In the public conclusion of his first significant overseas trip since becoming ill with illness, King Charles III welcomed crowds of fans under the Sydney Opera House’s sails on Tuesday.

Before concluding on the shimmering shores of Sydney Harbour, the 75-year-old regent met with cancer experts, sheepdogs, and lifeguards as he made his way across the city on his final full day of engagements.

Thousands of people gathered outside the Opera House with umbrellas to protect themselves from the midday sun, hoping to get a quick look of the current monarch.

After receiving the honorary title of naval admiral over the weekend, Charles left the Sydney landmark to examine a flotilla of coastal minehunters and missile destroyers.

A five-star rating in each of the Australian military branches is currently held by the former trainee jet pilot who wrecked an RAF aircraft in rural northwest Scotland.

Before a squadron of fighter planes and helicopters circled the port in a parting gesture, brass bands piped out “God Save the King.”

“I feel fine. After seeing the monarch, 69-year-old former police officer Brian Webb declared, “I won’t wash that hand now for a while.”

Before the king arrived, police detained a 60-year-old man outside the Opera House on suspicion of acting in “an abusive and threatening manner.”

To avoid making Charles’ cancer rehabilitation more difficult, the six-day trip—which included three days of public duties—was cut short.

The sizzle of sausage

Charles did not publicly discuss his sickness throughout the tour, having been diagnosed with an unidentified strain of the cancer in February.

He did not completely avoid it, either, as he made a detour at a research centre in Sydney where doctors have been creating novel treatments for melanomas.

Earlier, during a communal BBQ, lifeguards from Bondi Beach in Sydney observed the “flexitarian” king, who abstains from meat and fish two days a week, turning over sausages.

He praised Australia’s popular “smashed avo” and “cab sav” red wines, telling the audience, “It’s a particular delight to see and smell all the top tucker here today.”

“We appreciate everyone’s attendance at this ‘Barbie’ today.”

The monarch observed Australian worker dogs competing to gather flocks of sheep in a nearby improvised field.

Charles was never going to be able to equal the royal bonanzas of the past on his maiden trip to Australia as king, and the first visit by a reigning monarch in thirteen years.

In 1983, thousands of fans flocked to watch the “people’s princess,” Princess Diana, then 21 years old, and then-prince Charles, at the Opera House.

In 2011, hundreds of Australians gathered to receive a white-gloved wave from Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II, but now, they are far from the fervent supporters they once were.

Redfern, an inner Sydney district that gave rise to one of Australia’s most important Indigenous rights campaigns, was where Charles began his day.

He was welcomed more warmly than the day before, when an Indigenous senator in Australia’s parliament startled visitors by yelling at the monarch to “give us our land back.”

In 1966, Charles travelled to Australia for the first time as a shy adolescent. Since then, he has been to the sunny nation 17 times.

He told lawmakers in Australia about snakes, spiders, and being forced to consume the “unmentionable parts” of a bull calf.

After sneezing on Charles as he paused to shake hands outside the Australian War Memorial, “Hephner” the alpaca may now be added to that list.

The trip had hardly barely started when the first hitch occurred.

A cruise ship named the Queen Elizabeth was obstructing the view, so plans to broadcast a montage of pictures of Charles on the Sydney Opera House’s sails were momentarily postponed.

Charles will leave Australia on Wednesday to go to Samoa, an island nation in the Pacific, to attend the 56 Commonwealth countries’ annual gathering.