Hobart to Sydney, Australia on Noordam

Hobart to Sydney, Australia on Noordam

Fiordland National Park offered spectacular scenery leading us to two sea days as we were headed to Australia. Of course, Hobart, Tasmania would be our first stop in Australia. Tasmanian sea guarded its reputation of being ferocious. Its wild  rough water continued to manifest in 5-meter-high swells most of the two days. I had written Hobart off as an unexciting, and unwelcoming little end of the world from where I wanted to get away as fast as possible. But when we got there I fell head over heels for Hobart. Now I tell all travel fiends that It should definitely be on their travel radar.

When we got to Hobart we took a tour which was to last for 8 hours, starting with the Bonorong wildlife sanctuary. We saw kangaroos, Koalas, hedgehogs, one of the hedgehogs had its one front leg amputated and was hobbling about happily, wombats, lizards, Tasmanian devils, and native birds. Tasmanian devils was once native to Australia, but now can only be found in the wild of Island state of Tasmania. Tasmanian devil are carnivorous. We were told by our guide that if  Tasmanian devil finds a dead body it wil eat the entire body including its clothes and all the belongings, such as bags and all its contents in a record time. Also they run very fast and hide. We got lucky and captured some really good photos. Koala who had decided to sleep all the time, suddenly decided to wake up for us and examine everything around him. Although wildlife sanctuary was a glorified outdoor zoo, but the animals were different, even unique like tasmnian devil.

Tasmania Devil

After going through the Bonorong wildlife sanctuary, we were headed toward the Russell falls

Russell Falls, Hobart, Tasmania

 and took some pictures before returning to the bus to go to Karringa Farm, in Hamilton which was quiet a drive. Karringa Farm has really been the highlight of the entire cruise. A family run farm which is run like a tight ship. When we arrived, we were guided to restroom area to freshen up, and then done to head towards a large hall where everything was set up for a barbecue meal. generous amounts of barbecued lamb was served right off the grill with very fresh salad, bread rolls, and butter. After the meal, they gave us a tour of the whole farm which was very educational. We had an opportunity to see sheep shearing  with a talk about what follows with the cut off woolen fleece of sheep,and how  different part of the wool is used for export for making variety of products out of it. After that there was an interesting display of sheep round up with the help of dogs. This activity is country’s oldest cultural tradition. It was an impressive performance by the dogs, and by the people who run the farm. 

The most impressive thing about the farm was the fact the farm is run by several generations of the same family. A young guy who was our guide for the farm had a big part in running the farm with his parents, had a  great attitude and a sense of responsibility which was exemplary. They also had farm accomadations which are run so well that they are winners of Tasmanian tourism awards. They got a place in Tasmanian TOURISM HALL OF FAME for 3 consecutive years. On the way se saw poppy fields. To most people poppy is a pretty garden flower, but in Tasmania it is a big opium business. They refine it and produce drugs such as morphines and codiene etc. It is an eye catching and lucarative crop. Apparently, some people steal them for their individual use. It has become a huge concern because it can be lethal and some people have died by drinking tea brewed from it.

We went back to the ship for another day at sea which ended in Melbourne, Australia. We had two family members with whome we had arranged to meet. Both young families with little kids. They lived, at least, one hour away from the port. They both knew to meet us at a designated place around 9:am. One of the family, Adil and Afreen, came at 11:am and the other, apparently,  tried and  couldn’t contact us due to phone connection problem. Unfortunately, both our phones were on the blink.  We had to get back to the ship no later than 5:pm. Therefore we decided to go with Adil and Afreen who were there for us.They were kind enough to do this with three little kids. We didn’t have much time but they were keen on taking us around in the available time. Since Jaffer’s phone was dead, we stopped at the first Apple store we saw. It was more than hour’s waiting to get someone to look at it. The girl was good and said that the phone needed some cleaning which will only work temporarily and for the phone to work well we had to leave the phone there and pay a charge of $145/-. We didn’t have enough time for it. Anyway, phone was working for the time being. We went around before stopping for lunch in an authentic Turkish restaurant for a delicious lunch. After lunch they  dropped us off to board the ship around 4:30 pm. we had to spend another day at sea before getting to our next stop, Eden, Australia. We spend another day on shore but took no tours. It was just a regular day with some shopping. We found sweatshirts with a very reasonable price tags  from a store which was owned by a Pakistani guy. After a fun time at Eden we headed back to board the ship which would sail in the evening to its last port, Sydney, for debarking the ship. Debarking the ship is not like checking out of a hotel. Ship is not just accomadation, it is also transportation so there is not just bills to settle, but also customs to clear after international travel. It is rather complicated procedure but the ship’s public address system and the ship’s most pertinent disembarkation information which is included in the daily newsletter is very helpful. 

We debarked in Sydney and took a taxi to our Airbnb. We have a niece, Badar and her family who live in Sydney,and knew about our arrival in Sydney. They came over the same evening and took us out for dinner. They were generous with their time and hospitality for our three days stay in spite of the fact that they both worked full time and have two adorable kids. They took us shopping, sightseeing, and to the best restauarnts where we had great meals, not to mention the meals she fixed when we were at home with them. After a great stay in Sydney we left for a direct flight to LA and bumped over the Pacific, I am sure, over the entire flight. LA to Boston was a breeze and I was happy to be back home.

I have to say that the whole trip was just amazing and my deep appreciation and thanks goes to all those people who took it on themselves to take on the task of entertaining us with devotion and love for which we are deeply grateful. Thank you guys. We owe you one and would love to see you in the US for a chance to return the huge favor by entertaining you all.  

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