Jason King
AmyHuangSydney Tall Ship Lunch Cruise
January 6th 2010 09:45
I have the very cool honour of hanging out with two of my best friends on the 2nd of January every year. Max and myself take our mutual best mate, Sam, out annualy as a special surprise occasion. This is our third year in a row and is something I hope we keep up until I can no longer keep up.
The first year it was a larger event for about ten mates and we all went to putt putt and then had a BBQ, last year I am pretty sure I cooked and we had drinks and the funny thing is none of us can remember, I organised a doozie that year
and then this year I wanted to do something on the harbour and something more intimate for the three of us so we could sit down, chat, have a nice lunch and few beers and enjoy the beautiful day and each other's company. Sam is out of the city most of the year at Uni so we don't get to see him all the time so it rocks when we are all together.
Years ago my mum and Mike took me on a Sydney Tall Ship Lunch Cruise for my birthday so I thought this would be fun. It's not just a boat, it's a Tall Ship with all the rigging and the guests of the boat get involved and the food was insanely good. A bit better than a "touristy" Captain Cook Cruises lunch in airconditioning and tinted windows.
On the morning of our outing it was about 40degree outside and we were sweltering on our walk to Manly, Max was in long pants and Sam and I were laughing at him. We got on the ferry and started our trip into Sydney and found the weather was turning in Max's favour. It was fun watching Sam trying to guess where we going the whole trip, I think he was over it by the time we landed at Circular Quay
It was about now that Max and I thought that sailing Sydney Harbour would not be the best idea on a day like this.
And before I get to the lunch review here is some more cool pics of Sydney Harbour because I just loved the look of it while the storm was pending.
As we got off the ferry the heavens opened and pissed all over us - we were totally drenched before we boarded the Tall Ship "Southern Swan". They herded the 80 guests on board and got us sitting under canvas tarpaulins and the first thing I notice is that this is nothing like the boat my parents took me on, it is way smaller and looked less authentic, although apparently it is Sydney's only authentic timber tall ship that has sailed numerous times around the world. It was later discovered, thanks to mum, that we had our lunch on The Bounty, which is now retired from cruise lunches and lives at the Maritime Museum. This was disappointing. I thought the Bounty was quite larger and we had at least half the people onboard than we did on this day. This lunch cruise crammed as many people as legally possible onboard - there was no sitting space for the three of us and we ended up finding a spot on the side of the boat to lean on and chat. We purchased (for a gold coin donation) plastic ponchos to keep the rain away and drank one beer each. I do thank the guys for taking the two clear ponchos and leaving me with the flouro yellow one, bastards.
They served most of the lunch below deck and it was very standard - I would honestly be embarrassed to serve most of what we ate at home although it was very satisfying as we were starving. Bonus to them they did have prawns but the sausages were just weird. They also ran out of salad when we got to the front of our queue and we had to re-queue to get more once it was refilled. I also did not know what the ettiquete was with the prawns and as there didn't look like many I only ate two of them
I have to say that the ship is beautiful, and we got to watch crew climb up and set the sails aswell as some great boats on the harbour while the sun finally broke through, but I expected more for our money and felt more like cattle. It may be good on a weekday, out of holiday time, with some out-of-town tourist friends, who might actually laugh at the host's "grandfatherly" sense of humor, seriously I was expecting a "pull my finger" at some stage. But to give him credit he did explain some interesting facts about the old ship and everyone who worked on board was extremely nice and helpful. One of the guests, on the other hand, gave me grief because apparantly we sat on her section of the boat while she was getting food.
But to be perfectly honest, none of us really gave a damn about what we liked or disliked about the day because the day was about hanging out with close friends and just being there for each other and enjoying each other's company. Which we did in spades. Bonus points go to the gellato shop adjacent the wharf to catch ferries to Manly at Circular Quay.
And just to piss them off here is Sam and Max - they think they look like a weird gay couple, which, of course, cracks me up Love u guys
The first year it was a larger event for about ten mates and we all went to putt putt and then had a BBQ, last year I am pretty sure I cooked and we had drinks and the funny thing is none of us can remember, I organised a doozie that year
and then this year I wanted to do something on the harbour and something more intimate for the three of us so we could sit down, chat, have a nice lunch and few beers and enjoy the beautiful day and each other's company. Sam is out of the city most of the year at Uni so we don't get to see him all the time so it rocks when we are all together. 
Years ago my mum and Mike took me on a Sydney Tall Ship Lunch Cruise for my birthday so I thought this would be fun. It's not just a boat, it's a Tall Ship with all the rigging and the guests of the boat get involved and the food was insanely good. A bit better than a "touristy" Captain Cook Cruises lunch in airconditioning and tinted windows.
On the morning of our outing it was about 40degree outside and we were sweltering on our walk to Manly, Max was in long pants and Sam and I were laughing at him. We got on the ferry and started our trip into Sydney and found the weather was turning in Max's favour. It was fun watching Sam trying to guess where we going the whole trip, I think he was over it by the time we landed at Circular Quay
It was about now that Max and I thought that sailing Sydney Harbour would not be the best idea on a day like this.
And before I get to the lunch review here is some more cool pics of Sydney Harbour because I just loved the look of it while the storm was pending.
As we got off the ferry the heavens opened and pissed all over us - we were totally drenched before we boarded the Tall Ship "Southern Swan". They herded the 80 guests on board and got us sitting under canvas tarpaulins and the first thing I notice is that this is nothing like the boat my parents took me on, it is way smaller and looked less authentic, although apparently it is Sydney's only authentic timber tall ship that has sailed numerous times around the world. It was later discovered, thanks to mum, that we had our lunch on The Bounty, which is now retired from cruise lunches and lives at the Maritime Museum. This was disappointing. I thought the Bounty was quite larger and we had at least half the people onboard than we did on this day. This lunch cruise crammed as many people as legally possible onboard - there was no sitting space for the three of us and we ended up finding a spot on the side of the boat to lean on and chat. We purchased (for a gold coin donation) plastic ponchos to keep the rain away and drank one beer each. I do thank the guys for taking the two clear ponchos and leaving me with the flouro yellow one, bastards.
They served most of the lunch below deck and it was very standard - I would honestly be embarrassed to serve most of what we ate at home although it was very satisfying as we were starving. Bonus to them they did have prawns but the sausages were just weird. They also ran out of salad when we got to the front of our queue and we had to re-queue to get more once it was refilled. I also did not know what the ettiquete was with the prawns and as there didn't look like many I only ate two of them
I have to say that the ship is beautiful, and we got to watch crew climb up and set the sails aswell as some great boats on the harbour while the sun finally broke through, but I expected more for our money and felt more like cattle. It may be good on a weekday, out of holiday time, with some out-of-town tourist friends, who might actually laugh at the host's "grandfatherly" sense of humor, seriously I was expecting a "pull my finger" at some stage. But to give him credit he did explain some interesting facts about the old ship and everyone who worked on board was extremely nice and helpful. One of the guests, on the other hand, gave me grief because apparantly we sat on her section of the boat while she was getting food.
But to be perfectly honest, none of us really gave a damn about what we liked or disliked about the day because the day was about hanging out with close friends and just being there for each other and enjoying each other's company. Which we did in spades. Bonus points go to the gellato shop adjacent the wharf to catch ferries to Manly at Circular Quay.
And just to piss them off here is Sam and Max - they think they look like a weird gay couple, which, of course, cracks me up
Love u guys
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Comment by max horn
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Comment by Helen Randell
Rough Cooking
Shame about the food, but it sounds like you guys had a good time anyway.
I remember going on a tall ship adventure at school - was great fun (we had to bring our own packed lunch for that though!!).
Comment by K @ the Lair
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
I could have packed a decent feast for this cruise
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness