Last Sleep Tonight...

Friday, March 6. Beauty day. 26 C.

26 C, degrees [79 F.] is comfortable in any hemisphere and that is what it is here and loving it. We were out on deck earlier than usual if that is possible this morning. It is now considered Autumn here,  [Fall]. 

We are in Sydney now, for two days. Around 300 passengers were off the ship by 9:00 this morning, going either home or continuing their travels to wherever. Another lot of about the same quantity are getting on for the 33 day trip to San Diego before noon today, some will be stragglers and join tomorrow. [In 33 days we hope to have some of the vegetables in and beginning to grow.]

We are docked across from the Sydney Opera House, about 300 yards/meters across from us. It is a beehive of activity, both on land and in that tiny harbour. There are some wide variety of ferries, scurrying around like ants in what looks like a shambles but is in fact a well coordinated scheduling arrangement between the ferries; like bumble bees on a hollyhock, but never bumping into each another! 

Fellette and I have been here several times, before so we excused ourselves from the hustle bustle of this interesting but very large city and prepared ourselves for the longest airplane journey we have ever been on in or lives tomorrow, 14 hours.

Our minds are already home as we are getting up to date with happenings at home that will very, very soon, be part of.

A Wonderful Day!

Coffee on deck at 5:30. The harbour coming to life.

It gets to be a very busy place quickly.

A great selection of sizes of boats in the Ferry Fleet, nine to be exact.

We shuffled our bags around a bit today. Fortunately, we will not need to handle these five. They will stay where they are, in our stateroom, for the balance of the intended cruise of 93 days, then Luggage Forward will bring them home to us in April

Port Arthur, Tasmania...

Wednesday, March 4. Lovely day. 23 C.

Not a good day for either of as as the packing is quite complicated for a variety of reasons. First, the majority of the cases and our clothing is staying on the ship until this ship docks in San Diego April 7 when our 93 day cruise ends. I complicated things by pulling the pin after 64 days, in Sydney on our second day there. That is this Saturday, when we fly home.

In that luggage, there cannot be any liquid or creams. On the plane, in our bags we have as carry-ons any liquids cannot be over the tiny 100ml size. We can however have liquids and creams as 'checked luggage' on the plane with us. That is the only way we can get some stuff home, sad to say.

It makes for an awkward trip on Saturday afternoon when we leave the ship with 'too much damn luggage'. It will also be the same at Vancouver until we are in Wally's hands. Small price to pay I would say. It was a tough day, mostly for Fellette, as she does a terrific job of packing but it got a bit too complicated today methinks! Maybe our age has something to do with it all. Ya think?

We went out for dinner tonight with an interesting Canadian couple from Ontario. There names are, oddly enough, Jim and Gail, the same as our good sailing friends for over 20 years!

To me, the trip is over, except we are not yet home, we still have a few bumps to go yet.

Often, or usually at the end of a long cruise, I used to get rather mixed feelings about homecoming or, coming home. Not so this time! It can't come soon enough. This I know is age-related. Sorry, nobody who has not reached 90 and has not walked in my shoes  for 90 years would ever be able to understand it!

Three more sleeps.

A Very Draining But Good Day.

Off Port Arthur this morning.

The original Prison, some many, many years later. Sorry, been there done that, a few times.

10 hours of packing today!

All day long!

Dinner with Jim and Gail last night. A good ending to the day, and cruise.

Hobart Tasmania...

Tuesday, March 3. Blue sky. 21 C.

Hobart is closer to Antartica than it is to Darwin on the top of Australia. 

A bit of a rocky night earlier, then calm as we entered the long entranceway to Hobart Port. Hobart is a city, no doubts about that. First of all you need to look at a map or know where Tasmania is. It is at the bottom right side, [SE Corner] of Australia and it that large island at the bottom. Population is about 250,000.

Hobart is Australia's second oldest Capital, [after Sydney], founded in 1804 as a British Penal Colony. Many of the earlier buildings are still standing and many of those are in use today. They were built by the convicts themselves, some of whom were masons, and are beautiful specimens of Georgian Architecture. No doubt those who were masons taught other unskilled convicts the trade, and on and on it went.

Tasmania also has the world's oldest trees, the Huon Pine. A 60 foot Huon Pine tree can be thousands of years old. Tasmania is an interesting place to visit, we first came here in 1999. It is the home of The Tasmanian Devil, a rather elusive, ugly looking badger-like creature with an evil sounding shriek, hence the name.

Fellette and I were up around 4:00 am this morning. I was expecting a reply from our travel agent in Vancouver to my enquiry about flying us out at Sydney rather than spend another 36 days as we had planned to do. We had some complicated exchanges and finally we came up with a plan that is now confirmed.

 

We fly out of Sydney this Saturday at 8:30 pm, and land in Vancouver, the same day at 3:30 pm, five hours earlier than when we left, thanks to the dateline. It is a killer flight, 14 hours. We are flying Business Class so the price is also a killer. Such is the price of keeping harmony in our house. My Bad!

A very short trip to Port Arthur, also Tasmania, overnight.  Ship departs Hobart at 10:30 pm tonight.

We will start packing tomorrow sometime. 

Four more sleeps!

An Interesting Day.

View from the ship.

All bundled up with our heaviest sweaters for the apparent cold.

Tasmanian Devil home in a wildlife park. They are inclined to be difficult to find. 2023.

This Kangaroo is fed by us tourists at a wildlife park. They rotate the Kangaroos as they get fat and lazy, as you can see. 2023.

Oversize Bronze Tasmanian Devils, these you can pet. 2023

A lazy Kangaroo, overfed. 2023 

A Kiwi bird. 2023

At Sea on The Way to Tasmania...

Monday, March 2. Rain, fog. 18 C.

A rocking and rolling journey since we left Melbourne yesterday. That was fine since we were basically worn out. As a result of both of those factors we were perfectly fine with staying in bed somewhat later. 

We have a Port tomorrow and the next day, in Tasmania; Hobart and Port Arthur. Again, we were here three years ago with longtime cruising mates, Jim and Gail. These are not large cities or places, Hobart is a small city, Port Arthur is more about the prisons and convict life.

Fellette and I have been going over the itinerary for the remainder of the cruise, [35 days]. We are  thinking that we would have been better to call the cruise endening in Sydney, rather than San Diego.

The rest of the cruise, from Sydney, where we are is a few day has 18 Sea Days and a lot of ports we have already visited, so we are doing some serious thinking about shortening the trip by flying from Sydney in a few days, rather than flying from San Diego in 35 days.

Stay tuned.