January 17th New Zealand

Yesterday we cruised through three different fiords on the way to New Zealand.  I was not able to post the pictures until today. Even though it rained a little, the scenery was stunning.

More from Hobart & Richmond

The first two pictures are additional views of Hobart looking at the city from a lookout point.  The small ship in front is a Silver Sea vessel and the big one behind it is the one we are on - the Diamond Princess.

The animal photos are from the Bonorong Animal Sanctury.  All animals here are injured or orphaned and are being raised or nurtured back to health and hopefully released back into the wild. The animals in these photos are the Kookaburra, the Wombat and a Kangaroo. 

The church is the oldest Catholic church in Australia.  The church is located in Richmond, Tasmania.

Today, January 17th, Susan and I went on the Ultimate Ship tour.  We were not allowed to tke photos, but we saw several parts of the ship, some of the areas are not even seen by crew members.  The tour was awesome!

January 15 Tasmania

The ship moored in Hobart and we took at tour out to Richmond and a widlife sanctuary.  This is just a beautiful place. I do not have all the pictures ready to post, but I do have Internet service so I am going to post a few of them anyway.

This is a great picture of a Tasmanian Devil, and Susan and I petting a Koala.  I wanted to hold it so bad, but we couldn't. They are so cute.  We also petted kangaroos and saw wallabies, wombats and several other animals.  It was a great day.

The castle is the Govenors mansion in Hobart and the bridge is the oldest bridge in Australia, built by hand in 1823 by convicts.

Tasmania is absolutely gorgeous and the peole are so nice.

January 13th Melbourne

On Friday the 13th we visited Cook's Cottage, which was the family home of Captain Cook. Notice the rope used to hold the mattress and the foot warmer on the bed. Next door to the home, the Conservatory held an amazing collection of blooming plants including this Orchid. Susan and I are standing on the bridge inside the Conservatory.

We also visited the Old Melbourne Gaol (jail). The Death Masks were very interesting. When a prisoner was hanged, he or she was taken to the morgue where a plaster cast was make of their head.  The idea was that they could determine why people broke the law by studying the shape of their skulls.

We also visited Como House, a 19th century victorian mansion with all original furnishings.  The bells in the picture are for the servants.  The bells are different sizes so the servants would know what was wanted without going into the main home.

You might think that the little screened house is a chicken coup, but it is actually a meat locker.

Tomorrow we go to Tasmania.

Cairns, Sydney, & the Diamond Princess January 11&12

With the Blogger app on the tablet it is difficult to put the pictures with the correct text so you might need to scroll a little.

In Cairns we took a boat out to the Great Brrier Reef, about a 1 and 1/2 hour ride from Cairns.  Once there we were able to snorkle, ride in a glass bottom boat and in a semi-submersible submarine. 

There are thousands of bats hanging in the trees in Cairns near our hotel.  The morning we were waiting for our bus to the airport Susan took these pictures of the bats.

This is the lobby of our hotel and a picture of all of us waiting for the bus to take us to the airport.

Joey is strapped in for his flight back to Sydney. He did have time to play a few games on the tablet

We went to Deck 14 for the sailing away party and see a magnificent view of Sydney Harbour in the evening.

The pictures on the ship were taken in the atrium and in our stateroom.

Alice Springs January 9th

Internet access has been limited in the Outback.  Here are a few pictures from our adventure.  The pictures correspond to the captions in this order.

Here are Brenda and Joey on the left, and Susan  riding Phantom on the right.

This is the centipede that came to visit us in our hotel in Yulara.  They told us to kill it, but we didn't.

Here is Joey taking his turn at the wheel of the coach.  He traveled here from Seattle, and is having lots of adventures.

This is a picture of Kata Jhuta, one of the formations not far from Ayers Rock, or Uluru.

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January 6 Sydney

We have discovered that mushrooms are very popular here.  They are served everywhere and there are even kiosk restaurants that serve mushroom dishes.  Prices are high in Sydney, what you would expect in a tourist area.  A blueberry muffin costs between 5 and 6 dollars and most hamburgers are $15 or higher. 
We met our tour group last evening at a small reception and today took the city tour provided by Princess as part of our land package.  We even got to see a few things that our tour yesterday did not cover. 
This is Mrs. MacQuarie's chair.  She was the wife of the Govenor in 1816 and she wanted a chair down by the harbour where she could sit and relax.  So the governor had convicts build this chair for her. 

We went to the famous Bondi Beach today.  It was extremely windy, which made it pretty cold near the water, but the beach is beautiful and very clean. 

This is a Fort Jackson fig tree.  These are not the type of figs that humans can eat, but the tree was interesting.

We just had to take a picture of the "king" beds in our hotel room.  I am not even sure they are as large as our twin beds at home. 

Tomorrow morning we board a flight to Ayers Rock.  I hope to post more pictures tomorrow night.

January 5 Sydney

Today we went to a backstage tour of the Opera House, rode a double decker bus all around town, and went the the Sydney Aquarium.  Tomorrow we have another tour which will get us to Bondi Beach, and other parts of Sydney that we missed today.  This is a picture of Darling Harbour from the bar where we went for our drinky-poo.













Here is a picture of the kissing wall inside the Sydney Opera House. Performers kiss the wall before their performance for good luck.

There are helpful street markings for those of us who are used to the cars driving on the other side of the street!

Here is a picture of the monorail  at Darling Harbour.

They have wonderful bicycle paths here in Sydney.  We didn't see too many bikers today, but they look wonderful to ride in.

January 4 Sydney

Hi Everyone, We arrived safely in Sydney this morning. Our flights all went well and our luggage arrived. We walked around the area our hotel is in and down to the harbour to time the walk to the Opera House for tomorrow's tour. Keep checking for updates.... G'Day Mates