ATW - Suddenly Sydney

I've given up trying to count the days!  Thursday, after 2 largely uneventful sea days (except for a nice bingo win) we arrived in Sydney, Australia.  

In Sydney, we met up with Maria and her 2 granddaughters.  Linda met Maria 22 years ago when she did a faculty exchange program in Australia.  Maria was her first host and they have been good friends ever since.  We have visited with her in Australia a few times and she visited us once in the U.S. 

The sail into Sydney is always a treat.  This time we sailed past the opera house at 5:50 am.  I got up and took way too many pictures.  I'll share just a few.

Unfortunately, we were docked at the White Bay Cruise Terminal rather than at Circular Quay.  Fortunately, Oceania offered a shuttle bus to King Street Wharf.  We took the first bus in and walked up to Hyde Park.  We had time to walk around the park before meeting Maria.

We stopped for coffee where they had this sign posted around.

We met Maria at the Queen Victoria Building which we had passed on our way to Hyde Park.

After a snack there, we walked down to Circular Quay to take the ferry to Manly Beach,

We all had fish and chips before walking along the beach.

We then took the ferry back to Circular Quay.

Maria's granddaughters, Ella and Charlotte were delightful (after they warmed up to us).  After we parted ways at Circular Quay, Maria sent Linda a message saying that the girls wanted us to come for a sleepover because we were fun.  

Ella's shirt struck a chord with us.  For the first part of the ATW, our Cruise Director was Carson.  We were sorry to see him go because we have a wonderful relationship with him and he is so good at his job.  On the morning show and whenever he made an announcement, he would conclude by saying, "Whatever you do, be kind to one another".  And there was Ella's shirt:

Now we are on another sea day before we arrive in Mooloolaba, Australia.  There we will meet up with another of Linda's hosts from 22 years ago.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry