Monday Jan 5, 2026 Melbourne to Sydney - Day at Sea

The itinerary change due to weather meant we were not going to stop at Eden but instead head straight to Sydney which means all day at sea. At various times you can feel the boat sway a bit, thinking you are having balance problems, but I think we will get our sea legs under us soon. 

We finally met Deb’s Cornell folks, Bob and Stacy Holstein, and we spent time with them at a couple events. Milo decided to get a walk in and discovered that the track and sundeck combo gives you a walk and climb. 14 laps equals a mile and he did 2 miles worth. There are usually 6-10 people walking at any time so not crowded at all. The walking track overlooks the pool and hot tubs and those got light use during the day, mostly in the afternoon. The weather has been very comfortable with temperatures in the 70’s.

We went to a talk by the visiting professor about the evolution of the plants and animals in Australia. These are actually pretty helpful in learning what you will be looking at in and around New Zealand and Australia.

The ship’s photographer gave a 1 hour tutorial on how to use you phone camera. I learned at least 4 things I never knew how to do.

We had dinner with a lovely couple from America. He was turning 90 tomorrow but he looked only 70 or so. Very jolly guy who lives in San Diego while his partner lives in Minnesota part of the year.

At 9:00pm we went to the Captain’s toast  to “meet the crew”. For the 600 something of us there is a crew of 300 something. Wow!

After that there was a Australian violinist, Vov Dylan, who did an hour show with a backup band doing a crazy mix of music from classical to rock and roll. He gets off in Sydney but the rest of the band stays with us the rest of the trip.