All Aussies and New Zelanders

[Glom]

It's also browner up close. All those pictures in the glossies are obviously pushed to make it look whiter.

[bknight]

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!

[Obviousman]

You're just near the Police museum, and the Observatory is nearby. I enjoyed it.

https://maas.museum/sydney-observatory/

[bknight]

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.

[Peter B]

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.

[bknight]

I believe the railway trip towards a winery is in the plans although the travel director is still in bed.

[Obviousman]

The old Melbourne city gaol is good.

http://www.oldmelbournegaol.com.au/

[bknight]

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.

[Abaddon]

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.

[bknight]

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.

[Obviousman]

What ship is it?

[Peter B]

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'.

[ka9q]

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.

[bknight]

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.

[Obviousman]

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...."