My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
Sydney was such a cool turnaround port. The sail in/away was amazing (not that I saw it that often), and being docked in such an iconic place so close to interesting stuff was heavenly, but the best part was getting to see my friend and recurring tour guide, Clara.
I connect with such amazing people on ships but it’s rare that I ever get to see them again, much less cruise after cruise, and even more rare to be able to explore their hometown. One time I met Clara in her funky neighborhood where we had the most amazing brunch, and another time, on a cloudy day she took me to all of her favorite beaches.
They were right next to each other but they were so different. One was trendy with fine sand, one was in a beautiful cove surrounded by cliffs with turquoise water, and this one up above she tried to describe, but I didn’t get it until I saw it for myself. It was kind of like the ocean meets a swimming pool, but huge. The sights were awesome, but the real treat was getting to hang out with Clara.
On our final day, we went to the zoo. Georgie made fun of me because whenever she was looking for things to do and suggested going to a zoo, I said I prefer seeing animals in their natural habitat. But Clara said that this zoo has an incredible view of the skyline and the ship from across the water.
She picked me up from the ship and we went in search for breakfast. Her phone found a little place on the pier that looked like a little coffee stand but it turned out to have gorgeous food just a little different from what I’d found so far.
At the zoo, the first stop was the koala tree. The koalas remind me so much of cats- the way they look so fuzzy and cuddly and they fall asleep in suck awkward positions.
We rounded the corner and there it was! Check out this view!
We stopped and watched the giraffe family snuggle on each other
A couple of days before, the lions had escaped from the zoo – they wandered around the neighborhood until they were caught.
No one was hurt, but they were apparently in ‘time out’ for a few days.
We found another great view of the skyline, but the tree covered up the ship.
We watched the sea lions swim from above…
and the penguins from below.
The tiger exhibit was my favorite. We walked into what looked like a life-size replica of the inside of a plane, it had simultaneous videos out of the ‘windows’ and a flight attendant that explained that we were on a flight to Africa. When we ‘landed’ we exited the plane and walked through an abandoned village, and then around the corner…
A sleeping kitty! Right there in the window!
I got right up in its face!
I took this picture and then looked down at the screen of my phone and nearly jumped out of my skin! It looked like the kitty’s eyes were open! I never noticed that the black markings look like open eyes staring right at you. So cool!
This is the fake truck that the kitty was laying on.
I was about as close to this bird as I was to the tiger, but without the glass between us.
Clara loved seeing the hippo:
This monkey was swinging around right by the fence:
Then the zookeeper came up- it was feeding time! We hung out while he stuck what looked like french fries (but were probably something more nutritious) right through the holes in the fence.
Once again it was so much fun to wander around and see the animals and the great views, but the best part was getting to hang out with Clara one last time. We stopped in the gift shop on our way out.
I forgot to tell you about this bird!
There was a bird like this on Penguin Island, that followed us everywhere we went in Fremantle. The bird sounded like it had swallowed an angry cat. We were trying to figure out what kind of bird it was – the call was so distinct that I wanted to reference it as a joke in one of my gameshows.
Yep! That sounds about right.
At the end of the day, Clara and I said our final goodbyes. It was such a treat to get to see her over and over again all around Sydney, and like we say on the ships- it’s not goodbye, it’s until we meet again.
*Check out some videos posted on Facebook, taken by Clara 🙂