Tracking a cruise ship leaving Sydney and Pomegranate Beer

After a what seemed like a Napoleanic period of exile, we made it back out to traditional home of the Back of the Ferry. It was worth the wait as the twilight delivered a picturesque evening and we tracked a regular visitor to Circular Quay on its journey out the Heads. It’s great being up close to one of these great boats and seeing its retinue of a tug boat and pilot boat.

It really must be the highlight of any cruise to sail out through Sydney Harbour and twilight is the time to do it. It’s the risk of a cruise to run into the type of weather we had last week and miss the sunset behind the Coathanger and the Opera House. The passengers were lined en masses out the back of their on “ferry” and with the height of the Solstice they probably got a great perspective.

The Celebrity Solstice is another of the slew of ridiculously large cruise ships that have been built in the last decade. The Solstice’s defining feature is a large natural lawn that exists on the top deck. Apparently another defining feature is the glass blowing factory on board – but for mine, that is less exciting than a fully manicured lawn. I can’t imagine I’d go on a cruise to check out glass blowing, but I guess they have to cater for all types. The bars look outstanding.

We’ve reviewed Hawthorn Pale before, so I’ll dig into the vault for a beer that was tried recently, but didn’t make it on the blog. Special Block 6 is a quite unusual and I found it at the highest bar in Australia – The Eagle Nest at Thredbo. It’s a Belgian Ale with two of the more unusual ingredients – pomegranate and elderberry. It’s made by the Brouwerij De Block, who also make Satan. Not unpotable.