Early last week I arrived in Sydney, Australia: our second port since going underway in May. I’ve already finished my three days of liberty, so I’ll post a little about what I’ve done:
I started out my first day of liberty helping a local news crew shoot their morning show on the ship’s flightdeck. They were hoping to have a Sailor give a recorded tour of the ship, and since I happened to be the only one up at 5 a.m., it ended up being me. Also, while I was waiting for one of my segments, I was handed a cell phone and asked if I’d do a live radio interview with a local station. I don’t think they had intended on using me that much, but I was there and an easy choice.
After helping the news crew load up their things, my liberty buddy and I headed out for pictures of the opera house and lunch in the Circular Quay area. After taking the standard opera house shots, we ended up getting sucked into a street perfomer’s show for over an hour. He was juggling a chainsaw while riding a bike standing up (don’t worry, I have pictures!), so it was entertaining enough. Several people we’d run into recommended a nearby suburb called Manly, and so we hopped a ferry for a visit. The city was very nice and small, had plenty of good restaurants and had a great beach with huge waves. If we would have had more time I probably would’ve tried my hand at surfing there. Instead, we got a ferry back about 2 hours later to catch a rugby game in the same stadium they had the olympics in. I definitely have more respect for the game. It’s way tougher than American football (or Gridiron as they call it here).
The second day I went abseiling (or rapelling) in the nearby Blue Mountains. I thought I’d be in for a few 30 foot descents, but ended up dangling thousands of feet in the air by a rope as big around as my finger. It was so exhilarating! Definitely one of the coolest things I’ve done in my life. It’s a real motivator for getting in shape so I can take up rock climbing when I get back to the states. I’ve got lots of pictures, don’t worry 
On the last day I just the usual checking out of the city. I started with a bird’s eye view of the city from Sydney Tower, and then I had a fantastic Krispy Kreme breakfast. After that I toured the wild life park for an up-close look at Wombats, Kangaroos and Koalas. Next I strolled around the touristy Darling Harbour before making my way to the other side of the Harbour bridge for that perfect opera house photo. We tried having a nice dinner in Bondi Beach, but a pouring rain made it a litle less cool, although the wood-fired pizza was excellent.
That’s pretty much it. I’d say I had a pretty good experience. The good news is that I have a few more port visits before pulling back into Yoko this fall. Of course, I’m not sure if they’ll be as cool as Sydney, but I’m off to a good start.
Remember, you can still reach me at lane.randy@gmail.com! Keep in touch!