The Fleet's in town
 

And what a magnificent spectacle it is!

Sydney is hosting the International Fleet Review, with over 40 warships, smaller vessels and a stack of Tall Ships from all over the world in our sparkling Harbour.

The Governor General did the honours this morning, with Prince Harry representing The Queen. Tonight there will be a light & fireworks show.

An estimated 1.4m people are lining the foreshore on both sides, many came before dawn today & some camped overnight to secure their prime position.

A good % of the female population will have their binoculars out looking for Harry! I must say, he does scrub up pretty well in his whites, with a bit of gold braid.

There have been wonderful air shows with contemporary & vintage fixed wing & helicopters and as you'd imagine lots of gun salutes.

I spent most of yesterday on the Harbour, ferry hopping to go amongst the ships already here. It was the 100th Anniversary of our Navy's fleet arriving into Sydney Harbour and as our ferry was right in the middle, we lay to for the 21 Gun Salute and a triple fly past by the Roulettes.

On a ferry to Watsons Bay, I met a young chap from Seattle who had recently retired from the Marines after 20 years. Another woman and her nephew joined in and we had a very pleasant lunch together at the Watsons Bay Hotel. ( new owners - much improved.)

In the evening, there was a light show with images of our Navy's history projected onto the sails of the Opera House. I think that will be on every night until they depart on 12th October.
A thoroughly enjoyable day and a great relief to see sunny skies. Many of the Tall Ships arrived in sleet, hail & a freezing wind on Thursday.

I'll be heading down to my friends' house shortly for dinner and to watch the evening programme & fireworks.

If anyone is in town, there are tickets on sale for inspections of some of the warships and trips on some of the Tall Ships.

The boy band "One Direction" is in town for a performance & between that , Prince Harry, & no doubt the sailors, all the girls' hearts will be a flutter.

The atmosphere is wonderful - very much like the 2000 Olympics.

Saw it on the news Bokhara and it looked magnificent - wishing I was there - you could feel the atmosphere - really. Very exciting. Happy birthday to our beautiful fleet.

Up at the cross it must feel like in the old Nam days. I moved to Sunny Sinny in 1970 and, oh my oh my, when the fleet was in town, any part of any fleet, the joint was jumping.

Ah yes Michel, Carlotta was in her prime & the Pink Pussycat, Burbon & Beefsteak, Chevron & Texas Tavern bristling with R&Rs.

And remember the Whisky A Gogo with the policy - to abide by the law that said that food must accompany drinks - to hand you a basket with chips ("crisps" - not the soggy kind) at the door, leave it on your table until the drinks had been ordered, and then the basket would be whisked away. You were NOT supposed to eat any, and who knew how many trips in and out of the door they had taken, so you wouldn't want to eat them anyway...

And Sunday nights you couldn't have wine with dinner even in licensed restaurants. My Italian host in my favorite haunt used to pour Chianti into a large Coke bottle and give us the thick glasses with the Coke logo, always admonishing us blokes not to get loud and the girls not to giggle, as his license was at stake.

Legal sillinesses inherited from the colonial mothership. My how things have changed!