The Great Ocean Road - 墨尔本著名的大洋路
March 10, 2020 - We stayed with our friend’s family in Melbourne. They took us to the world-famous Great Ocean Road in……
March 10
We stayed with our friend’s family in Melbourne. They took us to the world-famous Great Ocean Road in Australia today. It was a long distance (3-4 hour) drive from Melbourne. We started the trip early in the morning and left the house at 7 AM. We stopped at Geelong for breakfast. Then we drove along a scenic winding road along the coast line. We had good weather again today. The Great Ocean Road was built by soldiers who returned after World War I as a war memorial. The road provides access to several breathtaking rock formations, including the Twelve Apostles, London Arch, etc. Even under the shadow of the Coronavirus fear, the parks were very popular. As the sun was coming down, we noticed smoking in the air. Fires were seen in far distance but we didn’t know if it was wild fire or intended fire. The sunset with the smoke was beautiful. We pulled the car over and took pictures.
The London Arch
The Twelve Apostles
At Geelong
Sunset under burning
We returned back to the city late after 9:30 PM. We went to a Szechuan Chinese Restaurant for dinner. We ordered several spice dishes. They were spicy but very good taste. Australia has good authentic Chinese food.
Moomba Parade - 蒙巴节
March 9, 2020 - Today is a public holiday, Labor Day in Australia. The City of Melbourne also held the Moomba Festival over ……
March 9
Today is a public holiday, Labor Day in Australia. The City of Melbourne also held the Moomba Festival over the weekend. The festival ends today with the Moomba Parade. The origin of the Moomba Festival might be controversial but based on what we saw, the Moomba Parade is just another multi-cultural celebration today. We took a bus from Blackburn to Melbourne downtown. Melbourne also has a transportation card with a daily limit of $9.00. The parade started at 10:45 AM. It was led by an Aboriginal group which was then followed by different floats with different ethnic groups and dance studios to show various cultures and performances. There were two dragon dances in the parade. There were a lot of people watching the parade - the coronavirus didn’t seem to scare people away. After the parade, we went to the National Gallery of Art. We had a simple lunch/snack in the café. We spent about an hour in their European Gallery. The museum is free except for the special exhibitions.
Afterwards, we walked to Shrine of Remembrance and other attractions nearby. We wanted to see the ocean too. We rode #16 light rail to St. Kilda Beach. The weather was perfect and the beach was beautiful. We stopped at a café guarded by two statures of a rabbit and a dog holding latte. We took a picture of them and that is the place to have another round of latte. We found a table sitting down with and that table number is 322. What a coincidence!
We watched people kiteboarding on the beach and running/walking along the beach. It looked like a perfect summer vacation place, beautiful and relaxing. We could spend another day or two there, but we needed to meet our friend in Chinatown for dinner.
St.Kilda Beach
We rode another train to Crown Casino first. We strolled around the area then went to a Chinese Restaurant for dinner. We had the Lucky Crab cooked with goose liver paste sauce. The Lucky Crab, as the restaurant calls it, is a deep sea white crab, similar to Crystal Crab online. Interestingly, cooked crab remained white, not red like typical cooked crab. The dish was delicious. It was one of the best crab dishes we have had but it was not cheap - $350 for the crab. The dinner was very good. We all say Australia has the best Chinese cuisine including China but they are not cheap. We had good time.
Melbourne, Australia -澳大利亚墨尔本
March 7-8, 2020 - We flew from Sydney to Melbourne on March 7 to stay with Connie’s best friend’s family for a few days before……
We flew from Sydney to Melbourne on March 7 to stay with Connie’s best friend’s family for a few days before going home. Our friend picked us up at the airport. We didn’t do much that day and just relaxed.
On March 8, our friend took us to the Dandenong Ranges area to visit a couple wineries and Dandenong Ranges National Park. We had wine and cheese tastings in the winery. The William Ricketts Sanctuary was very interesting but also very strange. It is a sculpture park displaying many Aboriginal inspired spiritual sculptures created by William Ricketts. There was no way we could stay in the park after dark. After visiting the sanctuary, we wanted to visit a tea house but it was fully booked. There was no sign of COVID-19 in the town. Instead, we had lunch at a café at the summit of Mount Dandenong. At the top, we had nice view of Melbourne downtown.
At a winery
View from the summit of Mount Dandenong
Cockatoo Island - 悉尼鹦鹉岛
March 6, 2020 - Cockatoo Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site at the junction of the Parramatta and Lane Cove River in ……
March 6
Cockatoo Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site at the junction of the Parramatta and Lane Cove River in Sydney Harbour. The small island was used for imprisoning convicts. The prison on the island was even built by the convicts. The island can be reached by ferry. Later on, the island became a shipyard for military and commercial ships. Now, the island provides staycation accommodations. An array of tents are spread across the lawn facing Sydney Harbour with a view of Sydney Bridge. It has beautiful view of the harbor. There were a lot of high school students visiting the island when we were there. The weather was nice.
Tents in Cockatoo Island
We ferried out to Darling Harbour from the island. The people working in office buildings in the area were having lunch in the restaurants in the harbor. It was very busy and popular. We didn’t have lunch there since we had a place in mind: Peter’s Fish Market. We walked to the market and had fried fish, oysters, etc. over there. Then, we walked back over Pyrmont Bridge to another market, Paddy’s market. In the market, there are many small booths selling various goods from luggage to shoes. We did a quick tour in the market then we took the L2 light rail back to the hotel.
Connie was so tired so she stayed in the room. Chenggang adventured out for another historic site visit, Susannah Place. This three-story former cottage and store buildings were built in 1838. But in 1900s, after the outbreak of plague, just like today’s COVID-19, the government took over the area to make public housings for low income family. The tour of the house and the stories associated with it were very interesting and fascinating.
Connie’s college friend took us to Little Snail restaurant to taste nice French Cuisine. The restaurant is located in the Darling Harbor. Connie had snails and Chenggang had grilled kangaroo meat. Kangaroo meat tastes like beef. It was very good, delicious.
A Raining Day - 下雨天
March 5, 2020 - We bought two Opal cards for local transportation including train, light rail, bus and ferry. It had a daily cap of ……
March 5
We bought two Opal cards for local transportation including train, light rail, bus and ferry. It had a daily cap of $16.15. Today’s weather forecast was not very good; it rained all day but we still went to the Manly Beach via ferry. There were nice stores and restaurants along the beach. But because it was raining and windy, there were not many people on the beach. After walking for ten mins or so, we felt cold and decided to find a place to sit down and have a warm latte and half dozen of oysters. After the rain and wind seemed to slow down a little, we continued to walk along the beach in the rain. People were still surfing and swimming in the ocean. We ended at Shelly Beach and had another latte and half dozen of Sydney Rock Oysters and shrimp flatbread at the Boathouse café. Today was not the day to stroll along the beach. The weather was just not cooperating today. It just reminded us of the weather issues during our partial world cruise.
Manly Beach
We’ve hesitated to go on any cruise for last 30 years because we were afraid of motion sickness. But this time, we thought since we sailed through the Drake Passage in the last Antarctica trip, we should handle this trip well. Even with prescribed patches for motion sickness, we don’t think we’ve overcome motion sickness. If there was one negative thing about this trip, it was the motion sickness. It bothered us a lot. First, the patches had some side effects to deal with. Second, with >100 knots wind and 30 ft waves bombarding the ship, we just weren’t able to do anything except lie down on the bed. Weather issues also resulted in missing two ports and two sounds. Crossing the Tasman Sea was extreme. At the time, four major storms were converging on the path over the Tasman Sea. The captain decided to skip Hobart port and go up north to avoid the storms. Although no one said anything, we believe we were actually hit on the spots when the storms changed its course. The ship was shaking really hard even though the stabilizer was on over the night. We were a little scared then. Once the storms were over after the Milford Sound, the sea became calm again.
Once we were back to the hotel, the rain stopped. We had dinner in the hotel using $100 dinning credit they gave us. After dinner, we rode the L2 light rail to Chinatown then transferred to the L1 light rail. The plan was to go to the Fish Market and then walk over to the Darling Harbor, but instead we got off at the train at a stop before the Fish Market. To our surprise, the stop was underground. We didn’t even notice that the L1 light rail had already went underground from the surface. We were lost. We walked one direction towards the water but the streets were dark. Then we walked the other direction to a main commercial district as a couple advised us. We walked over Pyrmont Bridge into the Darling Harbor. The Darling Harbor looked like it had much more of a night life than in the Town Hall or the Ferry Terminal. There were a lot of things going on at night in Sydney. We really like Sydney.
Darling Harbor at night
The Journey Continues -继续我们的旅程
March 4, 2020 - Our World Cruise ended prematurely but this journey continues. We will stay in Sydney until March 7 then visit
March 4
Our World Cruise ended prematurely but this journey continues. We will stay in Sydney until March 7 then visit Connie’s best friend in Melbourne. We will fly back home on March 11.
Our plan was to visit a few historic sites today. On the ship, we attended several lectures about Australia history by Jill, a writer of 102 children books. We learned that modern Australia was first built by convicts from Britain. We visited the mint and the Barracks Museum, all built by convicts. Some of the convicts were sentenced to 7 years exile at age of 11-12 for stealing someone’s hat or chicken. It was pretty harsh punishment. We also visited the parliament of New South Wale (a state or province). Most westernized countries have open door government buildings. We like to visit them when we have a chance. It just reminds us how a free society, open government would be like. We also like to see churches on trips. We visited St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney. Then it was time for lunch. We decided to go back to Taste of Shanghai again to have fried pork buns, rice cake and dale cake. It was a yummy lunch. After lunch, we paid a visit to Anzac War Memorial and the Museum of Sydney.
Crystal Serenity is leaving Sydney today. On the way to the Opera House, we took a few pictures of the ship to say goodbye. We picked the world cruise on Serenity based on an article from USA Today. However, after a 40-days journey with the ship, we felt a special connection with Crystal Serenity. There were more than 800 passengers on the ship - 327 of them were on the world cruise. Only 40 of them were first-time Crystal cruisers like us. We were considered young among the passengers - the average age on board seemed to be about 70 or higher. Many of them had been on a cruise many many times and some of them knew each other from previous cruises. We definitely felt strange or different among them at first, but by the end, we felt we had become one of them. We started to know some of them, having dinner together and touring together. We also promised to have dinner with a couple from Scottsdale together at their in-law’s restaurant when we got back to Phoenix. The passengers on board were easy to interact with and eager to share their stories about world travel. The crew on ship were also very friendly and helpful and after 40 days, got to know them more closely. We were disappointed to say goodbye to them prematurely. We liked the social aspect of the cruise but wish the population was younger.
Serenity is leaving Sydney Bay
Tonight, we watched Opera Carmen in the Opera House. The opera was Carmen in a modern setting. The tickets were not cheap, $170 each on the second floor but it was worth it.
Our World Cruise Ended Today - 2020年环球之旅半路终止
March 3, 2020 - Unfortunately, our 89 days world cruise is ended today, 49 days shorter than planned. The Crystal Cruise has ……
Unfortunately, our 89 days world cruise is ended today, 49 days shorter than planned. The Crystal Cruise has decided to cancel all port calls to Asia, adding a few more port calls in Australia and more sea days in Java Sea. They also offered us an option to end the world cruise in Sydney. They will refund all unused nights plus provide some credits for future cruise and $500 each person for travel assistance. We decided to take the offer and get off in Sydney to spend some time in Australia and then go home. Putting all of our stuff back into six suitcases was a stressful process but we finished in a couple days. We booked four nights at the Four Seasons Hotel not too far away from the cruise terminal via our travel agent. Because we booked through our Virtuoso travel agent, we got extra amenities like free breakfast, $100 credit, and a free upgrade. This is the first time we have booked hotels via a travel agent. We may consider this option more in the future travel.
Room Number of The Cabin We Stayed During the Partial World Cruise
LAST DAY - March 3, 2020
So today is the disembarkment day for us. We left the ship at 9:45 AM and were picked up by a private car. Four Seasons Hotel is a 5 mins walking distance away from the terminal but it took 10 mins to drive over there due to street traffic in Sydney. We were allowed to check in earlier and placed in a room with a partial harbor view. The room was nice. After settling down in the hotel, we headed out for sightseeing. We had Fish and Chips at the Rocks Café on the rocks first. Then we walked over the Sydney Bridge to Kirribilli. We saw Luna Park from outside and strolled along the coast line. We passed by Admiralty House and the Lady Gowrie Lookout. Then we got on a ferry nearby to get back to the hotel. Our credit card didn’t work for us at the Kirribilli Ferry Terminal but the workers were very nice and let us get on and off the ferry without tickets.
We visited the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. It is a beautiful garden and well maintained. We met Connie’s friend at the train station and took an Uber to a Shanghainese Restaurant, Taste of Shanghai. We had so many Shanghai cuisine dishes, like fried pork bun, smoked fish, etc. After dinner, we walked back to the hotel. The streets in Sydney are busy at night. There were a lot of tourists and locals. We really enjoyed a full day in Sydney.
COVID-19/Going home - 新冠肺炎
Feb 28-March 2, 2020 (Day 38-41) - The COVID-19 epidemic is out of control as no one can predict. The confirmed cases were ……
Day 38-40 (Feb 28-March 1)
The COVID-19 epidemic is out of control as no one can predict. The confirmed cases were popping up everywhere around the world, especially in Singapore and Italy. One day we were told the Serenity would cancel the port call to Singapore and next day they canceled all port calls to Asia. The cruise revised the itinerary after Sydney to add more ports in Australia and more sea days from Sydney to Mumbai. Crystal Cruise also offered us an option to end the world cruise in Sydney. We took the offer and decided to get off in Sydney. As the COVID-19 epidemic is continuing to develop, it was hard to picture the ship safely docking in Mumbai or Rome. As today, Australia looks like a safest place to get off and go home from there.
Day 41– (March 2)
The ship anchored in Sydney not too far away from the Opera House in the morning. The immigration inspection process was a no-event process but took a little longer than expected. Again no one stamped our passports. Because we were expecting many port visits during this trip, we actually renewed our passports and asked for the 52-pages version to add more pages for all the entry and exit stamps. Funny enough though, we haven’t had a single immigration stamp. In a port in New Zealand, you could pay $2 to get a stamp on the passport.
Sydney in the morning
We went on a tour of “Blue Mountain Adventure”. The Blue Mountain is a mountain that may look blue from a distance. It is not too far away from Sydney. The tour took us to a wildlife zoo first and then we had lunch in a historic hotel in the blue mountain. After lunch we went on a scenic tour around the mountain including a steep train ride down to the valley, 30 mins walking and a cable car riding up. It had spectacular views but the tour was just long enough for everyone to take a few pictures then leave. Today was hot, close to 100 F. After lunch, the bus driver told us the AC unit on the bus was not working and he already asked for a new bus. Fortunately, the scenery tour would take about an hour, enough for the new bus to pick up us. Because of the late start of the tour, we got a 20% refund from the cruise line.
Blue Mountain
The ship relocated from the anchored site to Oversea terminal tonight. We took some pictures of Opera House from the ship.
Opera House
