Our hotel room.
On 9 September 2007 Teressa and Aaron started their honeymoon with a drive to Christchurch, where we stored the car at Craddocks Car Storage and transferred to the Airport where we boarded an Emirates Flight to Sydney, Australia.
We quickly discovered that Emirates provide great service; a blanket, pillow and headphones was on each seat ready for passengers and soon after takeoff a crewmember used a pair of tongs to present a hot towel to each passenger. A screen in the back of each seat was found to be touch sensitive and could play any one of around 500 Movies (including the Walt Disney classics), Music Videos, and a screen showing the planes progress on a map with statistics such as airspeed, minutes till destination and outside temperature which was -44 C at one point.
A three-course meal was served with an entree, a choice of two mains and included strawberry cheesecake for desert, fruit juice, cheese and crackers, and an after dinner chocolate.
Economy Class has never been so good and we would happily recommend Emirates to everyone. A couple in the front of us were travelling with a young baby and were offered a crib that clipped on the wall in front of them and baby food in a choice of flavours. Children were offered activity packs and only Teressa's withering stare prevented Aaron from asking for one.
As we approached Sydney in the dark, we dialled up the front camera on our screens and watched the lights of Sydney and the flashing lights of the airport runway. We saw the front wheel taxi along the painted stripe and ultimately end up beside two unsuspecting ground crew in high-vis vests. The view from our seats was better than being in the cockpit!
A small man with a large moustache and a european accent was holding a board with our name on it! He explained that he was expecting another party as well, however the details provided to him included a non-existent flight number so he doubted they would turn up. We went to the MacDonald.s stand and had a drink while he waited in case they did indeed show.
After a few minutes we went out to the van and travelled to the city centre. It was evening and dark, with little traffic and the driver pointed out various monuments and other places of interest. We found the Park Regis Hotel where we were to stay for two nights before boarding our cruise ship that was to be our home for eleven days. When we checked in we were allocated room thirteen on the thirteenth floor. Once in the lift (and out of earshot of reception) we joked about not being superstitious, but then saw the lift held a maximum of thirteen people!
Our room was clean and tidy, though quite small and the in-room air conditioning was quite nosy but we chose the hotel for its central location and once we had dropped off our luggage and had a wash, we walked out of our hotel into the late evening bustle of Sydney. We purchased a few essential items from the convenience store across the road and returned to our room for the night.
The next morning we walked out the door into the hussle of downtown Sydney. We headed down the street to the mall under the Centrepoint Tower and had pancakes for breakfast. We walked down Pitt Street to Circular Quay where all the ferries and water taxis dock. We found a big empty building that was the Overseas Passenger Terminal where we were to depart from the next day, then headed around the quay to the Sydney Opera House.
APEC had just finished in Sydney and barricades were all around the downtown area. Lucky for us they had been pushed aside at intersections and crossings, letting people move freely where only Presidents and Prime Ministers had been allowed in preceding days.
SAfe in the knowledge that we knew where and when to meet the ship, we spent the afternoon exploring the various malls including the Strand (a really fancy three story mall dating back to 1892). It was a maze of malls, and you could walk from one to the other, with multiple levels of shops and lots of evelators. The shops sold clothes, sunglasses, shoes, jewellery and opals. One of the big department stores had a wonderfull floral display featuring an animal in each one. Inside they continued the animal theme with life sized animals including a giraffe that reached two stories up the elevator shaft. It was in support of Breast Cancer and reminded us of christmas displays. Very well done.
After exploring the city for the afternoon, we headed back to our hotel to freshen up. Teressa had sore feet from walking in uncomfortable shoes so we decided to visit the pool on the roof of the 45-story hotel. Unfortunately it was not heated and was icy cold so we wet our feet and hurried back inside out of the wind.
Aaron's Uncle Wayne and Auntie Sharron live in Sydney and picked us up to go out for tea. We were driven out to a restaurant beside Bondi Beach where we ate a very nice steak and talked of family, friends and the coming cruise.
The next morning we headed out of the hotel for a walk and breakfast. We headed in a different direction to the previous day and totally failed to find any food places. After a few blocks we turned and headed towards the Centrepoint Tower and Pancakes again. On the way we found Hyde Park and the Archibald Fountain.
After breakfast and checking out of our hotel we caught a taxi to the Overseas Passenger Terminal, this time a very busy place, teaming with security personnel, baggage handlers and cruise staff directing people into the .baggage drop-off. queue where our luggage was x-rayed and put on a small truck to be taken on board.
We then moved into the slow moving "boarding" queue where we joined nineteen hundred other passengers passing through customs and embarking procedures. We were issued a cruise card (a combination credit card and ID) and had our photo taken for the onboard security system. A photographer was on hand at all the ports to take our photo which we could later buy from the photo shop onboard.
We finally boarded the "Pacific Sun" and found our cabin (Upper Deck, Cabin Ten or U10) on level six. Our luggage had yet to arrive, so we stowed our hand luggage and read all the information in our cabin including a daily newspaper that informed us that there would be an emergency drill at 3.30pm.
We spent some time exploring the ship, quickly finding our muster point for the upcoming drill, the buffet restaurant (a place we were to become very familiar with over the next 11 days) and the deck at the aft of the ship where our first Sail-Away party was setting up.
At 3.30pm the Emergency Alarm was sounded and we grabbed our lifejackets and headed to the Atlantis Lounge, which is our muster point. This turned out to be the main theatre at the front of the ship, two stories up from our cabin. The drill turned out to be a long, drawn out affair but we sat in comfort and watched the antics of the staff and fellow passengers as they got themselves organised. We found out some more information about the ship and what was planned for the coming evening.
We then headed back to our cabin to find our luggage had arrived. Our Cabin Steward Franco introduced himself and showed us how to work the safe in the back of the wardrobe.
We then went to the aft deck to watch the departure. Having boarded early and had time to explore paid dividends as we were able to get up on deck and secure a prime spot to watch the coming departure.
We stood by the flagpole at the aft (back) of the ship and watched a pilot tug pull the Pacific Sun backwards out of Circular Quay towards the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The ship then sailed past the Opera House and towards the open sea. As we looked back, the setting sun cast a golden glow through the arches of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and over the Harbour.
The passengers were split into two halves, those who had first sitting dinner and those including ourselves who had second sitting. We chose this during our booking and it seemed to work out well. We heard that families with children usually chose the first sitting, so I guess we had a quieter dinner on the second sitting.
We went to the show each evening while the first sitting ate, then went to dinner while they went to the show. So each show was run twice, and the two restaurants had two sittings with a gap in the middle to clean up and everything was very efficient.
TODO: We visited a Cultral Park...
This was our introduction to the Tenders. When the ship cannot dock at a wharf as it had done in Sydney and Luganville, the Ship uses small boats called Tenders to ferry people to shore. The Tenders sit alongside the Life boats on the top deck and are lowered to the water by the crew. Passengers are asked to get a free 'Tender Ticket' when they are ready to go ashore, and then wait for their number to be called. Once our ticket number was called (Red-15) we made our way down to deck three, swiped our Cruise Card through the machine to exit the Ship and jump onto the Tender.
The Tender sailed for ten or fifteen minutes to a small dock where we were met by a group of local children singing, and various locals with various pets you could have your photo taken with. Those without pets volunteered to braid hair for a small sum. All very friendly, but it was obvious that small change to us was to them worth making the effort to come and spend the day at the dock.
Steve and Annette met us at the dock and encoraged us to come with them on an un-official tour one of the locals was offering. For ten austrailian dollars we would be driven through a few villiages to a lagoon called the Blue Hole. The ride was in a red Toyota two wheel drive van over a dirt road with lots of four-wheel-drive opertunities. Pot holes, ruts, mud and on-coming traffic made for a fun trip. Two older ladies in the van with us had some difficulty managing the gavity defying aspects of the trip as they were wearing their swim suits without adiquet frontal support.
We drove through lush bush and villages consisting of mostly traditional building and some modern concrete block buildings on the rare occasion. Faces appeared out of the bush as we drove along. Locals were very hard to see in the bush unless they made themselves known. Most would wave at our van and we would wave back enthusiasticly. On arrivial at Blue Hole we were asked to pay a further three austrailian dollars to the people who 'owned' the land around the lagoon. Realizing that this was not so much a scam as an optional component of the tour. We happily paid our three dollars and scampered down the track to the lagoon. Best three dollars we spent whole trip. A wonderful beutiful pool surounded with trees greeted us. We Jumped into the inviting sparkly water and wished we could stay forever. The Van driver had indicated that we should leave after thrity minutes so we reluctantly pulled ourselves out of the water and dried off. A quick walk up the forest track back to the road had us sweating in the heat and wishing more to be down in the pool. Another dirt road completed our loop tour back to Champange Bay where we jumped into the refreshing sea water for a swim. The water was fantastic, the sand was smooth the sun shone wonderfully and we were very happy!
After a swim and sunbathing, we made our way back via tender to the ship for a buffet lunch and a nana-nap. Later we went to the show and to dinner before retiring happy.
The return trip to Sydney had its ups and downs. Firstly, another Formal night where we celebrated the chefs and staff who had fed us so well during the trip. We all stood and waved our napkins while they paraded around the dining room.
The last full sea day was rough with heavy swells causing the boat to rise up and crash down. As we had a cabin at the front of the boat we felt it more than most, and Teressa had to break open the sickness tablets. (Aaron was lucky not to suffer). We found refugue in our tablemates cabin near the aft of the ship where the motion and the noise was not so bad. After a few green apples and a bit of a rest, Teressa regained her sea legs. Other passengers did not.
TODO: Not many people in resturant, Henry presented us with copies of the menus, and we bid Henry and Harry (our waiters) farewell. We took some food back to Lisa and Pete who had been unwell.
We awoke to find the ship approaching Sydney Heads. It rained, but that didn't stop people from lining the decks to see the sights. The sea had calmed during the night and people were looking forward to standing on un-moving ground after the motion of the previous day. Due to the weather the day before, we were about an hour and a half behind schedule. People were nervous about connecting flights and the pilot boat came out further than usual to meet us. As we sailed under the Sydney Harbour Bridge we looked at its bottom, a sight not normally seen. After we watched the crew throwing lines from the front of the ship, we returned to the buffet restarant to sit with some of our table-mates and waited to disembark. Everyone had been given a group the night before, we had to wait for Black-Two to be called, but as we had no pressing comittments, we were in no hurry, unlike some other passengers. There was long delays in calling groups, which we assumed was due to customs delays.
When our number was called, we proceeded down to deck five and off the ship. We claimed our bags and within ten minutes of disembarking were through Immergration and Quarrentine and in a taxi heading to our hotel. The Taxi driver had been on the job two months, and we had to direct him to our destination using our tourist map and our kiwi skills.
We checked our bags into our hotel and went to find lunch. After lunch we wandered the malls some more, bought some new sunglasses for Teressa and while watching some street entertainers, we studied the inside of a nearby Austrailian Ambulance while they attended to a patient with a suspected broken arm. We had tea at Happy Jacks (Burger King in NZ) and grabbed a coffee and cookies from the McCafe next door before turning in for an early night,
At 4am the Hotels computer rang and very cheerfully told us it was time to wake up. We showered and packed, and headed down to reception to check out. Another couple were waiting in the lobby waiting for the shuttle to the airport. They were from Christchurch and were heading home after a holiday on the same flight as us.
We arrived at 5am for our checkin two hours ahead of the flight taking off, only to find airport staff arriving and setting up. We stood around for a little while and then proceeded with the formallities. We were the first customer for a Customs official who cheerfully told us that a long queue would soon be forming for the rest of the day and we were lucky to miss it.
TODO: Looked arround the duty free shops, read a book in the boarding lounge and watched the Customs queue get longer. Boarded the plane, had another wonderful flight with yummy food, great service but the nose camera was not working. Oh well back to the Disney Classics then.
