Thursday, March 5^th, 2020

Sydney Day 1

Soggy in Sydney

We have been to Sydney several times already, but it never fails to impress me.

We are at anchor today because the Costa Deliziosa is at the cruise terminal, and we are relegated to the dreaded tenders.

There is often a huge queue to get off on the first tenders, so we thought we would wait until 10:00 until we tried to go ashore. That worked very well. By then there was no queue, and the only delay was waiting until a tender returned to the ship.

The tenders were going to the Man O War Steps, which were close to the Opera House, and very convenient to town. It was a very wet and bumpy 10 minute ride there, and then we had to look for the woman Brian had arranged to meet.

Brian is very interested in genealogy, and through his research had been in contact with a lady named Robin from the Genealogical Society. Brian’s great grandfather had lived in Sydney before moving with all but one of his children to South Africa. Brian had been trying to trace his movements in Sydney.

We spent the morning looking for the houses the family had lived in and the neighborhoods he would have frequented. First of all it was OK because there was just a bit of a drizzle, but then the downpour started, and you would think we are in the middle of a monsoon. In a matter of minutes the roads had turned to rivers, and we beat a hasty retreat to her house where we took shelter while the storm raged around us.

We had an excellent lunch there, and after the rain had subsided a bit we returned to the Man O War steps and waited for a tender to transport us to our floating home.

By the time we got back in to our cabin our clothes and all of our possessions were totally soaked. Time for a nice hot shower and dry clothes.

We had arranged to meet some relatives of Brian’s for dinner. The thought of getting off the ship and negotiating a tender, walking in the rain to the ferry terminal, taking a ferry to Rose Bay, and then walking to the restaurant to have dinner with people we have never met before was not on my to do list, but Brian talked me into it.

So once we were dry, and in different clothes we headed out into the monsoon once more.

Actually the weather had improved minimally so it wasn’t that awful, and although we were indeed drenched by the time we got to the restaurant we did dry off, and actually had a wonderful evening. The restaurant was called Sushi Den, and is worth a visit if you are ever in Rose Bay.

The relatives turned out to be quite lovely, and we had a great evening. Eventually were asked to leave the restaurant because it was closed. I think that is always a good sign. Brian’s cousin drove us back to the Opera House, and it was a quick walk back to the jetty to catch the tender. The rain had stopped, and the wind had died down, so the trip back to the ship was uneventful.

Once on board we looked at the view from our balcony. We had a magnificent view of the Opera House, the Bridge, and the city skyline. I’m sure that there are few hotel rooms in Sydney that could match that view. Brian poured himself a glass of Laphroig, and me a glass of Veuve Clicquot, and we sat and looked out.

We imagined the Sydney that Brian’s ancestors experienced, and how it was so different from the beautiful city we had been exploring today. Sydney really is one of the great cities of the world. We are so lucky to have 2 full days here.