February 28, 2020

We had arrived in Sydney from Melbourne the night before. Our wonderful Airbnb hosts had graciously let us leave some of the luggage prior to leaving for Cairns and Melbourne.

After dropping off our luggage at the cruise terminal this morning, breakfast was on our mind. And of course, we had to play cards while waiting for our pancakes.

After breakfast, we hopped on a ferry to see different areas around the harbour. We weren’t boarding the ship until later in the afternoon and wanted to take advantage of every moment we were in Sydney.

There had been a lot of talk about this “virus” was going around. Several ships passengers and crew had already been quarantined. We had seen the affects of some countries citizens not being allowed to enter Australia.

Randi had taken a class a few years ago regarding pandemics and so while in New Zealand, we went to a local hardware store and bought N95 masks as a precaution. During our flights from New Zealand to Australia, we wore the masks.

After deliberating and analyzing the pros and cons, we decided to go ahead and get on the cruise ship. We were able to upgrade our room from an inside room to a balcony and figured that if we did end up quarantined to our room, it would be more manageable if we had a balcony.

Upon returning to the port, we boarded the Norwegian Jewel to start our trip back home.

There were a flood of emotions as we walked onto the ship. Knowing that our round-the-world trip was coming to a conclusion once we left Hawaii after the end of the cruise, was somewhat hard to comprehend.

Time. has gone so fast, so many places have been explored, we watched beautiful the sun sink behind the horizon, felt the ocean as we dangled our feet off the front of boats, climbed so many towers, ate gelato in Italy and street food in Thailand, marveled at the Canadian Rockies and Rocky Mountains, met friends who became family, snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef and so much more.