. All done we said goodbye to our cabin attendant Hendra and head up to the Oceanview Cafe one last time.  George & Avis were there and we joined them for a cupa.  

At 9:15 we were off the ship and down through the terminal to collect our bags. They were easily found as most folks had left the ship earlier.  We said a final goodbye to Avis and George as they headed off to their hotel to drop bags for the day (they fly out to Singapore tonight). Lovely couple... and the British wit was top notch!

 

Kelly ordered us an Uber and he was there within 3 minutes. Unfortunately he said we had too many bags for his car so he declined the trip. We thought otherwise and told him so but away he went. Uber auto ordered a replacement and he arrived 2 minutes later in a smaller car. "No problem" this driver said, "we will use one of the seats" and we loaded up and headed to the Hyatt Regency for $12. 

We dropped our bags and sorted it out with the concierge. Our room was not ready but we had expected that and packed accordingly.  We decided to go over to the Tarongo Zoo and check it out. Kelly ordered the tickets on her phone and we went down to the Barangaroo dock and caught the ferry over to Circular Quay. There, we would grab the ferry over to the zoo but.. well we missed it. No big deal as the next one was in 25 minutes so we walked around the foreshore before jumping on it

 

Heading to the ferry.

 

Our former ride!

The ferry was loaded up and in thirteen minutes we disembarked at the zoo across from the quay. A short walk to the entrance and we were in. 

 

We walked the zoo and really enjoyed the various displays.  The Koala’s stole the show of course but the little penguins and the lemurs were tied for second. Some pics of our visit....

Great view!

   

We caught the 2:10 ferry back to Circular Quay and then jumped the Barangaroo Ferry....er check that.. we missed that ferry by a minute! Not to be thwarted, there was another ferry leaving shortly with several stops so we jumped on that and, after visits to Milsons Point Wharf, McMahons Point Wharf and Balmain East Wharf, we arrived at Barangaroo.

We walked back towards the hotel and found a Four Pines Brewery outlet that would help replenish our fluids!  It was a mixed review on the appetizers.... Calamari was good but wings were dry.

We did a breakdown on our cruising experience and what we did & did not like on the ship.....

Overall Ship & Infinite Veranda ✅

Cabin Attendants ✅

Bar Staff ✅

Oceanview Cafe ✅

Specialty Restaurants. All good but expensive unless discounted.. even then a touch✅

Entertainment 85/100 as sound issues initially took a away from performances. I.e. Too loud. 

Best food experience: Eden ✅

The only real detraction was lunch time on sea days in the Oceanview Cafe... one would think that everyone was starving and needed food immediately!!... so rushed and crowded. That said, this is pretty much expected on all cruise ships of this size on a sea day. 

We went to the hotel, picked up our key cards and went up to the 9th floor and found our bags awaiting our arrival. We sorted bathroom stuff and did a little unpack and then it was time for a siesta! 

 

Next thing it's 8 P.M. and we are just relaxing in the room. We decided to have a down evening as the last three plus weeks have been go, go, go! 

 

Tomorrow planning a fish market visit and some light shopping.

Steps - 13,250