We will depart Sydney this evening for the first leg of our 34 day circumnavigation of Australia. Today was mainly spent checking out of the hotel and getting on the ship, Holland America's "Volendam", so no new pictures to post.

Sydney was enjoyable but not overly exciting or spectacular. It seems a lot like Vancouver. The people are friendly, service for the most part is quite good and the city is clean. We noticed the absence of any noticeable exhaust from traffic. Perhaps that is partly due to the fact that most of the buses are powered by natural gas. There are also some large parks and greenspaces which make for enjoyable walks. The Bridge and Opera House are notewothy as are the beaches. We did not get to the zoo, but we will be back after the cruise for a full day and might do it then.

This is probably the last blog for two days since we are sea tomorrow and I doubt my wifi device will work when we are away from shore.