We arrived at the Sydney Cruise Terminal half expecting the world-wide economic crisis to have put a crimp in the cruise business. Well, we obviously underestimated the appeal of this itinerary. The ship can accommodate 2,200 passengers, and 2,198 other folks were just as anxious as we were to embark on this journey (We later learned that Americans were a distinct minority -only 67 of us in all).

So began our much-anticipated cruise along the Great Barrier Reef, one of the natural wonders of the world. We would travel the full length of the Austalian continent from Sydney in the south to Cooktown in the north and back.

Over the years, we'd come to consider sunny skies and balmy breezes as our birth right, but Mother Nature brought us back to reality. If you view our accompanying slide show, you'll see a pattern of grey skies, occasionally parting for a glimpse of blue. Thankfully, we usually were under cover during cloud bursts - except for Port Douglas where Fran got drenched on the Daintree River, and Michael the same on the Sheraton Mirage Golf Course. But if the weather was our only concern, then the trip was an unqualified success. We accomplished everything we set out to do, except explore Cooktown because the seas were too rough for the ship's tenders. Our favorite port-of-call was Brisbane, a beautiful oasis of urbanity in complete harmony with history and nature.

By the way the cruise was our 20th anniversary gift to ourselves. We were married by a boat captain on San Francisco Bay, so why not do it again? The Captain of the Sun Princess presided over our renewal of vows, and Michael was able to follow along this time (inside joke...). The Captain's Gala Dinner was later that evening. With our eight delightful tablemates it had all the trappings of a mini-reception, complete with decadently rich cake.