Adventures of Tin Can Lulu

New year, new places to see and explore. We are kicking off 2026 with an adventure to the Down Under. Australia and New Zealand here we come.

It’s a long flight to travel across the world. Total flight time from Tampa, Florida to Sydney Australia (via Houston) was 20 hours! We chose to do business class and had a pod to sleep and stretch out in! Earle was finally able to sleep on a plane!

We are touring with Road Scholar and and will be cruising down the eastern side of Australia and up the eastern side of New Zealand on Holland American Cruise Line. Road Scholar will be managing our itinerary and all of the off shore activities. The focus of this tour is “The People Down Under”.

Our ship is the MS Noordam (named for the norther compass point) is a 1,972-passenger vessel. It was last refurbished in 2017. Weighing 82,318 tons, this midsize, 936-foot vessel is designed for a more mature audience, offering a relaxed environment  and an extensive art collection. .

Sydney’s stunning natural harbour forms the centerpiece of a dynamic city that has grown dramatically since its beginnings as a prison colony. The city has green spaces and trees throughout, and an abundance of National Parks. Sydney is the second largest city with over 5 million people (Melbourne is number one). The city covers a large area and is twice the size of London with half the population.

We spent three days seeing unbelievable sights and learning about the culture of Australia. This country has embraced their origins and traditions. We arranged four different type of tours.

”The Story of Sydney” was our first tour. This three hour tour of the north eastern tip of Sydney with Guy the Guide, who was retired from the hospitality industry, was a great introduction to Sydney. The loop took us by The Rocks, Hyde Park, Darling Point, Watsons Bay, and Bondi Beach. We had a beautiful sunny day visiting Bondi Beach.

Food tours has become a great way to get the feel of a city. We chose “Chinatown Street Food & Culture Walking Tour”. There is a large population of Asians in Sydney and we do enjoy Asian food so it was a perfect choice for us. Our guide had lived and traveled in China and chose samplings of street food from several regions of China for the evenings menu. Several other members of our group were from China and added to the learning experience.

Next up was a bike tour in Sydney. We were on electric bikes that took a bit of getting used to. They were tanks and we had to acclimate to riding on the left side of the roadways, just like cars. Again our guide was a local with an emense knowledge of the history of Australia. He had previously owned 9 bikes shops in Sydney and had 45 employees. The highlight of the tour was riding across the Harbor Bridge and maneuvering around Sydney Harbour.

Our last tour was a private walking tour with a retired school teacher. We experienced riding the metro and public bus systems, visiting the Queen Victoria Building, and Glebe a suburb of Sydney. We had amazing views of the Anzac Bridge and Blackwattle Bay.

The Road Scholar tour is next. Exploring Sydney and boarding the ship!