(Backup) Day 40, MARDI GRAS-Tuesday, February 13, 2018 Hobart, Tasmania Australia

We woke up to cloudy and gray clouds, and from our side of the ship, Port side, there wasn’t much to see. But we had an early morning tour, we had to be in the Queens Lounge by 8:30, so we had to get going. No time to have breakfast, so off we went, to get coffee down there. I had not had a good night, so not at my best, but it improved as the day went on.  

We were on a seven and a half hour tour.. The capital of Tasmania, Hobart lies along the Derwent River and is dominated by the breathtaking Mt Wellington. We boarded the bus on time and headed to Richmond, Tasmania, how about that? All this way and we go to Richmond,,,, richmond is billed as one of the most beautiful places to visit. It was pretty and I can see how it would be a charming place to go for a weekend, but we really didn’t have time to explore, so we went to the bakery Ed had a huge jelly roll and I had a scone and we both had tea, as remember, we didn’t have breakfast. 

 

The oldest bridge in Tasmania is here and so is the oldest church, we were too far away from it to go inside.  So we went to the tasting room to check out the gin, woooo was it strong, 90 proof. Needless to say we didn’t buy any. LOL

 

 

Now it was time to go to the next stop, the Puddleduck Vineyards to tast wine, and it wasn’t even 11 o’clock, going to be a good day, and the sun was coming out. After tasting four wines and one non alcoholic wine called Puddleduck Verjuice, which was quite good, but not good enough to pay $22 for it. 

Next was on to Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, here we saw koalas, Tasmanian devils, wombats, kangaroos and wallabies. This was really fun, we had a great guide who showed us the anamils, and we were able to touch and feed a lot of them, minus the devils as they would probably feed on us. LOL

  

 
The devils, and the baby wombat, cute at this age, but not cute when they get older, in fact mean buggers, and they said you don’t want one, borrowing under your house, as it will take it down. 

So now we were off to the historic Sheen Estate, as we approached it, it looked like something out of Giant! You could almost here the music. It was quite the place, and had a lot of history. It was built as an ostentatious monument to early colonialists Gamaaliel Butler’s wealth and position within the colony. It is a large sheep farm today, it’s colorful past has direct links with King George III and Governor Lachlan Macquarie.  We had some nice sandwiches and homemade cake and tea. The family today is trying to develope a whisky and now are one of only two leagel distlerys in Tasmania. They still have a was to go, before able to sell to the public, but they too make gin, as it is much faster. 

All in all it was a good day, now back to the ship, and Mardi Gras. 

Bumpy ride tonight and tomorrow. 

Day 39 At Sea February 12, 2018

Some sea days are better then others, this one was mixed,,,, I had watercolor class and Ed had Qi Gong & Thai Chee. Then he went to hear Barbara give info on the upcoming ports. Then we met for the Cruise Critics meet and greet. 

Ed and I went to lunch in the Lido, so we could save our spots for crafting. There was a big bro-haha in the Lido about people showing up early and sitting in the half of the Lido to save seats, but it’s more complicated. Seems there are people in other venues and they have complained that Nancy was giving out the kits early, like at 2:o’clock for the 2:30 class start, because she could see there was already 100 people seated in the Lido waiting for the class to start. Anyway, all very silly to me, as I was told years ago, you had to pick and choose what you were doing,,,,, you can’t do it all. But like a lot of life these days, a few people seem to control the mass. So now Nancy can’t even come before 2:15 and that is sad, as she had a chance to tell us background on some of the crafts, now she won’t. 

Then the other big happening was, captain Jonathan informed us that there was a big Low brewing, right in our planed track. And if we followed our planed coarse we would encounter 50-70 ft waves, sooooooo we are skipping Port Arthur, we are still going to Hobart tomorrow, but then we will have another sea day, but it will still be a bit rough on Wednesday. 

Every evening we get a travel quote on our pillow with two chocolates and I should have started shareing them 40 days ago, but I thought I would bring them all home, but I now realize that 113 of these little cards are going to be problematic to carry back and I will probably put them where I forget where I put them.. . . Well you know, so I am going to start shareing them now. 

“ A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving”   - Lao Tzu 

Day 38, Sunday, February 11, 2018 Sydney Australia, day 2

We awoke late, about 8:30 had our coffee and got ready to go to the Rocks, an area that has a huge market on Saturday and Sunday, so about ten we were off the ship, and decided to spring for a taxi as we were still whipped from the day before. When we arrived, I’m not sure what I expected, but not what it was. It was an upscale market, nothing was cheep, in price or goods. 

So Ed bought me a beautiful necklace from this lady a lady with a PhD in marine biology, Dr Kirsten Michalek-Wagner. Her designs are under the name Luka. She originally came from Germany.Ed and I loved her work, that was my valentine gift. 

 

We shopped and walked and didn’t see half. 

  

This man was amazing what he was able to accomplish with spray paint! 

Now after all that walking and shopping and walking it was time for lunch, 

    

Ed got squid and chips, and I got fish.           This is the Market on the Rocks. 

We then walked up the hill again, to look for a taxi, back to the ship. The people in Sydney are really nice, there was some sort of hospitality person who said they would call a taxi for us and she did. It was really hot, so we were most grateful. 

Back in the cool of the ship, we showered and got ready for sail a way and dinner. 

  

Lots of traffic going out, and different view, then coming in. Bye bye Sydney 

Day 37, Saturday February 10, 2018 Sydney, Australia 🇦🇺

We arrived In Sydney as scheduled about 6 am and we were up to see the sail in. It was gray and cloudy, but not raining. 

  

A Norwegian Cruise line was in Cercler Quay, which is the prime spot to dock, but we weren’t going to be there we were going to be docked at White Bay, which is a shuttle bus ride and a water taxi ride to get to Cercler Quay. 

Everyone had to depart the ship for a mandatory immigration inspection, so we decided to just get on the shuttle and figure out how we were going work out getting to and from the opera. 

It took us about an hour to make our way to the opera and the clouds melted away and the sun came out with a vengeance. The area around the opera house is really a busy one as you might imagine. There were street singers, aborigines selling didgeridoos and singing. 

We climbed all around the steps and took some pictures. And made dinner reservations for five o’clock this evening, at the Opera Kitchen. 

  

Now it was time to get back to the ship and get ready for the opera. 

We made it back to the ship about lunch time so we had a bit of lunch to replace the energy it took to walk over 10,000 steps registered on the fit-bit. 

We dressed and and ordered a taxi to take us to the Opera!

It was hot, probably high 80s and the Opera Kitchen is outside, but we had a table in a shady area.  The whole area down in the restaurant area was HOPPING! Noisy, lots of young people out to have a good time. 

 

We had fish and chips and our waitress was from France. 

We then went inside the opera house to see where our seats were, of coarse we were too early, but it was cool inside, and that was good. We started to climb the stairs inside, we climbed and climbed.... when we found our seats we were in the nosebleed section!

That is the orchestra that looks like dots down there. LOL. But we could read the subtitles and that made it easy to keep up with what was going on. One other funny thing the young Asian man about 25 I would say, sitting next to me, alone, kept falling asleep, throughout the opera, and a couple times on my shoulder LOL. All and all we enjoyed it very much, unfortunately the lead, Carmen, was week, but the rest of the cast was really good, especially Micaela, sung by Stacey Alleaume, she was incredible, and so was the orchestra!

So when it was over, we had the long climb downstairs, we didn’t have to worry about moving fast as there were all those people in front of us. When we finely got to the lobby area, I asked a lady how we needed to find a taxi in a covered area, as I noticed it was really raining HARD!  So she told us to go to this lift, down the hall, and someone would guid us, and they did, under the stage area!  We had to wait for some time down there in the garage area, but we were dry!  We were able to share a taxi with three people from, the Netherlands and we got bag to the ship about 12:30 boy were we ever tired, 6 am to 12:30 am, 18 hours, but fun ones. 

 

Day 35-36 Thursday and Friday sea days

Sea days, busy days, and the first day was also a gala/Formal night. And we gained an hour both days, so you would think we would be rested and relaxed. Himmmmm doing something wrong here. 

The under the seas Gala proved to be nice, but not all that special. We didn’t even get a pillow gift,,,, boy are we getting greedy or what? LOL the dining room was very subtle with blue/turquoise and black chair covers, and napkins and the waitstaff was decked out in turquoise vests. Dinner menu was lobster bisque, broiled lobster tail, chataubriand (I would have ordered, if they had barinase sauce instead of brown gravy, that they seem to serve on all beef) duck breast a’l orange, etc.  Any way we ate too much and went to bed early, which also was a mistake.  As both of us had indigestion most of the night, 

We did look right smashing, according to Ed who has seen the photos. 

Today, is busy again, but today is all the normal and booking tours, and figuring out tomorrow in Sydney. Making sure we have money to get a taxicab to the opera. And the always what to wear, and where will we eat, sence we found out we are too late to book reservations for dinner at the opera,,,, bummer. 

So stay tuned, and we’ll let you know all that happens. 

Day 34, Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Scenic Cruising, Fiordland National Park

Today we cruised through Dusky and Doubtful Sounds and we finished the day in Milford Sound. Milford Sound is considered the most remarkable of the sounds due to the high mountains surrounding it. The Fiordland National Park covers nearly 10% of New Zealand and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

We had great weather again, so you could go out on the bow, and Barbara gave commentary all day, it was a busy day, but a good one. They had the Panama rolls but called them New Zealand rolls and they were filled with a kie wee cream so I couldn’t eat them as I am allergic to kei wee. Not that I have to worry about having something to eat!

So here are some photos that don’t do the place any justice. 

Day 33, Tuesday February 6; 2018 Port Chalmers, New Zealand 🇳🇿 Waitangi Day

The weather today was cloudy and 58 F and boy was it ever windy, we went down to the Queens lounge to meet for our tour, on the RR. Well the ship arrived an hour late, so it will prove to make some things not work out, but all in all it was a great day. 

The train was to be waiting for us at the dock, but when they took us out, in the cold wind, it wasn’t there. Finally it came and it was a mad dash to get on, not well organized, as there were people who struggle with the steps, as the were a big climb up. We got on board, and then the trick was to find two seats together, as there are a lot of singles on this cruise and they think they have the right to sit in two seats alone. We finely were able to get two seats together albeit sitting backwards, oh well, you can’t have it all. 

So off we go, to, Dunedin, which, we were supposed to stop and see the famous old RR station, but alas, it was  not to be. Oh well 

So off we went up the mountain and back, they feed us lot of snacks and wine,,,, I guess so we would forget about what we missed. We saw some spectacular sights along the way. 

  

Where the All Blacks play 

Reforestation 

  


  

  

On top

We were piped out, how grand! And capt Johnathan answered with the three horn salute. 

  

Beautiful place, Dunedin

Day 32 Monday February 5, 2018 At Sea

We had a sea day today, and as usual it was busy, not as busy for Ed as he did not have tai chi, because they were reading the Queens Lounge for the Super Bowl later today. 

So I went to watercolor class, and we started painting a Kei wee bird,,,,, not sure about this one. 

Then we went to the Test Kitchen to see the new visiting chief Mitchell Tate, from New Zealand, he taught us to make Risotto with salmon, it looked like a good recipe. 

After we were in the area, so we went to see the new photos we have. We have a huge pile of photos, some are pretty good. 

So now we thought we would peek in and see what the big supper bowl party was like,,, we’ll it was really a party, there were snacks of all kinds, lobster roll, philly cheese and stake rolls, corn dogs,chips, popcorn, etc. 

so we went in and found good seats, and decided to stay, for the game. Ed played one of, actually the two games. He threw a blow up 🏈 though a blowup goal post, and won, some coupons to redeem later. Then he played the sports trivia and won a bottle of champagne, and we stayed through the whole game,,, it was a really good game, clean and that was good. 

  

(Backup) Day 31, Sunday February, 4, 2018 Napier, New Zealand

Wow what a day, we have had the most beautiful weather today, just like being in the Napa Vally, on the most perfect day. And wonderful wine to boot. In case you don’t know it New Zealand has wonderful wine, but the best they don’t export. 

We were on a private tour that took us all over, this valley, Napier, looked to be a really quaint small town, with very friendly people. And again sooooo clean, a beautiful  beach area, looked a little like it did in Southern California 50 years ago, and the people here, celabreat the 1930s our guide told us that next week there will be a big old car show, people from all over come in costume and rive old cars. There were a few in town all ready. 

 

   
We were dropped off at the information center, and our guide picked us up, and off we went, but not in this car. 

  

Very good wine

Olive groves

Vineyards and wine tasting area, it was just the most perfect day to be outside. 

This was our view from our balcony about twelve pm, as the ship headed south. 

I think I’ll try to paint this.