23rd February 2011 - Sydney Harbour, Queen Mary & Queen Elizabeth

Today I traveled with Don on the train from Gordon to Circular Quay.
In fact, this was my first trip on a train in many years.

We had to change trains at Wynyard and go downstairs to
another platform to travel to Circular Quay.

We caught the Manly Ferry and traveled to Manly. Sydney Harbour
sparkled even though the sky looked a little bit threatening,
with its gray clouds. Fortunately, it didn't rain though.

We were lucky this day to travel as both the Queen Elizabeth and the

Queen Mary ships were in Sydney Harbour at the same time.

As we pulled out of Circular Quay, we passed the Queen Elizabeth

docked at Circular Quay. She looked stunning against the background

of the City and the Harbour Bridge.

As we moved out into the harbour we passed the beautiful Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The Queen Mary had been docked in Garden Island and as wee headed towards Manly,

looking over to Garden Island we could make out the Queen Mary Funnel sticking

above the headland.

Moving forward we finally got to see this great ship in all it's glory.

As it was about to leave the harbour a tug was getting ready beside her.

Further along we passed Fort Denison

Looking back up the harbour we could see the splendor of the city and
the bridge behind us.

As we traveled up the harbour we noticed fishing vessels coming back

in from a nights fishing and yachts heading out for a sail.

When we arrived at Manly we took a walk to the beach on the ocean and relaxed,
sitting on the steps sharing the view with the seagulls.

We watched the surfers for a while and headed off to a pub to have a
beautiful counter lunch. After lunch we headed back to the wharf
to catch the ferry back to Sydney.

Unfortunately we had to wait as the Big ships were leaving the harbour.

Even the seagulls decided to wait with us.

She looked really imposing as she passed through the harbour...ferries

trailing behind order to stay back!

Finally we were able to get underway and could see the Queen Mary
making her way beyond Sydney Heads.

As we approached Sydney, it was a spectacular sight as the gray clouds
had been replaced by fluffy white ones.

As we passed the Opera House on our left and entered Circular Quay,
we noticed that another ship had already docked at the International
Passenger Terminal. It was the Alaskan ship Amazon.

The Opera House looked stunning as usual...built so long ago but never
looking old or out of date.

We traveled up the escalators, onto the platform and caught a train
back to Gordon.

All in all it was a most pleasant day with lots of great memories.
I know this is an activity I want to do often.

I enjoyed the ferry rides as much as the rest of the days activities.