Feb. 21 & 22 - Sydney to Brisbane

Monday, Feb. 21 - Sydney


Aaarrrgh!  Woke up this morning, looked out our window and saw that we had been invaded by a pirate ship!  I found out later, on a tour of the ship, that it is actually a replica of the first Dutch ship to discover Australia, akin to Columbus’s Santa Maria.  It is fascinating how sailors were able to survive on such vessels for months and years on end!  It is the Duyfken (Little Dove) which landed in the Cairns area in 1606, the earliest known European landing in Australia.  The replica is so authentic (it even smells old!), you would swear it was 400 years old, but it was built in 1997.  What an unexpected treat!

Karen in the hold

Under sail!

As I saw the ship from our balcony.  Also notice the "Edible Cafe" in the background.

Our breakfast today (and tomorrow) was taken at the “Edible Café,” a very unusual restaurant which we could see from our balcony.  Strawberries and herbs are grown on the outside walls and roof of the restaurant, which is constructed from (apparently) discarded materials including truck trailer containers.  The doors to the toilets (I’ve adjusted to the local terminology) are folding tables, and drinks are served in jars.  The interior walls are painted with dissertations on healthful eating and the waiters and waitresses are delightfully flaky!

Inside the Edible Cafe

We went to the well-known Manly Beach today, taking the even better known Manly Ferry, which serves both tourists and commuters.  So you have people in business suits with attache cases seated next to people (like us) with shorts, t-shirts, flip-flops, and funny hats, smelling of skin block.  The Corso, a shopping promenade built in 1855, looks like it hasn’t had a coat of paint since then, but the beach itself is a full mile long and very wide, very popular.  We took another cliff walk and had lunch at the Sand Bar, which fortunately had no sand in the fish & chips!

A Sea Monster Lizard on our walk.  It is an endangered species.

Back in Sydney we walked through the Botanical Gardens to sit in Mrs. Macquaries chair, hewn from a large rock in the area, so that the governor’s wife (in the early 1800’s) would have a place to sit and view the growing skyline of Sydney.  Now every tourist wants to have their picture taken there, so……

Thanks, Mrs. Macquarie!

Dinner at Café Sydney in the Customs House overlooking Circular Quay.  Over the past two days we must have walked twenty miles, but with all the good food, somehow we don’t look any slimmer!

Tuesday, Feb. 22 - Sydney to Brisbane

Aaarrgh!  Woke up this morning and another ship had docked.  But this time it was the Queen Elizabeth!  It is huge!  Like a floating apartment building!  This was a big day in Sydney, because the Queen Mary also arrived this morning, but is docked by the Naval station, because it is too big for the normal cruise ship docks.  People were up at 5:00 this morning to see the two Queens come in together.  I was not up at that time….

The QE II in all her glory!

After another wholesome (darn!) breakfast at the Edible Cafe, we spent a couple hours in the Sydney museum.  We learned a lot about the not-too-pleasant history between the white man and the aborigines.  They suffered like both the red man and the black man in the U.S., since they were the original residents (like the Indians), but were also black-skinned.  More about aborigines in a future post.

Today is a travel day to Brisbane via Virgin Blue, the Southwest Airlines (aka cattle car) of Australia.  But it’s cheap!  Next post from Brisbane.