World Cruise: Southern Australian Coasts

Sydney is a cosmopolitan, multicultural city surrounded by golden sand beaches, World Heritage areas, lush national parks and acclaimed wine regions. Sydney owes much of its splendor to its magnificent harbor. Arriving by ship provides an unequaled impression, showing off the city’s famous landmarks: the dramatic white sails of the iconic Opera House and the celebrated Harbor Bridge, looming over the skyline.

Sydney is a cosmopolitan, multicultural city surrounded by golden sand beaches, World Heritage areas, lush national parks and acclaimed wine regions. Sydney owes much of its splendor to its magnificent harbor. Arriving by ship provides an unequaled impression, showing off the city’s famous landmarks: the dramatic white sails of the iconic Opera House and the celebrated Harbor Bridge, looming over the skyline.

Located at the mouth of the Yarra River, Melbourne was founded by free settlers in 1835, 47 years after the first European settlement in Australia. Transformed rapidly into a major metropolis by the Victorian gold rush in the 1850s, Melbourne became Australia’s largest and most important city, and by 1865 was the second largest city in the British Empire. Today, Melbourne is a major center of commerce, industry and cultural activity, and is consistently ranked as one of the most livable cities in the world.

Located at the mouth of the Yarra River, Melbourne was founded by free settlers in 1835, 47 years after the first European settlement in Australia. Transformed rapidly into a major metropolis by the Victorian gold rush in the 1850s, Melbourne became Australia’s largest and most important city, and by 1865 was the second largest city in the British Empire. Today, Melbourne is a major center of commerce, industry and cultural activity, and is consistently ranked as one of the most livable cities in the world.

The city’s candid, friendly character today belies its history as a penal colony. It also enjoyed a heyday as a whaling center in the 1830s. Today the wharfside warehouses of Salamanca Place are filled with shops and restaurants, and the settlers’ cottages in battery park are lovingly restored by proud owners. Tasmania maintains a lot of agricultural heritage, and enjoys a slightly sedate pace of life. See the dazzling new Museum of Old and New Art, which opened in January of 2011.

Portland occupies a peninsula on the southwest coast of Victoria, and is Victoria’s earliest European settlement. The town boasts over 200 buildings from the 19th century, and offers a self-guided Historical Buildings Walk map. A nostalgic Portland Cable Tram runs along the waterfront, and the Maritime Discovery Centre offers insights into the seafaring history including a sperm whale skeleton. The Botanic Gardens is another popular attraction on the tramline, as is the Powerhouse Vintage Car Museum. Cape Nelson State Park has a tall, white lighthouse.

Australia’s third-largest sea island, after Tasmania and Melville Island, is a haven for wildlife and a popular escape for nature-loving mainlanders from Adelaide and Melbourne. Seabourn Sojourn’s call will occur during the annual birthing season of the New Zealand sea lion and Australian fur seal colonies on the nearby beach conservation areas. Marine tours seek the playful porpoises and dolphins offshore, while land-based excursions visit preserves for koalas and wallabies, as well as the popular local wineries.

Southern Australia’s most graceful city lies nestled along the coastal plain between the Gulf St. Vincent and the Adelaide Hills. Unlike its eastern Australian city counterparts, convicts did not colonize Adelaide. Europeans, most of whom were British, first settled Adelaide in 1826. Other settlers to the region included German, Polish, Afghan, Chinese, Italian, Lebanese, Spanish and Scandinavians. The city was designed from the very beginning with wide streets and numerous town squares, marvelous Victorian and Edwardian architecture, parks and wide-open spaces. The city preserved many of its unique stone houses built by the original settlers, as well as the more grand historic public buildings constructed during the Gold Rush years.

Historic Fremantle is the gateway port for Perth, the capital of Western Australia. Located 12 miles upriver from Fremantle on the banks of the Swan River, Perth was founded on June12, 1829 by Captain James Stirling, the political center of the free settler Swan River Colony. Perth is considered one of the most isolated metropolitan areas on Earth, with Adelaide in South Australia, the closest city with a population over one million. Perth is geographically closer to East Timor, Singapore and Jakarta than it is to Sydney or Melbourne. Today, Perth is a lively cosmopolitan city, and the Swan Valley Region is home to more that 40 vineyards, many of which are still run by their original families. Perth became known worldwide as the “City of Lights” when city residents lit their house and street lights as American astronaut John Glenn passed overhead while orbiting the earth on Friendship 7 in 1962.