Sydney Harbour is the largest harbour in the world, and the city is simply stunning. No matter how many times one visits, one never tires of her magic. We had just left a country of just over 4 million and arrived in a city of 4.2 million. The energy here is palpable. It is also noticeably a city of young people. We understand that women outnumber the men by a ratio of 70/30. Go down under young men because the women are beautiful here and who cares if you can't understand what they are saying.
Barry and I were on our own for the day and we took the ship's shuttle bus to Circular Quay which is the heart of the harbour downtown, from which all the ferries sail. We had some errands which unfortunately took all morning, but we walked to some areas we had not been before and just fell in love with the juxtaposition of beautiful old, and perfectly preserved Victorian era buildings nestled into modern glass skyscrapers. The hustle and bustle of business is everywhere. I said it last year - this city is just so like Vancouver. After a quick bite of lunch, we redesigned our afternoon, and walked back down to Circular Quay and hopped on the Darling Harbour ferry to get out onto this fabulous harbour. We had had rain showers all morning, but by now the sky was blue and the day spectacular. The real estate here is some of the most expensive in the world, and the entire waterfront is just a people magnet because of the development of parks, restaurants, bars, and large museums. Any condo overlooking the famous bridge or the Opera House must command a high price. I don't know why you never tire of looking at these sights, but you don't.
We passed our ship which was moored at Pier 5 in Darling Harbour, next to the future new casino that is under construction. This will be a massive complex of condos, shops and gambling. Our plan was to go to the Wildlife Experience at the Terminal stop. You just cannot imagine the crowds that inhabit this vast waterfront area - literally hundreds of bars and restaurants filled on a Friday afternoon. Also in this bay is the Maritime Museum, where they had a range of ships from a sub, to a destroyer to very old sailing ships.
We spent a pleasant hour and a half getting up close and personal with the extremely unusual Australian fauna. Our favourites were the koalas. These little guys sleep 20 hours a day. The reason we were told is that they only feed on eucalyptus leaves which are very low in nutrients and very toxic. The koala has the longest intestine of any mammal, which allows them to take out the toxins. The poor nutritive value means that they have almost no energy. Our prize picture is a little guy hanging looser and more relaxed than I have every seen in any animal or human.
We came back to the ship mid afternoon, and met Karen and Jonathan to go out for an evening dinner at Circular Quay. Jonathan had not been able to get off the ship as he had some business to attend to. The evening was perfect - weather: amazing temperature; the city : alive and jumping for a Friday evening; the meal: upscale fantastic Asian on an outdoor patio overlooking Circular Quay. Then we hopped on our Darling Harbour ferry again, for a gorgeous ride where we got pictures of the Opera House and our ship all lit up. We ended up at a bar for another glass of wine, some great conversation, and a walk back to our ship.
Tomorrow I am headed to the "Rocks" to a market we went to last year of high end handmade artisans. Barry is on his own. 
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