March 7 & 8, 2010 Sydney, Australia
The exchange rate $1 equals 1.03 Australian dollar.
Sydney is the capital of the Australian state of New South Wales and is the largest city in Australia with a population of more than 4.28 million.
Captain Bates’s crew took the QM2 as close to the Opera House as possible before turning around and docking at the Garden Pier. We took the free shuttle to Castlereagh Street 4 times.
Sunday night we scouted the Darling Harbour area along both sides of the water. Monday morning we walked to the Opera House, took the ferry round trip to the zoo (didn’t go to the wonderful zoo as we’ve been there before), and then walked though a large portion of the Royal Botanic Gardens. While in the gardens we saw the largest bats we’ve ever seen with wing spans of at least 2 feet. Both the bats & the trees are on the endanger list. The bats are partial to blame for status of the trees. Before we left the garden and headed back to the QM2 we came across Ibis. These birds have long and a curvy beak and are bigger than chickens and smaller than Flamingo and we’re told they are dirty. After lunch we went back out and enjoyed shopping with the Websters. We grabbed a quick bite and went to town the fourth & final time. We walked through Darling Harbour to China town. We finished by each having a beer on top the Sydney Tower enjoying its 360 revolution and seeing the QM2 and sights of the city. Now we graduated to diamond status and have received our pins. This means we get more internet time and can eat at Todd English free once each segment.