Monday, January 6th-Tuesday, January 7, 2023

And the adventure begins!!!  After a 15 hour flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia we have finally arrived.  Thankfully, Bob was able to sleep on the plane.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get comfortable, even with the flat bed, and couldn't sleep.  This lack of sleep caused me to be quite dazed and confused today (more than usual)!  We are settling into our suite, getting unpacked and organized.  Unpacking our belongings for a 5-month cruise is quite overwhelming and takes an entire afternoon, and it's certainly a test for our organizational skills, but it feels so good when we're finished and have found a place for everything.  

We have begun reuniting with our dear Silversea family, which is absolutely the best part of the entire voyage.  We are missing the people who have been unable to join us for this 2023 cruise, but thankful to see everyone who is here. Although we have a tour scheduled for today (can't imagine what I was thinking at home when I scheduled a 6 hour walking tour the day after we arrived)!  However, my enthusiastic husband felt he was up to go on tour so off he went this morning while I had a leisurely time sipping coffee and enjoying the ship.  Now, here's Bob with his short description of his tour this morning of Cockatoo Island:

Cockatoo Island is a 30 minute ride from downtown Sydney Harbor.  The island was established as a penal colony in 1839.  Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the small island is filled with convict cells, a reform school for girls who were orphans or juvenile delinquents and a training ship for boys.  For many years the island also served as a shipbuilding site for the Royal Australian Navy. During later years and until 1991 the site was a ship repair facility for the Southwest Pacific submarine fleet.

 Unfortunately, Bob is having trouble loading photos onto the blog.  He is meeting with someone this afternoon to try and repair the problem.  So, for now we will just have a narrative  Hopefully, we can get our act together soon so we can include photos, too.  I know most readers are more interested in the photos. :)

Well, that's it for our first day.  Tomorrow we have a sea day which will give us even more time to adjust to the time zone and catch up with more of our Silversea family.  We'll write again when we get to Tasmania.