January 1, 2024 – We woke up had breakfast and at in the lobby of the hotel, our friends Ian and Linda from Sydney arrived to take us on a whirlwind tour of their City. We met Ian and Linda on our Norway/Scotland trip last summer but near the end of our Norway trip we felt sinus infection coming on, so we kept our distance and could not get our proper goodbyes – so we were so excited to see them again. 
Like me, Ian is a Civil Engineer too so converstaions flowed on our careers. Linda and Gina simply became fast friends talking about just about everything from work to family to life when they lived breifly in Italy and ongoings in our respective countries.
First thing Ian and Linda brought us to was the Quay which we had become familiar with the day before, took us to the ferry that goes to Watson Bay – you swipe your credit card (one with a chip) at the entry and when you disembark, and for $8 you go for a 20 mintue boat ride to Watson ‘s Bay, which is at the entry to Sydney Harbor east of the city. Beautiful views all around! We walked to the cliffs overviewing the Pacific Ocean/Tasman Sea. Where just by chance, we watched the Viking Orion the ship we will boarding the next day sailing into Sydney Harbor! We 
took a seat a local cafe had coffee and a piece of desert and the conversations continued to catch up on our lives. and learn about the area.
Slightly overcast, it was glorious area to be in on New Year day.
After the coffee, we took the next ferry back to Sydney got into their car and he drove us to Bondi Beach – a beautiful beach area famous for surfing and movie scenes filmed in Sydney – 
we drove the neighborhoods and caught a glimpse of what Sydney residents neighborhoods were like, traveled to Brighton Beach, sat on a bench having a water and simply talked and people watched.
We could see the actions of the Sydney Airport in the distance, watch people enjoy the beach and the area. 
A sculpture along the wall commemorates Sydney’s hosting the 2000 Olympics and greek runner Spyros Louis, winner of the first Olympic marathon in 1896.
Finally we noted the time and Linda suggested we go to her boat club that she is a member and made us reservations early for drinks prior to dinner. The Georges River sailing club overlooks the confluence of George’s river into Botany Bay south of the airport. 
A perfect early evening of Lemon Drops Martinis for the women.
Dinner was a 4 person seafood platter (with some wine too) that we could not finish. Fresh oysters, fish, prawns, shrimp, calamari and with conversations, time flew by and the trip back to our Hotel got us back after 10PM – what a day! Thanks Ian and Linda – you both were such a treat to spead a day with!!
To think, we still had two days left in Sydney! The next day, January 2nd, we woke up, had our baggage outside our door, headed to the lobby for a quick breakfast and our 11AM coach to bring us to the ship arrive,
– a little confusion of baggage – we headed to the White Bay Cruise docks, (the Orion moved overnight from the Sydney Harbor for other ships, which was a bummer since getting from White Bay back to the CBD/Circular Quay area was a little drive and through traffic. We embarked onto the ship at 11:45 got to our room and one bag was already there – so we quickly unpacked that bag and found out that our other bag was still back at the hotel coming over and would arrive a few hours later..since we did have a 3:45 tour of the Sydney opera house, we just decided a quick bite to eat in the café and head back into town where we came from – the Viking shuttle they provide brings you to King Street/Darling wharf which still requires a good walk or ferry to get to the Circular Quay – we did decide to walk (it was a warm sunny day) to the Quay and it where we found out how “the Rocks” got it’s name – up and over the rock area was hilly climb, but we made it.
So we made it back to the Quay promptly made it to the Sydney opera house had a drink from all that walking and took the Sydney Opera house tour – the tours are continuously conducted through the day and requires climbing some 400 steps – you get a glimpse of the two stages and sit in the balcony to hear the guide tell stories of the architecture, the construction and some of the recent modifications. 
The focus on acoustics throughout the structure is simply astanding. They recently installed a speaker in the ceiling over one area because it was found that one small area of the seating did not have the same acoustics and they supplemented the audio. 
My wish is someday to come back and see a production. One of fellow travelers on the ship had reserved tickets that night to a Beatles tribute band which they said they enjoyed. I marveled at the construction and the concrete work of this truly complex structure – it is a beauty both up close and from afar and an icon of Australia.
After our walk around the Opera House, we decided to make our way back the ship – we took the ferry back to the Darling Wharf waited for the shuttle bus to take us back the ship – what a bummer that the ship could not have stayed dock at the Circular Quay, it took some 45 minutes to get back to the ship. There is a lot of construction at the White Bay port area including a new transit station which probably will make the whole taking a shuttle bus on a circuitous route to the city a thing of the past in a few years.
We arrived back at our room; our second bag was in the room (thankfully) we completed our cabin preparations and toured the ship – since all Viking Ocean ships are identical in floor plan we were accustomed to the ship from our Midnight sun cruise last summer on the Viking Mars – we ended the night with some music and a good night sleep from all the walking we did.
The last day in Sydney before our ship left port was a beautiful sunny day and we decided to wake up and go back into town and walk to the royal botanical gardens which is near the opera house – our ship departure was at 6PM so we had a good day to spend in the gardens. 
Using our ferry knowledge gained from Ian and Linda, we knew the process of using the ferries very well. The entire experience of the gardens within the city was memorable and the city prides itself on having one the most beautiful botanical gardens in the world. We walked all around and simply enjoyed what we found around every corner. 
Some crews were dismantling structures from the New Years Eve festivities which we thought must have been the perfect place to watch the fireworks with views of the Sydney opera house and Sydney bridge in the background. 
As the sky’s started to become overcast, we arrived back on the ship well in time for departure, we had drinks as we sailed out of port – under the Sydney bridge, waving goodbye to the Sydney opera house and off the sail towards Melbourne (Geelong) which is our first port stop of the cruise.
We loved everything about Sydney and how easy it was to get around the city – we know someday we will come back to Sydney and want to explore even more areas we were told about such taking the ferry to Manly and see a performance at the opera house and further exploring the Rocks area for drinks and more cultural gems.
Here is our sailaway from Sydney (unfortunately the port side of the ship away from the downtown area)