From Carmen to Footy

What a week we’ve had since leaving Melbourne on the 6th!  We flew to Sydney and spent 2 days there - wandering, shopping, eating in fabulous restaurants - and reminding ourselves why it is one of our favorite places in the world.  We boarded our ship - the Seabourn Sojourn - on the 8th - what a beautiful ship!  

It was docked between the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House

Sweet suite.  We also have a full size bathroom!!  

It’s smaller than the ships we’re used to - fewer than 400 passengers as compared to several thousand .  The other remarkable thing is there are almost the same number of crew members making for outstanding service.  We are going to become incredibly spoiled.  There was an arrangement of fresh flowers and a bottle of champagne in the room to greet us!




That night, we attended “Carmen” at the Sydney Opera House which was sensational.

We sailed away from Sydney on the 9th with champagne and caviar!

Our first port of call was Eden on the 10th.  It is a very small little fishing village - only about 4000 people - which was an important whaling station back in the day.  

They were very welcoming!  It’s claim to fame is the Killer Whale Museum which was very well done - it included some “tall tales” we got a kick out of. 

 

 It was a beautiful day and the views were lovely. 

The next day was a sea day which was a nice relaxing break.  I discovered another very welcome difference on this ship as I spent a couple of hours by the pool in the afternoon - it was SILENT!  No games, no loud music, no kids, just the sound of the sea and my own thoughts.  The 12th was Burnie - a small town in Tasmania.  If you can believe it, we took no photos!  It wasn’t a very interesting stop, the weather wasn’t too good, and we just wandered around a bit ashore.  We had to be back on board by 2:30 for an early departure.

The evenings on board have been very nice.  The food is wonderful, of course, and there has been some very good entertainment.  The best was a group from Sydney who are a Beatles act!  They looked the part and sounded spot on.  So much fun.  The day after their show, Stephen actually had breakfast with one of the members - 26 and named Michael! - who was Paul in the act.  They all have “regular” jobs, but are hoping to do this for a living.  

We’ve met a real nice couple from Toronto - Ann and Andrew Cook with whom we’ve been having dinner, playing trivia, and seeing shows.  They’re a lot of fun - we look forward to sharing this adventure with them.  They told the most hilarious story the other day:  In the wee hours of one morning, Ann was awakened by the sounds of the doorbell - over and over.  She told Andrew to get up and answer it, only to find he wasn’t there!  She gets up, opens the door, and there is Andrew standing in the hallway in his pajamas!  He had intended to to into the bathroom, opened the wrong door and when he tried to step up (the bathroom has a raised threshold), he literally fell out of the cabin and the door locked behind him!  

Thursday, the 13th, we were back in Melbourne to spend the day with Shirley and Darren, highlighted by an Australian Rules Football game, which they call “The Footy”.  (Australians nick-name everything - breakfast is "brekky", Tasmania is "Tazzy", etc) It is a mix of soccer, rugby, and football that is mostly slightly organized chaos.  You can also bet on the game right there at the stadium from the Betting Bus!  

They play it on an oval, which is huge - much larger than our football field.  

No pads or helmets.  The game starts with an official slamming the ball into the turf so it bounces high up in the air and they all jump up and fight for possession.  No passing - you advance the ball by hitting it out of one hand with your fist, or kicking it on the fly.  The ball is shaped sort of like our football, but fatter and not as pointy-ended.  You score by kicking the ball through the goal (4 posts) at the end of the field for 6 points if it goes through the 2nd and 3rd posts, 1 point if it goes through the end pairs.  There are 36 players and 3 officials on the field at once, there are substitutions going on continuously, and trainers and water boys are out there during play as the clock is rarely stopped.  Even if the guy with the ball is tackled, play continues until the ball comes flying out and someone grabs it away and off we go.  It was great fun, but actually not a great game as Hawthorne beat Brisbane by more than 100 points.

We got there early - more people did actually come to the game.

The traditional Four and Twenty Meat Pie

After the game was the goodbye we’d been dreading.  Lots of hugs and tears.  It’s always hard to say goodbye to dear friends, but when you truly have no idea when you’ll see them again - well, you just hug them harder.  Until the next time!