Scenic Cruise by HMAS Sydney – 16:00 to 17:00
Today is the first of 7 sea days between Fremantle and Colombo, but at 17:00 we will be stopping above the resting place of HMAS Sydney II to conduct a very well attended and moving memorial service. In addition to the memorial service, we also attended an excellent presentation by a retired RAN Commodore.
Alongside Fremantle – 07:00 to 18:00
Prior to the cruise neither Judi or I have visited the Perth/Fremantle area, bur since joining the cruise we have met many of the 300 pax departing today and they all speak highly of the local area, so we are eagerly awaiting our all day tour. Today we are driving around Fremantle followed by the drive into Perth and then cruising back along the Swan River to Fremantle. With some nice weather and clear skies, we look forward to a great day.
At Anchor Off Busselton – 07:00 to 18:00
Busselton, for Margaret River, is our first tender port of call on this Grand Adventure. Since the anchorage is open to both northerly and westerly winds, it was good to note the wind last evening backing towards the south. Sitting here in the anchorage a few miles off-shore, we have a light chop of about 1 to 2’ created by the off-shore easterly winds. Big improvement over the previous 3 days and nothing the ship’s tenders can’t handle.
Melbourne to Margaret River
Since about 17:00 last evening we have pounded, rocked and rolled our way across the stormy Great Australian Bight. No need for us to spend the day at Disneyland when we stop off in Los Angeles, on the way home, as we have just spent the last 30 hours on the equivalent of Disney’s most intense ride. At least that is Judi’s description, mine is more along the lines of rocking gently, just like a baby’s cradle.
Melbourne to Margaret River
This is now our 3rd sea day and by now our routine should be organised, but no, today was a totally relaxing and very unenergetic day.
Melbourne to Margaret River
From the already totally relaxed and very happy world cruisers, we bid you good morning, as we traverse The Great Australian Bight, an open expanse of ocean to the south of Australia.
Read on to see how our sea day routine is developing.
We are staying in Melbourne post cruise for a few days, so taking one of the ship’s tours today will hopefully give us some ideas for places to visit in more depth. The Yarra River cruise with downtown drive and visit to Capt Cook’s cottage in Fitzroy Gardens looked like it would hit a great selection of attractions. So we both signed up.
Alongside Melbourne – 08:00 to 17:00
Melbourne is our first of many ports of call, over the next three and a half months. We are planning to spend a few days in Melbourne post cruise, so today we embark on a tour, which includes a city drive and cruise along the Yarra River. Hopefully this tour will provide some idea of where we should visit post cruise. This post will focus on our day aboard the Sea Princess and I will create a separate post for the tour.
Sydney to Melbourne
Our first of many sea days, on this 104-day voyage of a lifetime. It is 11 years since we have sailed on Dawn Princess, a sister to the Sea Princess, so today is an excellent opportunity to re-learn this class of ship and establish a routine for the many sea days ahead. Read on for a narrative of our daily activities and the initial photographs.
Alongside Sydney
Finally, the wait is over and after 15 months of counting down the days, which changed to hours last night, we finally boarded the Sea Princess, our home for circumnavigating the globe during the next 104 nights, or 3 ½ months.
After the enjoyable pre-cruise dinner last evening, it was a long night for both of us, as we were like kids at Christmas, eagerly awaiting the pinnacle of this grand adventure. Suffice to say, neither of us got much sleep last night. For Judi, this is a new experience, as her previous longest cruises were 36 days on Diamond Princess and 35 days on Emerald Princess, so 104 days is a shade longer. However, for me this is a walk in the park, as back in my deep sea days I regularly completed 4 month voyages and even one of 9 months, but those days were just so many years ago.
Read on to find out how our first day went.
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