A to Z: Australia to Fiji to New Zealand (Part 1: Australia)

Wow! Getting to experience Australia, Fiji AND New Zealand for the first time was an absolute blast. I had the opportunity to work on the Sun Princess for 7 weeks in December 2014/January 2015 and although it had its challenges it was also one of the best experiences I ever had.

Part 1: Australia/Tasmania

The iconic Sydney Opera House

My journey began on December 6, 2014 with a 13 hour flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong before another 9 hour flight to Sydney. This was the longest series of flights I have taken to date and the exhaustion definitely hit me by the time I arrived in Sydney on December 8, 2014.

View of Sydney from the plane

At the Sydney airport my excitement grew when I recognized one of the customs officials from the TV show Border Security: Australia's Front Line. It's the little things that make me happy.

Next, it was off to the hotel. Upon checking out my hotel room I realized I couldn't plug my electronic devices into the electrical sockets. It was then that I realized the power of a travel adapter! I couldn't figure out how to get the TV to work so I listened to the radio provided in the room instead. I was pleased to discover a lovely radio station called Smooth 95.3 in Australia which I will be streaming over the internet back home now.

On my first day aboard the Sun Princess I witnessed one of the most scenic sailaways in the world. We sailed under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and past the Sydney Opera House. Gorgeous!

With most passengers being Australian I quickly picked up some "Australian words" from the kids I worked with. For example, instead of markers (as in the device used to colour things in) they use the word texters. The word toilet is used instead of bathroom or washroom. The word lolly is used instead of candy. And everybody says "nearly" instead of "almost".


Hobart: The capital city of Tasmania and the first port in our cruise. Just as you walk out of the cruise terminal there is some art on display outside University of Tasmania's Centre For The Arts.

Artwork outside University of Tasmania's Centre For The Arts

With no plans as to what to do we decided to wander the streets. Along the way we passed by several restaurants, a tourist information center, a hospital, and a church before stumbling into the main shopping district where a shopping mall was located. This shopping mall had a mix of international chain stores as well as stores only found in Australia/New Zealand, such as the wonderful tea store called tea too.


Port Arthur: A historic 19th century penitentiary similar to Alcatraz in San Francisco. This was a tendered port with one of the most scenic rides to shore. I treated the tender ride as a "scenic cruise" viewing it as a luxury rather than a hassle. Upon getting off the tender I was greeted with wide open grass fields and several old buildings that used to house the prisoners.

Welcome to Port Arthur!

Port Arthur's immaculate grass lawn

Look at that architecture!

While walking outside from one building to the next I saw a wallaby jumping along the grass field. It was a very exciting moment for me but nothing new for the Australians.
On the tender over to Port Arthur I noticed a beach to the left of where the tenders docked and I knew I had to find a way to get there. So, when I was done looking at the buildings I made my way along a secluded trail that seemed to lead in the direction of the beach. About 15 minutes later I was at the beach and felt a huge sense of accomplishment for finding my own little oasis at this port.

My oasis in Port Arthur

Burnie: The ship docked in a container port so for safety reasons everyone had to take the free shuttle out of the port area. The shuttle stops at 3 locations. I got off at the 3rd location which has the shops, restaurants and beach. Since I had worked port day in the morning and only had a short time off the ship I headed straight to the beach and used the free WiFi to catch up on my emails.


Melbourne: A beach is located right beside the port so that's where we headed first. We took several pictures by the dock at the beach then strolled along the sidewalk beside the beach.

The dock on a beautiful day in Melbourne

I marveled at all the beachfront apartments we passed by - all so different in style but all very beautiful. From there, it was time to check out the grocery stores and supermarkets. One of my favourite things to do in a new city is to see which snack items are unique to that part of the world - I was not disappointed by the selection. Melbourne is a very beautiful city and I wish I had more time to explore it.


Sydney: The Sun Princess docked at the White Bay cruise terminal which unfortunately is not the terminal located near the Sydney Opera House. Thankfully a free shuttle was provided to take crew from the White Bay cruise terminal to the IMAX theatre downtown. After getting off the shuttle we walked around outside before making our way inside the Queen Victoria Building mall and Westfield mall. For $1 we got a large "Frozen Coke" from McDonald's which is essentially a medium sized Slurpee in Canada. Walking around the streets in Sydney you are never far from a great park to hang out at.

One of the many great places to hang out in Sydney

While wandering the streets of Sydney we spotted what looked to be a harbour so we made our way towards that direction. Imagine our happiness when we discovered we had somehow walked all the way to Darling Harbour and were just mere steps from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House. It was an amazing moment and many pictures were taken.

Hello Sydney Harbour Bridge!

Read Part 2: Fiji here
Read Part 3: New Zealand here