Celebrating Australia Day

At the conclusion of our 13 Day Sydney Australia to New Zealand Cruise, we extended our trip in Sydney staying an additional two nights.  This allowed us to spend more time seeing the sights of Sydney and surrounding area.  The highlight of our stay was participation in the Australia Day festivities which were being held at Sydney Harbour.  

Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip following days of exploration of Port Jackson in New South Wales. In present-day Australia, celebrations aim to reflect the diverse society and landscape of the nation and are marked by community and family events, reflections on Australian history, official community awards and citizenship ceremonies welcoming new members of the Australian community.

In contemporary Australia, the holiday is marked by the presentation of the Australian of the Year Awards on Australia Day Eve, announcement of the Australia Day Honors list and addresses from the governor-general and prime minister. It is an official public holiday in every state and territory. With community festivals, concerts and citizenship ceremonies, the day is celebrated in large and small communities and cities around the nation. Australia Day has become the biggest annual civic event in Australia.

Indigenous Australian events are now included. However, since at least 1938, the date of Australia Day has also been marked by Indigenous Australians and supporters mourning what is seen as the invasion of the land by the British and the start of colonization, protesting its celebration as a national holiday. 26 January is referred to as Invasion Day, Survival Day, or Day of Mourning. Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage to groups that lived in Australia before British colonization. They include the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia.

Australia Day festivities in Sydney lasted the entire day.  They started with Lord Mayor's Citizenship Ceremony followed by various acts on the Tallawoladah Stage, Ferrython, Salute to Australia, Tug & Yacht Ballet, In the Sky, Harbour Parade, Tall Ships Race, Australia Day Regatta, and concluded with Australia Day Live including various entertainers, concluding with an amazing  fireworks display.

We'll post some more information and videos.  Meanwhile, see our Australia Day photo album.

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Stopping at Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach is the most famous beaches in the world and one of the most popular stops on the Sydney Big Bus Tour. It can be reached by the Blue Route, which is currently suspended, but was in operation when we were in Sydney. This is a must see attraction in our opinion.

We had about an hour to get something to eat and explore the town and beach before the next Big Bus came along and we were able to continue our journey.

 

click images to enlarge

According to Wikipedia "Bondi," originally "Boondi" is an Aboriginal word which had the meaning of "noise made by sea waves breaking on the beach," which is essentially the definition of "surf" in contemporary American English. As you can see from images captured during our visit to Bondi Beach, this is quite an appropriate name.

Lunch Break & Beach Time

The Big Bus dropped us off near some restaurants and shops which were just down the block and across the street from the beach.  Since we only had an hour, we opted for a quick lunch at McDonald's.  We were in the mood for a taste of home anyway since we'd been gone over 14 days at this point.  After lunch we crossed the bridge, seen in this photo, to the sprawling beach.  It would be a great place for a picnic or just to hang out and enjoy the surf and sun.  As you can see, the beach was quite crowded, but no one seemed to mind as there was plenty of room.

We got to the bus stop just in time to catch the bus and resume our tour.  We still had plenty to see before the tour was concluded.

Additional photos can be found on our Australia & New Zealand Shutterfly page

Bondi Beach

Big Bus Sydney




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Exploring Sydney in Two Days

Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay was our base of operations for our two day post-cruise exploration of Sydney Australia.

We arrived at hotel on Friday after our cruise disembarked, checked in, leaving our luggage with the porter, and headed over to the concierge desk.  It is wise to rely on locals when planning your activities.   We had an idea of what we wanted to see, but due to Saturday being Australia Day (which is like the 4th of July in America) we needed some guidance on how best to maximize our time.

We had decided to do a combination hop-on-hop-off bus tour along with a ferry tour.   Since some streets would be blocked on Saturday, he suggested that we do the bus tour on Friday then watch the Australia Day festivities in the morning with the ferry harbour tour afterwards.

Big Bus Tours Sydney

We purchased our tickets thru the concierge but we needed to pick them up on the quay. A short walk from the hotel and we were on the quay and at the ticket counter.  We picked up the modified schedule for the weekend and waited for our bus to start our tour.

Big Bus Tours introduces you to all the most famous landmarks in Sydney, including beautiful Darling Harbour, sculptural Sydney Opera House and gorgeous Bondi Beach. Hop on and off the tour to explore these Sydney highlights and discover more of this iconic seaside city.

We started with the Red Route and took it to Central Station.  After exploring Central Station, we then boarded a Blue Route bus to Bondi Beach.

Note:  At the time of this writing, the Blue Route is suspended.  Please check their website for current tour operations.

Sydney Central Station is worth hopping off the bus for a closer look.  The interior architecture is amazing with beautiful arches and stained glass windows.  While there you could charge your phone, purchase attraction tickets and get some food or beverages for the rest of your journey.   We just looked around before heading to the Big Bus to continue our tour to Bondi Beach.

We'll cover the ferry tours in separate posts.  Check out our photo albums for more images from our tour via the Big Bus.

Additional photos can be found on our Australia & New Zealand Shutterfly page

Sydney Marriott

Big Bus Sydney




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Majestic Princess Embarkation

Prior to our departure from home, we arranged a shared transfer from our Sydney hotel to the pier.  Checkout time was 11 AM at our hotel, so we waited for the shuttle in the lobby.  Our pickup time was scheduled for 11:45 AM.   The driver arrived 15 minutes early and we were on our way.  He had picked up 2 other couples already and he had two more stops to make before we arrived at the pier.

Once there, we checked our bag and went inside the terminal.  We showed our boarding passes and passports and were directed to the line for Platinum, Elite, and Suite guests.   It didn't take long and we were on our way through security and onto the ship.  For security reasons, there aren't any pictures inside the terminal area, but suffice it to say this was a quick embarkation for those with status or high-end cabins.  There were lines for the general embarkation, but even that seemed to be moving efficiently.

View from Our Cabin

The second recognizable landmark in Sydney is the Harbour Bridge.   It's seen in this image captured from our balcony shortly after we got onboard Majestic Princess.

We dropped off our carryon bags and then went up to deck 16 for some lunch in the buffet.  It was then time to explore the ship before the mandatory safety drill.   In our next post, we'll cover more about our first few hours onboard Majestic.

Additional photos can be found on our Australia & New Zealand Shutterfly page

Transfer to Pier
Cabin B201



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