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Headed Home

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Our street turned into a Saturday market this morning. Yes, it’s a Saturday. We think we are 19 hours ahead of Pacific time. We were able to get up, take a stroll, and have crepes for breakfast before catching an Uber to the airport at about 10:45AM.  Winter begins this month Down Under, although Sydney is not freezing. We’ve heard that it’s blisteringly hot at home, so we tried to dress warmly enough for this morning but not too warmly. The coat and sweater can go into our carry-ons.  We were discussing how we’ve squeezed as much as possible into the trip. We think the key is: make plans for big must-do things that often require advanced ticketing, but don’t plan every second of each day. Also, REST! We often ask each other, what shall we do today, and then just let things happen. It seems to work out very well.  We made it to the airport and are through security. We have plenty of time. Our flight departs at 2:40PM on Saturday and, because of the time difference, we arr...
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Symphony at the Sydney Opera House

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Our hotel for the night was a 5-minute walk from the ship. We left our luggage with them and decided to walk a little bit. The hotel is on a main artery of the city so we just started walking. Luckily, about 1.5 miles along the street, we came to China Town and Paddy’s Markets. Paddy’s Markets was a recommendation of our Aussie transplant friend — thank you Alwynne! We bought a few souvenirs and had fun looking around. We asked one of the vendors about a great Chinese dim sum restaurant we could try … she suggested a place upstairs. It didn’t disappoint. It was packed with locals of Chinese descent … always a good sign.  The lady in the pic was like a manager … she was talkative and cute.  It was very delicious.  After lunch we took the light rail back to our hotel and decided to walk on the Sydney Harbor Bridge; it is just above our hotel. Good views! We then checked in. Our hotel is a historic building, not luxurious and bathroom across the hall. It will be great for th...
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Cruising Back to Sydney

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The final two days are at sea as we sail south back to Sydney. Carnival does do a good job of having lots of activities of every kind. You can do as little or as much as you want.  Day 8 — At Sea We were able to sleep in a little longer this morning. After coffee and putting the absolute final touches on our model ship, we had breakfast, played trivia, learned how to make towel animals, played cards, and had a little lunch.  Each day at sea at about noon Captain Mario comes on the PA to give a navigation update — he is fun to listen to: great Italian accent and quite exuberant.  He mentioned that we were moving along at 19 knots, which is not slow. We left Airlie Beach well after our scheduled time, sometime after 8pm. We heard that a passenger gashed his foot open pretty badly on rocks on shore. The gossip was they were deciding whether to wait or leave him to get better medical attention. We don’t know what the decision was, but we think we are moving fast today to make...
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Airlie Beach and Great Barrier Reef

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For some reason we are waking up very early the last few days. The advantage is that today we got to see a most spectacular sunrise. The crack of dawn, which included a crescent moon, was actually better than the sun peeking over the horizon.  Today we split up to do different activities, even though it’s not our preferred way to do things. We both originally booked the snorkeling trip at the Great Barrier Reef. Unfortunately, Kristi suffers from pretty severe sea sickness when on a small boat. She doesn’t do well even on the short ride into port from the ship. The reef trip is 1 1/2 — 2 hours each direction. As much as she wanted to go today she knew she’d likely be miserable the whole time.  So, Jim left at about 9am for the day-long trip and Kristi embarked on a walking tour of Airlie Beach.  The boat to the reef picked up about 120 passengers directly from the ship (it’s anchored just off shore). On the way out Jim learned that for a little extra he could have an intr...
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