Noon Report:

• Location: S 37° 04.42′, E 149° 54.44′
• Speed: Docked
• Course: Docked
• Weather: Clear skies
• Temp: 65º F / 18º C
• Wind: NE 10 knots

We’re gettin’ so so lazy!

We looked at the schedule today, and reviewed the port talk description of our excursion, and decided that we’d get plenty of walking in so we didn’t need to exercise this morning.

And we were up late last night because of the Valentine’s show.

And the excursion didn’t leave until 11:00.

So there was really no reason to hop out of bed any time before civilized o’clock.

Back at the stateroom after breakfast I finished my homework and gathered some on-line tax documentation while Cheryl ran an eyeball over yesterday’s post and finished a book.

At 10:30 we headed down to the Living Room Bar – the only place serving food at that hour, only to find that they had not yet switched over from muffins and croissants to those killer open-faced sandwiches. So it was back to the room to snarf a granola bar and leftover cookie to tide us over until we got back from the excursion.

We left the ship with 10 minutes to spare, and along the way discovered that they weren’t handing out water bottles at the gangway. That’s the first time I’ve ever exited a Viking ship without someone offering me water. Amazing. But we got on the bus anyway and off we went.

Our guide, an interpretive ranger for the national park was excellent.

She did a great job of herding us around, answering all our questions, filling us with information, all with good humor and a bright cheery attitude. She truly loves her job, almost as much as she loves working in a place where surfing is handy and skiing is only 2 hours away.

Cheryl’s factoids:

• Favorite slogan is “now warries mait” (no worries mate!) and “gahdah” (good day).

We first headed out toward Boyd’s Tower.

Built by Benjamin Boyd in the 1840s as both an impressive landmark and as a lighthouse – for his own ships, not for other ships. Because of this he was denied a permit to operate the lighthouse. It was purchased by the Davidson family (a prominent family in the local whaling industry) and used as a lookout tower to spot passing whales for over 50 years.

The tower sits on a headland with magnificent views of the rocky coastland.

Actually people in the front of the bus saw a couple of kangaroos crossing the road. Our guide explained that wildlife is only now beginning to come back after the massive fires of 2019-20. The other impact we saw from the fires were the trees. With the burning of the forest canopy sunlight was able to reach the ground and the ground-level vegetation is much thicker than in a mature forest. The other interesting feature of a burned forest is the way the burned Eucalyptus trees sprout branches and leaves all up and down their trunks.

Following our time at Boyd’s Tower we returned to the town of Eden and passed to the other side where an effort is being made to restore a resident population of Little Penguins (also known as Fairy Penguins or Blue Penguins). These are the same birds we saw at Phillips Island. Currently they believe there is one nesting pair but they are working to establish a ‘predator free’ environment that will encourage more penguins to return.

You can’t clearly see it in this picture but there’s a specially designed fence surrounding the area. It’s designed to keep out K-9s, felines, and Iguanas (go ANN as).

Following this stop we headed back to the ship, arriving with just a bit of time to grab lunch and head back to the stateroom to shower before the next event.

The 4:30 lecture looked at the three major groups of people in the south Pacific, their similarities and their differences, both in physical appearance and culture. Cheryl tells me it was an interesting talk. I had a nice nap.

Cheryl’s factoids:

• Three areas of the Pacific Islanders: Micronesia (small islands), Melanesia (larger islands of people with dark skins), and Polynesia (many physical types).
• The island nations and territories were used during WWII but then the outsiders left
• The islanders are facing rising ocean levels. Some are asking to settle their populations in NZ and Australia as they are only 3 feet above current sea levels.
• China keeps coming in to various islands volunteering financial “help” (as we also found in the Caribbean where they will help you if you let them have your airport). People here are watching China very closely.

The 6:30 lecture “The Dramatic Story of the Sydney Opera House” was a look at the politics and missteps that caused the project to take 10 years longer than planned, cost 14 times the original estimate, and resulted in a main auditorium that can’t show an opera. Still, it is a beautiful, world-class iconic symbol of the city.

The lecture was delayed by technical difficulties so dinner was late. We had just enough time to grab something before BBB. Once again we scored 50%.

Then it was back to the stateroom to write this up and head for bed.

The alarm is set for 5:15 am. We will be up in the Explorer’s Lounge in time to watch the sail-in to Sydney harbor. We’re told it is something not to be missed.

So it’s time for bed. Till tomorrow, R

Pro Tip:

I’m sure you’ve heard this before, and this shows up on every packing list, but really. This is worth a special mention!