Wednesday 25^th March – Sydney.

It was lovely to wake up this morning, go out onto our balcony and see the harbour bridge. We went up to Kings Court and sat eating our breakfast looking out at the opera house.

We’ve decided to spend the day in Manly so walked around the corner of Circular Quay and bought our $15Aus return ferry tickets. It takes 30 minutes to reach Manly so we had our own harbour tour. We recognised many of the areas we did previously on the “Bondi Bus” and just before arriving in Manly the ferry crosses the mouth of the harbour so it can be a little “lumpy” - from the Pacific swell coming in. Fortunately, it was fine.

We got off and walked along The Corso (pedestrianised main shopping street) and noticed how much cheaper goods were here as compared to central Sydney. We had a coffee overlooking Manly beach with its surfers and sunbathers and then walked back through side streets to the wharf. Here we set off on the “Manly Scenic Walkway” round to North Harbour and back – stopping from time to time to admire the view (and have a cigarette!)

There are supposed to be little penguins around these shores – but we didn’t see any, unfortunately – must be the wrong time of year.

Back at the ferry terminal we found an Aldi and bought 4 litres of Shiraz and 2 litres of Semillon Sauvignon Blanc for the grand total of nearly £13… Result!

Shortly after leaving Manly there was an announcement over the ferry’s loudspeakers that as there was higher than normal swell in the mouth of the harbour those of us sitting in the outdoor areas in the bow of the ferry “will get wet”! By then, though, it was a bit too rocky to move so we just stayed where we were. We did get covered in spray a few times but it was nothing serious – although as we were on the top deck, we didn’t know how those downstairs fared!

Six litres of wine is rather heavy and difficult to “smuggle” back on board – but we made it, but the problem is now that there isn’t enough room in our fridge for all of our drinks so we’ll have to plan our day in advance and rotate our drinks stock!

Once we had put our drinks away we were off again and walked round “The Rocks” area (where the first settlers came ashore) finishing off with a welcome pint at a pub before re-boarding.

A quick shower and change of clothes and it was up to Deck 8 for the “sail away” party. Gary, Jenny & Dianne are back with us and were pleased with their balloons and welcome poster from us. The seven of us oldies sat drinking whilst the three returnees danced and did the conga round the deck. It was like “having the kid’s home”!

In the evening, we went to our first “Welcome Aboard Show” only because Ian wanted to see David Copperfield (the English one, not the American illusionist, thankfully!) He had seen him 35 years ago doing a tour with Tracey Ullman and Lenny Henry and had always wondered what had happened to him. He was very funny and we are now looking forward to seeing his full show in a couple of days.

It is a sobering thought that we have now begun the fifth sector out of six on our voyage - but the “good” news is that we are now Platinum Members of the Cunard World Club!

This entitles us to a free wine tasting - which we are looking forward to – 20% off laundry (which we don’t use) and four hours of free internet (which we certainly will use)