I decided to travel back from Sydney to Brisbane by train – just to give my companion wider scope of the country. In the middle of the route we decided to make stopover in the coastal resort town of Port Macquarie.

From the Wauchope station where we made a stop there are buses to the Port, who has big marina and some colonial charm.

We were walking long coastal promenade dotted by picturesque Norfolk Pines to the wide Oxley Beach. All over the way there are view points:

On the horizon , on the other side of the river I saw a long, long stretch of sand. It is great place for beach lovers!

City bus to the station was 15 min late – take it into account if you continue your trip by train.

11 years ago during my short stay in Sydney I met Michal – the traveller who later walked alone thousands kilometers in America and Australia. Great man! His solo expeditions are unmotorized! 11 years ago he invited me to stay at his home. Today I had a chance to meet him again. Memories…. We were talking about the achievements and our plans. Thank you Michal and good luck on your future trails!

When it was time to say goodbye I and my companion we walked to the Maritime Museum located in picturesque Pyrmont Bay with many interesting ships: there is huge destroyer and submarine, luxurry government yacht and replica of James Cook’s sailship “Endeavour”. From the museum you can take a great pictures of Sydney’s skyline:

“Endeavour” is a legend so I decided to have a picture in front of the replica of the ship, who did so many discoveries around the Pacific:

Leaving the museum we crossed the bay by Pyrmont Bridge entering Sydney’s CBD. Many skyscrapers were built recently here… We decided to take the lift (40 AUD pp) to the observation deck of Sydney Tower Eye. The whole tower is 309 m high, the deck is on the level of 250 m. There is a great 360 deg. view of the whole city. Panoramic windows are clean and it was clear, sunny day today to enjoy the landscape in full.

Above picture shows the tower from the ground. We returned to the hotel by foot. It is tome for rest – tomorrow we are taking the train back to Queensland!

It was lovely and interesting day! I was guiding my companion around Sydney. We went from the hotel to the Central Station then via Hyde Parks to CBD and to Circular Quay.

From ferry terminal the boat was just departing and sailing under the famous Harbour Bridge to Milsons Point for just 1 AUD. From this point there is picture-postcard view of the opera, bridge and CBD skyscrapers!

Then we climbed to the bridge and walked it end to end enjoying aerial view of the Sydney Opera House… Few people do it… We went down to the old Rocks Quarter, around the bay to the Opera building, with new views and crowd of tourists.

We returned home only at 3.30 pm for the late lunch and rest. I found in Sydney many new skyscrapers, but Harbour Bridge (opened in 1932) with opera nearby are still the icons of this giant (5,5 mln people) city.

At sunrise our ship was already sailing the waters of Brisbane River. Soon we docked at far-away cruise terminal and we were ready for disembarking. I said goodbye to the friendly crew members jocking: – Don’t cry! I will see you again on Thursday!

On the shore there wasn’t passport control, but they were collecting arrival cards. Luckily we were not selected for bio-security personal control (it is strictly forbidden to bring to Australia any food, plants or timber). Ufff….

It is shame: they don’t offer any bus transport to the airport from Brisbane cruise terminal. Yes, the taxis are waiting and they charge AUD 40+. I called Uber and they collected 31 AUD for two pax.

Flight to Sydney departed on time and they did not checked the weight or dimensions of cabin luggage at the gate (my pack have much more than 7 kgs). In Sydney I took tvo elevators to the underground level where is a train platform 1 to the city. You tap your credit card once at the entrance and again at exit – the ride to “Central” station costs only 1 AUD.

It is only 20 min walk from this station to our Hacienda Hotel. I started to talk to the young receptionist in Spanish. Uuuu… She didn’t know any single Spanish word! But the hotel is clean and inexpensive. Recommended!

Today we attended farewell show. The band was playing the world hits, dancers were dancing:

After the show we had a chance to meet our favorite dancers and singers. I was talking with the charming lady – solist from Wales:

We had a good time, but sorr it was the time to pack our luggage. 🙂

After two days on the island our ship is turning back to Brisbane. Finally I have a time to enjoy unlimited ice cream, fruits and good music.

I had a chance to meet new friends from San Diego, California. We will be sailing together all the way to San Francisco:

In the piano bar on our ship the great pianist is performing every evening. I met him after hours in the restaurant an we had an interesting talk about the music, about our travels and plans. Perhaps I will meet him on the next cruises:

There are dance lessons and different demonstrations all day long. One of them was ice carving performed by one of our Philippino cooks. This was an eagle in ice:

Little Mystery Island belongs to Vanuatu. It is so small that you can walk it around in less than an hour! The island is uninhabited – only when locals expect a cruise ship they are arriving from other, bigger islands. No port, we landed using the tenders.

Mystery Island, surrounded by the coral reef offers great beaches, tourist market, water sports and everything you need to enjoy the tropical island. Around the island there is nice path, with clean toilets hidden under the palms

For those, who wants explore the village located on the bigger island they offer for 25 USD pp boat tour with 30 minutes village walk. I had a chance to see how do they live. We explored also ruins of the church, flowers and plants in the gardens:

Lovely song were performed by local choirs during my stay on Mystery. Massages and hairdressing were offered too. Funny picture in the canibal’s big pot cost 5 AUD.

But the highlight is lovely color of the water and unspoiled nature. The only strange place in this paradise is grassy airstrip built in the middle of the island during WW2. Queen Elisabeth II was here later on…

Even if there are clouds over the high island next to Mystery on this small island the sun is shining!

On the island of Lifou they don’t have a port so we were landing using the tenders (motor boats) from the ship. Crystal clear waters, white beach and locals in the national “costumes” were waiting for us on the coast.

They performed for is drumming and dances. Just nearby under the palms there were few souvenir stalls and a chance to try regional food. There were also taxi operators offering tours to the “city”. I saw this city before – there is nothing special to see so we took the walk to the nearest village. People are friendly, but they speak rather French than English:

We also climbed to the chapel of Notre Dame do Lourdes built on tje hill – 1 km from tje landing place. Surprise: they started to charge entry fee at the beginning of the path – 5 AUD per person is requested… The chapel is small and poor so the best advantage of this walk is the view of the bay with the ship in it.

This was very hot, but interesting day, full of tropical flowers, palms and local songs. People were bathing and swimming on the beach, but no futher exploration – excursions from the ship cost 100 euro pp and more. Not enough time to explore by foot. But Lifou is still a lovely place and under the palms you can still see traditional thatched houses:

Day at sea. It is visible on the monitor in our cabin that instead sailing directly to Noumea we turned far north. Today captain announced that weather situation improved so we can sail back to the New Caledonia’ island of Lifou. But visit to Noumea is cancelled because we lost a lot of time. I have been in Noumea already twice, but my companion will be not happy…

In the morning my friend Waldek took us to the cruise terminal on Brisbane River. Our ship was already waiting there and at 11 am, after smart check-in we were already in our cabin on deck 1. For the first time since years I was staying in the cabin with a window!

We departed in the afternoon and in the evening I had a pleasure to introduce myself to my 52nd captain – Vittorio Marchi. He is nice person. I asked him if he ever had a passenger who visited all countries of the world. No!