Getting Ready to Sail!

Thursday morning we woke up in our hotel room knowing that today was the start of the 12 day cruise.  Looking out the window, we knew it was going to be an overcast day.

We began our day with breakfast at the Glass Brassierre.  Our lovely waitress, Sherana, a 20 year old lady from Holland, is doing her internship in Hilton's hospitality program.  Her goal is to one day open up her own hotel in Holland.

Later in the morning, we headed over to the Queen Victoria Shopping Center to visit our new friends, Kim & Imogen.  Kim is the owner/designer for Joe Bananas, a well-known men's clothing boutique shop in Sydney.

In 1980, Kim's, Uncle Joe, who was a geologist, began to design men's clothing using the colors and patterns of the Australian's native trees and rocks formation as inspiration for his patterns for his clothing line.

When Kim's uncle started the business, he wondered how he would pay his weekly rent of $3,000.

One day in the early 80's, Elton John came into his shop.  He loved the designs.  Elton tried on the various shirts and jackets, etc.   He looked at Joe and told him to ship to his home in England the clothes that he laid out in the fitting room.  He had written out his address on the wall and here was his credit card number.

Since then, other well known celebrities have purchased Joe's design's.

After meeting with Kim, we packed up and headed to the port to board the Princess Cruise.

Our taxi driver, who reminded us of our taxi drivers in New York, got us safely to the terminal.

We filled out various documents and boarded the ship.  This cruise line holds 1,500 passengers and approximately 800 crew members.

About 4 p.m., the tug boat nudged the Dawn Princess into Sydney Harbour.  Sailing out, we went under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and sailed pass the Sydney Opera House. These were grand sights to see.

We made our way out into the vast Pacific Ocean.

We ended our day drinking rum, meeting new Aussie friends and singing songs of the sea.