Thursday, November 30, 2017

 

Hobart Short Call

"Sun Princess" stopped overnight in Hobart. We had spent time in Hobart during our February road trip and did most of the touristy things then, so we just took it easy. We went across to the Hotel Grand Chancellor for a "Hi, we're back" cocktail. The manager recognized us and let us go up to the top floor to take photos (nothing better then the ones from Feb). Of course, we had fish'n'chips at Mures; every visitor to Hobart has to do that. I can't decide if the f'n'c at Mures are better than the ones you get on the wharf at Auckland, maybe I need another trip to NZ to help me decide. We left Hobart late afternoon. The tug was a huge one that was normally based at Port Headland in WA. You can see the way it was pulling (tugging) the ship's stern away from the wharf. The Pilot boat is in the background waiting to escort us down the Derwent estuary. I think that the passage into and out of Hobart is one of the prettiest parts of the cruise, and it has lighthouses (check the image of Iron Pot from our previous trip, and wait for the next post)....

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Tuesday, November 21, 2017

 

Back to Burnie

First port of call on our Tasmania cruise was Burnie, on the Bass Strait coast. Burnie was founded in1827 and by 2011 it was the fourth largest city in Tassie. It once was the site of Australia's largest paper mill and also several smaller industries including a paint pigment factory. Pollution of the city and the harbour became a huge problem and most of the manufacturing industries have closed. Today, forestry and farming are the major industries and the port is the largest cargo port in Tasmania. One of the chief exports is wood chip, and there was a large pile right next to where the Sun Princess docked. I watched the conveyors dumping chip into a pile and a bulldozer spreading it out to make room for more. The Oldies hired a car and we zoomed off to Bev's Cross Craft, the largest and best craft shop that I have ever seen (photos in posts from Feb), and then on to Anvers Chocolate Factory for lunch. There was another "target" for us in Burnie, the Round Hill lighthouse. We failed to find it in February, and only caught a quick glimpse as we drove past it this time. Fortunately, lighthouses have to be visible from the sea and we managed to get a look at it in the distance as we left port. It is a tiny one built in 1923, never manned, and automated in 1980.

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Wednesday, November 15, 2017

 

Short Break Cruise

Since the last post, I have been on a short cruise to some ports in Tasmania.  Our ship this time was "Sun Princess". The Oldies wanted to check out Princess Cruises and compare it with the other cruise lines we have travelled on. The ports of call were Burnie, Port Arthur and Hobart. We drove to all of these during our Tassie road trip earlier this year (check the posts from February) but it is always interesting and exciting to come into the same place by sea. Instead of leaving from the International Cruise Terminal at Circular Quay, this time we left from the new White Bay cruise terminal. This is on the western side of the Harbour Bridge, so the larger ships can't use it. We didn't have much clearance between the top of our funnels and the underside of the bridge on our way out. Before going under the bridge we passed the new developments at Barangaroo. This used to be a run-down area of old wharves and sheds, but is now parkland, walkways and high-rise apartment blocks. Like most cruises, this one had interesting things happening right from the start.

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