Chasing Memories...

Saturday, February 14. Valentines Day and our Granddaughter's Birthday!  Rain, muggy. 28 C.

We were on a four hour Shore Excursion this morning. 'The Defense of Darwin' was the name of it. The Darwin of today is not the Darwin of 22 years ago when we were here last. Today's Darwin is a sleek city with modern buildings, looking like any modern city. The weather has not  changed; hot, humid, rain and then dry. Any evidence of WW ll has long gone, of course. It was a well done tour, the problem was my expectation level, as is often the case with me.

Like many things in life, there are some things that you just cannot revisit and expect to get the same sense of excitement as you did the first time you experienced that feeling. And, there are some that you can do over and over and that feeling is still there; like a good roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding dinner. Well, today I was expecting to see Darwin in the same way as when we saw Darwin 22 years ago.  And, that was not to be the case! My bad.

Our clocks go back 1 1/2  hours tonight. I think the Captain could have done this a bit better, he moved us back 1/2 hour since we left Cairns, I think he could have done it in two one hour segments!

A Good Day, Nice to be Here.

Those Pilot Boats are a pleasant start to the day, the world over.

What happened to Quaintsy Darwin?

This tunnel was built by the Australians to house defence supplies as the Japanese bombed Darwin for over a year and the tunnels were bomb proof. They were built into the side of cliffs.

This is about the halfway point in the tunnel that was maybe 200 yards deep, very humid.

Tunnel Poster.

                                 

Just stuff.

The Terminal

Last of Four Sea Days...

Friday, February 13. Nice enough. 27 C. 

Land Ho tomorrow, can't come soon enough for me. Four sea days is enough for me right now. We were up at our usual 5:30 am but it  was pitch black outside, and that is no fun. Eventually it got light outside without a real Sunrise. 

We did a couple of good laps around the walking deck and then had a light breakfast in the Neptune Lounge, we then caught some fresh air on our deck while I had an after breakfast catch-up napette to help compensate for the two hours sleep I miss by getting up at Fellette's 5:00 am wake up time.

The length of time that it takes the ship to go from Cairns to Darwin is beginning to sink into my head. This is a long trip we are on to Circumnavigate Australia. Sure I/we knew that, but for four days to see nothing but some rocks and distant islands, it sinks in.

We went to a Valentine's Day luncheon in the Main Dining Room put on by our Travel Agent today. We had a nice table and good conversations on many matters. It was lovely, very polite and rather old fashioned style in a humongous two storied high elegante surroundings with hordes of male waiters who are very good at making us feel like we are all worthy of such elegant treatment.

Later the weather socked in and a thick pea soup fog descended upon us complete with the ships horn being sounded every few minutes. This added to feeling of an imminent collision, not with an iceberg but an errant ship lost in the fog. That soon disappeared and we were soon out in bright sunshine.

This season up here is known as 'The Wet'. We were up here quite some time ago on a Bus Tour over the top of Australia, and we got some very thorough information about life up here. Australians are a hardy lot; big country, small population, life can be tough, the land can be and is harsh in many ways. They have more prickly bushes, bugs, snakes, spiders crocodiles and things that can hurt you, eat you and frighten you to death than anywhere else in the world. So I suppose people that live up and along the top of Australia must be the hardiest of tough nation of people. I can only imagine that Darwin will be changed since we were last here. We will find out tomorrow.  Oh yes, sometime this afternoon we had torrents of rain. The upside is the temperature is down a few degrees, although still humid.

A first for me today, I went for a second walk this afternoon, alone. Just to keep myself and my joints working and probably as a guilt thing for having an over the top lunch!

A Good Day.

That was what we were looking at most of the day, when it wasn't foggy or raining. If you could see far enough, in the distance is Australia

Still Plugging Along...

Thursday, February 12. Clear. Hot 31 C.

Nothing but water, no matter where you look. These four days at sea are the longest stretch of sea days until after we are making the run for home after French Polynesia and have six days at sea heading for San Diego. Actually I like sea days but also a good mix of both. 

There is not much I can say about today, it is just another sunny day in Paradise. We were invited to a Cocktail Reception before dinner tonight. There the Captain and his wife were there and we chit chat with fellow passengers in the suites. We are known as 'The Suite People'. A bit of a Snobbish thing for sure, but we are here and we are going with the flow!

Regarding Snobbishness. I have not see that attitude in any of our fellow passengers, all we have met are down to earth ordinary people. And I like to include us into that mix.

Another good day, Fellette is becoming more herself every day. A good place to be I would say.

Happy to be here!

Coffee on the deck, watching the sunrise with the first coffee of the day. You can't beat it!

Taking a break from an early morning walk around the deck. Most people are not early risers so it is quite nice having the ship almost to ourselves.

 

Starting The Trip Around Australia...

Wednesday, February 11. Smooth sea. 30 C.

There was something special, for me at least, this morning. We left Cairns and headed north two days ago and late this morning we turned left, West, and started the voyage through the Torres Straits, with Australia on the port side and the Island of Papua New Guinea on the starboard side. Both were visible for a short time until eventually New Guinea faded from sight. Soon we passed a point when we were no longer sailing in the Pacific Ocean but had transitioned to the Indian Ocean. To me that was an important place to be on this Cruise. We are not yet 50% of the way through this trip, but the halfway point is rapidly approaching; five days. It seems unreal that we are that far along because a good portion of the trip has been taken up with dealing with Fellette's injury.

The ship goes to great lengths to ensure there is never a dull moment for those so inclined to participate in activities. We enjoy life in a more conservative way but are still glad to see it happen. 

I have not commented on our fellow passengers too much as I was still absorbing information. There is a mixed bag all in all. However, many on the younger side are staff or crew. They mix and mingle and become part of the overall population. There are also entertainers on board and their youth, vigor and beauty, sprinkled throughout  the ship add to the appearance of it being a Fun or Party Ship. Yes, there are a lot of Old Party People aboard but they are more than balanced with older people who just want to relax and witness the fun, not be participants in it.

What we have noticed is the high percentage of passengers with walking disabilities! I would say that 35 to 40% of the actual passengers have some serious leg issues, hence walk in a different way. Then we have the overweight issues that abound. We also have a few that are Morbidly Obese. Those are sad to see and this is certainly not the right place for them to be, in my opinion.

A Good Day at Sea.

Derby Day at Sea today, that means fancy hats and a competition for that. Many women eagerly dressed up in some very elaborate hats. It was too difficult for me to get a decent shot without having an alcoholic stimulant. Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the Mid-Day sun!

Many quiet spectators, watching the participants, we just popped up to reinforce our convictions on learning how to relax.

You get the idea I think.

On a cabin door. How true!

Where we are: Top of Australia. 18 is Darwin, we are at where Fellette is pointing. Two more Sea Days at 11 Knots per hour before Darwin.

Apparently for navigation purposes, that rock, marked with a signal light is where the Pacific Ocean stops on the left and the Indian Ocean starts. 140 degrees West Longitude. So we are in the Indian Ocean for at least 15 days, around Adelaide. The captain gave a long blast on the ship's horn as we sailed by.

Up And Over...

Tuesday, February 10. Smooth sailing. 31 C.

Best to be inside or on the shade on deck today. We are not used to this heat under any circumstances. Fortunately the glitch we encountered yesterday has been overcome and I can now do my little blog thing without too much of an issue.

I think it is going to be rather boring for the next four days folks. We ourselves are settling in and catching our breath after a couple of exhausting days ashore. The ship is amazingly quiet today and people are unashamedly admitting they need a break. 

This is what went wrong yesterday. This is where I sat for over an hour yesterday, waiting for the train to take us on a trip down through some beautiful but rugged mountains. The engines were modern diesel but the carriages, 12 of them, were restored carriages from about 1901. Very comfortable and super clean and well maintained. Surprisingly we got a refund from Holland America this morning. The delay at the very beginning meant the rest of the day was very hurried and took the joy out of the rest of the day. [We did sleep very well though!] Many people were envious but stated that they could not get up after sitting down like that.

All that we have seen today is the occasional island or Light Stands on croppy bits of rock. Today at noon we only had 45 feet of water under the keel. That is nothing at all. We are working our way up and through the Great Barrier Reef that is off the upper East Coast of Australia. It is massif, roughly the size of Italy. Yup, really big.

Captain Cook made his way through it which was an outstanding piece of navigation. That was in 1770, the ship did run aground and they spent weeks repairing the ship but continued on their voyage. Cook was quite the man.

[The ship's clocks go back 30 minutes tonight. That make us 6 1/2 hours behind West Coast time, but still a day ahead.]

A Good Relaxing Day.

This will be the bulk of our view from the deck for another three days until we hit Darwin. Too hot to sit out there except at 5:45 in the morning. It is then quite exhilarating!

The Longest Day...

Monday, February 9. Touch of a sprinkle. 30 C.

 

Out and at'em at 8:15. Back at 3:15. Too long for this dude I will tell you. At the end of the day we found out why. There is a big ship in port today that has some ugly several thousand passengers on it and beyond the Cairns Tourism Capabilities who were taxed beyond their capacity. Buses, Tourist Trains and Cable Cars. We were on all three. 

We started late, had another one hour wait while the Tourist Train was bunged up, and a couple of hundred of us Zandamians cooled our heels at a train station without seating at 30 C .

We had some very interesting conversations with new people that made it easier to take.  Today, that seemed to turn into the mission, not sightseeing. The surroundings were neat, clean and tidy and all of the fellow passengers are very well travelled and experienced people. We really enjoyed the whole of the day and the scenery was spectacular. I find the Aussies so easy going that it was almost a pleasure to be with them in what we may consider stressful circumstances but it wasn't, because they made it seem fun! 

Too many  Pictures today and then I encountered a technical glitch in getting them from my iPhone to my Computer when doing my blog unfortunately, that sort of annoyed me at the end of what would have otherwise been a beautiful day in paradise.

 

Nice to be on a tour and full of optimism early this morning.

This what we picked to do, in October. We had done it before but wanted to re-experience it.

Just to take a photo...

Her come da train...finally.

Onward and upward!

Are we happy, yes!

New friends from Canada.

Tropical Vegetation!

You can't help the Aussie efficiency and zest for life.

Finally, Cairns...

Sunday February 8. High cloud. Hot. 30 C.

The long, long windy trail came to its end this morning, actually it is the beginning of the journey, if our purpose is to circumnavigate Australia. 

The Customs and Border stuff was a non-event, it just happened and that was it. It was all sort of surreal actually, people just went into the customs shed and an officer looked at our passport checked on a computer and we were good to go. We never saw a sniffer dog. I actually know that I did the hard part on October 27th when I applied for my ETA [Electronic Passport Authority] for Australia and another for New Zealand. They checked us out over four months ago. Amazing World.

We walked out and got pointed in the right direction by some friendly Aboriginal security officer. We made it to our destination somehow which was a Chemist, Drug Store, where I could get some creams for my eczema which has been acting up since we got hit on January one. We were out shopping on that day for an ointment that I use to keep my back and shoulders moisturized. I had the partly used container in the truck with us and was going to get another one. As it turned out I never got a new one and the one I had ended up in the Tow Truck yard in Cloverdale until Wally got cleanance to pick it up two days ago. So, I have been scratching myself for the past 39 days! 

Our wandering today did us good, it was so nice to be in this modern, First World Country and a very tropical city that just looks and feels clean! We got everything on our shopping list except a cold beer in the city as they still have The Blue Laws here regarding Sunday shopping on some things. We returned to the ship, totally exhausted, and had our coolant in our cabin.

We are off on a Shore Excursion tomorrow morning, Whoopee! Our trip is now officially underway! Tomorrow evening we start our journey up, over and around Australia, counter clockwise, it has been on our Bucket List for years!

Great Day Today...

Here Come De Pilot...

Long entry to the Cruise Terminal.

 

Ready to go shopping.

Big City I am afraid.

At the end of the trip, hot and no beer!

Classic Australian Building, across from the ship.

Boaters doing their Sunday thing outside our balcony.

I Signed up For This...

Saturday, February 7. High cloud. Milder. 27 C.

We are now making a 20 KPH run for Australia where we will be tomorrow morning. The good old Aussies are making every man, woman and child get off the ship and present themselves to Australia Border Force tomorrow morning. I imagine we will be fooled by the cute little sniffer dogs we shall no doubt meet and the Aussie accent. 

The day today is a pretty sleepy ship I must say. I sense that most aboard are a bit tired after a 36 day run down here, the last civilized place we saw was The Hawaiian Islands. I have heard the term 'Toured Out' more than once and the heat, all the time can be draining, after all we are White Men or Women!

Long, long before we left on this cruise Fellette and I had talks about how I would become Bored on this cruise. Of course, we reasoned, I would become bored at home as well. So for Fellette's sake, of giving her a rest from routine housework, let's go! We were hit in the head with a 2x4 when we got hit on New Year's Day by that Low Life Runner. But, what a better way to recover from the injury, that is still an issue with Fellette, although subsiding. [So much so Fellette has decided that we will not have to buy a larger Bra tomorrow.] Again Doug, too much information!

The injury has basically take about a month off the cruise as far as our our ability to get around and off the ship, so that is a positive thing. 

Not a picture today, all there are is sea birds and flying fish: good luck in getting a picture of  a flying fish!

Easy Peasy Day.

500 Yards off of Kiriwina lsland, Papua New Guinea...

Friday, February 6. Blue sky. Calm sea. Not a breath of wind. 29 C.

Fellette and I are recovering from our trip ashore yesterday. We were on the deck for some time, starting in the dark at 5:30 this morning. Fellette usually does not insist very often. Today she insisted that we appreciate the pleasant view laid out before us from the air conditioned comfort of our spacious cabin. I did not disagree.

We have never been beach bums, maybe in Maui in the morning, watching the sun come up over the volcano, but not during the day at 29 C!

I suppose when you are younger and you can spent some time in or under the water it may be OK. At home, when we are gardening we only work in the morning before what we call the 'Heat of the day' starts. Why in heavens name would we walk onto the beach in front of us when we are just miles from the equator??? Maybe some people don't know what causes skin cancer 60 to 70 years later.

There is no doubt that today will be a wonderful day, at a beautiful beach for many people, and I am happy for them. For us oldies, it was a wonderful day of rest, relaxation and recuperation with a wonderful South Pacific Beach just yards from our Picture Window.

R and R Day, Loving it...

From our Air-Conditioned room.

From our deck at 29 C.

Also from the deck, unbreathable out there.

Alouta Revisited...

Thursday, February 5. Cloudy. Hot. 30 C.

To those of you who are still following this blog you will know that Fellette and I were stranded here almost five years ago to the day. We did not have fond memories of that visit, but in spite of that we decided to walk off late this morning just for the heck of it and see how things have changed. Things have improved I am glad to say, remarkably. The place is cleaner, litter is less, still incredibly dirty though. People are happier than I remember, but the place is just so tired looking. It just needs a darn good rain to get the place looking less dirty. Even that would not help it. Mind you I am looking through a very old set of eyes that have seem much over these 90 years.

The heat was incredulous, the inside of my nostrils seem to be scorched! Walking was an issue, for me at least, nothing underfoot seemed to be level, everything sloped. We were unable to find our Hotel/Compound where we holed up five years ago and we hobbled back  to the ship where we each had a cold shower and changed clothes as we were soaked to the skin with sweat! At least we tried today. It took some time to get our bodies back into sync and we had to do that with food and drink. I can't believe how fast we got dehydrated!

I had a very long chat with Wally this morning, nice to get caught up with many issues at home. I always feel better after talking to family, it lasts for a few days and then runs out, if you know what I mean.

A Very Interesting Day!!! 

And we slowly make our way into port this morning, leaving only our wake to tell that we were here.

Holland America pays the locals to come and dance for the passengers. These are performers, nobody walks around looking like this in the town, maybe out it the bush a bit.

Many locals chew what they call Betel Nut and spit it out on the street. It give a bit of a buzz and destroys their gums. It is revolting.

Looks civil enough, this is inside a waterfront private property that can pass as acceptable for some time. It can only be for a short while as everything else is Third World unfortunately, and not in a fresh outdoorsy way. It's stale.

Sacks of coconut meat fill most of the local warehouses here.

This is where Fellette and I waited to board the ship five years ago.

The earth is so icky and dirty to walk on it is just degrading to be on it. And the  heat was so oppressive it was draining. It was not a good outing for us today.

Once again I find myself apologizing for the poor photos. It was hard enough just walking without taking photos!

A Quiet Day at Sea...

Wednesday, February 4. The Ocean a Mill Pond. Cloudy. 30 C.

Fellette and I slept like logs. Our bottoms were racked by that horrid little bus yesterday, the seating and bottom bracing did not seem that bad at the moment but we paid the price!

Fellette went for another swim this morning after breakfast and that was about the only physical exertion between the two of us today. We seem to have mastered the art of relaxation to  the nth degree! Not so sure that that is a good thing.

This meandering journey from San Diego to Cairns, Australia is coming to an end. On Sunday to be exact, this being Wednesday. I am not sure if much is going to change except everything will change: we will then be in OUR World. Our life aboard will not change, our life aboard for the last five weeks aboard has set the style of passengers we have become for the entire voyage I believe. We are non-participants in practically all the special things that most people do on a cruise. They hold little interest for us it seems. We are non-joiners at home, except for Fellette in her exercise classes. We garden, build things, fix things and just enjoy getting old together. That is us!

Tomorrow we are docked in Alotau, Papua New Guinea. That is where Fellette and I spent two full days and nights at in early 2020. We were joining a British Ship sailing from Cairns Australia [where we dock this coming Sunday.] The ship was sailing to Dubai in the UAR and then to Morocco for a month long Land Tour.

When we walked onto the ship in Cairns, that was when we discovered that we had left our Passports and money etc., in the Wall Safe in our Melbourne Hotel where we were lodging the nights before. Dah!

The ship allowed our luggage to go to our cabin but we could not stay on. So... I phoned our travel agent in Vancouver who booked me on a flight in the morning from Cairns to Brisbane, and then from Brisbane to Melbourne, where I went and picked up the goods from the hotel, then back to the Melbourne Airport and flew to Cairns . I got there a few hours after the ship had sailed. The first port for the ship was Alotau, where we dock tomorrow morning at around 8:00 am!

The next morning we flew to New Guinea on New Guinea Air. An experience but all good. We got a ride from a stranger at the tiny Airport to Alotau in his pickup, he took us to the only hotel in Alotau that a white man and his wife would stay at. I remember it being rather like a compound but we did venture outside a bit during the day because we were younger and more stupid. You might remember that year, 2020, when we got home in March that year, the World was shutting down because of our friend COVID, remember it?

We were delighted to see our cruise ship swing into the harbour, right on time on the appointed day! Another kind person from the Hotel drove us to the pier where we started another adventure!

Life is Good!

Fellette enjoyed the pool again today.

Having a Latte after the swim while the room was being cleaned. How Sweet it is!

The Ocean was so smooth today, our wake was the only thing visible on it!

There is a photo from that distressing day in January 12, 2020 when we flew from Cairns, to Port Moresby on Air Niugina!

And, there comes our Cruise Ship to rescue us from this predicament that we found ourselves in. Six years ago almost to this exact time.