"Live" Majestic Princess, 33-Days, Apr 10th to May 12th, Sydney to Seattle (+6 Nights Sydney Pre-Cruise)

[LACruiser88]

2 hours ago, treesah said:

You dragged the California sunshine to Sydney.  Thus, we ended up with snow in the Laguna mountains.  Have a fabulous trip.

Wow!  Incredible!!!

[LACruiser88]

Today turned out to be a beautiful, warm day!  It had to be 80°!

 

We strolled and shopped thru the Saturday street market at the Rocks.

 

 

 

Debbie doing what she loves, shop!!!  (She is in the white shirt)

 

And then we walked and walked...

The Royal Princess in the background.

 

 

We walked to the Royal Botanic Gardens looking for cockatoos.  And we found them, a huge flock of Greater Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos!  It always amazes us to see parrots in the wild that we bred in our aviaries.  Over the years, we bred 8 different species of Cockatoos, the Greater Sulphur-Crested being one of them.

 

 

 

 

We also spotted a Rainbow Lorikeet, a species that we also bred.

 

We returned to the Rocks dripping in sweat for a cold refreshment!

 

 

Before returning "home," we walked to a wine shop that was recommended by the Concierge at our hotel.  The clerk was extremely helpful helping us select 6 bottles of wines that are not exported outside of Australia.  These we will carryon to the ship.

 

 

 

They are all screw caps and were in the $50 to $70 AUD.  I'll report back on how they tasted.  🤞

 

Tomorrow, we are planning on taking the ferry to Manly.

 

 

Edited April 6 by LACruiser88

[c-boy]

12 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

Today turned out to be a beautiful, warm day!  It had to be 80°!

 

We strolled and shopped thru the Saturday street market at the Rocks.

 

 

 

Debbie doing what she loves, shop!!!  (She is in the white shirt)

 

And then we walked and walked...

The Royal Princess in the background.

 

 

We walked to the Royal Botanic Gardens looking for cockatoos.  And we found them, a huge flock of Greater Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos!  It always amazes us to see parrots in the wild that we bred in our aviaries.  Over the years, we bred 8 different species of Cockatoos, the Greater Sulphur-Crested being one of them.

 

 

 

 

We also spotted a Rainbow Lorikeet, a species that we also bred.

 

We returned to the Rocks dripping in sweat for a cold refreshment!

 

 

Before returning "home," we walked to a wine shop that was recommended by the Concierge at our hotel.  The clerk was extremely helpful helping us select 6 bottles of wines that are not exported outside of Australia.  These we will carryon to the ship.

 

 

 

They are all screw caps and were in the $50 to $70 AUD.  I'll report back on how they tasted.  🤞

 

Tomorrow, we are planning on taking the ferry to Manly.

 

 

screw cap capitol of the world 😄

[Host CJSKIDS]

23 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

Today turned out to be a beautiful, warm day!  It had to be 80°!

 

We strolled and shopped thru the Saturday street market at the Rocks.

 

 

 

Debbie doing what she loves, shop!!!  (She is in the white shirt)

 

And then we walked and walked...

The Royal Princess in the background.

 

 

We walked to the Royal Botanic Gardens looking for cockatoos.  And we found them, a huge flock of Greater Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos!  It always amazes us to see parrots in the wild that we bred in our aviaries.  Over the years, we bred 8 different species of Cockatoos, the Greater Sulphur-Crested being one of them.

 

 

 

 

We also spotted a Rainbow Lorikeet, a species that we also bred.

 

We returned to the Rocks dripping in sweat for a cold refreshment!

 

 

Before returning "home," we walked to a wine shop that was recommended by the Concierge at our hotel.  The clerk was extremely helpful helping us select 6 bottles of wines that are not exported outside of Australia.  These we will carryon to the ship.

 

 

 

They are all screw caps and were in the $50 to $70 AUD.  I'll report back on how they tasted.  🤞

 

Tomorrow, we are planning on taking the ferry to Manly.

 

 

Looks like the perfect day. Love all the bird picture. Can't wait to hear how the wine was. 

[charliedalrymple]

2 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

They are all screw caps and were in the $50 to $70 AUD.  I'll report back on how they tasted. 

 

Hmmm....you seem to favour reds.  I think that Australia is better at whites, while the Kiwis produce better reds.  I'll be interested to hear your perspective.

 

Don't forget to try the cocktail bar at the top of the Shangri-La if you have the opportunity!

[LACruiser88]

3 minutes ago, charliedalrymple said:

 

Hmmm....you seem to favour reds.  I think that Australia is better at whites, while the Kiwis produce better reds.  I'll be interested to hear your perspective.

 

Don't forget to try the cocktail bar at the top of the Shangri-La if you have the opportunity!

Yes, we prefer reds.  We also enjoy dry Rose's during warm weather.  Thank you for the recommendation!

 

Cheers! 🍷

[aussielozzie18]

You certainly had a lovely day in Sydney today. Glad you such a gorgeous weather.  We are expecting similar weather tomorrow. Interesting that you call our Sulphur-Crested  Cockatoos “Greater”.  We don’t use that term here.

 

Enjoy your day in Manly tomorrow.  

[azbirdmom]

Just love seeing "wild" Cockies and Lories.  We saw these two characters in December at a sidewalk restaurant while we were walking along Circular Quay very close to the Opera House.

 

Edited April 6 by azbirdmom

[PescadoAmarillo]

I forgot to mention yesterday that they used to have fireworks over the Royal Botanic Gardens on Saturday nights. I thought of it this morning but that was too late. Enjoy Manly!

[LACruiser88]

6 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Interesting that you call our Sulphur-Crested  Cockatoos “Greater”.  We don’t use that term here.

 

There are two species of Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, the Greater Sulphur-crested, often called just the Sulphur-crested, and the Lesser Sulphur-crested, also called the Yellow-crested, from Indonesia. The latter is smaller and has stronger yellow cheek patches.

 

Hey, no one told us that the clocks went back an hour at 3 am!  We thought someone was playing a late April Fool's joke on us!  You would think the hotel would have given us notice? 🤷‍♂️

[EDVM96]

5 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

Hey, no one told us that the clocks went back an hour at 3 am!

 

 

 

😄

 

[aussielozzie18]

6 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

I forgot to mention yesterday that they used to have fireworks over the Royal Botanic Gardens on Saturday nights. I thought of it this morning but that was too late. Enjoy Manly!

Not the Royal Botanical Gardens.  Darling Harbour often has  fireworks on  Saturday nights but if you are visiting Sydney best to check their website to confirm the dates & time  for the month you are visiting.

Edited April 6 by aussielozzie18

[PescadoAmarillo]

10 minutes ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Not the Royal Botanical Gardens.  Darling Harbour often has  fireworks on  Saturday nights but if you are visiting Sydney best to check their website to confirm the dates & time  for the month you are visiting.

Good to know, thanks! They used to (pre-COVID) be in the Royal Botanical Gardens. Of course, we didn’t know that until we heard them from our hotel room. If it had been a major US city, we would have guessed gunfire, but, being in Sydney, we correctly guessed fireworks. 

[LACruiser88]

Today was another beautiful sunny day!  We took the ferry to Manly.

 

 

 

 

 

We missed the Manly penguins!  They go out to sea as the sun rises and do not return until sunset.

 

 

 

The coolest thing we saw today!  I would love to find a Cockatoo and a Lorikeet waiting for me on our balcony!

 

There were LOTS of folks heading to Manly Beach.  We strolled through the weekend street market.

 

 

 

 

 

I lost Debbie for awhile inside this shop.

 

I didn't mind because the below trees, that were just outside the shop, were full of Cockatoos and Lorikeets!

 

The beach and waves were really nice.

 

 

 

 

 

Post frustration!  These two photos keep showing up below even after being deleted and uploading again.  Same thing happened with yesterday's post.  Sorry...

Edited April 7 by LACruiser88

[aussielozzie18]

Another beautiful day in Sydney for you.  Was Manly beach open for swimming?

 

Had the pleasure of seeing a fairy penguin swimming in the waters of Manly Wharf, in the afternoon, a couple of years ago.

[LACruiser88]

1 hour ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Another beautiful day in Sydney for you.  Was Manly beach open for swimming?

 

Had the pleasure of seeing a fairy penguin swimming in the waters of Manly Wharf, in the afternoon, a couple of years ago.

Yes, there were lots of folks swimming and surfing.  Do they close the beach due to a strong current?  The waves were quite aggressive. 🌊🌊🌊

[LACruiser88]

Tonight we returned to the "Fish on the Rocks" restaurant for dinner.  It did not dissapoint!  You would never find it if you were not told about it.  It is in a residential neighborhood and about a 15 minute walk from our hotel.

 

Below is a photo of the restaurant.

 

[aussielozzie18]

2 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

Yes, there were lots of folks swimming and surfing.  Do they close the beach due to a strong current?  The waves were quite aggressive. 🌊🌊🌊

Yes, they close the beaches due to rough surf conditions and/or poor water quality after heavy storms.  
 

We were up the other end of the Northern Beaches Peninsula today and the beach was closed to swimming so that’s why I was curious about Manly.  
 

Given your bird photo today, if you are not already familiar with it, you would love the online vision of the  wild cockatoos & rainbow lorikeets that visit the balcony of this lady’s apartment in Manly -  the almond cafe 

 

[Jilliebean28]

On 4/5/2024 at 12:19 AM, LACruiser88 said:

We had a very nice 3 hour visit with our friend at our hotel.  We had not seen each other since our Med/TA this past Nov/Dec on the Enchanted Princess.  

 

Afterwards, we took an Uber to the downtown Westfield shopping center.  It was pouring koalas & kangaroos!!!  🦘🐨🦘🐨

 

That did not stop Debbie!  I was very lucky though, only one small purchase at H&M!  

 

It is still pouring, so we are having dinner at the hotel tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

Sydney has some great shopping!  Much to Mike's dismay I did some damage last weekend at the end of our trip.

[LACruiser88]

8 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Given your bird photo today, if you are not already familiar with it, you would love the online vision of the  wild cockatoos & rainbow lorikeets that visit the balcony of this lady’s apartment in Manly -  the almond cafe 

THANK YOU for the recommendation, her videos are amazing!!!

 

[aussielozzie18]

The other thing you may like (if you haven’t done it already) that is bird related is the wild lorikeet feeding at Australian Reptile Park at Gosford, just north of Sydney.

 

You can’t get there by public transport but if you hire a car for the day, it’s a very easy drive.  They have ranger fed lorikeet feeding once a day (they also have free range kangaroos and lots of Aussie animals & reptiles and spiders)

 

 

[sternfanla]

• Thanks for sharing. Cant wait to read more.

[LACruiser88]

Today was a much cooler day, high 60's and overcast.  We took an Uber to Bondi and explored the beach and the town.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then took an Uber to Westfield's Bondi Junction Mall for a shopping safari!  This mall is huge with 6 levels and no where near the crowds of the downtown Westfield's Mall.

 

We took Uber back to our hotel.  Tonight we are ordering in a pizza and will watch some Netflix.

 

The safari and carrying bags made me mucho tired!  😵‍💫

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 8 by LACruiser88

[Yehootu]

Just before heading out for pre-dinner drinks the Captain came on the in room speaker system, that's when I know it's something important. I heard something yesterday about increasing speed  but today didn't see much over 17 kts. He said the weather in Sydney, primarily the wind and swell condition has caused concern from the harbor pilots. We will now be picking up the pilot from Newcastle. Our speed is at max now and latest is 24kts. Celebrity is "supposed" to be off the dock at 1845 on the 9th and the Captain hopes to be in the berth in Sydney by 2000. You can catch the ship coming in early.

[aussielozzie18]

5 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

Today was a much cooler day, high 60's and overcast.  We took an Uber to Bondi and explored the beach and the town.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then took an Uber to Westfield's Bondi Junction Mall for a shopping safari!  This mall is huge with 6 levels and no where near the crowds of the downtown Westfield's Mall.

 

We took Uber back to our hotel.  Tonight we are ordering in a pizza and will watch some Netflix.

 

The safari and carrying bags made me mucho tired!  😵‍💫

 

 

 

 

 

You are such a good husband! and thank your wife for contributing to our economy 😀