Our taxi driver picked us up from our hotel, which is on the left side of a four-lane, one-way street, and when he arrived at the corner light that had just turned red, he proceeded to make a right turn in front of the cross-traffic and past all the law-abiding Aussie drivers. We weren't in that much of a hurry, but this guy definitely knew he made money based on how many fares he could squeeze into a day. He had us to the port in a jiffy, although he was upset when security wouldn't let him drop us at a point closer to the door.
The sky was crying in the afternoon, and then it began to pour accompanied by thunder, but after checking in and eating lunch at the buffet, it cleared up enough to go back out to check out the Italian village and climb the Coat Hangar bridge.
Okay, we didn't actually try to climb it, mainly because we were too tired from all our walking. The restaurants in the Italian village had rolled out ugly enclosed canvas and plastic awnings, taking away some of the visual charm, but wedding receptions and parties made the area quite festive.
Like with all the best things in life and, in fact, life itself, there's never enough time to do everything you want to do. So when we cruised out of Sydney aboard the beautiful Sapphire Princess, we knew we'd love to return one day. We didn't see any kangaroos or crocodiles, and while Melbourne and the Outback sound intriguing, touring the Blue Mountains would top my list of things to do if we had one more day in Australia, both because the Blue Mountains are available as a day trip from Sydney and they are reportedly awesome.
In any case, Australia is outstanding. It's worth the trip, and if you book a cruise to Asia or New Zealand from either Sydney or Melbourne, be sure to spend a few days exploring Australia.
Cruising from Sydney at night was gorgeous, and a starboard, midship balcony is the perfect place to enjoy the view.
