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January 26th in Australia is the day Australia celebrates Australia Day. As part of the celebrations Sydney Harbour hosted a tall ship race. The majestic sailing ships from an era long since past looked magnificent on the most beautiful city harbour I have seen in the world.

A large crowd gathered near the Sydney Opera House as the ships headed west along the Sydney Harbour and under Sydney Harbour Bridge.

In a contrast from the tall ships sailing on Sydney Harbour there was the Pacific Dawn cruise ship. It is a huge ocean liner and was in Sydney to collect passengers before departing on a 10 Pacific cruise.

Pacific Dawn, Australia’s first Superliner, first arrived in Australian waters in November 2007 and is now cruising from Sydney to unspoilt tropical islands. My ideal cruise would be The Pearls of Tahiti which departs 3 June 2008, 28 nights aboard Pacific Dawn.

Later in the evening on Australia Day there was a spectacular show including fireworks at Darling Harbour. Hundreds of thousand of Sydneysiders enjoyed the show.

Cronulla beach was also a popular destination for thousands of party goers. A heavy police presence was on hand to ensure the past problems did not occur. Thousands of young Australians partied while wearing the Australian flag or singlets with the flag.

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This post follows on from my previous post about a weekend getaway in Sydney.

On day two my wife wanted to go shopping while my daughter wanted a trip on a the harbour. After checking out of our hotel we split up

My wife first went to Paddy’s Market at the end of Chinatown. Here there is a huge market with a wide variety of products including toys, shoes, clothes, make-up and jewellery. Also in the same building there is a fruit and vegetable market and fish market. Above the markets there are several levels of traditional retail outlets including a food court when you start feeling hungry.

Meanwhile my daughter and I headed towards the nearest monorail station. I bought an all day pass for $9. My daughter got on for free as she is under 6. The monorail trains come about every 3-5 minutes so we did not wait long. We now jumped on and did a complete circuit of the track to have a look around. After that we got off at the Haymarket stop and walked to 10 minutes over to Central train station with the aim of getting to Circular Quay as quickly as possible.

From Central we took a train to Wynyard Station. At this station we changed trains and took another one to Circular Quay. Now that we were at the right place to catch a ferry on the harbour I just had to decide which one. As we had an hour to spare I decided to go to Darling Harbour. After a 25 minute wait (the ferry was 15 minutes behind schedule) we boarded the ferry. As it was a nice day in Sydney we sat at the back of the ferry on the outside deck. The ferry pulled out of Circular Quay and headed north and went under the harbour bridge. The views were awesome. The ferry actually docked at Milsons Point for a few minutes. This was right next to Luna Park. It then went back across the harbour to Darling Harbour.

My wife was now heading up George Street where there are shops everywhere. She was having a great time spending money as she went along. Finally she ended up at Myer, one of her favourite Sydney shopping locations. On the way back from Myer she went underground. There are several underground shopping area’s in the city. One starts below Myer and winds its way back to Town Hall.

After getting off the ferry at Darling Harbour my daughter and I walked past the Sydney Aquarium and headed over to the main shopping area. We will visit the aquarium on our next Sydney visit. In the Darling Harbour area there are heaps of shops and food outlets along with restaurants. All of this comes with great views of the Sydney skyline. In the Darling Harbour area you will also find the Chinese garden, Power House museum, Imax theatre and the Sydney Convention Centre.

There is so much to do and see in Sydney. When are you visiting?

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The prestigious Queen Mary 2 cruise liner will arrive in Sydney Harbour at 5.45 am on Tuesday 20 February. This will be a grand occasion for Sydney as it is not often that a cruise liner of this stature visits this famous harbour.

According to Cunard President Carol Marlow The Queen Mary 2 is the biggest moving object ever to visit Australia. This ship is too tall to sail under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and it is too long to berth at Circular Quay which is the normal place to berth a cruise ship. The ship is 1,132 feet or 345 metre in length. Queen Mary 2 can take on a maximum 3056 guests. The crew numbers 1253.

Queen Mary 2 was built to be one of the most magnificent cruise liners built to date. If you choose to join a cruise on this ship you will be surrounded by luxury. The experience on the Queen Mary 2 will take an ordinary traveller and make them feel like royalty for their time on board. This truly is luxury on the high seas.

The Queen Mary 2 is in Sydney to kick off a cruise that departs Sydney at 11 pm on February 20 and sets sail for Dubai via Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Cochin, India. The cruise will take 19 days. In case you are interested fares start from $5399. If you care to book the Grand Duplex that will set you back $35,399.

The Queen Mary 2 offers a selection of cruises including Transatlantic Crossings, Caribbean and the Americas, Mediterranean, Northern Europe and you can also jump on a World Cruise.

Onboard QM2 you can try the treatments at the Canyon Ranch SpaClub or you can stay fit in the state-of-the-art gym and weight room. As you would expect on a luxury liner there are many facilities and services for you to take advantage of there even is a basketball court. If you enjoy the glamour side of things you could take a visit to the casino or why not take in a show?

If you are tempted to go on a cruise aboard the Queen Mary 2 contact your travel agent.

If the QM2 is a bit out of your price range visit the CheapFlightsCruises.com marketplace where you can search the Smart Cruiser offers.