Bay of Islands

Our first stop, the Bay of Islands was shrouded in clouds and sheets of rain.

Sydney

It's time to say farewell to Sydney. We'll  be back in no time.
The Sea Princess is docked close to Darling Harbor.

Embarkation runs smoothly. At the sailaway party, I win $ 50 for the onboard boutique. Way to go mama! Sea Princess barely fits underneath the Harbor Bridge.

The ship you see above is one of the famous Costa Line. We are underneath the bridge and will now pass the opera house.

Flying Foxes

Flying foxes are fruit bats. They have colonized a corner of Sydney's botanical garden to the dismay of the arborists. The camp is so large that it threatens the survival of the trees. These are cute furry animals wearing large leather coats - of course not, I am just kidding. They wrap their wings around themselves when resting. Their bodies are covered in reddish-brown fur.

Check out this really good youtube video of the flying foxes in the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MWc3qj_kjA

Sydney's Wildlife

Lorikeets, cockatoos, flying foxes, ibis, eels, just some of the wildlife in Sydney's parks and the botanical garden which happens to be next to the CBD. Taronga zoo is across from the opera and offers more wildlife.

Let's have a look:

echidna

echidna and black-headed ibis

koala

rainbow lorikeets

pelican, triple the size of the brown pelican in Florida

New Zealand - Circumnavigation of Australia - Red Center

G'day mates! No worries, the country may be down under and you lose a day going there, but everything works out just fine.
Sydney is a beautiful city at a wonderful harbour. It has sulphur-crested cockatoos, black-headed ibis, and flying foxes in its down-town botanical garden. Its ferries are wired for internet, the streets are squeaky clean, brekki is served with genuine Italian espresso and top notch green tea, children go to kindi and you can watch footy on tv.

Enjoy the photos!

 Harbor Bridge

It's not us up there!

 CBD = Central Business District,
what's known as downtown in the USA
As you can see, Sydney has palm trees! We had gorgeous weather when we were there, but it rained cats and dogs while we visited other places down under.

Martinique

I almost forgot Martinique, one the most beautiful islands of the Caribbean. We stopped there after Barbados. We took a bus tour through the interior - lush, mountainous, steep lopes -and I was glad I had not booked the hiking tour because it would have been very strenuous. It is probably easy to hike on your own because I saw trails and maps the way they mark trails in Germany and France.

Martinique is a French Department and therefore part of the EU.

Our guide was cute and had excellent English pronounciation.

Our goal was a Rum distillery. It had an excellent gift shop with wonderful rum-sugar candy and premium rum.

The distillery is on an ancient lavafield right below Mount Pele, a dormant volcano.


Our next stop was the town of St. Pierre which had been completely destroyed by the eruption of Mount Pele. Somehow, I thought they would have preserved important buildings in an archeological park, but today, St.Pierre is a small, traffic chocked town, rebuilt, a few ruins left. It is still very interesting and beautifully located. 

Saint Pierre and Mount Pele from afar.

The above picture was taken when we sailed along the coast to our next destination, but before we get there, I have to show you the biggest surprise in the harbor of Fort de France, capital of Martinique.

The real Fort der France

La Romana, Dominican Republic

Our last stop was La Romana in the Dominican Republic.

The caves were beautiful no photos allowed. San Pedro turned out to be an exercise in contrast. Shacks next to renovated homes,  decorative bars in front of windows and balconies.