December 30-31, 2017 -- At Sea

December 30-31, 2017, At Sea

Two perfectly calm days between Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, and Darwin; the sea is so calm you feel nothing. We've seen almost no other ship traffic, save the occasional cable layer (top) and mystery yacht (bottom).

 

And this is the Alotau ferry. Much like the buses, crowds of people hanging on for dear life!

 

The days at leisure have allowed us to have company in our stateroom for dinner (cocktails outside, dinner inside).

 

Cap also has had time to teach our delightful butler, Abhi, how to tie a bow tie. Interestingly, Abhi knows one of our butlers from a few years back Cap taught bow-tie-tieing to, and we have photos of him with the same tie!















Abhi, as well as Fanny and Wayan, stateroom attendants, keep us in great spirits.

 

 

Of course the sunsets in this part of the world are spectacular; here are just two examples.

And, finally, Happy New Year to you all! Here we are all dolled up for a nice dinner with friends (although we didn't make midnight!)

We beat you in Colorado by 16-1/2 hours (why Darwin is 30 minutes off from its neighboring territories is beyond us)!

December 28-29, 2017, Papua New Guinea

December 28-29, 2017 -- Papua New Guinea

After another beautiful sea day (can't believe how calm the seas have been--we feel no roll or pitch, and we're all the way aft), we sailed into the beautiful Milne Bay to Alotau, a very small port. No excursion for us, since a labor dispute shortened our planned one, cutting out the part we were most interested in (Milne Bay WWII history), so we opted for a refund and stayed onboard. The thickness of the jungle and the mountain ranges in this small country made us appreciate how incredibly difficult ground warfare was here, as the Aussi "diggers" tried to push back the Japanese on the infamous Kokoda Track. We were so ignorant about the ground (island) wars in the Pacific, and have greatly appreciated some excellent lectures. The country's landscape, however, is stunning.

On the next day to Port Moresby, the capital, which represents a huge economic imbalance in spades. Many downtown large office buildings (Deloitte being prominently displayed on one of them, no doubt related to offshore accounts 😊) and elegant apartments behind locked gates speak to real money. But other areas of town are trashed and full of grafitti and plenty of indolent folks. We were told not to venture alone in many parts of the capital. Chinese investment is everywhere, like in so many third-world countries.

 Contrast that with this small village, which had trash everywhere. Note the toilet sitting in one home; however, it wasn't connected to anything.

The kids, though, were charming, and refreshingly natural; no begging, just waving and saying hello. These three youngsters had just had their bath in the 'tub' behind them, and the second group had just received stickers from one of the men on our bus--a great idea.

 

 

The second village, Barakau, seemed a little healthier, though living conditions weren't much better. But the villagers danced for us, and the kids there were fun, too. Note contrast between Granny and Granddaughter; the invasion of social media has already occurred, even here--one girl was thrilled when told her photo would be posted on Facebook. We only hope that the money received by these villages from the tour organizer is being directed to the benefit of the people.

Tomorrow and the next day we sail to Darwin.

December 25-26, 2017, Cairns, Australia

December 25, 26 2017 were spent in Cairns (pronounced 'cans').

While the yachts we've seen in the harbors haven't been as impressive as years past, say the Russian oligarchs' in St. Barts or Geffin's in Bermuda, here is one (Seawolf) you might consider if you're looking for something to put under the tree for 2018. http://www.seawolfexpedition.com











Our guides have been great, but the cable car (Skyrail) ride to Kuranda over a rain forest was a bit of a disappointment due to the long lines and waits at the Stations where we changed cable cars. We didn't do the Great Barrier Reef as many did as we are trying to avoid a lot of sun and from reports from fellow travelers, the waters were quite cloudy and loaded with small jelly fish.

Our guide shared with us that a Saudi prince has purchased hundreds of millions of dollars of downtown Cairns property with a plan to do some major development/redevelopment.











While we were walking the streets of Cairns near some banyan trees we heard overhead this loud ruckus. There we saw the flying-foxes http://www.cairns.qld.gov.au/community-environment/native-animals/flying-foxes, the same mammals we'd seen a few days earlier at the Lone Pine Sanctuary.











Many of you who have traveled with us know we enjoy open seating and meeting new people, and this voyage has been no exception. We got reacquainted with husband and wife enrichment lecturers we had met and entertained on a previous cruise. We also met and have had several dinners with a couple who taught at the U of Washington and currently live in Seattle.

What has been most special is meeting and sharing several meals with 'Fen' Ludtke, a 93-year-old WW II vet. He was an aide to Patton and has stories about Patton & Ike--Ike when we was on active duty and when he was running for president.

Christmas Day December 25, 2017, Cairns, Australia

December 25, 2017

To say the seas have been flat for the last two days would be an understatement. We've barely seen a whitecap or swell. Often we could see mainland Australia off our port side. And the number of small boats we've seen with no land in sight makes one wonder. Just south of Cairns Sunday afternoon we were sailing northbound through an area of beautiful islands. March of 2017 Cyclone Debbie with 160 mph winds devastated many of the resorts and structures on these islands.

And what could be more perfect way to enjoy a cocktail than by having Mother Nature include a spectacular sunset. (Still watching for that 'Green Flash')

I brought along an assortment of Christmas bow ties that I've enjoyed wearing. Suzy forgot hers, the one with little flashing red and green lights. Many dressed in holiday garb and many little bulbs flashing on necklaces were seen on the ladies. Before the Christmas Eve dinner in The Grand Dining Room, many of the crew and guests gathered to sign Christmas Carols around the Grand staircase.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

December 22, 2017, Brisbane, Australia

December 22, 2017 -- The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

A short drive from Brisbane is located Australia's largest Koala Sanctuary, named Lone Pine (https://koala.net/en-au/), a visit to which we substituted for the missed wine tour, and found it very rewarding. We didn't get to hold one, but at least this one, four-year-old Hamlet, was awake. We learned that koalas spent much of their time asleep (see below).

How does he not fall off the branch?

And they sleep in clusters--three of them in this case.

There were many species of birds (Australia grows some really big birds), and we can't name them all, but thought this one had an attitude (and he was right outside others of his type that were in a big cage, so might be an escapee.

In addition to the birds and koalas, we saw other native Australian species--dingoes, wombats, Tasmanian devils, crocodiles, etc. But a large mob of kangaroos were available in a field for feeding, picture taking and general socialization (these were not the very large ones). Lots of the moms had joeys in their pouches--mostly legs akimbo, looking most uncomfortable (see below). Cap found this sign about their mating habits interesting--talk about family planning!

December 20-22, 2017

December 20-22, 2017 - Sydney to Brisbane

We boarded Regatta right on time; LuggageFree worked beautifully, and our bag shipped from Denver met us in our stateroom. However, we were delayed leaving Sydney due to a malfunction in the ship's P.A. system, discovered during the mandatory safety drill. Because we finally sailed away at 3:30 in the morning, we missed the lights of Sydney and the Opera House. And, unfortunately, the delay caused us to miss morning tours in Brisbane. We will also skip Kingfisher Bay, in order to spend the proper time at Cairns and get back on schedule.

Our Owner's Suite (still furnished ornately, ready for refurbishment in 2019 to a more modern look) was just as we left it after a Panama Canal cruise in 2011 (except the addition of a sound bar means Cap can play the Christmas music he brought with us). Our butler Abey is delightful, and has kept us well stocked with gin and tonic, as the weather certainly doesn't feel like Christmas.

And they even provided us with a poinsettia and a gingerbread house!

The ship itself is beautifully decorated for the holidays, with an entire gingerbread village from which Christmas cookies are served every afternoon.

After  a full day at sea, we arrived at Brisbane; all dock maneuvers have so far been done with tugs, something we haven't seen before. 

Brisbane is a modern city undergoing rapid growth; we couldn't even count the number of cranes downtown and all over the cruise terminal area (must be more than a dozen apartment building added in the last year, according to our guide).

While a lot of the older buildings have been torn down (nothing's that old, because Brisbane was set up as one of the British penal colonies in the Victorian era), some examples of the city's distinctive architecture still stand.

See the next post for our animal adventure.

Sydney December 18-19, 2017

December 18-19, 2017 -- Exploring Sydney

It is the week before Christmas, but the holidays are much lower key here than in the U.S. Most of the decorations are retail based; we spent some time riding through elegant suburbs, and hardly saw any decorations. But one busy shopping street had some extravagant lights. Their light rail construction is causing a lot of traffic issues.

One day was spent on Capt. Cook Harbour tours, checking out the various sights by water, and the next day we meandered by HOHO bus, taking in Bondi Beach, some beautiful homes, and an eclectic city landscape of Victorian buildings scrunched in between modern skyscrapers--including one with nearly every surface but windows covered with growing plants. Beware of the 6 or 7 different tour timetables and the route interchanges on the Harbour tours; it's quite possible you're at a drop-off with no pickup. I think we missed a whole scenic pass in the harbour while we were trying to figure out how to cover the different routes!

As for the Hop On Hop Off bus audio narrative, quite good until you stop and listened repeatedly to Bing's White Christmas, Dean's It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas and Waltzing Matilda.

We found one restaurant we like so much, Fish At The Rocks (http://www.fishattherocks.com.au) that we went twice--the fresh seafood available is wonderful.

Tomorrow we board Regatta late morning, and sail away at 6:00.

Sydney December 15-17, 2017

Sydney December 15-17, 2017

We arrived on time Friday in the AM and needed to wait for our room at the centrally located Sydney Westin, thank you Starpoints. We decided to walk to the Bay and start our seafood journey and the sights were many. Enroute we saw one of many Asians with their obligatory selfie-obsession and next to us at the restaurant was a fellow wearing what I've learned is a Fascinator.

Welcome to Down Under!

 

 

Many months before our flight to Sydney Cap researched the schedule at the Sydney Opera House and found there was a performance of Handel's Messiah on Saturday afternoon. What a wonderful experience with a choir of 600 (the hall seats 2,700)! Built almost 60 years ago with a AUS$7,000,000 initial budget. Final cost AUS $107M! A magnificent building from any angle.

During our August 2017 Uniworld river trip from Bucharest to Prague we made friends with Dr. Bill and Mavis McCarthy from Sydney. Why is its so easy to make friends with Aussies and Kiwis-eh? They suggested we get in touch with them during this trip, which we did. They were so gracious in picking us up at the Westin, showing us a bit around town, including the Sydney Fish Market, and taking us to lunch at the Boathouse http://www.boathouse.net.au. We later had coffee at their apartment overlooking Parramatta River. What a delightful few hours.