ApolloHoax.net
Off Topic => General Discussion => Topic started by: bknight on December 16, 2016, 12:56:30 PM
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My wife and I are cruising around the Islands in Feb. First trip down under for both of us. Besides the port city points of call what might be a good 2-3 hour visit around the port cities?
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I just noticed I misspelled New Zealanders, my apologies.
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My wife and I are cruising around the Islands in Feb. First trip down under for both of us. Besides the port city points of call what might be a good 2-3 hour visit around the port cities?
Which cities in Australia? Sydney? Melbourne? Brisbane?
In Sydney, in 2-3 hours, you might like to visit the Centrepoint Tower (or whatever they call it these days). It's in the middle of Sydney City, and therefore only a few kilometres from where cruise ships berth. On a clear day you can see 30-40 kilometres, so you can at least see a lot of Sydney.
Alternatively, depending on your interests, there's the Australian National Maritime Museum in neighbouring Darling Harbour which has a few ships to visit, including tall ships (I think including the replica of Captain Cook's "Endeavour") and a former Royal Australian Navy submarine.
Or catch a ferry or river cat out to Manly (the part of Sydney adjacent to the northern side of the harbour entrance). It's a bit of a tourist trap but it's a nice part of town to just wander around in and get a good coffee from a street cafe.
Or walk around the Rocks, which is the part of Sydney between where the ship berths and the southern end of the Harbour Bridge. Again it's a bit of a tourist trap but it's also the oldest part of Sydney with some of the earliest remaining buildings.
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Flying into Sydney, cruising to Melbourne, Tasmania(can't find the port right now), east side of New Zealand ending in Auckland.
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Flying into Sydney and how long before you depart on the cruise? You are going to be pretty jet-lagged and so that shapes the available options.
Also - apart from Apollo - what are your interests? Aviation buff? Budding art critic? Love looking at building design? Secret train spotter?
There are lots of things but to get max value we need to know what will be best suited to you.
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Is that Centrepoint Tower the one that says Westfield on it? I have loads of pics from the viewing gallery.
Did a nice walk through the Royal Botannical Gardens.
Particularly loved the Australian National Maritime Museum with its ships you can explore. I also love the Australian naval jack.
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Flying into Sydney and how long before you depart on the cruise? You are going to be pretty jet-lagged and so that shapes the available options.
Taken into consideration 2 nights in Sydney, my wife looked at the post and the Maritime Museum interested her, me too. We are staying close to the Rocks. We will be departing to Melbourne after that.
My interests games and coding different things, none of which are on a cruise. ;D
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Is that Centrepoint Tower the one that says Westfield on it? I have loads of pics from the viewing gallery.
Did a nice walk through the Royal Botannical Gardens.
Particularly loved the Australian National Maritime Museum with its ships you can explore. I also love the Australian naval jack.
She mazy drag me to the Royal Botannical Gardens. ::)
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Flying into Sydney and how long before you depart on the cruise? You are going to be pretty jet-lagged and so that shapes the available options.
Taken into consideration 2 nights in Sydney, my wife looked at the post and the Maritime Museum interested her, me too. We are staying close to the Rocks. We will be departing to Melbourne after that.
My interests games and coding different things, none of which are on a cruise. ;D
Ah, okay, two nights in Sydney opens up a few options.
Not far from the Maritime Museum is the Powerhouse Museum - properly the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. There's a lot of technology stuff on display there, including a pretty neat section on space (https://maas.museum/powerhouse-museum/). You could easily spend a whole day there.
The Australian Museum is a bit older and focuses more on natural history and anthropology (http://australianmuseum.net.au/)
If heights don't bother you, you might like to try a Harbour Bridge climb, which I did a few years ago. If the weather is good (as it should be in February) the view is pretty spectacular.
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Okay, the Museum will be fine. Outside in the harbour you can go aboard ex-HMAS Onslow, a Oberon-class diesel-electric submarine; and ex-HMAS Vampire, a post-war Daring-class destroyer that served as a training ship until the mid-1980s. Both great fun to have a look at.
http://www.anmm.gov.au/
I would also go to the Powerhouse Museum, which is only a very short distance from the Rocks. Has old cars, planes, spacecraft, and other technology. That's a 'must-see'.
https://maas.museum/powerhouse-museum/
If you don't mind going out of Sydney a little and like aircraft, visit the Historic Aircraft Restoration Society at Albion Park airport. You can catch a train there (requires about a 15 minute walk to museum) or drive down (fairly scenic drive). 1.5 - 2.0 hour drive.
http://hars.org.au/
If you don't want to stray too far then a short ferry ride across the harbour will get you to the Taronga Park Zoo. That is about a day visit there although you can continue the ferry ride afterwards and go to Manly Beach.
https://taronga.org.au/taronga-zoo
In Darling Harbour there is Madame Tussauds and an aquarium.
https://www.madametussauds.com.au/en/
https://www.sydneyaquarium.com.au/
The Justice & Police Museum is in the city just near Circular Quay. I found it quite interesting but it is only open certain days.
http://mgnsw.org.au/organisations/justice-and-police-museum/
People have mentioned Centrepoint Tower, now called the Sydney Tower. Great viewing platform and you can do an 'outside' walk but I think it is overpriced.
https://www.sydneytowereye.com.au/
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Probably too late, and it's been a while since I visited Sydney, but I thought the aquarium was excellent. I was with a native Aussie, and he visibly shuddered when we came to a dead specimen of a box jellyfish in a plastic box.
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Probably too late, and it's been a while since I visited Sydney, but I thought the aquarium was excellent. I was with a native Aussie, and he visibly shuddered when we came to a dead specimen of a box jellyfish in a plastic box.
Nothing at this point is too late.
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Flying into Sydney, cruising to Melbourne, Tasmania(can't find the port right now), east side of New Zealand ending in Auckland.
Probably Hobart. If so consider: 1) just walking round the waterfront, very picturesque. 2) Central Hobart - lots of Georgian architecture. 3) If it;s Saturday, Salamanca markets, also on the waterfront. 4) if you have a car or there is a bus, a trip up Mt Wellington. The view is great.
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Staying at the Sir Stamford, resting from the 14+ hour flight. Will do some exploring tomorrow maybe the Museum.
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G'day!
Welcome to our great land.
Nice hotel, and a nice part of town. You're close enough that you might like to visit the Sydney Opera House - even if classical music isn't your thing, it's still a pretty spectacular building to see up close, and from there you have a great view of the Harbour Bridge.
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It's also browner up close. All those pictures in the glossies are obviously pushed to make it look whiter.
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G'day!
Welcome to our great land.
Nice hotel, and a nice part of town. You're close enough that you might like to visit the Sydney Opera House - even if classical music isn't your thing, it's still a pretty spectacular building to see up close, and from there you have a great view of the Harbour Bridge.
Seen it on many web sites and now just across the bay!
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You're just near the Police museum, and the Observatory is nearby. I enjoyed it.
https://maas.museum/sydney-observatory/
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You're just near the Police museum, and the Observatory is nearby. I enjoyed it.
https://maas.museum/sydney-observatory/
Right, we passed it several times on our tour, visited the museum. My wife didn't want to go to the Opera house, so we just saw it from the outside. Nice restaurants around the "Rocks" area. Onboard ship to be enroute to Melbourne for a couple of days due to a ship "problem" Tasmania and one planned dock into a New Zealand port have been scrubbed.
Very nice area and nice people. :)
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Well, while you're in Melbourne, you can...um...
there's the Puffing Billy railway if you like narrow gauge steam engines...and...um...
there's a science museum which is also nowhere near the city centre...and...
you can get some nice Italian food on Lygon Street.
Oh, I suppose you could visit the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which is a pretty impressive stadium in its own right, although there won't be any events on there while you're in town...
:-)
= = = =
In case you weren't aware, there's a long-standing rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne. And although I don't live in either city I've been to Sydney many times more than I've been to Melbourne, so I know its tourist spots better.
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I believe the railway trip towards a winery is in the plans although the travel director is still in bed.
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The old Melbourne city gaol is good.
http://www.oldmelbournegaol.com.au/
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Bus tour around the city, saw the cricket stadium and the rugby fields Tennis stadium, and general sports center, botanical gardens. The winery tour is off as we were wait listed and no one has canceled.
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My wife and I are cruising around the Islands in Feb. First trip down under for both of us. Besides the port city points of call what might be a good 2-3 hour visit around the port cities?
I have not been there, but is on my hitlist. All I know for sure is that any NZ denizens that I have encountered have been the happiest folks I have ever met, and OZ denizens are a very close second. The rest of us Anglos are a very poor last. Why? No idea.
Just an opinion? Yup.
I think you will have a fantastic time. Enjoy it. Live it. Remember it.
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A disastrous day, the ship lost propulsion and we are adrift, waiting on tugs for tow back to Melbourne. Perhaps the winery will be visited during repairs. >:(
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What ship is it?
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A disastrous day, the ship lost propulsion and we are adrift, waiting on tugs for tow back to Melbourne. Perhaps the winery will be visited during repairs. >:(
Sheesh. I hope the generators are still working. You don't want to be losing all power as well.
Incidentally, it's 41 degrees C here in Canberra today (that's around 105 in the old currency). Similar for tomorrow. Just sayin'.
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I sure hope you didn't lose hotel power too, that would be far worse than just a loss of propulsion, especially in hot weather.
Today's cruise ships are generally diesel-electrics with a common electrical system serving both propulsion and hotel loads. Although there are multiple generators and supposedly redundant electrical systems, in 2013 the Carnival Triumph had a fire that took out the electrical switchgear, leaving it completely without power. The media dubbed it the "poop cruise" and the Coast Guard was air-dropping supplies to keep everybody fed while the ship could be towed to port.
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I'll pass on the ship name/company as we have cruised on this company/ship before and have been very satisfied. I believe although not 100% sure the problem stems from a previous issue 1-2 weeks ago. They have had a maintenance crew onboard. That issue led to changing the itinerary of the cruise. The officers don't give all the details.
Power is fine, currently in tow back to Melbourne for a more maintenance people to repair the system.
Speaking of the Carnival Triumph, we had a couple on that cruise, and yes they used ice buckets for elimination of waste. They are in their 80's and viewed the week as an unfortunate event in their long life.
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The name of the ship is now public; it's on the TV and other media here.
Edited to add: Hey - you might be really happy with this. According to one online news site..
"...The spokeswoman said authorities had been notified and arrangements made to tow the ship to shore for repair.
She said all guests would receive a full refund, as well as a 50 per cent future cruise credit...."
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The name of the ship is now public; it's on the TV and other media here.
Edited to add: Hey - you might be really happy with this. According to one online news site..
"...The spokeswoman said authorities had been notified and arrangements made to tow the ship to shore for repair.
She said all guests would receive a full refund, as well as a 50 per cent future cruise credit...."
Yes the credits have been reported to us also, bad news travels fast! We are around 12+ hours from port @0951 local time.
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Ah, the Norwegian Star. In early 2009 we took the Norwegian Gem from New York to the Caribbean and back. I really liked the open, casual dining arrangements; I've never seen any appeal in formal dinners, especially when all the other restaurants close and give you no choice.
I see the problem is with the azipods, so you would still have had hotel power. You sure don't want to lose that on a cruise ship, especially in warm weather.
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We have sailed on all but three of the ships. The attraction of open and casual dining is one of the reasons in addition to the specialty restaurants that are open. In Melbourne and under going repairs 2-3 more days allegedly.
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Well my wife and I travelled again to the Southern hemisphere and visited Australia and New Zealand, this time without fault so far. Very beautiful countries and wonderful people. It took a year to go through everything but it was well worth it.