Tuesday, October 15 through Saturday, November 2: My Vacation Trip to "Put Another Shrimp on the Barbie"!

In May, I left some of Ramsey's ashes at Cinder Hills Kennel. So, I felt obliged to do the same for Libby. So, Tuesday morning, I dropped the dogs off at the kennel and deposited some of Libby's ashes.

Then, I headed home to put my luggage in my truck and head west to Los Angeles. I thought maybe I would be able to visit with my brother Peter in San Gabriel, but the timing was not right --- and I was kind of tired from the seven hour drive. So, I just went to the Jonathan Town Club and ordered room service for dinner.

The next day, I had lunch reservations with friend and former San Marino neighbor, Laurie Lloyd Sams. We met at Paul Martin's American Grill in Pasadena. It is a convenient restaurant with free parking in the Macy's garage. I stopped at Costco to get some Queen Green Olives for my trip. Laurie and I had a fun visit!

I was not due at Barbara's home until 3:30 p.m. So, I headed in her Hancock Park location and had my truck washed on Beverly Boulevard. It was very dirty from the Devil Dog Road trip.

I met Barbara at her home. She had arranged for a executive car service to take us to LAX. Anthony picked us up promptly at 4:00 p.m. I was amazed at all the traffic to get to the airport. Barbara and I were traveling United Airlines first class to San Francisco and then United Business Class to Sydney. So, we had access to the new Polaris Lounge at LAX. It only opened in January of this year.

The flight to SFO was uneventful. We had a two hour layover there. Of course, the Polaris Lounge in the International Terminal spoke to us.

In the lounge, we had some Prosecco and Barbara shared some cute figurines she had made.

We boarded our United 787 plane at 10:05 p.m. The very nice Business Class seats/pods greeted us for the 15 hour, 5 minute overseas flight to Sydney.

A fellow named Jay was our flight attendant. It was hard to look at a full meal at 11:00 p.m, so Barbara and I selected the tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich option. Yes!

We both got a good night sleep after putting the seats in a flat position --- with a pad for the seat and a blanket. Barbara watched three movies on the flight. I only watched Denzel Washington in Equalizer 2. I liked the movie! We arrived in Sydney at 7:45 a.m. on Friday, October 18. We lost the whole day of Thursday, October 19. After getting our luggage and passing through Passport Control, we met our driver, Henry.

Henry took us to 88 Dowling Street. We are staying at an Airbnb apartment in the area of Wooloomooloo, a harborside, intercity eastern suburb of Sydney. The Friday morning traffic getting there was amazing!

I turned on my Travel Pass cell phone. I needed this service, as my sister Carrie and her girlfriend, Betsy, have been in Australia for over a week. They started their trip in Melbourne and now are in Sydney. So, Barbara and I dropped off our luggage at the apartment hotel reception and walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens to the Intercontinental.

The Lobby Bar of the Intercontinental was quite nice.

I had not seen Carrie's friend Betsy since 1985. Betsy, her husband, and their boys live in San Antonio, Texas. Carrie and Betsy were roommates in Pasadena in the mid 1980s. Their hotel was only a five minute walk to the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor.

It was really a coincidence that we met up in Sydney with Carrie and Betsy. Barbara and I had booked this trip two years ago. Carrie and Betsy booked their trip three weeks before departing the United States!

After taking several photos at Sydney Harbor, we took an Uber to Bondi Beach. Carrie's Australian girlfriend, Pamela, grew up there. It has a beautiful beach.

Carrie's friend Pam used to swim at the pool next to the ocean. The waves of the ocean crash into this pool.

Above the pool is a highly rated restaurant, Iceberg. This is where we had lunch.

Iceberg Restaurant has great views of the beach and bay.

We had the server take a photo of the four of us on the windy balcony.

After lunch, we went shopping on the main tourist street. I saw my first kangaroo. I hope it is not the last!

We parted after about four hours of playtime. Betsy and Carrie headed off to a walk along the Bondi Beach. Barbara and I took a bus back to a train station near our apartment. It had been a long day. So, we went to a local convenience store and bought cheese, meat, and crackers for dinner. Barbara brought a bottle of Sky Vodka. I brought the olives, dirty martini olive juice, and toothpicks.

We pledged to not go to bed until 8:00 p.m. So, we watched some television until the witching hour.

The next morning, we got an early start and headed to the local Woolworth Metro grocery store to buy supplies. There was one giant staircase we had to climb --- with 120 steps.

The food supplies we purchased were eggs, mushrooms, water, cheese, and crackers. When we eat a big lunch, we only need something light to eat at night.

Our apartment is in an ideal location. After shopping, we dropped off our groceries and headed to the Sydney Opera House. We had an 11:30 a.m. tour. It was about a 20 minute walk through the Royal Botanic Gardens. The weather, once again, was perfect.

Our tour started promptly at 11:30 a.m. Nick was our guide and he was outstanding.

There are six stages/venues that make up the Opera House. The smallest seats 200 people. The largest is the concert hall, and it seats 2,700 people.

After the one hour tour, we had a takeaway sushi lunch at Circular Quay. The food court had a nice seating area. We then walked through the Rocks Market, an event that takes place every weekend.

One mission that afternoon was to stop by the Bridgeclimb office and determine whether to keep the 2:25 p.m. Express Climb for tomorrow or exchange it for the traditional Bridgeclimb that is one hour longer, and an easier pace.

After talking to the agent, we decided to switch to the longer climb at 1:55 p.m. tomorrow. The Bridgeclimb began 21 years ago. They have mastered the uniform and the safety features. My sister Carrie and her girlfriend Betsy did the Bridgeclimb three days before us.

The next stop was the Sydney Hard Rock Cafe. Barbara always buys t-shirts or sweat shirts from the cities she visits. It was a long walk, but worth it. We saw Darling Harbor.

The Hard Rock Cafe is right on this harbor. Barbara was successful in making her purchase.

We then decided to take a taxi back to our apartment. We had already exceeded our daily Fitbit goals and our feet were tired.

Barbara and I went back to the Woolworth Metro to pick up more cheese, crackers, and meat. 😀😀😀 Both of us got into our nighties, had adult beverages, and enjoyed a snack dinner while watching Great Britain's Got Talent Champions program. It is another Simon Cowell show.

Sunday was our Sydney Bridgeclimb. Earlier in the day, we mapped out how to get to the meeting place for Monday's tour to Hunter Valley and the Australian Walkabout Wildlife Park. The Kangarrific Tour meeting place was outside the Central Station. We walked to Kings Cross Train station, caught the Platform 1 train, and arrived at Central Station.

We then took a train to Circular Quay.

 It was another spectacular day in Sydney Harbor.

Barbara and I walked through the Market before finding lunch. Barbara bought a very fashionable sun hat. I saw this neat sign for a photo opportunity.

We wanted to have lunch in the Rocks Market before our climb. The Market was open until 5:00 p.m. We found the perfect food court there. Barbara picked up fried chicken and chips at a food truck. I got seafood Paella at another food station.

It was the perfect preparation for our climb.

We checked in at the Bridgeclimb reception at 1:35 p.m. We were given lockers for our jewelry, clothes, and purses. Although the Bridgeclimb accounts for 4,000 Fitbit steps, no one is allowed a Fitbit or camera on the climb.

The climb has many ladders, cat walks, and walking paths to get to the top. The pace was leisurely. We were fortunate to only have seven people on our climb. The maximum group allowed is fourteen.

When we reached the top, Barbara and I had to have the obligatory photo representing our climbing accomplishment.

We ended the Sydney Bridgeclimb experience around 5:30 p.m. This gave us ample time to get to Phillip's Foot Restaurant. We had reservations at this Rocks area Restaurant to cook our own steak. There was quite a collection.

I selected a filet mignon and Barbara select a top sirlon. It was only 6:15 p.m., so the barbecue had plenty of room for cooking.

After the meat was cooked, we added items from a vegetable and salad bar. Barbara and I both like our meat rare.

We concluded the day by walking back to our hotel. It was dusk in Sydney Harbor.

Monday was our all day tour to the Hunter Valley. We met the minivan near Central Station. There were 13 of us on the tour. Our driver was Sam.

The first stop was a Walkabout Wild Life Park. It was about an hour north of Sydney.

The first animal we interacted with was a Kuala bear. Such an expressive face!

She was born in captivity and was very comfortable with us humans.

This park has animals that were rescued or whose parents were rescued. We interacted with  Wallabies, Imus, and Kangaroos.

The Kangaroos can be petted on the back only.

After the park, we drove another one hour to the Hunter Valley wine country. There are over 120 wineries in this area. The first stop was a Belgium chocolate factory. The chocolate is imported from Belgium, but the chocolatier makes their own version of specialty chocolates.
Most wineries in the Hunter Valley are small boutique wineries, as they do not sell wine outside of the estate property. The first one we visited was Gemelli Estate. Warren, the father of the winery owner, provided us with a wine tasting.

Later, some of our group purchased wine.

The next stop was lunch at Roche Estate. This is primarily a destination venue, with three restaurants. Barbara and I selected the Japanese/Thai restaurant, Oishii --- which means delicious.

We both had pad thai. Mine was made with shrimp and Barbara's pad thai was made with chicken. We shared a bottle of Australian chardonnay.

The meal and the wine were very good!

After lunch, we headed to a second winery --- Earnest Hill Winery. This premium winery is owned and operated by a brother and sister.

The talk and presentation of the wines was very entertaining. The wines were very nice. Barbara and I each bought two bottles of wine at this winery. Before leaving, we had a photo with Sam, our tour guide and driver. 

After the wine tasting at Earnest Hill, Sam took us to a beer brewery. The brewer explained the various beers. I like dark beers. So, I ordered two tastings --- one an Oktoberfest beer and one a dark porter.

After the brewery stop, it was time to head back to Sydney. Sam was very kind and dropped all of us near our hotels or Airbnb apartments.

Today, Barbara and I had a Secret Food Tour scheduled. We really enjoyed the one we took in London two years ago. Our meeting place was across the corner from Hyde Park. There, at 1 Oxford Street, we met our guide Megan.  

Another two people were supposed to join us, but they were a no show. So, Barbara and I had a private tour!  The area we were touring was Surry Hills. The first place we stopped was just a few blocks from our meeting place. At the Winery Restaurant, we had oysters and meat pie.

Other visits were a pastry shop, a cheese shop, and an Asian Restaurant.  The butcher shop was a favorite.

The Secret Food Tour ended at about 3:00 p.m. We took a train to Circular Queue. I wanted to leave some of John’s ashes in Sydney Harbor.

I also had some of Richard’s ashes. I wanted to leave them in the Royal Botanic Gardens. In 2003, Richard and I walked through the gardens. We had a 12 hour layover in Sydney --- when United Airlines discontinued service between Auckland, New Zealand, and Los Angeles.

Today we board the Ruby Princess. Our apartment check-out time is noon, but a housekeeper knocked on our door at 10:30 a.m. and said that check-out time was 10:00 a.m. We knew that this was incorrect, but we were already packed so we complied. We took our luggage down to the reception and they stored it for us.

We decided to walk up to William Street and the Kings Crossing Area. There, we found an UGG store. We had already been told that the USA UGG boots are not from Australia. They are sold by an American company and made in China. Barbara and I decided that we wanted REAL UGG boots.

Garrett, the salesman was very helpful. We each purchased the highest quality Tasman UGG boots in black. We are very excited!

We arrived back at the apartment and called for a taxi. The lobby had a button we pushed to make this happen. Raj drove up in his taxi, loaded the luggage, and off we went to Circular Quay.

Our suite was not going to be ready until 1 p.m. So, we had to kill about 30 minutes. Our decision was to go to the International Café, get a sandwich, and sip a glass of chardonnay. Our magnificent St. Kitts Suite, cabin number C750 was ready for us. This suite is at the back of the ship. The Sydney Harbor views were spectacular! There was the Harbor Bridge.

There was the Sydney Opera House.

The shoes I was wearing had a problem. The tread was separating from the shoe. I ended up going back on shore to get some super glue and tape. This detour allowed me to take photos of our ship in the harbor.

Our home for 10 days is the St. Kitts Suite. We will be cruising up the eastern coast of Australia to the Great Barrier Reef.

After the Safety Orientation at 5:00 p.m., Barbara and I returned to our suite and dressed in Smart Attire for dinner at the Crown Grill. As suite passengers, this first night’s meal in a specialty restaurant was complimentary.

After dinner, we retired to our stateroom and watched part of a movie. I, of course, fell asleep while watching the television.

After leaving Sydney yesterday, we have two sea days. We had a lazy morning and were not able to attend a Zumba class. So, Barbara and I had breakfast in the Crown Grill, which is set aside for Suite Guests only. A nice glass of mimosa greeted us.

After breakfast, we headed to a Cruise Critic gathering in the Skywalkers Nightclub. The captain, Justin Lawes, and the Hotel General Manger, Riccardo Capraro, arrived at the event.

It was an intimate time to ask questions and get an update. The captain mentioned that we should have good weather. The next several stops will require Tender boats, because the ship is too big for those harbors.

Barbara and I had lunch in Club Class Dining.

It is a dining room set aside for all suite guests and designated mini-suite guests. For the most part, we will have most of our lunches and dinners in this dining room. I had a seafood Louie salad and Barbara had the special pasta dish prepared by the dining room Maitre d’

After lunch, we went to the Princess Theater to hear a port talk about Cairns/Yorkeys Knob, where we will be on Sunday, October 27.

At 4:00 p.m., we attended the Afternoon Trivia. Barbara is really good at the game. I helped with several answers. The Australian couple we sat down with had no answers at all. We will try to find a better group tomorrow.

Thursday night, our second night on the cruise, was a formal night. Barbara and I dressed accordingly. We dropped in on the exclusive Elite Lounge, where drinks and hors d’ouvres are served nightly. 
We then went to the International Bar to watch the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall.

At about 7:30 p.m., Barbara and I went to the Club Class Dining room. There, we had a delicious meal and met a very nice couple from Ventura, California. We were not in a mood for the Princess Theater production, but we did have a Bailey’s night cap before retiring to our suite.

I woke up at about 6:00 a.m. Friday morning. I went out on the balcony and captured a beautiful sunrise.

With the drink package, there have been some glitches in the onboard accounting system.  Our folio has been charged for several drinks --- two days in a row. So, Barbara and I visited the front desk and spoke to Wilfred. He assured us that these charges would be reversed out.

We dressed for the Zumba class. It was listed in the Princess Patter for 8:45 a.m. in Club Fusion. So, we got to the venue a little early --- to get a good position on the floor. The Zumba instructor is from China and her name is Sujon.

After Zumba, we went to have breakfast in the Crown Grill. Mimosas, specialty coffee, and BELT (bacon, egg, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches were calling to us.

At 10:30 a.m., we headed to Club Fusion once again. This time, it was to play Morning Trivia. It was a hard “FACT or FICTION” version of the game. But, we did get more than 50% of the answers correct. The couple we played with were from Wellington, New Zealand.

The Princess Patter mentioned Pickleball Open Play (non-hosted) at 9:30 a.m. I did not go up there to play, but I did go up to Deck 19 to check it out. Believe it or not, the court was in good shape.

The locker even had four paddles and many balls. Maybe I’ll check it out on our next sea day!

For lunch, we went to the Vines Wine Bar. They were offering sushi. Yes! So, Barbara had a sparkling wine with her sushi. I had a chardonnay with mine.

We then visited the Gatsby Casino for a try at several 1 cent slot machines. I dropped the usual $20.00. It is then written off at entertainment.

We missed several of the port talks, so I went back to our stateroom and watched two lecturers with Hutch.

At 5:00 p.m., we went to Movies under the Stars, on deck 15, by the pool. There, we watched an hour of the Rolling Stones concert from Havana, Cuba.

Club Fusion has the daily Elite Lounge from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Today, the buffet included shrimp with cocktail sauce. Barbara and I each got a plateful of shrimp, and we enjoyed adult beverages of Mayan Mules.

The entertainment in the Princess Theater was a comedian, Mark Palmer. Barbara and I decided to go to the  7:30 p.m. show. The comedian was very, very funny. What a delight! We then headed to the Club Class restaurant for dinner. I enjoyed a Caesar salad with anchovies and a robust San Francisco Cioppino (sp?) seafood soup. Our server, Raquel, is delightful.

I checked the Cinder Hills Kennel Facebook page for a glimpse of Kelsey and Jamie. I was not disappointed!

Over 75 percent of the ship’s guests are Australian. While in the Sydney port, the Ruby Princess converted from US dollars to Australian dollars. Fortunately, that exchange rate is good for us. I enjoyed buying a small Brighton purse --- a sales price of 30% off and a 30% reduction cost due to the Australian dollar currency.

Our first port day is Airlie Beach. Because of the size of our ship, tenders are required to go ashore. From the ship to the port is about 20 minutes. Our suite level gets us priority boarding for all tenders. We had a leisurely breakfast in the Crown Grill. Another mocha, latte, and mimosa!

Then, we walked to the Deck 5, where we got into the queue to go ashore. It took about 15 minutes for the tender to fill up. Barbara and I were the first ones to hop on the tender aft.

Once the tender was full, we headed to Airlie Beach.

We arrived at the Airlie Beach marina. The water color reminded us of Hawaii.

For this port, we had no tour scheduled. Australia is the number one provider of oysters in the world. Both Barbara and I were looking forward to enjoying a dozen oysters. We had already goggled an oyster and champagne bar at Airlie Beach. It was called Shuckz.

We had oysters and champagne for lunch.

Barbara and I also did some shopping on Shute Harbor Road. We found a little boutique called Cotton on Body. I purchased a pair of water shorts for our Great Barrier Reef excursion in two days. I also bought some leggings.

We found a Woolworths along this route. Always enjoy 1.5 liters of ice cold water!

We took the 3:50 p.m. tender back to the ship. There was a catamaran on our ship’s tender dock, so we had to wait to some time to get back on the Ruby Princess.

Once on board, it was time for the Elite Lounge. I got a Deep Sea Martini. Barbara got a Port Lemonade. That evening, we went to Deck 15 and picked up a take-away dinner for our stateroom. I had a couple slices of pizza and Barbara had a beef pie and some Panini.

The next morning, Barbara and I started with breakfast in the Crown Grill. Sheldon was our server. He is from Barbados and has been on the Ruby Princess for nine years.

Our ship arrived at Yorkeys Knob and Cairns. Once again, we had to take a tender to the shore. The tender dropped us off at the Yorkeys Knob Boating Club.

Prior to being picked up for a 1:30 p.m. tour, Barbara and I walked into town. It was fairly humid.

We made it back to the Boating Club before the van was to pick us up.

The small van and Steve, the guide and driver, picked us up at the stairs leading up to the Boat Club. There were a total of nine of us. Small tour groups are nice!

We drove up the nearby mountain and through Kuranda National Park. Our first stop was Barron Gorge National Park. This time of year, the water flow of the falls is minimal.

But, the gorge was very nice.

Steve did a nice job explaining the geology of the park.

The next stop was a fruit stand in the Australian bush. There, we had the opportunity to taste local fruits.

This area of Australia has a lot of grass termites. Hence, the name of the fruit stand.

As we drove along the highway, I noticed unusual rocks that looked like they were made of mud. Steve explained that those “rocks” were made by the grass termites. That was their home.

Our next stop was Davies Creek National Park. It was adjacent to Dinden National Park --- which we drove through. This park is kind of off the beaten path. Being a weekend, there were Australians enjoying the creek water.

The nine of us, plus Steve, walked to different areas of the park.

Barbara snapped a photo of me here too.

Our final stop was to visit the Clohesy River Fig Tree boardwalk.

There, we saw an amazing site --- a strangler fig tree. This tree is over 500 years old. The inside of the tree is hollowed out and the vines wrap themselves in the tree shell remains.

Steve served us coffee, tea, and biscuits.

Barbara and I had to be back at the tender marina by 5:45 p.m. Done!

That evening, we decided to order room service for dinner. Earlier, we had some heavy hors d’ouvres at the Elite Lounge.

Monday was going to be a long day. We booked an all-day excursion to the Great Barrier Reef. We had breakfast at the International Café. Love their egg mc muffin sandwich!

Our tour was called at 8:30 a.m. We walked down to Deck 4 and got on a tender --- headed for Port Douglas. It was in Port Douglas that we got on a large catamaran, Quicksilver VIII.

It was 1 ½ hours to the Great Barrier Reef station. I wanted to scuba dive, so I found the Dive Lobby and met with the dive team.

While I was PADI Open Water certified, I have not been diving for many years. The dive team and I agreed that I should align myself with a scuba introductory group --- to get a refresher on the sport.

When we arrived at the Great Barrier Reef station, I got my lycra body suit, my fins, and was fitted for a wet suit and mask. Then, the weights and the scuba tank were added.

There were four divers in my group. Yokito was our PADI certified dive leader. We entered the water on a contained water platform and we practiced several drills before heading out. The dive lasted about 40 minutes.

We saw a sea turtle, a school of barracudas, several clown fish (Nemo!), a giant clam, and lots of reef coral and other fish. It was so much fun!

I tried to book a second dive, but it was already filled up. I did meet up with Barbara for the buffet lunch. Then, we took a submersible submarine ride around the reef.

The large catamaran left the Barrier Reef station at about 3:00 p.m.

We arrived in Port Douglas at about 4:30 p.m.

That evening, as we left Port Douglas, I saw a sunset photo opportunity and a cloud shaped as a dog.

Barbara and I dined at the Club Class Restaurant. Our server was from Serbia.

We retired to our suite after dinner. It had been a long day.

After leaving Port Douglas, our next two days were at sea. At 8:30 a.m., we rallied for another 

Zumba class with Sujon.

At about 9:30 a.m., the ship got close to Willis Island. Willis Island is a remote weather monitoring station. The captain and the head of the weather station had a conversation about the island operation and the weather outlook. It was broadcasted over the ship speakers.

A weather balloon was launched for us to view from the ship.  Then, Barbara and I had breakfast at the Crown Grill.

Barbara and I signed up to do the Chef’s Table event. We received an invitation to come to the Da Vinci Dining Room at 10:30 a.m. and meet with the Maitre ‘D Hotel, Michael Boonzaaler.

Michael met with the eight of us, as a precursor to the Chef’s Table event the next evening. Usually the Chef’s Table has 12 participants, but two couples recently backed out of the reservation.

The lunch special on board today is British-Style Pub Lunch. It took place in the Crown Grill. Barbara and I headed there for fish and chips. Yum!

Tonight is the second and final formal night. Barbara and I received an invitation to attend the Captain’s Circle Cocktail Party for Platinum and Elite guests. The captain, Justin Lawes, was the host.

Before the formal Captain’s welcome, I asked for a photo opportunity.

Barbara and I got a formal photo before the end of the event.

Before going to dinner, Barbara and I went to the Crooners Bar for a martini tasting. Barbara ordered a vodka martini with olives, olive juice, and vermouth. I ordered a martini with olives, olive juice, and NO vermouth. We tasted each. My preference was no vermouth. Barbara liked hers with vermouth.

That evening, the Gala Dinner menu had escargot appetizers. It also had lobster tail for an entree. Barbara and I enjoyed both. The lobster was presented in the shell and then undressed by the head waiter.

The man and women who sat next to us were the couple from Ventura, California. The husband, Guy, is active in the Ventura South Rotary. He knows of my friend, Connie Chandler Young, who is an incoming Ventura Rotary president. Small world!

On our second to the last sea day, the ship was really rocking and rolling. We especially felt it in our aft suite. While we both are wearing seasick patches, Barbara was feeling queasy. We skipped Zumba this morning. But, we did get to breakfast. Both of us had oatmeal. And, the obligatory mimosa and special coffees.

After breakfast, we visited one of the ship stores and Barbara purchased some ginger based travel sickness pills. Hopefully, it will help!

Almost 50 percent of the ship's crew are from the Philippines. No exception to our cabin steward, John. He has done a great job attending to our stateroom needs!

Later today, Barbara and I will be attending the Chef's Table event. Barbara decided to go back to the stateroom and sleep/nap through her seasickness discomfort. I worked on the blog and went to a 2:00 p.m. show in the Princess Theater. It was The Voice of the Ocean Finals. I don't watch The Voice, but I understand that the stage set-up was very familiar.

There were seven finalists who performed. The three coaches were in the big chairs.

The woman who won the contest was from Atlanta. She did a great Tina Turner version of "Proud Mary."

I went back to our cabin. Barbara was starting to ralley. So, we went to the 4:00 p.m. Afternoon Trivia.

It was a difficult round of trivia. We only got 9 out of 20 answers correct.

We were meeting the Hotel Maitre 'D at the Vines wine bar. Three couples were part of our Chef's Table. One couple was from Sydney, one couple was from Kansas City, Kansas, and one couple was from Woodland Hills, California. In order to tour the galley, we had to put on white coats.

There, in the galley, we met the Executive Chef and the Executive Sous Chef.

After touring the galley, we were taken to a location where pastries are made. There was a nice ice sculpture and several fruit sculptures.

The Executive Chef had prepared several hors d'ouvres.

The Maitre 'D poured us champagne.

The presentation of the hors d'ouvres was wonderful.

Barbara and I had a photo taken in our white coats.

We were able to retire the white coats when we headed to the Michelangelo Dining Room. There, a beautiful table was set-up for the eight of us. The Executive Chef and the Executive Sous Chef presented appetizers and side dishes.

For the entree, we had lamb chops.

We had lobster tail.

We had flambeed filet mignon.

It was beautifully presented on our plate.

The meal ended with some incredible desserts.

A group photo was taken.

The Chef's Table event was outstanding!

Our final sightseeing port is Brisbane. Our ship arrived at the Port of Brisbane Fisherman's Wharf at about 8:00 a.m. We had our second to the last breakfast in the Crown Grill. Nicholay, from Serbia, has been our morning Maitre 'D every morning.

Barbara and I made arrangements to meet up with our friend Pam Goldsbro. Pam has lived in Brisbane for 20 years. She is originally from Sydney. Pam and her cute little dog, Paddy, met us at the terminal.

Barbara and I decided that we wanted to see the "inside belly" of Brisbane. Pam took us to some of her old haunts. The first stop was Hawthorne Garage Market, where Pam worked before becoming a travel agent.

We then toured the downtown area by car. Our next stop was Kangaroo Point. We walked along the boardwalk and saw some beautiful old plantation homes that had been turned into condominiums.

The Brisbane River runs throughout the city. Our huge ship is on one of the Brisbane River docks --- a large container port. The Ruby Princess is too large for places closer to the city.

After a stroll at Kangaroo Point, we visited the all boys school where Pam's son Mitchell attended. Mitchell graduated in 2016 and is now in University. The next stop was a place to pick up "takeaway" sandwiches and then go to Pam's home.

At Pam's home, we had a picnic lunch in her backyard.

After lunch, we went to visit the shore city of Manly --- a sleepy part of Brisbane. Barbara wanted to get a Brisbane magnet and I wanted to cash some of my larger Australian dollar notes at a bank. While at the bank, I asked a banker to take a photo of us. It was only by chance that the three of us dressed in stripes!

 Our last stop was Manly Beach. We parked Pam's car by the marina.

Barbara, Pam, and I then walked across the street to a small cafe. There, we enjoyed a glass of white wine.

Pam took us back to our ship at about 5:00 p.m. All passengers were required to be back on board by 5:30 p.m. The Ruby Princess headed out of the Brisbane Port about an hour later.

The evening was Halloween. Most of the crew dressed for the occasion.

The ship was decorated for Halloween fun!

Barbara and I even got into the action.

The next day was our final sea day. We started to pack. I even sat out on the balcony and talked to Tom. For the final 24 hours of the cruise, I bought an unlimited internet package. Tom and I talked by phone through WhatsApp. We'll see each other in a couple of days! 💕

Barbara and I also went to the Future Cruise Desk. We were looking for something in 2021. We spoke to Lindsay, the future cruise consultant, about a 17 day cruise from Dubai to Rome. We reserved a future booking, but the cruise we want will not open for booking until April, 2020.

After finalizing the packing effort, we went up to Deck 15 and had late lunch at the Salty Dog.

Our bags had to be placed outside our cabin by 9:00 p.m.

Barbara decided to spend some of her last Casino winnings.

We had our final meal in the Club Class Restaurant and retired for the evening, as we had an early bus to catch to the airport.

We left our suite at about 6:00 a.m., departed the ship, claimed our luggage, and loaded everything in a bus headed to the airport.

We located the United Polaris Business Class counter and breezed through customs.

The Sydney Airport has three specialty lounges. We had three hours to kill before our flight. So, Barbara and I had a breakfast in the Singapore Airlines Lounge.

Then, we headed to the American Express Lounge.

And we finished our lounge hopping at the Quantas Airlines Lounge.

Once we boarded our flight, the happy place of the Polaris Class greeted us.

The return flight to San Francisco is thirteen hours. Barbara and I had our lunch, and then I took my little blue sleeping pill. Barbara started a movie marathon. We arrived in San Francisco at about 9:00 a.m.

It was in San Francisco that we went through customs. Then, we had a two-hour layover before our Los Angeles flight. We arrived in Los Angeles about 1:00 p.m. I was surprised how refreshed I was!
Barbara had arranged for a driver to pick us up.

The driver took us to Barbara's home. There, I loaded my bags into my truck and began the trek back to Williams. That was the end of a terrific trip to Australia!