Arriving
in Port Phillip Harbor this morning, the bridge and city come into view as the
sun rises. The Holland America ship
Vollendam, also on a world cruise, is already docked. The birds are going wild over the water
churned up as our ship does a 180 turnaround in the tight pier area so as to
face seaward for the sail away tonight.
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| Melbourne Harbor Bridge |
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| Melbourne Skyline |
Before
telling about Melbourne, a quick recap of the stargazing last night on the Lido
pool deck at 10 PM. The lights were
turned off and two of the ship’s officers gave a talk, complete with laser
pointers to share exactly where constellations, unique stars and other
astronomical features could easily be seen.
It was a spectacular heavenly display of the Southern Cross and the
Magellanic Clouds, both only visible in the southern hemisphere. Just setting in the west was a small slice of
Moon, along with Venus, Jupiter and Uranus, while Mars rising in the east. It is always amazing to see the Milky Way, something
that most of us can’t see in the night sky anymore due to light pollution. What an amazing creation by our God!
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| 1883 Bank then Stock Exchange |
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| Arcade Shopping |
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| Alleyway with cafe |
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| Artist Alleyway |
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| The Block Building w/Arcade |
Melbourne
is a city with an easy to use-and-understand tram system. Our tour leaves on the tram from the port,
heading directly to Collins & Queens Street. After losing and retrieving half the tour
when we disembarked the tram, we walk and learn about the history of the city,
the history behind amazing buildings built in the late 1800’s and the city’s
arcades and alleyways that are lined with shops and small cafes and
restaurants. It is a Sunday so lots of
people are out, simply enjoying the beautiful day in the city, watching us
watching them. One of the alleyways is
filled with university students eating a late breakfast; we could have easily
been in any US university town. Another
is an artists’ graffiti display, approved by the government for painting on the
sides of buildings. Funny thing is when
we reach the Federation Area there is a 60’s American car show with many
Mustangs and other well preserved muscle cars.
The tour’s last stopping point for us a café for a coffee and
brownie.
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| Mustangs! |
We leave
the tour at this point and search for the basic tourist necessities: free Wi-Fi
and inexpensive postcards. We score the
postcards, and the associated expensive postage. There are all the usual signs
for USA businesses – McDonalds, Subway, Burger King, 7-11 and Starbucks –
intermingled among a plethora of Australian and European shops. The tram takes us back to the ship and we get
to cool down. The weather has been like Florida – 90 degrees & sunny.
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| Melbourne street view |
We dine as
the ship sails away from our first Australian stop. Now back out to sea, we are headed around the
southernmost tip of Australia and up the east coast to Sydney. The seas are calm with a few showers, and warm.
Today
while at sea, we have interesting lectures and entertainment. Warren Fahey continued his lecture on the
history of Australia with a twist. Today
he spoke about the first ships that came to Australia from Britain, bringing in
convicts, what these “cruisers” did once they arrived and how things changed
once the Gold Rush occurred. In the afternoon, a talent show comprised of
fellow cruisers; then a 45 minute show by a choir comprised of 100 additional
cruisers. The choir sounds great; very
nice! After dinner we are entertained by
Ian Cooper, an Australian violinist whose talents are amazing.
Our ship
will have over 600 passengers disembarking in Sydney. Some will be boarding the Queen Mary 2 in a
week and continuing their world cruise.
Others are arriving home in Sydney while others are visiting family or
friends in Australia and New Zealand.
One person I spoke with today is boarding the Vollendam and heading back
to the USA. The ship is in Sydney harbor
for two days. We are looking forward to
our adventures in Sydney!
Can’t
forget – here’s the latest nautical term:
Sailor’s
Bib – The portion of a Navy enlisted uniform that hangs from the back of the
neck. It started when it was the fashion
for sailors to have long hair. To keep
it from blowing into rigging or machinery, they would braid their hair and dip
it in tar. When ashore on liberty, they
would cut a bib out of sack cloth and tie it around their neck to keep from
getting tar on their one good shirt. The
bib eventually became an official part of the enlisted uniform.
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