Regina Secundus

It was something of a shock to see that our entry date for the original Regina Galleria was 29 February 2009. Where did the two years go. Rhetorical of course the additional creaks and groans are a testament to their passing.
However be that as they may we have another Queenly visitation to Sydney Harbour , this time the Queen Elizabeth at 90,000 tons and the Queen Mary 2 at 150,000 tons. Both very big girls indeed. A triumph for Cunard and interesting for us to see that both are registered in Southampton.
Over two days we had a lot of mist and rain making it very difficult to shoot anything that was sharp so gentle viewer you will need to be tolerant. Especially with the Queen Mary as she was at Garden Island with the Navy and somewhat distant. There is a VBL panorama of the QE2 at the Overseas Terminal inside Circular Quay . QE2 up close is too large for most wide angle lenses and taking pano from a moving ferry on the way to lunch at the immortal Doyles at Watsons Bay is a lesson in itself. A salutary one at that, it was so dreadful even Wazza couldnt face it, so it hit the trash...
Three of us had a go at the Girls. The Lady Pamela, Maritimus and Wazza in an un idle moment. There are also shots of the Balmoral out of Nassau. She slipped into the Overseas Terminal within an hour of the QE2 departure. Sydney Harbour hasnt seen it this busy for a yonk.

There are some great additional photos in the Sydney Morning Herald if you are quick at :

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/two-queens-make-it-a-full-house-in-a-misty-harbour-show-of-size-20110222-1b45j.html

So there you have it, enjoy, in the mist and rain, it may well be several years before we get to do this again .
February 2011