Australia New Zealand Cruise – Part II

On our Australia New Zealand Cruise, after we left the waters of New Zealand, we crossed the Tasman Sea to land at Hobart, Tasmania, after two days at sea.  After picking up our rental car a short distance from the port, we drove about 1 ½ hours to the Tahune AirWalk.  The Tahune AirWalk, set on the banks of the Huon River, is a raised walking area in the tops of a rain forest.  Fancy that is was raining!  We enjoyed the high view of the river, the thick, mostly eucalyptus forest and the many varieties of ferns.  I got my favorite souvenirs of the trip at the gift shop; two potholders, a Tasmanian Devil and a Tasmanian Tiger.

Although I had my prized potholder, we were dying to see a real Tasmanian Devil.  We had just enough time to drive to the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, a sanctuary for Tasmanian wildlife, on the other side of Hobart.  A number of species here are sadly now extinct everywhere but Tasmania.  It was great to be able to support the wonderful work that the people do here and see these rare animals.  We saw the Eastern quoll, an orphaned wombat and echidnas.  We got to feed a mob of kangaroos right from our hands.  But our favorite was one particular Tasmanian Devil, who personified the hyper Bugs Bunny version.  This Jack Russell size creature was running around his large pen in circles, stopping occasionally to check out the tourists, checking him out.  He kept at it, too, and kept us all laughing.

After another relaxing day at sea, we arrived in Melbourne, which was our second visit.  It’s an easy city get around by tram, but since we’d already been, we headed out of town toward the Yarra Ranges National Park.  While a very pretty drive, it seemed to be more of a recreational area for hikers and bicyclists.  We decided to take an alternate route back to Melbourne, which consisted of about 6 kilometers of gravel road, which ended up being the most beautiful part of the day.  If you just stop your car, open the windows and listen, the sounds of the bird and insect life is like a symphony.   I happened to be filming during at a particularly scenic portion and as we can around a corner, we surprised two wallabies in the road.  They stared for a few seconds and scampered down the hillside.  We were so excited that we’d caught them on film.  We saw some gorgeous red, yellow and green birds and some dark pink and gray birds.  (If you know what these are, please let me know in the comments).

There are several wineries in the Yarra Valley and we stopped at the Dominique Portet Winery on our way back to the ship.  Dominique Portet has a Mediterranean atmosphere and friendly people.  They had a wonderful Shiraz Cabernet that my husband really liked.  They’ve got a Pétanque pit there for guests to play.  The game of Pétanque is a close cousin to horseshoes and Bocce ball.

Our last stop in Melbourne was back in the city.  The Shrine of Remembrance is a war memorial commemorating the lives lost in the Great War, which we call World War I.  It also includes memorials to other conflicts including World War II.  This war museum is extremely well done and very moving.

After one last day at sea, it was time for our cruise to end in Sydney.  After getting used to not having to cook, clean or do laundry, it’s a very sad day for every cruiser.

Sydney is a stunning port to sail into with the Sydney Opera House on your left, crossing under the Sydney Harbor Bridge and Luna Park on our right and then cornering around to the left into the King Street Wharf.  It was very early in the morning and we missed the Sydney Opera House, but I got some good shots of Luna Park.

Because we’d been there before, we elected not to stay any additional nights in Sydney, but I highly, highly recommend it.  There is so much to do; Darling Harbor cruises, the Sydney Harbor BridgeClimb, Bondi Beach, the Taronga Zoo, the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, the Sydney Opera House.  The list goes on and on and it’s very easy to get around with their great bus, ferry and train systems.  In fact, it would be a liability having a car; just because the city is so busy and the parking expensive and scarce.

Poor us, we did get stuck for a night in Fiji on our way back home when we our flight was oversold, but that’s a story for another day.

I hope you enjoyed learning about some of these things you can do from an Australia New Zealand cruise.  It’s my goal to inspire you to travel and, if you want someone that’s been there and can organize the details for you, give me a call today at 909-255-1410.

Part 2 of 2.  Click here to read the New Zealand cruising part of the story.

I’m Sheila Cannon and I help career focused couples, who have no time to plan, have the honeymoon, destination wedding or romantic vacation of a lifetime custom designed for them without them having to lift a finger.  If that’s you, click here to get started putting me to work for you!