The joke was we’d been preparing for this trip for nearly 30 years. After a series of big trips in 1993 to celebrate our 10th anniversary, Barb and I decided that Australia would be our next big overseas destination. We hadn’t gotten very far along with the plans when we decided instead that it would be a good time to have a child – we could do Australia later. And so in October 1995 we welcomed Allie to our family. It was a good decision but we didn’t realize it would take this long to get down under.
When Covid hit in 2020, I hit upon the idea of a New Zealand to Australia Viking ocean cruise as a kind of “revenge trip” in early 2022 when Covid would surely be over. There was never much question we would take Viking since we enjoyed our one Viking river cruise and we were inundated with Viking advertisements in our mailbox and on most of the TV shows we watched. The itinerary looked good and the pricing was reasonable…less so when we included business class air but that was a requirement for both Barb and me. This was a big trip and we were going to do it right.
As time went on and Covid waves kept hitting, we pushed the trip back to 2023 and then to 2024. Along the way, the timing started to dictate when Barb would retire. There was no way she could take such a long trip while she was working, needing to stay in constant contact with emails. She would need to retire before the cruise. Her exact retirement date ended up being driven by our plans to go to England in May 2023 with this trip looming in February 2024. Thus it was she retired in June 2023.
Once we decided on the cruise, and that it would be better to start in New Zealand and finish in Australia rather than vice versa (both routes were available), I decided to add some extra time in Sydney, basically as a second vacation for Barb to lie in the sun for a while and enjoy the Australian summer rather than Maryland’s winter. After considering a variety of places to stay in Sydney I decided to splurge on the Four Seasons, ideally located near the harbor and Sydney Opera House and with a nice looking pool.
I put together a ridiculously detailed 60-page planning document, worrying over everything I could think of. Eventually Barb got in on the game, talking to all sorts of people to get additional ideas and input. As the trip finally approached, Barb curtailed her social schedule to lower the odds of getting sick before the journey. That left her with even more time to anticipate the trip in the weeks and days before our departure. We were as over-prepared as we’ve ever been for a vacation.
Cruise Summary – Our 14 days from Auckland to Sydney (also available as a Google Doc or a pdf)
Sydney Summary – Our 6 days in Sydney (also available as a Google Doc or a pdf)
And now, for all the gory details (and photos)…
Friday, Feb. 9 – Depart Dulles
Sunday, Feb. 11 – Arrive Auckland
Saturday, Feb. 17 – Wellington
Sunday, Feb. 18 – Christchurch
Tuesday, Feb. 20 – Thursday, Feb. 22 – Cruising Tasman Sea and Bass Strait
Friday, Feb. 23 – Melbourne Arrival
Saturday, Feb. 24 – Melbourne Departure
Sunday, Feb. 25 – Sailing Gippsland Coast
Monday, Feb. 26 – Sydney Arrival
Tuesday, Feb. 27 – Sydney, Disembark
Wednesday, Feb. 28 – Sydney, Taronga Zoo
Thursday, Feb. 29 – Sydney Bridge
Friday, Mar. 1 – Sydney, Manly Beach
Saturday, Mar. 2 – Sydney, Australian Museum
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