Adelaide Tomorrow...

Wednesday, February 25. A bit bumpy but ok. Blue sky.  Cool. 17 C.

Not much change since yesterday. Same ocean, same blue sky. Excellent sleep for both of us for some strange reasons. We updated our monthly calendar this morning. I consider February over, in my mind. This Sunday marks the beginning of March to us here. That is when we will meet up with Lyn in Melbourne. Lyn will take us to see my 1960 friend Keith and his wife Jenny. Lyn has met the Stafford's several years ago. 

I spent some time on my computer earlier today trying to find out when that was. I did not know this 'til today, but I only started to do a Travel Blog in 2007. Prior to that it was the old fashioned way... a photo album with stuck on photos with bits and pieces of Memorabilia and paper, like tickets and napkins as well. [I am going to get them digitized and printed when I get home].

After we updated the calendar today it became evident that 'The End is Nearer Than You Think' is true. After our visit this Sunday with Lyn, Keith and Jenny, we have a busy March. A couple of days in Tasmania, two days in Sydney, eight days in New Zealand and then the journey North East to San Diego after going through French Polynesia to San Diego.

Interestingly, we are at sea all of April, from the 1st to 7th. 

Our clocks move forward again 1/2 hour tonight. That means we will be 5 1/2 hours behind West Coast Time, and a day ahead. We do away with that Dateline Thing on March 22nd.

A Good Day.

Too much relaxing time and, too chilly to walk. This too shall end.

Across The Great Australian Bight...

Tuesday, February 24. Beauty weather and seas. 19 C.

Yup, that's what it is called, The Great Australian Bight. The Bight is the indent in the underside of the Australia continent in its coastline, [in this case between Albany, just visited, and Adelaide, some 1174 miles.] This is NOT the official Great Australian Bight distance, the ship is taking a straight line approach of 1174 miles, even though it takes us some distance from the shore, and, apparently it can get a bit rough out there, but so far, so good. The next piece of land South of us on this 1174 miles is Antarctica and  that is why it is a bit chilly for most passengers to walk the deck. Actually, Adelaide, is 4070 miles away, from Antarctica with nothing in between, so it will be chilly. We tried to walk the deck a bit but it was too much for us, dressed as we were.

Tonight is a Formal Night on the ship. This is to keep the Party Lovers happy on the ship, the reason for the formal night is a Masquerade Party and contest, later in the evening. Some apparently will kick it up a notch by wearing Masks to dinner. We will go to dinner in the dining room, without masks.

We have sort of decided, from now on, we will try and have a later breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill, it is nice and quiet in there but takes longer, however the service is great. We also would like to have dinner in the main dining room more often, for the same reasons. By eating in those places that means that we have less 'Boring Time' in our very nice cabin. With the clocks beginning to move forward now, it all works out just fine for us. It is not unusual for me to get a bit tired of my fellow passengers on a long trip. At home, things are different. We have a very nice mix of neighbours that we see, once in a while. Here, on this ship of Old Folks, I find it a bit depressing to be with them too much. Even though we are one of 'Them!'

Clocks go ahead here another hour tonight.That makes us six hours ahead of west coat time. [Plus that day ahead!].

A Good day.

Calm Seas, Bright Sun.

Ready to order breakfast.

Good company as well!

Before Dinner.

My Masked Companion. The waiter gave us masks.

A Nice Little Town Called Albany...

Monday, February 23. Perfect weather. Full sun. 22 C. 

We had a rough night but it ended up like a Mill Pond. It looks like a nice sized settlement, I use that term because there is serious business going on in the area but not to the point of ruining the place with messiness. Maybe that is the Australian way though. I would say that the Aussies are a bit better at keeping things neat and tidy, even in a messy business, it is just their way it seems to me.

We walked off the ship around 9:00 and took the shuttle to town, a seven minute ride. In a nutshell folks, we walked our buts off, again!

This is turning to be a bit of an embarrassment to me. Fellette says she is 95% better. I am now the one that has to 'recover'. Recover from what though? My hernia wait of six months set me back, then the recovery from that, a bit. But, in the last few weeks on board I have discovered that my body is beginning to feel like it is 90! That is disappointing. I don't over drink, or over eat, we eat simple and as much home-grown and healthy foods as we can. The food on the ship can be over salty and oversweet, but I/we have found ways to minimize that. Nope, I am fearful that at this point it is going to be a struggle to keep Father Time at bay. I know that I will have a better chance at home though.

We enjoyed the walk up and through this neat place called Albany. It turned into a grind for me though but that is why my body needs to get back in shape. I noticed that Fellette snuck in an afternoon nap today, something that she does not normally do, so I thinks she was feeling the workout a bit as well.

I for one am quite enjoying  Australia and talking to its people, they seem to be just a very pleasant bunch of people. Sure there are some rough ones, like anywhere. By the way, Captain George Vancouver came by Albany, notably, in 1791.

We have two days at sea before we hit Adelaide which is a very nice and civilized place to visit, at which point we will be 60% of the way through the cruise, or 40% of the way to go. Going by the weather at home, we are liable to be in a drought situation by the time we get home!

*******

Announcement: Tonight we move our clocks FORWARD one hour. We have another 1 1/2 hours to go in advancing our clocks before we hit Adelaide. Glad to see us sailing fully Eastward to the Pacific Ocean, and home!

*******

A Very Good Day.

5:30 am start!

Sailing in a bit later.

After lunch.

From the ship.

In town, another neat and tidy place.

Just feels good here.

Yup.

Rocking and Rolling...

 

Internet at sea! I published the Blog last night, but it did not go and did not  advise me till this morning!

Sunday, February 22. Sunny. Rough Sea. 17 C.

Things are interesting to say the least. The ocean is presenting a few issues as we rounded the SE coast of Australia the last several hours. This is caused by a combination of winds and currents presenting the captain with a few problems to prevent his ship load of elderly and fragile passengers from all ending up in the ship's hospital with an overwhelming mix of injuries.

We have popped outside a couple of times. The top deck by the pool is amazingly quite pleasant, the roof is closed so the temperature has risen to a comfortable enough situation that Sun Worshipers can get their dose of the sun. It is very, very awkward to walk around the ship, and also dangerous.

I am making some progress on solving my boredom problem. I have found a way to work on The Picture Book that I make of any significant trips that we go on, [starting in about 2004], prior to that they were albums with attached photos of the trips, that Fellette made. Those albums are in the basement at home. I have thought about having those albums digitized and made into a more easily readable form. I think that that could be a project that I should consider doing!

This afternoon we had a 'Root Beer Float' put on by our travel agent that allowed us to mix and mingle whilst sitting down during the bumpy ride we are having. It was a very enjoyable break for a Rough Sea day.

A Very Easy But Bumpy Day.

A small bit of crockery lost in the Neptune Lounge while I was there today.

Root Beer Floats, wow, how many decades since we have had one of these?

This is a 'Coral Spawn', it stretched for a huge distance across the ocean. I suppose that is a healthy sign!