Wellington, NZ

In Wellington, we each took excursions that suited our own interests. While Barb opted for a full day tour, Lord of the Rings on Location, I opted for two shorter ones. In the morning, I set out with six others in a 4 x 4 fully enclosed “bus”, as it was described for another off the beaten path trip to the coast to find the seals in their natural habitat. Six of us were in the back on benches facing each other with another man sharing the front seat with the driver who happened to own the company. After driving through Wellington, which is located at the far southern tip of New Zealand’s north island, we quickly got out of the city and soon the paved road turned to gravel. One person commented on Wellington being on the south island. I said it was actually at the far southern tip of the north island. One of the ladies agreed, saying I had been incorrect. I was pretty positive that Wellington was on the north island but she stood her ground, insisting I was wrong. Finally the driver/ guide intervened and said, “No, Chuck is right. You crossed to the north island overnight and Wellington is on the north island.” The lady was in disbelief saying, “Really?? I am sure it’s on the south island. I am going to have to check my map” almost calling into question the tour guide who lived in Wellington. The issue resolved, he opened a gate for which he had paid for the rights to travel on the private property for his tours. As in some other places, the road was steep and winding although only in a few places were the roads extremely bumpy. A few times the undercarriage of the vehicle scraped the bottom.

As we traveled, we were surprised to see an ostrich along the road and had a chance to take a picture of “George”. As throughout New Zealand, there were plenty of sheep along the steep mountains. The guide explained we had to go up the mountains in order to come down to the coast. Unfortunately while the excursion was billed as the “Seal Coast Safari”, we saw exactly four seals. The place where many seals are usually found, near a particular lighthouse, was unavailable because that particular coast has been buffeted with exceptionally high waves for the past five days. But we did see 3 pups on a rock and nearby an adult on a rock who kept a sleepy eye on its two-legged observers. Once a particularly large wave got the seal about ¾ soaked, so it decided to move to higher ground. Amidst the snapping camera shutters, it resumed its siesta while still watching what we were doing. The coast was a scene of great beauty with the waves slapping the rocky shoreline. Our return to the ship allowed just enough time for lunch before doing a Wellington city highlights tour.

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand, replacing Auckland in the late 19th century. We had time for a photo stop at the beehive shaped building which is the center of the New Zealand government and observed several other government buildings. A short while later we stopped at old St. Paul’s (Anglican) Cathedral, now no longer an official church, but still preserved because of its beauty and used for weddings, funerals, and other religious occasions. There is a new nearby Cathedral and the old St. Paul’s had been destined for the wrecking ball until preservationists in the 1960s stopped the destruction. We headed through the city and saw homes built on the hills, but interestingly, many of the homes had garages at a lower elevation which were reached by stairs and even private chairlifts. (One of the pictures shows homes built along the hill and the next picture shows the chairlift but unfortunately has reflection from bus window. It was the only picture I could get and it was from the moving bus.) The homes on the hills looked quite picturesque and gave us a good impression of New Zealand’s capital city. From there, we went high above the city to Mount Victoria Lookout where we had a nearly 360 view. Here there was a monument to the Antarctic explorer, Admiral Richard E. Byrd. High above the city, we could observe the city buildings as well as the coastline, and of course our home away from home that seems to show up wherever we are these days for some reason!

Our final two stops were to the Wellington Cable Car which took us up the hill in the city with opportunity for seeing the city rise before us. Many people use this as a convenient way to get to work without the more expensive parking or the afternoon hike up a long hill. Lastly, we were taken to see a part of the Royal Botanical Gardens of Wellington. There wasn’t much time both because we had to get back on board before the ship sailed and the Gardens and Conservatory actually stayed open a bit longer because we were there. When we arrived about six or eight college students were sitting on the lawn drinking champagne from glasses, something one doesn’t expect young people, informally dressed, to be doing. Several from the bus, including the shore excursions director, chatted with them and later told the rest of us that they were celebrating the end of their school term and the gardens seemed to be a nice place to do that. Pretty impressive! By the time we left, they were all waving good-bye to us.

Chuck

When I first realized that we would be visiting Wellington and knew that there would be a Lord of the Rings tour available, I told Chuck that I wouldn’t pass that one up under any circumstances. Knowing that he’s not a fan, I also said that I wanted him to do his thing that day so I could do my own. What follows will most likely be of much more interest to those who know J.R.R. Tolkien’s books and Peter Jackson’s movies as it talks about specific scenes from the movies and books.

As I boarded the bus, I discovered that there were only nineteen passengers and one Holland America representative (the ship’s videographer) on the tour, meaning that we would have many opportunities for questions. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable, and we understood why when we realized that he had been an extra in one of the biggest scenes of the trilogy!

Our first stop was at the summit of the beautiful Victoria Park, which provided us a panoramic view of Wellington from above. What might have been magnificent views were somewhat dulled by an overcast day, but it was still interesting to locate the ship as well as other places we would be visiting during the day. (This was the same stop that Chuck had made on his tour.)

About a mile down the road in Victoria Park we took a walk through the woods to view three filming locations. The first was the Rohirrim encampment in The Two Towers, as well as the cave-like entrance to the Passage of the Dead that Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli reluctantly traversed. I was completely amazed since there was nothing that would indicate sheer rocks or caves. From there, we proceeded a few hundred yards down the hill, and the guide asked if anyone knew what had been filmed there. This one I could answer – I called it the mushroom scene from Fellowship of the Ring. He called it “Get off the road!” His way of describing things was amazing. Being a resident of Wellington, he was able to add interesting anecdotes – like the story about the lady who was strolling through the woods walking her dog while they were filming this sequence. She was stopped and questioned, and allowed to proceed when they realized she had no cameras or video equipment with her, let alone the fact that she was completely unaware of what was transpiring there. Being a public park, many people used it daily and had no idea at the time that such a world-famous movie was in production. We picked out trees and paths that could be identified in the movie and enjoyed rerunning that film sequence in our mind’s eye. The final scene was the run to the ferry. We were perched in the exact location of the ringwraith that was scouting for the hobbits and could see the hilly terrain that they had to dash through in order to reach Buckleberry Ferry.

Driving through one section of Wellington, we saw what appeared to be rows and rows of warehouses. Our guide told us not to be fooled. Behind those doors were thousands of sets, props, costumes, etc., that were purposely kept in unassuming places. Yes, we were driving by the WETA Workshop, home of the many, many production aspects of Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia fame. We weren’t allowed inside because of the secrecy behind productions, but we did get to visit the WETA Cave, which had a wonderful display of artifacts and a short video showing the work that WETA does. Not far from WETA was the production studio – and we saw as well as a huge white wall painted in various shades of blue and green – colors used for blue-screen and green-screen scenes.

Then it was on to Dry Creek Quarry. As we drove to a nearby suburb of Wellington, our tour guide had an interesting story. As a Chemistry teacher, he was very much looking forward (as all teachers do) to the end of term, which for Kiwis comes right before their Christmas (summer) holiday. As a bit-part actor, he would occasionally take a call from an agent for a small part in local movies. One evening about a week before the end of the term, he received a call from his agent during dinner. The agent asked if he’d like work, and he said he was sort of busy and wasn’t sure if he should. The agent told him, he was sure he’d want this job, so he finally agreed to take it. The agent told him to report to Dry Creek Quarry at 7:30. He reminded the agent that 7:30 wasn’t convenient because he was a teacher. The agent said, “I mean 7:30 this evening.” So off he went to Dry Creek Quarry, having no idea what he was about to become involved in.

He reported to a wardrobe person who put him into a costume with leather armor, bows, arrows, and a helmet with hair attached since he was bald. The person explained that he was going to be a Rohirrim soldier and directed him to a bus that would take him to the film location. Being the last one on the bus, he found the only empty seat, next to a monstrous person costumed as an Uruk-Hai. The person greeted him, “G’day, mate. How’re ya goin’? Looks like you’re a soldier of Rohan.”

“Yes, sir. It’s my first day on the job.”

“Would you like me to show you around? I’m off-duty now.”

“Sure.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you after breakfast.”

“Breakfast? At 8:15 PM?”

“You’re gonna need it!”

A while later a tall lanky man approached him. “G’day, mate. How’re ya goin’?” At that point he realized this tall thin man was the Uruk-Hai (now sans wardrobe) who had sat next to him on the bus. The man showed him around quickly, and then directed him to the set. That was the first of several months of shooting. He would get to the film set at about 7:30 and wrap up around 4:30 AM, grab a few hours of sleep, then head for school! Those who are familiar with the movie can only imagine how exhausting it must have been to participate in the Battle of Helm’s Deep! I had heard about the t-shirts that were available for those who did the sequence and was going to ask him if he’d gotten an I survived the Battle of Helm’s Deep t-shirt, but he volunteered the information himself. He had decided not to get it, but instead he purchased a license plate saying “ROHAN”.

With that story in mind, we were very interested in seeing Dry Creek Quarry, which was the setting for Helms Deep and later, Minas Tirith. If you didn’t know what it was, you’d drive right by it; it was not at all imposing! (I’ve posted a picture in Picasa.)

A few miles down the road at the location site for the Anduin River scene, the guide told of the problems the Fellowship of the Ring actors had in paddling their canoes. They were finally forced to use scuba divers beneath the boats that steered them. Then we headed to Harcourt Park, where we walked in the path of Gandalf and Saruman as they discussed the finding of the One Ring, carrying staffs and pretending we were one of the two wizards. You could still see where new grass had been planted after they had paved a roadway through the park for the scene.

After lunch, we headed up to the rainforest. There we visited the river that Arwen forded as she took Frodo to see Elrond. A short walk brought us the site of Rivendell and the Council of Elrond. There was nothing left of the filming site, but one could just imagine the gathering of Elves, Men, Dwarves, Wizard, and Hobbits as they discussed the destruction of the One Ring.
On another subject, he showed us a fern that was a symbol that the Maori people use for eternal life. Part of the fern is curled tightly, and this represents new life. As the curl relaxes, it gives more and more of the appearance of a traditional fern, symbolizing the connection with family and history.

The anecdotes that were related are far too numerous and long to tell here without becoming tedious and boring for readers who are not LOTR fanatics as I am. The settings were made much more vivid by the experiences of the guide, who was so familiar with the production details and stories. It was truly amazing to see how much work had been done to recreate Middle Earth in urban surroundings, then to restore those surroundings back to their original state (even to the detail of replacing rocks in their exact original locations!) I’m anxious to watch the movies yet again and enjoy the scenes while revisiting in my mind the locations I saw in Wellington. This was truly a memorable and fascinating shore excursion for anyone who is a Lord of the Rings aficionado!

Barb

Christchurch, NZ

Holland America really did their part to honor the Veterans and recognize Veterans (Remembrance) Day! A few days before the 11th, we received a memo asking us if either of us had served in the Armed Forces and telling us about a service at 6:30 AM on the 11th in honor of veterans. We were unable to attend due to our lengthy day, but were glad to know that HAL was doing something to recognize those who sacrificed so much for our respective countries. On the 10th everyone received poppies to wear proudly, and the daily program for the 11th included the poem In Flanders Fields. More on this later.

November 11th was by far the busiest day of the entire cruise! We had scheduled a shore excursion that was to last 8 ½ to 9 hours, and had also been invited to a shore event in honor of Veterans Day that would start a half hour after we were to arrive home after the shore excursion. We awoke early in order to have everything organized for the day. However, Chuck selected this particular day to misplace his ship ID, state ID, credit card, and cash! So rather than going up to have breakfast, we searched the room quite diligently – and repeatedly! The result was – nothing! As the minutes ticked by, we tried every single place we could think of, including the mini refrigerator and the dirty laundry I had ready to send out. Finally Chuck went to the concierge to ask for a new ship ID and his passport because New Zealand requires an original photo ID to be permitted into the dock area. So off we went, already with frazzled nerves.

As we prepared to disembark the ship, the prerequisite check was conducted. They were searching bags for any contraband items (fresh fruits, grains, seeds, etc., which are not allowed off the ship in either Australia or New Zealand). Each time I see this, I think of my friend Roberta and her dog Buddy because they use “security beagles”. While we waited to process through ship security, one lady asked the handler about her dog. She immediately received a business card. Being a dog lover myself, I requested one also, and was promptly awarded with the most unusual business card I’d ever received – with a picture of Nero the Security Beagle!

The weather was cold and rainy – the dreariest day we’d experienced on the entire cruise – and it suited Chuck’s mood perfectly! The bus headed off through Christchurch in the rain toward our first stop, the Waimakakira River (Waimak for short), where we were scheduled for a jet boat ride to our next destination. On the way, we encountered a flock of sheep trying to cross the road, along with the farmer with his sheep dogs caged in the back of his cab, frantic to get out and take care of the sheep, which were scattering as traffic passed through. That entertaining moment past, we continued on to the Waimak, arriving there mid-morning for tea. After our snack, we were given disposable rain ponchos (something I’d have loved to have had available all those years of doing Outdoor Ed with fifth graders) as well as life jackets. Looking like 30 Nanooks of the South (or Michlen Men – take your pick!), we waddled down to the river and were seated tightly into the jet boat. Our trip down the river reminded me of a water version of the Wild Mouse. We made speedy turns, zipping quickly through the water – making us laugh at the bumps and direction changes. With the rain pelting us and the water splashing up in our faces, we weren’t able to see much of the beauty of the river gorge, but the ride was quite memorable!

From there we boarded tussock buggies (small four-wheel-drive buses)for our journey across Flock Hill Station, a 300,000-acre sheep farm high up in the mountains. By now the rain had subsided and we’d catch occasional glimpses of blue skies. (Bring on the blue!!!) We made several photo stops, looking out over the spectacular mountain scenery. The trip across the farm took about an hour and a half, and we enjoyed it, especially with increasingly blue skies! They say New Zealand has about 35 million sheep (we’ve heard quotes between 25 and 70 million), and we must have seen half of them as we traversed the farm! As I climbed out of the buggy for the last time, I asked the driver a question about a scene from Chronicles of Narnia – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe movie (LWW) that was supposedly filmed somewhere on Flock Hill Station. It was then that I learned he’d been an extra in the movie battle scene. I wish I’d known sooner!

We had a delicious buffet lunch, and then wandered around in the gardens of Flock Hill Station before boarding the bus to head back to Christchurch. By this time, the sky was a brilliant blue, and we were treated to breathtaking views of the mountains. We made a quick photo stop at the location of the LWW battle scene. Having taught the novel as a long-term sub right before the movie came out, I thrilled to be able to visit that site.

In Christchurch, we took a quick tour of the city. Like so many other ports, we wished we’d had one more day to explore! It was a lovely city, and one we’d have liked to visit in greater depth. Two of the highlights were viewing the Christchurch Cathedral and a sculpture made from some of the remains of the World Trade Center. Christchurch is one of a small number of worldwide locations that received metal from Ground Zero to put on public display. We were back at the ship by 5:15, and within minutes Chuck found his lost wallet. In laying out his clothes for the evening, he’d forgotten which pair of pants he’d worn the night before and had checked in the pocket of the wrong pair of pants. It was a tremendous relief!

We headed out to our shore event at 6:00, which was held at the Christchurch Air Force Museum. Upon our arrival, we enjoyed socializing with friends and making new acquaintances. Suddenly we heard an air raid siren, and a jeep rolled in. The emcee for the evening, Major Chaos, introduced himself. Wearing a hat with a bill that was about six inches too long, a crooked moustache, and epaulettes and ribbons that extended about three inches into nothingness, he was quite the comic! He immediately zeroed in our friend Tony. Why? Because they were both bald! He asked Tony to lead the procession into the dining room (hangar), and the lady behind him urged him on. When Major Chaos asked another friend, Grace, her name, she said, “Um…” So Major Chaos immediately announced that “Um” would accompany Tony at the head of the procession. The rest of the evening they were referred to as, “Tony and Um.”

We were seated with four other friends and three people we didn’t know. Imagine our surprise when the man beside Chuck told us he was from Chicago and even further surprise when we learned that he knew several people in Mokena, and mentioned specifically his niece, Michelle Miller. I recognized the name and wondered if I’d had her as a student, but being a common name and several years in the past I wasn’t sure. In the meantime, we discussed favorite restaurants and other Chicago things. (A few days later, he called my room to confirm that I’d had his niece – he’d emailed her and asked her. He asked me if he could come to the room and show me her pictures on Facebook. Amazingly, I realized that I’d also had her son Zach – just a few years before I’d retired! I’d completely forgotten that I’d met with her at parent conferences. When her name had been mentioned, I was thinking of her as a student, not as Zach’s mother! Talk about a small world!)

At one point the room went dark and we heard the sound of an airplane landing. Spotlights focused on the plane, and out stepped the “Andrews Sisters”. They put on a marvelous show – all World War II vintage numbers. We thoroughly enjoyed their music and the entire evening. It was a wonderful way to commemorate Veterans Day and remember those who served their countries. It had been a very long day that had had a shaky start, but it turned out to be one of the most memorable on the trip.

Being very patriotic, we were both so pleased that Holland America had put forth such a tremendous effort to make Veterans Day memorable for the passengers.

Barb

Fiordlands National Park & Dunedin, NZ

Our departure from Tasmania took us across the Tasman Sea which apparently is quite notorious for being rocky. It could have been much worse, and was less rough than the day we rounded the northeast coast of Tasmania from Melbourne. If you look at our itinerary, you will note that the New Zealand segment of our trip is by far the busiest as it is the only time of the trip that we have seven consecutive days with ports plus our busy day of scenic cruising of Fiordland National Park, New Zealand’s largest national park. (For those of you who have traveled to Norway, they spell it with a “j” and New Zealand spells with an “i”.)

Nearly everyone was up bright and early on November 9 as we were scheduled to sail into the first sound (fiord), at about 7 AM. The bow was open for people to watch us sail through and the port lecturer explained where we were and what to notice. We made no stops in Fiordland, but a number of guests transferred to a boat for an overland trip to Dunedin. Once they disembarked the ms Amsterdam, the ship turned around and retraced its path out of the Milford Sound. Milford Sound is in far southwestern New Zealand, so we had come back out and travel around the bottom of the south island of New Zealand before beginning our voyage up east coast. We were fortunate in that the sky was blue which we understand is a relative rarity. The area experiences rain between 180 and 200 hundred days with rain per year. However this day was not one of the rainy days. We lucked out again!

For those of you have not been fortunate to travel in any fiords, they are characterized by steep mountains dropping into the sea and are noted for their magnificent scenery when weather cooperates. As we sailed, we could note mountains behind mountains which gave different shadings of blues, purples, greens, and browns depending on how close they were to us and what the topography was. Many waterfalls cascaded down into the fiord, some with strong force and others with a trickle. Sometimes one could see waterfalls start at the top of the mountain, then disappear behind shrubbery and trees and then reappear as it reached the water. Other times, the falls themselves dropped straight down into the fiord. The rush of the falls was dependent on snowmelt and quantity of rain. I spoke to one English lady who told me as we watched the fantastic natural beauty with the background of sunshine and blue sky, that her sister had been there a few years ago and had seen nothing because it was rainy and foggy. We were most fortunate!

Now we have visited three of the four major fiords in the world. In addition to New Zealand’s, we have seen Alaska’s and Norway’s. The only one we have not seen to be able to compare is Chile’s. Gratefully, we have seen all three fiords in sunshine. Every one is beautiful but they do have some differences. Alaska’s have the added bonus of the glaciers and glacial scenery with the calving of ice into the water. The mountains of Norway are sheer drops into the fjord and many are quite narrow so that one feels that they could reach out and touch each side. New Zealand’s are wider and the ship doesn’t come as close to the shore and gives a wider sweep of panorama. (It’s somewhat similar to how I would compare the American and Canadian Rockies. In the American Rockies, as in Glacier National Park in Montana, one climbs steep mountains with frequent hairpin turns. In the Canadian Rockies, one drives the highway, observing the mountain scenery from a greater distance.)

After moving back into the sea for a few hours, we headed back into the Thompson Sound and exited through the Doubtful Sound. Later in the day, we went through the Dusky Sound for a couple hours. While the day was filled with beautiful sunshine, it grew very windy. At one point, I found myself on a vantage point above the bow off the sixth deck. Barb had been there but wisely went back inside. I remained to take a few more pictures off the port side. A lady had gone to the same area and suddenly the wind grew ferocious and gale-like. Unfortunately the door to the inside there said “staff only”, so we had to go in the public door on the starboard side. Both of us grabbed the handrails and bucked the high wind. At one point, my glasses nearly flew off, so I had to take them off and hold them as I groped my way along. She started down a staircase on the port side but a man was coming up and told us we couldn’t get inside there either. Another man appeared too and when the lady had a hard time fighting the wind to get back to the 6th deck, she was assisted by the two men who were ahead of me. By clinging for dear life on the hand rail, we made our way against the wind to the door to the inside. By the time I got there, the lady was fighting in vain to open the inner door to the ship corridor. One of the men said, “It’s going to be crowded, but let’s all get in between the two doors, close the outer door, and then we will be able to open the inner door.” That accomplished, we all came inside, agreeing it was one of the strongest winds we had ever had to walk in.

As we exited the Fiordland National Park, we counted ourselves thrilled and fortunate for the sights we had seen. The cruise director told us that several people had told him that they did this cruise specifically because the park was on the itinerary.

Tuesday, November 10, according to our daily program, should be clear with a high of 51 degrees. However when we opened our curtains as we sailed into Dunedin, the skies were heavily overcast. Well, we figured, the skies will probably clear. But we donned the warm clothes we had had the foresight to bring knowing that southern New Zealand was the farthest south we would be on our journey and that it might be quite cool. In addition, we are guessing that it might be cool in Chicago when we get home on December 2! So, wearing a flannel shirt, sweatshirt, cords, a jacket, we set off on our shore excursion for the day. I was so proud of myself for bringing a pair of stretchable gloves that certainly came in handy. Dunedin is a city several miles from our docking location and we were in a working port. Lots of lumber was stacked along the port and heavy equipment was making piles of wood chips. The lumber was destined for a paper mill.

We immediately boarded a small boat for a scenic cruise to try to observe the bird and sea life of the Otago Peninsula. Among the more common and ever present gulls, we were watching for albatross some of whom have wingspans of 10 feet. The naturalist explained the seas were not as rocky as albatross like as they like to soar and glide with the wind. However all of a sudden she exclaimed, “There is an albatross coming toward us.” We snapped pictures and even those of us who are not birders could quickly note the huge bird flying with the smaller ones. Then, later, she pointed one out near a lighthouse and again we were pleased with the opportunity to have a rare view for us who don’t live in “albatross country.”

After the two hour cruise, we boarded a bus for a trip to the New Zealand Marine Studies Centre which is a working research center. We visited their small aquarium and saw several species of fish and sea creatures including live lobster-size crayfish, squid, and even some seahorses. Did you know that the male seahorse carries out the reproductive responsibilities? We then boarded some cramped 8x8-wheel vehicles for an overland adventure. Six of us per vehicle plus the driver, rocked and rolled over the bumpy roads to see a gray seal habitat with several seal pups. That was followed by a stop to see some rare yellow-eyed penguins. They were so rare, that we had to look along the shoreline and saw one sitting on a hill and by noting the penguin and aiming the camera, we could take a picture of the lone penguin from the distance. Back in our vehicle we rocked and rolled back to the headquarters for some lunch. Leaving there on the bus, we headed to Dunedin under sunny skies. We had experienced some relatively strong rain at the seal habitat, so were glad when the sunny skies appeared in the afternoon. The terrain was dotted with hills and sheep. We have heard estimates that New Zealand has anywhere from 35 to 70 million sheep which reminded us of Wales and Scotland.

When we returned to Dunedin, which by the way was named for Edinburgh, Scotland, our guide gave us a brief tour of that city. Our tour included various city sites with a quick photo stop at the architecturally interesting railroad station which had an ornate tile floor in the waiting room. He also showed us what Guinness Book of World Records verifies as the steepest residential street at 19 degrees.

Chuck

Melbourne & Hobart (Tasmania), Australia

On the sea day following our departure from Sydney, we had the rockiest waters either of us had ever experienced, with gale-force winds and waves of 12 to 18 feet. I guess if I didn’t get seasick then, I don’t ever have to worry about it again! It was quite an adventure negotiating around the ship, grabbing for rails as the ship rocked, rolled, and pitched! We were amazed that the numerous people in walkers and wheelchairs managed to maneuver themselves through the corridors! We wondered if the rough waters were caused by the fact that we were swinging around the tip of Australia and moving from the Tasman Sea into the far southeastern corner of the Indian Ocean (and meaning we’ve now been in every ocean).

We saw little of the city of Melbourne itself, since we were doing yet another animal wildlife excursion. Our two tour guides Tim & Sarah were back at work after a holiday: the Melbourne Cup (as prestigious as the Kentucky Derby) had been held the day before. They informed us that the Melbourne Cup has been nicknamed “the ten minutes that stop a nation”. Both had been to barbies the day before, but they assured us that they’d never had shrimp on the barbie. Must be an American thing… They also claimed that they’d never been to an Outback Restaurant or had Bloomin’ Onion, though Sarah joked that if she ever got to the US she’d be interested in going to the Outback to see what kind of food Australians eat!

Our first stop took us to the Serendip Sanctuary in hopes of seeing yet more kangaroos, this time in the wild. We caught glimpses of emus, which we learned we’d been pronouncing wrong all our lives; according to Tim, it’s “e-mew, not e-moo”. (We had a “test” at the end of the tour.) For some reason, every single emu we saw was positioned on the other side of the bus or far in the distance. We got off the bus and walked to a billabong, a lake that’s been formed from a dried up river, where there were hundreds of wild birds nesting. I had been excited to see one ibis wandering around the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, and suddenly I was seeing more than I could possibly count nesting in low trees near the billabong. We caught glimpses of babies (not sure what they call a baby ibis) covered with fluff, and we also saw magpie geese – very large birds, that might make our geese look like younger cousins.

Back on the bus, Tim showed us an emu egg (abandoned & unhatchable), and we were surprised at the size and toughness of the shell. He had been in communication with some park naturalists, and they were going to try an experiment. They had sighted a mob of about 50 kangaroos, and had hoped to chase them through our group. We were positioned in small groups near a stand of trees, and the park naturalists were going to spook the kangaroos, and theoretically the kangaroos would take off and run (hop) through the stand of trees to get away. The kangaroos outsmarted the rangers though, because we saw them take off – way at the end of the stand of trees along the rim of the preserve. Oh, well, you can never predict wild animals.

We stopped for morning tea, and were entertained by the cagy little willy wagtails a short distance away. These little black & white birds were plopped on the ground chirping at us. The ranger explained that they were trying to lure us away from their nest. Chuck moved forward a little, hoping to sight the nest in the tree above them, while still maintaining a respectful distance. The ranger said, “Sir, would you step back please? You’re too close to their nest.” The nest was in the tree nearest us and was laden with three fledgling birds. Those wagtails had really pulled one over on us!

As we left the park, we saw a small mob of kangaroos lounging near the entrance – almost as if they were waving us good-bye and smiling at us, thinking, “Another gang of tourists outsmarted!”

After a brief stop for a magnificent vista that displayed Melbourne sprawled at the horizon (much like we might get a glimpse of Chicago from our far south-west suburbs), we traveled on to the You Yang Ranges National Park, where we hoped to glimpse some koalas in the wild. The rangers had been scouting out koalas in trees, and they were pleased to report that we’d most likely be able to see two koalas – unless they’d migrated to a new location while awaiting our arrival. We weren’t disappointed. We thought of our friends Al & Carol, wishing they could see Merle the Koala – a huge reddish koala sitting high up in a gum tree. At first he looked like an enormous teddy bear, but I didn’t dare let our guides hear me say it, as we’ve been informed over and over that koalas are not bears. (In fact, the name koala in one of the Aboriginal languages means “no drink” since they get their water from the eucalyptus leaves.) Merle sat majestically in his high perch looking down at all of us as we looked up at him, snapping pictures and peering through binoculars, till our guides told us it was time to continue on our way so we could meet Smoky the Koala. Smoky was a gray koala, and in her case, they had actually been able to identify her daughter and her grandson. So Grandma Smoky was an older koala, probably about eight years old. Again, Smoky sat watching us sleepily as we studied her. A real treat came when she decided her branch wasn’t that comfortable (I guess) and she climbed down to a lower branch. It’s the most I’ve seen a koala move – they’re such sleepy little animals with such a low metabolism!

We learned the way to tell the difference between male and female koalas – that’s assuming we can actually see their chests! Koalas have white fur on their chests. Female koalas’ fur is all white, while male koalas have a brown spot in the fur. We enjoyed seeing these elusive animals in their natural habitats.

Hobart, Tasmania, our last port in Australia was a wonderful surprise! Tasmania is at about 42° S, which is comparable to Chicago at about 42° N. Our shore excursion was a full-day trip that took us out into the lush, green countryside of the island. Had we not been riding on the left, listening to our Aussie guide, and viewing possibly more sheep than we saw in Wales or Scotland, we might have thought we were driving through upstate New York, with the orchards, vineyards, and rolling green hills. We had read that Tasmania was the most mountainous island in the world, and while we can’t imagine it being more mountainous than places like Bora Bora or Moorea, we wondered if it was considered the most mountainous island that wasn’t volcanic! Our drive to Field Mountain National Park was absolutely lovely, and enhanced by the (unpredicted) sunshine that was ever-present. Being mid-spring, flowers were in bloom, including vivid irises and carpets of brilliant orange and yellow flowers that reminded me of daisies and spread like weeds along the roadside if planted in someone’s garden.

As we arrived at the park, our guide pointed out a vast expanse of lawn and wondered if we could guess how it got mowed. None of us came to the correct conclusion that it was a marsupial lawn that was kept short, not by human gardeners, but by all the marsupials, who are nocturnal animals and come down to graze on the grass each evening. He told us that if we came at night we’d see kangaroos, wallabies, tiny pademelons (little wallabies about the size of a large raccoon), wombats, and possums feeding there. We took a short walk through a lush green rainforest that brought us to the Russell Falls. On our way, we saw umbrella palms (short palm trees that look much like umbrellas), moss-covered trees at every step of the way, the tallest flowering plants in the world (that weren’t quite as tall as redwoods, but came pretty close) and even a little glow-worm cave, though it wasn’t dark enough to see the glow-worms. Both of us saw pademelons. I watched one feeding on some grass, while Chuck was able to witness a family of three – mother & joey, plus what he assumed was the father, who came over to nuzzle the mother. We had been told to watch for platypuses in the stream, but since the platypus is also nocturnal and extremely shy and difficult to spot, nobody on our tour saw one. Russell Falls was a beautiful, three-tiered waterfall, all in succession, unlike what we grew up with visiting at Letchworth State Park in NY. While much smaller, it was a magnificent waterfall!

We made a brief stop in the picturesque little village of Richmond with its sandstone buildings (reminding me of the Cotswolds), which boasted the oldest bridge and oldest Catholic church in Australia. There were quaint little B&Bs sprawled across the town, as well as interesting little shops that we wished we’d had more time to visit. However, we needed to be on our way quickly in order to arrive at the Meadowbank Estates Winery for our lunch appointment. This included a wine tasting; something Chuck and I are such experts at, as most of you know! We tried sips of three different kinds of wine, but our culture when it comes to wine is sadly lacking and we couldn’t tell the difference between the three wines! However, we enjoyed the scenery during lunch. The vineyard sprawled down a hill toward a lake, and the mountains across the valley provided a breathtaking vista.

Our final stop was the Bonorong Wildlife Center where we were treated one last time to the indigenous animals of Australia. We’ve certainly made animal excursions a priority, but Australian animals are so different from those at home that we took every opportunity to experience them. That’s reflected in the frequency of animal pictures we’ve included in our albums. Each experience we had was slightly different, making each very worthwhile. At Bonorong we were able to feed the kangaroos, and we watched them lazing in the sun or hopping around, or just being inquisitive about their human guests. They certainly seem to have a lot of personality! We saw one mother with such a huge joey hanging out of her pouch that we were told she’d probably kick him out of the house pretty soon. (All we could see was legs and tail hanging out.) Chuck witnessed a joey that had been “out” crawl back into his mother’s pouch. We both enjoyed watching the little Tasmanian devils feeding and racing around their pens. There were usually two or three to an enclosure, and if one got too near another, they would go on a merry chase! Somehow I had pictured them as much larger, but they were probably more the size of a Westie. Another treat was seeing a mother koala carrying her baby on her back.

We were very sad to leave Australia, but have three days at sea to “rest up” before arriving in New Zealand. On Saturday night, we were invited to a Captain’s Dinner at the Pinnacle Grill. Everyone has one of the chief officers at their table, and we were told by others on our deck who had already attended the event that there were only about four people to a table. However, when we were escorted to our seats, we found ourselves at a table for fourteen and assigned seats at the table, scrambling people up so they were sitting with others. Chuck found himself just two seats down from the captain, while I was two seats up from the cruise hostess. We really had to be on our best behavior! The Pinnacle manager Kim had told us a few weeks ago that she only puts friendly and interesting people at the captain’s table – so I guess we must appear friendly and interesting!  In conversation with guests sitting near me, I indicated that I was a career teacher and began subbing immediately after retiring. One man commented, “Then you’ll be interested in finding out that our tour guide in Hobart also did substitute teaching. He told us he earns $300 a day as a sub.” My only comment was, “WOW!!!” (However, I do have to substantiate that fact by saying that $300 Australian is probably only about $285 American.)

Sunday evening was “Dinner with the Gnomes”, and our dining stewards were all decked out as gnomes. The poor guys really have to put up with some unusual costumes during this cruise, but they take it in stride and do it with good humor while keeping the guests laughing and having a good time.

One of our table mates told us that in all her travels, she thinks the most beautiful country she’s ever seen is New Zealand. We look forward to our week there. It will be extremely busy, with shore excursions five of the seven days in port (three of those will be very long days with 8+ hour excursions and a shore event on Veterans Day evening), and visiting our friends Brian and Margaret during the other two days, we’re not sure when we’ll be able to post blogs during our time in NZ.

Barb

Sydney

Word can’t come close to fairly describing our stay so far in Australia! I had heard that Australia was a great country to visit but there is no way to do justice to it with mere words.

As I sit at the computer to start this blog, I am looking out the window at the magnificent world-famous Sydney Opera House. What a spectacular view we have for three days in Sydney. Our primary focus is on the Opera House, but we also see the shops and wharf as well as ferries plying between this part of Sydney and other areas. Since it is November, the sun is shining and the temperatures are warm with the spring trees and flowers in bloom. In Barb’s last blog, she mentioned the purple jacaranda trees which we see in profusion here. Like some of our flowering trees in the spring, best time for jacaranda is late October and early November.

Let me back up and not get ahead of the story. On Halloween morning, nearly the whole ship was up at about 5:45 to view the beautiful sail-in to Sydney Harbor. The bow was opened to guests as were all the decks and commentary was broadcast so we could have everything pointed out to us. As soon as the first glimpse of the bridge and then the top of the Opera came into view, everyone was snapping the first of thousands of pictures people must have taken. Even those crew members and other employees that could break away from duties were out since for some, it was their first visit to Sydney too. After 20 consecutive weeks of Alaska (Seattle to Seattle), they have enjoyed the change – and the warmer temperatures. Our assistant dining steward drew the “duty” of serving coffee and pastries at the front of the ship. As we drew nearer and nearer, the Opera House and bridge became larger, first both directly in front of us and then our large ship slipped into the Circular Quay between the Opera and bridge. This time both sides of the ship have a view. We look directly at the Opera while the starboard side has the bridge and parklands to watch. Some of us decided that we would move the ship around so sometime today, we should switch great views!

Halloween morning, we decided to do a half day city tour so we could comprehend what Sydney had to offer – and it is a lot! We started out driving through “The Rocks”. Our tour description said “Australia’s most historic enclaves sits in the shadow of the Harbour Bridge and exhibits the heritage of two centuries in its narrow, twisting streets.” The old homes are well maintained, many of which look like the row houses we see all over Britain. Many had flowering jacaranda and other delicate trees lining the street. From there, we moved into the part of the city with a mixture of stately Victorian era buildings (government buildings, museums, shops, and pubs) with a mixture of modern high rise structures and sculptures.

This brought us back to the Sydney Opera House for an inside tour. When looking at the winning architectural design, some see ocean waves, others see sails, and still others, shells. We obtained our tickets and met our guide who gave us earphones so she could talk to us and everyone could hear! After viewing a very brief video on the history of the building of the Opera, we first saw a smaller performance center which could operate as a theater in the round if so desired but because of movable seats, it could serve other functions as well. Then we were treated an inside view of the main theater of the opera, and while our guide explained the theater to us, we watched the workmen setting the stage for that evening’s performance of The Mikado. If there was any opera (in this case, an operetta) that I would have enjoyed, it was The Mikado. It brought back long ago memories of when I was a senior in high school and our school musical was The Mikado. I can’t think of The Mikado without thinking of my good friend from high school, Merlin Lawson, who played the role of the Mikado way back then…. We did speak to several people who attended (it costs big bucks to attend) and they said it was outstanding and unforgettable.

Following our tour of Opera House, we were on the road again for more touring of Sydney including some of the expensive homes along the waterfront and a stop at Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach. After our cool Chicago summer, it has been great enjoying the warm temperatures of an Australian spring. Some days we have been exceeding temperatures in places like Phoenix and Tampa, much less Chicago and Buffalo! By the way, we were told that Sydney has approximately the same latitude as Los Angeles and Atlanta do in the Northern Hemisphere.

Upon our return from our half day tour, Barb and I went off on our separate ways. Both of us had tasks we wanted to accomplish that didn’t involve each other. I did a bit of shopping in their weekend market, again conveniently located a short distance from our ship. And I accomplished my primary objective of getting a haircut! After dinner, Barb and I took a fairly short walk to admire the city at dusk and to see the lights on the Opera House and our ship.

On Sunday, we were off on a half day excursion to the Koala Park near Sydney. Barb is an animal lover and looks for every opportunity to find excursions that include wildlife. I enjoy them too and especially like the Australian type which naturally they feature here. The sleepy koalas actually opened their eyes to stare at their guests as we watched them back. We likewise enjoyed watching the kangaroos doing what kangaroos do! Here we saw several who had their joeys in their pouches. Usually it was just a foot sticking out but one obliged us by poking its head out so we could see it the way we had pictured kangaroos. Not being very knowledgeable about kangaroos, we had a misconception that some of you may also have. We wrongly assumed that the pouch was horizontal to the body and that the joey rode around sitting with its little head out. Instead the pouch is a hole and it’s more vertical than horizontal. The teat is down in the pouch so the joey needs to go well into the pouch to be fed. Barb took a picture of a kangaroo and me eye to eye which I think looks a bit goofy but she has proclaimed that it’s “cute” so I think she is going to insist that it be included in the pictures. She wants to take a kangaroo home as a pet but is concerned that immigration officials wouldn’t like illegal kangaroos crossing the border. I reminded her that while the kangaroo would probably have no problem with Molly (her dog for those who don’t know), but Molly might be put off by her new companion in the house. So I think she has reluctantly given up the idea of the pet kangaroo! By the way, did you know that kangaroos are physically unable to move backwards, as are emus? That’s why the kangaroo and emu are a part of Australia’s coat of arms and their national slogan is “Advance Australia”.

After seeing the other animals we traveled though some of the 2000 Summer Olympic venues. Sydney is impressive in that it still utilizes much of its Olympic complex. That’s not a surprise in a sports-crazed country which with a population of about 22 million battles the US, China, and Russia for dominance in numbers of medals. If it were done on a per capita basis, Australia would be dominant.

We returned via the Parramatta River on a public ferry and enjoyed seeing the sailboats and expensive waterfront property all along the route. Once again, Barb and I split up after returning. Barb went shopping at The Rocks markets and I set off to check the Royal Botanical Gardens which is a short walk away. As I entered the gardens, I couldn’t believe the beauty at every turn: lush green trees and shrubs, flowers and flowering trees (including the ever-present jacarandas). As I went into one area, I heard loud screeching and birds flying around. I looked up and found, not birds, but flying foxes (bats!) all over, some flying but many just hanging upside down from the trees. There was a sign saying that the flying foxes had destroyed a number of trees in the gardens but they seemed to remain confined to one small area. As I left that area, they weren’t to be seen again. I came toward some water and found that it was a cove with a wonderful view of the back of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. I followed the path with the ever-present view of the rear of Opera House to the now familiar location of our ship. We were drawn back to the ship for an evening entertainment from another group of Aborigines playing the haunting sounds of the didgeridoo. This group featured some rather young boys who danced (very effectively too) with the adults which also included a number of women. Another great day!

On our third and sadly, last, day in Sydney we awoke to cloudy skies which looked like a definite for rain. While disappointed, we had not had a single day when we were on land where it was predominately cloudy, much less rainy. We had scheduled a full day on a tour to the Blue Mountains, Australia’s equivalent of the Grand Canyon. We got off to a slightly late start and drove though some now familiar areas of Sydney. This itinerary included a stop at the 2000 Sydney Olympic site where we were able to get out and see the Olympic Stadium and walk among some poles which listed all of the volunteers that helped make the Sydney games so successful. In addition we saw other sites including the basketball, aquatic, and several other venues. It was most impressive to see how Sydney is utilizing so many of the structures that were a part of their Olympic games. Just last year for example, we passed several of the sites of the Athens 2004 games and they had fallen into disrepair.

Before lunch we had a quick vista stop to see the canyon from above with the major focus on what they call the “Three Sisters” which are three tall rocks soaring above the landscape. We visited two lovely towns with lively downtowns near the Blue Mountains and had our lunch in the town of Leura before heading for our major stop at “Scenic World” Here we took a cable car down the canyon. Our guide suggested we try to be on the left side as picture-taking would be better there. At the bottom we walked through a rainforest (but fortunately not the kind we did in Fiji!). A walkway had been constructed with frequent descriptions of what we were viewing which allowed us to understand some of the flora of the rainforest. As we were in the heavily tree covered rainforest we began to encounter some showers. The morning clouds had earlier given way to better weather but now showers were moving in. Our walk was nearly over and we waited for the railway to carry us back to the top. This was billed as the world’s steepest perpendicular railway. It was a short ride, but we were in a cage-like structure and purposely tilted back in our seats for safety reasons.

Our guide on this excursion was excellent and gave us commentaries about the history of Australia as well as some of the flowers and trees we saw along the way. He described several of Australia’s animal species and what their interesting mating practices are. We were amazed at his knowledge of Australian lore and he even quoted extensively from memory some lengthy poetry. Since we were departing Sydney late in the afternoon, we were scheduled for the mandatory lifeboat drills since several hundred had disembarked in Sydney and others had joined for the last half of the cruise. It is somewhat of a nuisance but we understand the necessity of the drill. Several vocal people in the front of the bus tried to persuade the driver and guide to get us back late so we could miss the 4:45 drill. Since we had gotten the late start and were scheduled to return at 4:30, being late for the drill was a possibility. Some of us told the complainers that we would be contacted for a makeup drill at the ship’s convenience the next day but these folks insisted we wouldn’t have to do it if we missed the drill. We barely returned in time to try to get to the drill, but six of us in a row set off the security alarm as we returned and had to be wanded. The system was apparently so sensitive that my glasses, watch, and belt buckle were enough to set it off and of course Barb, with all her surgical hardware, set it off too. We raced to our station for the drill and made it just in time to be counted present. We talked to a few others later who had missed the drill and were annoyed that they were going to have to do a makeup because a small handful were purposely trying to cause a delay.

As our Sydney blog suggests, our days were packed but memorable. The city is world class. Like with Brisbane, we could almost forget that we were not in a major American city. We did learn that one reason why Australia seems so similar to the US was that the Aussies felt a bit let down by the British in the 1950s when Australia felt the threat of Communism in Southeast Asia and it was the US, rather than the British, that tended to be more supportive of the Australian concerns.

Barb and I have tended to do two ports each, but since there was much to say about Cairns and Brisbane; she broke them into two shorter blogs. Since Sydney was such a major destination with three days, I have done that one in one lengthy blog. She will do our last two Australian ports in Melbourne and Hobart, Tasmania. We will be sad to leave Australia but will look forward to exploring New Zealand!

Chuck

Brisbane

Our two days at sea have been busy ones! Since writing, we’ve had a talent show on board, which included the debut of the HAL Chorale. I enjoyed singing in it, especially since I had sung the music with our Chancel Choir at home! Another of the acts brought back many, many memories as the lady did a clogging solo! Afterward I went up to speak with her. I miss those days of clogging and wish I was still able to do it!

On Thursday morning, we sailed fifteen miles upriver to arrive at the port of Brisbane. Brisbane is currently the third-largest city in Australia, but it is soon likely to surpass Melbourne in population, making it #2. For the first time since leaving L.A., we saw an immense city, complete with skyscrapers.

Our tour in Brisbane took us to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, the world’s first and largest koala sanctuary. There was quite a population of these adorable, sleepy little animals. It seemed like everywhere we looked, there were koalas: there were areas for the mums & babies, the cubby house, the “kindy” (kindergarten), the boys, the bachelor pad, the beautiful brides, and even a retirement home for those koala senior citizens who’d achieved the ripe old age of about ten! Naturally I had to take the opportunity to hold a koala. Sprite sat there looking too sleepy to smile at the camera, but he was cute anyway. The koalas were nestled in trees, and situated themselves so they could sleep without being concerned about falling. It was fascinating to watch them snuggled in among the branches, sometimes leaning against each other, sometimes by themselves, but virtually always sound asleep!

As we proceeded on to Chuck’s personal favorite, the kangaroo sanctuary, several small lizards darted across the path, stopping long enough for us to snap quick pictures. In the kangaroo sanctuary, we were able to stroll among them. They certainly seemed to take visitors in their stride, allowing people to feed, pet and pose with them. They lay in the grass or hopped around, or just sat and looked cute. It’s amazing how long and powerful their back legs are and how short their front legs are, giving them a comical gait when they go down on all fours. One of our friends said her tour guide had told them that when European explorers first visited Australia and were talking with Aborigines, a strange animal hopped by. They asked the Aborigines what the animals were, and the aborigines replied, “I don’t know,” in their language. In Aborigine, “I don’t know” is translated “kangaroo”. I’m not sure how accurate this information is, but it sure makes an interesting story!

We also had a chance to see dingoes, wombats, emus, and kookaburras (I don’t know if they were sitting in an old gum tree, but they sure weren’t laughing). The Tasmanian devil and echidnas were all hiding so we couldn’t get a glimpse of them. We took time to watch a sheep dog demonstration that brought to mind our visit to a sheep dog farm in Wales. This one was more contrived because the dog didn’t have to gather the sheep from high on the mountain, but the owner had a young dog that was just beginning to learn the skill, and you could tell that the dog wanted to be the center of attention. He really cried when another dog was given the task of herding the sheep, and was excited when he got the chance to put the sheep into the pen. What amazingly intelligent animals they are!

So much time was spent at the koala sanctuary that we had little time to see the sights of Brisbane. However, what we saw reminded us of the U.S. It was probably the most similar to an American city of any we’ve seen in our travels outside the U.S. or Canada! The only difference we really saw was that many houses were raised to keep air circulating and to prevent flooding. We also enjoyed seeing the lovely jacaranda trees with their brilliant purple flowers, as well as the flame trees – no leaves, just red flowers. Both of these trees only bloom in the spring, so we were fortunate to see their brilliant colors.

The sail-away from Brisbane was fascinating! The ship backed away from the dock, and then made a 180° turn-around in the river. At one point it was perpendicular to the banks, and we were amazed that it was able to clear! We’d been told that they’d widened and deepened the river to accommodate cruise ships, and witnessing the huge ship pivoting in such a small area was proof positive.

As we head further south, we expect the temperatures to start dropping. So far we’ve been very fortunate to experience wonderfully warm weather in our travels. Once again we find ourselves playing with our clocks! We will set our clocks an hour ahead at 2:00 PM on the sea day (Oct 30) as we sail toward Sydney because while Brisbane opted out of Daylight Savings Time, Sydney observes it. Not only did we think that we were through changing our clocks until we reached New Zealand, but we were surprised to do this in the middle of the day! The cruise director explained that since we’re at sea, we can set them during the day so we don’t have to lose an hour of sleep at night. While we don’t need to know what time it is at home, we like to imagine what’s happening, so we’re once again doing the math, and we’ll be sixteen hours ahead… at least until Sunday when everyone at home changes their clocks back to Standard Time, and we’ll be seventeen hours ahead! As I write this, it’s 7:00 AM Friday, meaning it’s 4:00 PM Thursday at home. Time to start thinking about choir rehearsal this evening… And I can only imagine how much my colleagues would enjoy setting clocks ahead at 2:00 PM on Friday afternoon (especially this Friday afternoon)! Oh, how I don’t miss those Halloween parties!

Barb

Cairns, Australia & the Great Barrier Reef

G’day, mates! After nearly a month of travel, we’ve finally arrived at our first port of call in Australia. We were treated to a magnificent sail-in through the Great Barrier Reef. Although we couldn’t actually see the reef itself, the beautiful shades of blue waters and skies were broken only by the first substantial piece of land we’d seen for days – the eastern coast of Australia!

Nearly equal to the gorgeous scenery was the festive spread put on by the ship’s crew. We had camped out that afternoon on the Lido Deck midship in order to enjoy the view as well as reserving a table for the Aussie Outback Barbeque that was to be held the evening we arrived in Cairns. The decorations warned of kangaroo, wombat, koala, and Tasmanian devil crossings and pointed us in the direction of Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Ayers Rock and Perth. The spread of food was incredible – and I can now officially say I’ve had “shrimp on the barbie” as skewered shrimp was included on the menu (as well as suckling pig, barbecued chicken, steak, sausage, baked potatoes, and an assortment of vegetables and salads). We enjoyed listening to the Australian Bush Band that was serenading us throughout the meal, and the views of Cairns and the mountains beyond were breath-taking!

As soon as we finished, we joined friends we’d met on the cruise for a walk around Cairns. Our destination was the Night Market. Despite being 7:00 on a Sunday evening, things were open and the town was hopping! We all enjoyed wandering around the Night Market, which had an excellent selection of Australian products. We knew we wouldn’t have time the following day to shop, so we did as much as we could as quickly as we could. We finally headed back to the ship so we could get a seat for our evening entertainment – an authentic Aboriginal band, complete with the low wailing sound of the didgeridoo. What a wonderful welcome to the Land Down Under!

They say things happen in threes, and Monday proved that statement to be true! I was sound asleep that morning when Chuck said, “Check your watch. Does it say 7:20?” Yes, it did! However, the clock I’d brought from home read 6:20! How in the world did the clock read 6:20 when everything else we had said 7:20? It had been correct Sunday night. We leapt out of bed and scrambled to get ready so we’d be on time for our shore excursion, completely baffled by the mysterious case of the lost hour! Suddenly it dawned on me: I had brought an electronic clock that reflects on the ceiling so it would be easy to see. The clock is programmed to reset itself when the time changes from standard to daylight & vice versa. I’d had it for several years, so it was programmed for the old change, which was the last Sunday of October. Although we’d crossed the International Date Line, I hadn’t reset the date because we never use that clock for the date. So it had reset itself at 2:00 AM on Monday morning, thinking it was the last Sunday in October!

Fortunately it didn’t set us back, and we managed to be ready in plenty of time for a boat ride out to the Great Barrier Reef. We were glad to find some people we’d gotten to know quite well on the same shore excursion, and on the transfer to the reef, the four of us signed up for a snorkel tour – designed especially for beginners, so there were only the four of us in the group. After about an hour and twenty minutes, we arrived at the Marine World pontoon boat where we would spend our day exploring the reef. After finding a place to leave our things, I took my glasses off, and the sunglasses (magnetic ones that came with the prescription glasses) popped off the glasses frame and fell through the slats into the water! If I’d aimed, I couldn’t have gotten them to slip through that half-inch space! Fortunately I’d worn my old glasses, having just purchased new ones a few weeks before the trip.

Shortly after our arrival, our guide Amanda began assembling us and getting us into our life vests and snorkel gear. We eased down onto benches where we donned our face masks and learned how to breathe through the snorkels. After getting fins on, she got us in the water and maneuvered us onto a flotation ring and showed us around the reef. We were on the surface, so the colors appeared somewhat blue due to the refraction of the water. Amanda was an excellent tour guide, showing us all the different types of coral and explaining about the many fish we saw. My personal favorite was Wally, the hump-headed Maori wrasse (I had to ask for the spelling, which they gave me, then said that in America he’d be called a Napoleon fish). He was a huge fish that swam around greeting all the snorkelers. (We have a photo of Wally posing with Chuck & me.) We really enjoyed a bird’s eye (or snorkeler’s eye) view of the reef! As we returned to the pontoon boat and struggled to get back onto the benches from the water, Chuck’s foot slipped and fell into the bench, hurting his ribs. Fortunately Amanda was right there and helped him get his balance and get back onto the bench. Even more fortunately, his life vest took the brunt of the hit. He wasn’t hurt badly, but decided that he shouldn’t go back in and do any more snorkeling, especially since it would be unsupervised by a pro. I went back in for a few more minutes but because it was so crowded and I couldn’t do much more than float (thanks to the life vest), I finally decided to get out also.

After lunch, we watched a fish feeding. Wally made another appearance, eagerly awaiting his lunch, as did several other smaller fish, that would dart quickly along the water’s surface, chasing down the tidbits they were thrown. Then we took a semi-submersible boat cruise along the reef to get even more views. We’d done something similar in Kona a few years ago, but this was much closer and easier to see, so we really enjoyed it. I went back in snorkeling one more time before we left, and enjoyed one final look at the amazing undersea world.

Before we left I reminded the crew that I’d dropped my sunglasses. They had told me earlier that I should ask later about the “sunnies”, so at that point, the scuba diving finished for the day, the scuba guide asked me where I’d dropped them, and a few minutes later he surfaced with them in hand (making it the third of three incidents that turned out okay). I was thrilled as I had been sure that my “sunnies” would become my unintended contribution to one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

As we sailed back to the ship, Chuck commented to our tour guide Amanda that the weather we’d had was probably pretty typical weather for this area. She disagreed, saying that a week ago they’d had 30-knot winds and the people couldn’t do much or see much. Someone else told us that their tour guide had commented that this had been the best day for viewing the reef they’d had so far this year! So we were extremely fortunate to have experienced such excellent viewing conditions for a spectacular trip to the Great Barrier Reef.

Several times during the day I thought of my Science-loving colleagues and wished they could experience the day I had. I’m sure Kim, Shirley, Stephanie, and Megan would have absolutely LOVED the opportunity to visit the reef, especially Megan, who’s worked with people at the Shedd Aquarium. I hope all of you get here someday! It’s worth the trip!

Before we took the trip, many people wondered what we would do with ourselves while at sea. Rest assured; we have NOT been bored! We’ve had two sea days between Cairns and Brisbane. During that entire time, we’ve been traveling in the Great Barrier Reef, which will give you an idea of the massive size of the reef. They say it’s the only living thing that’s visible from outer space! We had an opportunity for some scenic cruising on the reef yesterday. Since leaving Cairns, we’ve also had the opportunity for a backstage tour. Chuck was unable to attend, but I went. I’ve done them before, but this one was much more extensive. We not only got a Q&A session with the cast, but we were able to take pictures with a couple of the girls in their costumes, and we got a sound and light show from the technicians that showed the capabilities of the staging. We went up on stage and experienced walking on the moving stage (hard to imagine how the dancers manage to keep their footing as they dance in heels on a moving stage and rocking ship!) Because of my place in line, I got a private tour of the backstage area from the lead male singer in the cast, and I also took a picture (in today’s album) of a cast member from Buffalo. We found out that she’s actually from East Amherst, graduated from one of the Williamsville schools, and even knows an Eden classmate of mine who taught in Williamsville! Small world!

Last night’s entertainment was not only the best we’ve had on this ship, but I’d be hard put to find a better act on any of our cruises. The group, called The Unexpected Boys, wove Four Seasons’ songs into a story line, and they were absolutely sensational! They sounded just like the Four Seasons, and their choreography was incredible! We were told that they’d be putting on another performance, and we’re thrilled to be able to see them again.

I will be doing a second, shorter (hopefully) blog when we get to Brisbane, but we’re trying to post every three or four days so I’m putting up the blog on Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef rather than waiting a few more days.

Barb