March 4 – 5, 2026
We entered Sydney Harbour just before dawn, and passed the Sydney Opera House
Going ashore was a more interesting exercise than usual. Despite the expression ‘No worries, mate’, Australia seems to be pretty rigorous, and very fond of paperwork. We needed our passports, of course, and visas (which Mal had obtained before we left), Incoming Passenger Cards (apparently for those who arrived as airline or cruise passengers as opposed to those who swam), In Transit Cards (for those who weren’t disembarking or embarking in Australia) and a Biosecurity Inspection Application for Dottie’s rollator. This is all true. Supposedly we are now cleared for the rest of our Australian ports. We’ll see . . .
Our tour was to include the Sydney Opera House, but we were denied access because of Dottie’s rollator. We learned at the gate that the tour included 200 steps and they therefore prohibited access to persons who needed rollators and the like. In their defense, 200 steps would have been a bit much for us. In retaliation, we sat outside and sampled Australian pastries. Not a great trade-off, but close enough.
In the afternoon we were driven to Bondi Beach, possibly Sydney’s best beach, where the terrorist attack occurred last year. The beach is beautiful, and an outstanding surfing spot. The rollers were very regular and just kept coming in. It seemed to us that the terrorists were not only attacking people, but were also trying to ruin the pleasure that Australians take in going there
That evening Dottie and our friend Iris went to the opera house for a performance of what turned out to be a somewhat loud Australian version of Cirque del Soleil. On the way we saw the street artist at right. As experienced Times Square mime watchers, we were impressed.
On March 5th we took a two-hour bus ride to the Blue Mountains. It was worth the trip. The scenery is beautiful, and now and then lost in the clouds.
We rode two cable cars. Going down through the clouds was a spectacular experience.
We also rode a funicular railway.
At the bottom of the cable cars, we walked through a rainforest on an elevated wooden platform.
We also saw vines that our guide told us were the kind that Tarzan could have used. We didn’t mention that we hadn’t realized he was Australian. In any case, we didn’t test them.
The landscape included a rock formation called the Three Sisters, shown below. According to aboriginal legend, the three sisters were daughters to a god or demigod named Father. One day when Father was out hunting, one of the sisters threw a rock at a centipede. This caused a landslide that awakened another god, Bunyip. Bunyip was angry at the sisters and began to attack them. As he did, Father saw it, and went to defend his daughters. He could not arrive in time to save them, but he was able to turn them into stone to protect them from Bunyip. Bunyip then turned on Father, who to protect himself, turned into a Lyre bird and flew away. After Bunyip tired, Father flew back to return his daughters to life, but was unable to find them. Today, Lyre Birds continue to fly to the Three Sisters as Father seeks his daughters.
On to Brisbane,
Dottie and Mal
