World cruise 25

February 23

We were supposed to be at Geraldton, Western Australia today...or at least for part of today. However, the best laid plans...etc. Last night and this morning, the seas were running pretty high along with high winds. This made the entrance to the Geraldton harbor possibly quite dangerous so the captain decided not to risk it, and we sailed on toward Benoa, Bali. The good news is that we will have dock space available when we arrive there in the early morning instead of our original arrival time of mid-afternoon. So, we missed a minor port on this end and will have more time at Bali on the other end with just about the same amount of sea time in the middle.

The other good news was that we got free champagne, wine, beer or soft drinks with dinner this evening as an "apology" for missing a scheduled port. That also happened back when we had to miss Rarotonga. Otherwise, it was another day at sea.

I'm working on another Project Linus blanket using the corner-to-corner diamond pattern that I used on the first one. This one is stripes of dark gray, light gray, cream, and a multi-colored yarn that has shades of gray and a dark pink. Very tailored looking. I have also made 3 scarves so far. One is a turquoise color that I've donated to a charity silent auction here on the ship. Another is hot pink for myself. The third is a very soft gold-colored one that I plan to wear on a formal night. Fortunately, the yarn for the Linus blankets is from a huge stash that is provided by the ship and donations. There are a lot of people on board who gather every morning on sea days to knit, crochet and talk. Some work on their own stuff. Some make whole Linus blankets, and some knit just strips or squares to be combined into blankets.

What else can you do on board a relatively small ship on a day at sea -- besides eat? Well, just about anything. There are regular trivia games. Movies on the big screen complete with popcorn or on tv in your stateroom. We had special live coverage of the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards. There's a chorus for people who like to sing. There are at least 2 and sometimes more lectures each sea day on everything from (tomorrow) "Lessons on Success from Brainless Blobs" (i.e. jellyfish) to "The Causes of Political Violence." There are lectures on the upcoming ports. All kinds of fitness groups. A star gazers group. A whole bunch of serious bridge players. There's quite an extensive library including a wide range of DVDs to play in your stateroom, and there's even a librarian. Jigsaw puzzles. A brief but daily version of the NY Times including crossword as well as editions of major papers from other countries. Ways to spend money including a casino, bingo, shops for art, high end jewelry, all kinds of collectibles, sundries and ship souvenirs. Live entertainment at various times during the day. Seven bars plus a coffee/tea bar. Sports and gym equipment and areas for basketball, pingpong, a pool, and a hot tub. A full service spa. Wine tastings. High tea each day. An arts and crafts activity where you can make something different each time. Drawing lessons. Watercolor lessons. Ballroom dancing lessons. We even had a series of lessons on playing a ukulele, another series on playing the didgeridoo, and a series on learning Polynesian dances for men and women. Who knows what we'll get next. You have to make an appointment with yourself to do nothing or to take a nap in a deck chair. If anyone is bored, it's because they want to be.

February 24

Spent a little money in the shops on board. Crocheted. Wandered around the ship. Played dominoes. Considered helping Scrooge McDuck count his millions. Formal dinner this evening.

We had guests at our table for dinner, Dennis and his wife Bianca. He is Chief of Security on the ship, has lots of gold braid on his epaulettes, and is from the Philippines. She is from The Netherlands and has just finished a contract working at the Front Desk on the Volendam. The denizens at the table behaved pretty much as usual despite lots of wine courtesy of Dennis. Certainly not boring as you can see. (L to R: Bianca, Dennis, Margaret, Mike, me, and Penny)



February 25

Still at sea. Eternally confused about what time and/or day it is anywhere except on the ship. I can get the ship's time off channel 40 on the tv set in my room, and I can get the day of the week from the carpets in the elevators. (All these years, and I've never spotted the elf who changes the carpets every night.)


And speaking of elevators ... sorta ... there are these really ridiculous chairs near some, but not all, of the banks of elevators. I think they are silly looking, and entirely too low for anyone over the age of about 6 to sit in or get back out of. I am pretty sure they were not on this ship in 2008.


Today there was a rather grand display of all the blankets made so far for Project Linus. There were 55 or 56 of them (some were arriving at the last minute). There are also a bunch more still under construction. I heard that 2 years ago there were overq 200 by the end of the cruise. Here is a photo of Margaret holding the first one I did in front of tables holding the others, and the purple and gray one at the left side is one of the ones she did.


The Captain, Hotel Manager, and Cruise Director turned out along with a Ship's Photographer to have pictures taken with all who knitted or crocheted them. There was a good deal of hilarity as Captain Jonathan and Hotel Manager Henk tried on some of the caps...or rather perched them on their heads. I did not get a photo of that "Kodak Moment."

World cruise 24

February 21

This morning we docked at Freemantle, Australia which is the deep water port for Perth and a very early settlement in its own right.

The weather was fine with highs in the low to mid-80s forecast for today and tomorrow, but rocketing up past 100 the day after we leave. We are all glad that our itinerary did not take us up the east coast with 2 cyclones, i.e. hurricanes, headed that way. Hopefully those storms won't catch up with us in Indonesia.

This morning Margaret went ashore to take the free shuttle and check out Freemantle. I was going to go, but decided to be lazy instead.

Late this afternoon we went on a tour. First we passed some beautiful beach areas . At one there were a lot of kite surfing which is akin to wind surving, but higher and probably less controllable and hard to photograph well.

On out to the wine country past Perth, we went to a corroboree where we had a lovely reception and "bush tucker" dinner. As we got off the bus, we received a glass of champagne with a flower in the bottom.

As we settled at tables on the lawn under huge trees, young ladies came around with appetizers including bush tomato mousse in pastry cases, barramundi skewers with lemon aspen syrup and balsamic glaze, and wonton prawns with lemon myrtle and chili dipping sauce. I tried one of the prawns (without the chili sauce) which promptly dripped all over my shirt. *sigh*

Next was the entree of emu three ways: smoked emu on baked sweet potato topped with native spinach leaves; grilled spicy emu, pepperberry and pork chorizo served on mashed potato; and an emu meatball flavored with bush herbs and drizzled with bush BBQ sauce. I apologize (especially to Nancy H) for not getting a photo of this very attractive course. I ate everything but the spinach leaves.

Also on the tables were pitchers of a punch made with quondongs and, I think, sparkling water or maybe ginger ale. Quondongs are sort of like peaches. Anyway, it was refreshing. Here's Judith pouring for Margaret.

During that entree course, Dale, who owns the place where we were and is an aborigine, welcomed us and introduced us to some of aboriginal culture. We were welcomed by another aborigine from another country (each clan has its own territory or country...over 800...each with its own language). As dinner progressed, several young men demonstrated the didgeridoo and some dances.

Next was the main course which you can see below. It consisted of kangaroo stew with quondongs and dried bush tomatoes, rice with wattleseed and macadamia nuts, and a salsd. I enjoyed everything, but skipped the salad as I was completely full by this time.

Dessert was a sort of compote of chocolate, roasted wattleseed, coconut creme and chia seed served with Australian bush fruits in syrip and whipped cream. I tasted it, and ate a few of the berry-like fruits, but didn't have room for the whole thing. Along with the dessert came hot tea for which I was grateful as by then the sun hal gone down and the temperature had dropped. If this was how the Aussies brew tea, i was amazed. It was as thick and opaque as any thrice-boiled Turkish tea I've ever had. Not bad, just different.

After dinner, we visited the gallery that Dale runs that features aboriginal art and spices. On our trip back, after dark, we were routed around a bunch of different sites that we mostly couldn't see before finally getting home about 10:30 p.m. I say "home" because when we're in port, there is a sign near the gangway that says "Welcome Home," and the security guys that check us back aboard by scanning oour keycards always say, "Welcome home,"

February 22

Up early and off on yet another bus. This time we saw many of the same sights that we went by in the dark last night. The main street of Freemantle was a whole lot quieter on Sunday morning than it had been on Saturday night as it is called "Coffee Row" for all the cafes and coffee shops lining both sides.

Next we passed by and around the Freemantle Prison dating from the days went convicts were transported from England. Most were not locked up when they got here but were put to work on farms and building things like roads, public buildings, the port, etc.

We saw a lot of pricey real estate along the Swan Rivver which goes through Perth and Freemantle. We even caught a brief glimpse of some of the black swans for which the river is named. Our driver put the bus through its paces as we toured lovely residential areas in both Freemantle and Perth.

The best part of this trip was a nice long visit to Kings Park and Botanical Garden. It's high on a bank of the Swan River with a panoramic view of downtown Perth.

There is a nice coffee shop with outdoor seating under umbrellas where we had a fine mid-morning tea break. There's a gift shop that carries exquisite high end merchandise from jewelry to books to artwork and crafts. All things that I appreciated but did not buy while Margaret went off walkabout photographing interesting plants.

World cruise 23

February 19 - Redux

Can't resist adding this photo of the little tug that escorted us as we sailed through King George Sound leaving Albany.

February 20

We spent the day sailing north just within sight of the west coast of Australia. The sky and Indian Ocean were gorgeous and blue, and the temperature outside was a low-70s-perfect. The ocean itself was basically calm but with an occasional slow swell. There are probably official terms for all this, but I'll stick with "ideal cruising weather."

After another 2 days of frustration trying unsuccessfully to upload photos, all of a sudden it all worked again, so the blog is caught up to where Margaret talks about trees again. Well, you will possibly have read that before you read this.

On a rather sad note, one of the long-time multi-world-cruise people passed away today. She had become ill and was sent ashore to the hospital in Papeete for an MRI for a supposed gastric problem, but turned out to have stage 4 pancreatic cancer. She chose to continue on the cruise rather than seek treatment either at home or along the way. I think I might have made the same choice. So now, out of about 1,000 passengers, 2 that I know of have died and 1 has been arrested. We're probably right on the odds so far, or maybe a bit low on the number of deaths given the current elderly demographic.

World cruise 22 - Margaret

From Margaret
Albany, Western Australia
Valley of the Giants (trees)

The Valley of the Giants and the Wilderness Discovery Centre are part of the Walpole-Nornalup National Park in Western Australia. This park is home to the giant Red Tingle trees shown here, and the now quite rare Karri tree. Both are species of eucalypt.

The interpreter commented that Tingle trees grow really fast – as much as a metre a year. So, they don't tend to live more than 500 or 600 years. In size they come close to the giant redwoods. Tingles can reach more than 70 metres in height. When the area was first set aside to preserve the Tingle and Karri trees, there was one Tingle tree so large that a family and their car could fit inside the burned out cavity at the base. It became the picture everyone had to have. Unfortunately, these trees are shallow rooted and the roots are delicate. The constant traffic over that particular giant killed it. Today, visitors are restricted to paved trails and the tree-top walkway.

The tree-top walkway rises 40 metres above the ground and still doesn't reach the tops of the larger trees. It is an amazing piece of engineering. The suspension path 600 feet in length has 5 support poles, and that is it. It sways and bounces a bit as people walk on it.

The view of trees from 40 metres in the air is stunning. Looking at a very large tree from the top down is a quite different sensation from looking at it from the bottom up. A blue wren is supposed to haunt the tops of these trees, but I did not see any.

From the aerial walkway, the path led to the Ancient Empire trail. These were probably the oldest trees in the area and were larger than the ones seen from the aerial walkway. Many of them had burned out or hollow cores at the base, but were otherwise quite alive.

From the Valley of Giants, we took a quick side-trip to a part of the shoreline that is seriously rocky. The goal of the side-trip being the "elephant rocks" and "greens pool". The elephant rocks are huge and do indeed look like three elephants kneeling in the surf.

Greens Pool appears to be the local "swimming hole". A unique one in that it is surrounded by large rocks over and through which the surf crashes before it rolls mildly into the shoreline of the pool. The shore must drop off fairly sharply in that area as I saw a man dive from the rocks at the water's edge directly into the water below. It must have been deep enough at that point to make that possible. Wading is probably not the primary activity at Greens Pool.

Lunch was at the Southern End Restaurant which is the catering arm of Denmark Brew and Ales. They had several brew's on tap, so I had a stout with lunch. Lunch was excellent – I am becoming quite enamored of Aussie food and will be sorry when we leave Australia. The "excursion" ended with a quick stop at a local winery for the wine lovers and a quick look at downtown Albany for those who really like to see towns.

World cruise 22

February 18

At sea in the Bight of Australia, i.e. sailing straight across the part of the southern coast where the shoreline curves northward. And, yes, it was still pretty bouncy off and on, but we did get periods of almost sunshine through the day.

Otherwise, it was like our other sea days: eating, knitting/crocheting, watching a lecture of some sort, eating again, playing cards/dominoes, watching the waves, more eating, reading, sleeping, etc. This one was a little longer than most because we had set our watches back over an hour, so we woke up a lot earlier than usual. (Yeah, I know, it's a tough life.)

February 19

Albany, Western Australia is located on a large natural harbor called King George Sound. It was founded in 1826 and was a booming community in the days of the whaling industry right up until 1978. now the main products are agricultural.

Unlike most of the huge state of Western Australia which is hot and dry, this little corner of the continent is cool and wet. Thus Margaret went off to tour one of the few remaining patches of the rain forest that once covered most of Australia. Most of the other areas of remaining rain forest are along the east coast.

I was originally scheduled for one of several tours going to a whaling museum, but mine was canceled, and rather than join one of the others, I decided to just take a free shuttle into town.

Within a 2 block radius I found everything I was looking for and then some. After an ATM stop, I was wandering around in a pharmacy hoping to find birthday cards, preferrably some of those wonderfully snarky Aussie ones. The cashier directed me around the corner to a totally fabulous shop called "Icky Finks." I could have easily spent all afternoon in there! Art and craft supplies from beads and yarn to large stretched canvases and oil paints. Party supplies from boas to body paints. Miniature dinosaurs (I almost bought some of those). Cards and stationery (both snarky and non-snarky). Kitchen supplies (I bought a soup ladle). Glittery costume jewelry. And I think I saw some small hardware items off in the distance. I felt like a kid again going into Woolworth's on a Saturday morning with my little allowance in my pocket! That was waaaay better than some stuffy bus tour to a whaling museum and almost exactly 99% cheaper!

World cruise 21

February 16

Day 42, and it began entirely too early. We were up later than usual last night while Margaret recounted her visit to the little blue penguins.

Today we had a tour to the Cleland Animal Park with a stop at Mt. Lofty for a look at the view of the city and other facilities. This time I did get off the bus, although I didn't trek out to see the view of Adelaide. I probably should have as the day was absolutely perfect. It was clear as a bell and in the low 70s all day.

Cleland Animal Park is wonderful. As with most zoos and animal parks, I could easily spend all day, or even several days there. This one was particularly nice with huge old trees, broad lawns, and in some areas, kangaroos, bandicoots, etc. loose for visitors to interact with. We got small bags of wild animal feed and set off for the koala exhibit as it was time for photo ops (which we were just a tad too late for.) En route, we gave a looksee to the Tasmanian Devil and the Goana exhibits.

While waiting in line at the koala photo op, several very greedy little bandicoots were happily cadging handouts from those in line. This first photo is a pair of bandicoot butts. Too cute!

Then a small kangaroo muscled in on the action.

Later Margaret had a conversation with this larger kangaroo, but it must have already had its lunch because it wasn't much interested in the food she offered.

Finally, here is a neat photo that Margaret took of an almost full-grown joey and its mom.

When we got back, the cargo ship that had been unloading Japanese cars all day yesterday was sailing away. I'm sorry I didn't get a photo as they are a very unique shape: twin-hulled at the bottom and a giant slab-sided box above. It left not quite as big a sea of cars as I saw in Ashdod, Israel in 2010, but if you count the ones under the green tent, it's a lot. (I like that they left the Norfolk Island Pines in the middle.)

February 17

There were some pretty high winds as we left Adelaide and headed across theBbight toward Albany which is just about at the southwest corner of the continent. By bedtime last night (which is rather a "moveable feast" due to the on-going process of turning the clocks back ... at present we are 30 minutes off, but I'm not quite sure why), things had gone beyond bouncy to definite rock and roll. That continues today under cloudy skies. At his noonish update, the Captain said that this bouncy business (my words, not his) was due to a monster storm about 800 miles south of us. Sure enough by late afternoon things were back to being able to walk a straight line down the corridor.

My watch died this afternoon. Too many time changes, I guess. It's a good thing that I had bought a cheap watch on board a couple of weeks ago when I thought the band on the old WalMart special was going to break. Tonight we turn our watches back one and a half hours. I'm glad they give us little notes about these time changes, especially the weird ones.

At dinner there were Mardi Gras masks for everyone and all the staff were dressed in purple, green and gold sequined vests and most had on jester hats. There was going to be a Mardi Gras party up on deck 9 forward in the Crows Nest. But since a) it probably involved loud music and alcohol, b) our cabin is way aft and c) the ship began rocking again, we gave that one a miss.

World cruise 20 - Margaret

From Margaret
Adelaide, Australia
Victor Harbor
Fairy Penguins of Granite Island

Granite Island is more than a two hour drive from Adelaide just off the coast of Victor Harbor. Once we arrived at Victor Harbor we had about an hour to ramble around before dinner at the Victor Hotel. It was Sunday evening so there wasn't a lot to look at beyond the shore line, Granite Island, and the Australian magpie's walking around the city park.

Dinner, at the Victor Hotel restaurant which was described as a "carvery" was very good and very large – way more than most people could eat. So it was a stuffed bunch of tourists who set out at dusk to walk the causeway to Granite Island. Just as we reached Granite Island the setting sun blazed the sky into a glorious sunset. What a way to begin our evening adventure.

Granite Island is a huge chunk of granite rising out of the ocean. Eons of weathering haven't softened it a lot. To look at it, one would not imagine it to be a preferred home for a colony of Fairy Penguins, but that is what we were here to see.

Fairy Penguins are tiny, maybe 12 inches tall, with shiny, steel-blue feathers on their backs and white ones on the front. They weigh about 1 kilo. They spend the day at sea, traveling as much as a hundred kilometers from shore in search of food or just playing, returning to shore only after dusk where they hide in the rock crevices and tiny tunnels, sometimes going as much as several yards (meters) underground. That this tiny bird can toddle on its feet hundreds of yards up the rocks to the hidey-hole it has chosen is astounding.

The young are raised in these same rocky crevices. Juvenile penguins go to sea entirely on their own with no help from the parents at around 8-9 weeks of age. And like salmon they return to their place of hatching – particularly the males who are the ones who choose and build nesting sites. Females will often go to other colonies to choose a mate – good genetic mixing tactic.

Granite Island is also a home to a Fairy Penguin Sanctuary for injured birds. Birds with relatively minor injuries can be released back into the wild, more serious injuries mean that they will stay in the sanctuary for the rest of their lives. It was these birds that we saw the most.

The wild ones were scarce as they were mostly out at sea stuffing themselves. This is molting season. They have to eat enough to triple their body weight because when they molt their feathers, they hide in the rocks for 3 weeks where they have to live on stored body fat. We did see one wild one come out of the sea and hop toward her/his nest and two others already nestled in their rocky crevice.

The interpreters who guided us around Granite Island told us that a few years ago we would have seen a lot more penguins as there were over 2000 living on the island. Last year there were only 26, and this year there are 40. While they are hoping that this year's increase means that the population is starting to recover, they say there is no guarantee. A nearby island has completely lost its penguin colony. Penguin populations everywhere are crashing, and no one yet knows why. Our interpreter thinks that it has something to do with pollution and food supply. The small fish that the penguins feed on are becoming scarcer, and the sanctuary is seeing more penguins with diseases and damage that can be traced to pollutants coming into the ocean from the nearby rivers.

All in all a very informative and interesting expedition. We did not get back to the ship until 11:45pm -- way past my bedtime :-) .

World cruise 20

February 14

At sea, but not too far off the Australian coast. My guess is that we're staying in Australian waters so that our stops in different ports are all one visit as far as Immigration and Customs are concerned.

Interestingly, I learned that the trees on the Lido deck around the pool are shrouded for our entire stay in Australia because of Australian Quarantine Laws. I also learned recently that any plants brought on board must stay on board and will eventually be incinerated as no country will allow them back in. This applies to cut flowers and even to the dozens of beautiful potted orchid plants on tables and in the restrooms. Once they stop blooming, they're history.

There were thunder and lightning storms last night after we left Melbourne, but the sea remained fairly calm. As the weather moved eastward and we moved southwestward, we were soon out of it. Today was totally clear and even somewhat cool with hardly any motion. We are told that in Adelaide tomorrow the temperature will hit 39 degrees Centigrade which is roughly 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Whew!

I managed to get several posts done this afternoon after consulting with Mike about ways to get various programs to cooperate with what I want them to do. I hope these methods will continue to work.

This evening was a formal night at dinner, it being Valentine's Day. Each passenger received a long-stemmed red rose and a small box of Lindt chocolates along with a card that tightly walked the line between impersonal and soppy. All over the ship were bright red mylar heart-shaped balloons and hanging decorations. All that will be thrown away rather than saved, and probably incinerated as I'm not sure that mylar can be recycled. The ship does, however, practice a great deal of recycling as part of its regular routines.

I do have one other story for you about an almost dire situation. You may have heard or read about longshoremen's union strikes along the west coast of the U.S. Well, it seems that various containers of supplies for the Amsterdam got caught in the situation and didn't make it to the ship as scheduled. One item affected was certain kinds of wine from certain wineries that were part of various package deals available for the voyage. But the more important item was toilet paper. Evidently we reached Auckland and a resupply just in time before a mild shortage became both noticeable and critical.

February 15

A truly fine day, despite looming clouds that didn't rain much at all. It never got as hot as predicted ... maybe only in the mid-90s. In fact, Adelaide has not had any rain for the past month and that looks like it will continue. It's a nice city about 10 miles inland from the deep water port, and laid out on a strict grid with no diagonals, so is pretty east to navigate.

Margaret and I both had afternoon tours. Mine was to a German village called Hahndorf and a winery. Margaret's was to see the little, blue, fairy penguins, and included dinner. I don't know much about it because it's 11:00 p.m. and she isn't back yet. I'll try to get her to write up something at some point, but she hasn't finished her "report" on her tour to a sheep farm in Melbourne yet.

Hahndorf is a very old settlement by Germans that today is a very quaint tourist spot. The main street is lined with huge trees, artsy shops and ice cream emporia as well as the aforementioned tourists of all ages and descriptions. The temperature was sizzling, and I made it about as far as the first sweets shop with chairs in the shade. Pretty soon someone I know from the ship turned up to share my table, then Margaret went by as her tour stopped there before going to Granite Island to see the penguins come ashore which is evidently quite a sight. Last I saw, she was headed for a yarn shop down the street.

My tour went off to a winery which was very nice but not very handicapped accessible due to lots of steps. However, with my trusty cane and the friendly arm of a gentleman on our tour, I made it inside where there were some more steps. Arriving at the tasting area, our group was way at the far end, so I chose to skip sitting with them and plunked down in the nearest seat. I also skipped the wine and "small plates" part of the tour (whatever "small plates" means) and had a lovely time chatting with the two Aussie bus drivers.

On the way back, our driver spotted a wild koala in a tree along the road and stopped for everyone to pile out and photograph it. The other bus stopped also, and I'm sure the poor beast was irked to have its daily sleep (they're nocturnal animals, you know) interrupted by hordes of tourists with cameras. My photo of it is below. Within minutes of getting going again, we spotted two more koalas even closer to the road, but didn't stop and went by too quickly for photos.

After dinner the ship's passengers were treated to a concert by the Tanunda Brass Band. They are the oldest brass band in the Southern Hemisphere and were fantastic! They presented a lively show of music from movies, musicals, pop music, Cole Porter, tv series (the "Peter Gunn" theme was my favorite), a couple of oompah numbers, and nary a march to be heard. For several numbers, members of the band provided vocals. A fine ending to the day.

Margaret's tour didn't get back until after 11:30 p.m. It was a long day.

World cruise 19 - Margaret

From Margaret
Melbourne, Australia
Aussie Homestead and Tree Planting
Chatham Hill Farm – Ross and Sarah Thomson

A bit more than 90 minutes out of Melbourne and just past the small town of Kilmore lies Ross and Sarah Thomson's family farm. The drive out through the browns of Australian summer was beautiful and reminds me of central California in high summer. We were greeted warmly by the Thomson's and served a welcome morning tea. The lovely blueberry muffins were made by Sarah and were as good tasting as they looked. Tea was held under a huge maple tree in the Thomson's side yard. The house is surrounded by flower beds full of color and plant texture. In the back is a huge vegetable garden which we benefited from at lunch.

After a brief wander through the flowers, we went across a small lawn to a eucalyptus grove which was planted specifically to capture nutrients washed off the hills by the winter rains. It has also become a place for picnics and other social events, including their daughter's wedding. Off to one side of this grove is a very old eucalyptus – perhaps as much as 500 years old. It is huge.

From there we re-boarded the bus to go to the olive orchard. The Thomson's have planted 2500 olive trees to serve as an additional income stream, thus further diversifying the farm's productivity. When they decided to go into olive oil production, they chose 3 varieties that were well-adapted to the Australian climate and had distinctive flavors. The oil from each variety is bottled and sold as a unique varietal oil. These Chatham Hill virgin olive oils are now sought after by the high end chefs in Melbourne.

From the olive orchard, we went to the sheep barn for a demonstration of sheep herding and shearing. The Thomson's use the Australian Kelpie for their herd dogs. Kelpies are not recognized in the US as a breed but are elsewhere in the world. The one displaying her skills for us was a black and tan and smaller than the typical border collie. The Thomson's son, Hugh, commented that she could run 25 km over the course of a day of "minding" sheep. In the Australian summer heat this is astounding.

The shearing demonstration was quite informative as Hugh explained exactly what was happening and how different parts of the animal yielded different types and quality of wool. The particular sheep being shorn for our benefit didn't seem to mind in the least. Hugh told us that as long as the sheep's head in held up, it will stay quiet. If the head drops toward the ground, the sheep will try to stand up. Once the fleece was off the sheep, Hugh walked us through the grading process. I think I would have to be around wool a long time before I could recognize all of the aspects he was pointing out. None of the shorn wool is wasted. Parts of it may go into a dozen or more catagories. Hugh said that during shearing time, they have 20 different bins into which they can put the various grades of wool and wool bits.

Just before lunch we sampled the olive oils they have been making as well as the black olives that Sarah had cured. They were all superb. Lunch was a meal to die for. Sarah had made all of it herself and many of the ingredients came from her garden. Bar-b-qued chicken, quiche, several kinds of salad. Dessert was her own pastries – the lemon shortbread was lethal! I could have eaten a whole pan of it.
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After lunch and good conversation, we drove around the farm looking at their tree plantings. All of this part of Australia was forested when the Europeans arrived. After a 100 years or so of tree cutting, there is nothing left to prevent the soil from eroding away. They showed us an example of a 10 or 12 foot deep gully cut by the winter water run-off. Seing this kind of damage to the land one can understand why the Thomson's are passionate about the need to restore the forests, rebuild the soil, and farm in an environmentally responsible way.

This is the most interesting expedition I have taken so far. I really liked the and admire what they are doing.

World cruise 19

February 12

Rain, rock and roll, all lightly, all day. The only change in routine for me was that I went to team trivia. I filled in on a team for a temporarily missing member, but am glad to say the team did come in second mostly in spite of my help.

At dinner this evening, Margaret's and my friend, Penny, moved to our table in the dining room. Also our other table mate, Andy, was back. He had left the ship in Auckland, flown to Perth, and took the train all the way back across Australia to Sydney where he rejoined the ship.That's quite an adventure.

As I was typing this at 11:45 p.m. our time, Margaret's cell phone rang with a voice mail saying that her new grandson, Graden, has been born! He's about a week earlier than expected, but at 7 lbs 7 oz, not premature. Congratulations to Peggy, Garner, big sister Margaret, grandmother Margaret, and anyone else involved.

February 13

I had a good tour of Melbourne today with an excellent guide named Wendy. We mostly toured the downtown area while Wendy pointed out architectural gems and talked about the history of the city and aspects of life here.

The architecture alternates (literally) between Heritage buildings which were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s mostly in Victorian style, and sleek, modern, euro-style high rise buildings. There are strict laws about the Heritage buildings. They can be totally renovated inside, but the outside cannot be changed at all, not even the color of the trim.

One of the stops we made was at a building called Eureka Skydeck. I'm not sure what is in the building (apartments? offices?) but there is a very amazing observation area on the 88th floor with floor to ceiling windows. It is supposedly the tallest public viewing place in the Southern Hemisphere ... at least at present. The elevator to the top takes less than 40 seconds. My ears popped twice in each direction. It was an enormously clear day, and we could see almost all of Melbourne.

This is the Royal Exhibition Building in fine Victorian style and used for all kinds of exhibits and meetings to this day. Next door is the ultra-modern Melbourne Museum which makes quite a contrast. I prefer this one.

Several times we crossed the Yarra River which winds through the city and is largely public park along its banks. Up stream a good ways are beautiful vinyards and rolling hills reminiscent of central Virginia.

This last photo is of something I just glimpsed. I asked Wendy about it, but didn't get a clear answer.

World cruise 18

February 10

Okay, folks. Here are the "money shots." Both were taken from our own balcony. We are docked in the heart of downtown Sydney at Circular Quay.

Today Margaret and I took a tour to the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. We had an excellent guide who pointed out the other two places where we might have been docked but which were far inferior to Circular Quay. We drove across both the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the ANZAC Bridge, past the various 2000 Olympic venues, through city and suburbia, finally reaching the main road west which is often called the "Used Car Highway." We didn't actually get out of Sydney until we were almost to the foot of the mountains. Sydney is perhaps the largest city in the world in square miles, although not in population.

Our first stop was at the Featherdale Wildlife Park which was originally a wild life rescue place. They only have Australian animals including marsupials, birds, reptiles and mammals (the dingo is descended from dogs brought by aborigines thousands of years ago). A number of less dangerous marsupials like small wallabies are allowed to roam loose for visitors to feed and pet. There are also photo ops with things like koalas.

Then we got to a place called Katoomba up in the mountains and stopped at Echo Point (which has no echo). As you can see, the general landscape is much like our Blue Ridge back home, except for one fact.

These mountains are made of sandstone like many of the areas in our Southwest. So mesa-like erosion forming tablelands and canyons does take place such as this formation called the "Three Sisters." There is an elaborate aboriginal legend about the formation called the Five Sisters, but that had to be changed when two collapsed into the canyon.

Next we saw a presentation of aboriginal culture, dance, and music played on the didgeridoo. While very interesting, a little didgeridoo playing goes a long way in my book, and the dancing involves a lot of stamping around and knee shaking. There are actually lessons on the ship in playing the didgeridoo, just as there were ukulele lessons en route to Polynesia. Thankfully, I had other things to do at those times.

By this time, according to our guide, no one on the bus had eaten in four hours so he (the guide) was getting nervous about his own safety. So our next, last, and longest stop was at a place called The Mountain Heritage Hotel where we were served a very tasty lunch of chicken or fish with a wonderful pavlova for dessert. The hotel is quite Victorian and ultra-charming as you can see here, and with views that won't quit although it was somewhat hazy by mid-afternoon ... again, much like our Blue Ridge, but the volatile oils here are from eucalyptus trees instead of pines.

February 11

Margaret's friend, Vicki, who lives here in Sydney, came and picked us up at about 11:00. She took us across the Harbor Bridge to North Sydney where she drove us all around the beautiful harbor areas and to some of the wonderful beaches there including at Balmoral and at Manly shown here.

She then took us to her home which is a gorgeous cottage that she and her husband have just finished renovating. This is a view through the living room and dining area out toward a great second story flagstone patio.

Vicki had invited another friend, Wendy, who is also heavily into organic farming and sustainable agriculture to join us for lunch. The conversation was interesting, but often above my head except in the most general of ways. The lunch itself was all organic and sustainable. The main course was free range chicken with a tuna mayonnaise sauce along with various side dishes. For dessert there was locally made ricotta cheese with fresh blackberries from Vicki's farm plus honey and thick cream.

All too soon we were back on the ship watching us sail away from Sydney.

World cruise 17

February 8

"Sailing, sailing over the bounding main." The Tasman Sea is living up to its reputation. It's not the worst I've been through, and today was better than last night, but you definitely wanted to hold onto something solid as you moved around. However, things smoothed out as the day wore on from a 13 foot swell last night to only (put quotes around that if you like) 8 feet at lunchtime today and maybe 6 feet by late afternoon.

Other than that, a quiet day at sea. We did have to pick up our passports for Australian Immigration when we get to Sydney. Until the last year or so it used to be done on board ship during the crossing from New Zealand, but I guess everything is tighter now.

February 9

Our second day on the Tasman. I woke up at some point in the middle of the night because we had stopped rocking! This morning the ocean was almost flat, and by mid-morning the sun was out and the Tasman Sea was perfectly flat! That's okay with me as it made walking around the ship a bit easier. (Oddly enough, the most difficult thing about the ship is several places where the nap on the carpet pulls my wheels diagonally off to the right when the hallway goes left.)

There should be a special color named Tasman Blue that is halfway between Midnight, Navy, and Royal. It is spectacular! And the fluffy white clouds around the horizon are icing on the cake.

Yet another time change last night. We are now on Sydney time which is 16 hours ahead of Eastern time ... Um ... Well ... When it was 8:20 a.m. here and 4:20 p.m. yester day there ... that makes my head hurt to figure it out.

We went to the show, a cabaret act, this evening after dinner. It was quite entertaining. However, during the middle of it, as the Cruise Director commented, the Captain hit a rough patch, and we started to roll again. That made the trek from the front to the back of the ship a tad adventurous. We are hoping to get up early partly to see us sail into Sydney Harbor to dock at Circular Quay near the Opera House, and partly because we have an all day tour to the Blue Mountains.