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.