Easy Familiarity of Repeat Sydney Visits Adds to the Delight

Days 38-39, 2025 Grand World Voyage

Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 11-12, 2025; Sydney, NSW, Australia.

As the bug slowly made its way across the floor of the mall bathroom stall, all I could think as I lifted my feet was the passage from one of my favorite authors writing in a book that I’ve read more than once:

“[Australia] has more things that will kill you than anywhere else. Of the world’s ten most poisonous snakes, all are Australian. Five of its creatures – the funnel web spider, box jellyfish, blue-ringed octopus, paralysis tick, and stonefish – are the most lethal of their type in the world. This is a country where even the fluffiest of caterpillars can lay you out with a toxic nip, where seashells will not just sting you but actually sometimes go for you. … If you are not stung or pronged to death in some unexpected manner, you may be fatally chomped by sharks or crocodiles, or carried helplessly out to sea by irresistible currents, or left to stagger to an unhappy death in the baking outback. It’s a tough place.”

Bill Bryson, “In A Sunburned Country”

Sydney has the distinction in my mind of being one of the easiest cities to visit. They speak English here. It’s as safe as any American city. Sure, they drive on the wrong side of the road, but they politely pause for pedestrians, at least in the touristy parts. And right now the strong American dollar goes a long way.

Still, it’s a foreign country — apparently with more things that will kill you than anywhere else….

Regardless, Sydney never disappoints. Even on my seventh visit here, there are new things to see and old favorites to visit.

Add to that beautiful weather and the excitement of mooring right in Circular Quay on day two, and we have had a glorious visit to this cosmopolitan town down under.

We cruised into this spectacular harbor in the pre-dawn dark at 4:45 a.m. Tuesday. I ventured in my nightie out to my balcony to photograph our sail-in, which was magnificent. And then promptly went back to bed.

Typically Holland America ships sail under Sydney’s famous Harbour Bridge to moor at White Bay Cruise Terminal, a 20-minute shuttle ride from downtown Sydney. The Zuiderdam can go under the bridge, but only at low tide, hence our earlier than ideal arrival.

Larger ships are too tall to pass under the bridge, so they have the luck to get assigned to the Overseas Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay – right by the Sydney Opera House, the historic Rocks district and the hub of ferries ready to take you to the far reaches of the vast harbor.

Yesterday almost 500 passengers collected their luggage to leave the Zuiderdam as the rest of us passed through Australian immigration in the pier terminal. Almost as many new passengers embarked later in the day. I took the shuttle bus to head out for a day of shopping. I had a short list, but managed to pick up more items along the way,

Not planned was a shopping spree at Uniqlo, a Japanese clothes designer and retailer I discovered last year. It was nice to have time to try things on from the store’s large inventory. Next I replenished some supplies at Mecca, an Australia/New Zealand cosmetic and hair care retailer. A genius at the Apple store helped me with some quirks of my latest software update. The QVB (Queen Victoria Building) provided its usual fun window shopping. And the Coles food market had large bags of Maltesers, my favorite English malted milk balls.

In between I enjoyed a morning flat white (basically Australian for a latte) and later Japanese thick fluffy pancakes from Gram, a restaurant recommended by fellow passengers Marty and Gail. And surprise – they were just finishing lunch when I arrived to try out a strawberry mochi stack.

The heavy rains earlier predicted for our two days in Sydney passed by before we arrived – good for our sightseeing but leaving water levels high, so the plan to move the Zuiderdam to the Overseas Passenger Terminal mid evening was delayed until midnight. Some passengers had a longer-than-planned wait after dinner ashore, not able to rejoin the ship until 1:30 a.m.

Today I awoke to another early view of the Opera House, this time right outside my window.

I started the day with fellow passenger Deb exploring the Rocks. Today the historic district is filled with shops, markets, bars and boutique hotels.

We next took the ferry to Watsons Bay, a favorite stop of mine on the south head of the harbor. From the ferry we admired the houses of the rich and probably famous as well as beautiful sailboats.

On almost every trip to Sydney, I introduce someone to this quaint beach town and Doyles on the Beach, Australia’s oldest continually running fish and chips shop. We worked off our lunch and local beer with a walk up to the cliff overlooking the Tasman Sea and the city behind us.

Back at the Rocks, we joined friends Tom and Monika for drinks at a rooftop garden, squeezing every moment of fun from our overnight stop.

As the Zuiderdam prepared to cast off its lines, hundreds of passengers filled two levels of the Sea View Deck to enjoy a sail away featuring complementary wine and cheese.

Waiters provided generous pours as we partied to live music and took more than our share of photographs – the Harbour Bridge on one side and the Sydney Opera House on the other.