Cruisy city

 Every now and again I go into town and stroll around, just for the sheer pleasure of it. And it always serves to remind me why this city is such a drawcard for tourists around the world.

In port yesterday was the first of the season's supersized cruise liners: the Carnival Spirit. Several thousands of passengers, similar numbers of crew, several football fields long - you know the drill. 

I read the other day that Sydney is expecting a record 265 visits from cruise liners by the end of the cruise season in April. That's up from the previous record of 198 last year. There's been all sorts of controversy about just where to put them. The biggest can't go under the Harbour Bridge, so are guaranteed their place at the Ocean Liner Terminal in Circular Quay. Others used to dock at Barangaroo, but that's become unavailable and they'll have to go further in to a White Bay wasteland. One or two (or is it just one - the Queen Mary 2) gets to use the naval base at Woolloomooloo.

I wonder what the tourists make of the Opera House now though, parts of it locked away behind wire fences, with big holes and diggers and trucks working around it. They've been bulding a new underground loading dock, plus lifts and things. It's been going on for quite a while of course. Maybe by next summer's cruise season it'll all be back to its former glory.

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