January 23, 2018 Heading Home

January 23, 2018, Home Sweet Home

After prompt and easy disembarkation in Sydney, we dropped our big suitcase for LuggageFree to ship home, and boarded a 12+ hour flight on a United 787 Dreamliner for San Francisco. We finally arrived back in Denver about 24 hours after we disembarked. A wonderful trip we would recommend to anyone, but we're glad to be home.

Sunrise in Sydney Harbor.

Sunrise approaching California from Polaris Business Class in the Dreamliner 787. Note the slight jog in our route around Hawaii; considerable turbulence caused the pilots to try to find better air.

Fog over the San Francisco coastline.

January 22, 2018, Eden, Australia

January 22, 2018, Eden, Australia

Another lovely small town at the bottom of New South Wales, Eden is near the Pambula River, which is home to a significant oyster farming community. Sustainability and a clean environment are key attributes, and the water is so clean that, unless a storm muddies the water, the farmers are permitted to sell their oysters direct to the consumer—no inspections required. We had a delightful tour and farming lesson from Captain Sponge on his oyster punt. 

He was hugely educational, including several demonstrations of how to open oysters with different tools. We learned that he farms all his leases pretty much by himself, including And, best of all, we got to sample fresh Sydney rock oysters—delicious! One must be careful not to snatch an oyster from the leased areas, as the fine can be up to $250,000. The oysters take 2-3 years to reach market size.

The oyster punt returning with the first group.

Posts mark the boundaries of each area leased to an individual farmer

Captain Sponge (childhood nickname that stuck) explains how oyster larvae (called spat) will attach to and grow on groups of these slats in the water.

Every few months the oysters are graded, and first tumble in a cylinder in the water, then are sorted into oyster bags like this one the following year, to get larger. The bags are usually on the underside of this contraptionm but have to be turned to the top side to prevent accumulation of algae on the shells.

Captain Sponge shows how the bags are turned; the river is shallow enough at low tide that he can walk on the bottom.

This beautiful plate of very fresh oysters soon looked like the photo below.

Our final stop was The Longstocking Nanobrewery, where we sampled beer and local cheeses. 

January 20, 2018, Burnie, Tasmania

 January 20, 2018, Burnie, Tasmania

We loved Tasmania. Agricultural, clean, friendly, foodie, and beautiful countryside. We docked in the little town of Burnie, and headed out into the country to visit a cheese maker, a chocolate maker, and, of course, a winery. One unfortunate fact in our wine ventures throughout Australia is that all we visited were wineries that do not export to the U.S., even if they are sizable operations.

 Ashford Farms makes many varieties of cheese, all reportedly from happy cows--like the one at right.

We and our friends Fen and Bunny indulged in beautiful chocolate creations at the House of Anvers chocolate factory and tea house. Not only was there dessert, but also hot chocolate and a small bag of chocolate treats we took home to our stateroom attendants, Set in a charming old home, the main chocolate 'kichen' was closed on this Saturday (seen behind the gorgeous eggs), but one woman did demonstrate how hollow eggs are made through a window.

In true Aussie form, the plant stand in the garden was on the honor system.

We explored much of northeast Tasmania, and were impressed by the crops—lots of vegetables, fruits, grains, grapes--and opium poppies for the pharmaceutical industry. It’s an interesting story how they manage the opium poppy production: each farmer is given seeds by the grower, but he doesn’t know if they are simply flower poppies or opium-producing ones. Then all the crops are protected, tracked by computer and satellite, and strictly controlled. One of the main crops is grapes, of course, and we enjoyed a pleasant tasting at Ghost Rock Winery.

 Burnie used to have a big paper mill right in town, and the wood chip industry (from farmed trees, not old growth) is still very important. There’s a custom papermaking workshop in town, with interesting paper sculptures, although we didn’t get to participate. The port had giant piles of wood chips headed to Asia, added to frequently by a steady stream of trucks that backed up a steep ramp to unload.

January 19, 2018, Melbourne

January 19, 2018, Melbourne, Australia

We didn’t have a tour planned for Melbourne, and counted on taking a hop-on/hop-off bus to see highlights; we’d also heard about a free tram around the center of town. Bad news is that the tourist info people supposed to be in the cruise terminal were missing, so we had incomplete info. We were able find the hop-on/hop-off to town, and then, after some poor communication (not the best HoHo we’ve done), we set off on a crowded, beastly hot bus that just crept through traffic. So while we did see some of modern Melbourne, the experience was not good. 

We got off at the Queen Victoria Market, which was a big disappointment—mostly stalls hawking cheap imported souvenirs. Rather than continue, we just took a cab back to the ship. With the Australian Open tennis tournament in town, and temperatures exceeding 100F, we just didn’t have the fortitude to go on.

We'd like to come back, though, as others admired its attractions. It won't be in summer, however.  On to Tasmania!

Downtown Melbourne

Some of Mebourne's city art.

Apparently Melbourne is quite the film center; these young ladies just came out of a movie studio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melbourne Cathedral; love the sign hanging at left.

January 17, 2018 Wednesday Adelaide, South Australia

Adelaide, South Australia

Since this holiday has been a huge history and geography lesson for us, I decided finally to spell out the States or Territories visited on our cruise. Be thinking about this, test to follow.

We attempted to anchor and tender at both Esperance and Kangaroo Island, but the swells were too high to safely tender and besides the Captain couldn't get the anchor to hold. This was the 3rd port we had to miss either because of weather or a medical emergency. If you look closely you'll notice a jog by Albany, this is where Regatta turned around to offload my Ex-POW friend Mel and his wife. Fortunately it was Bell's Palsy and not a stroke. Mel and Sheila reboarded in Adelaide.

Much of Australia was settled with malcontents and prisoners sent over by England, followed by European immigration. 

Adelaide had a large percentage of German immigrants and this is most evident in the architecture of the buildings, precision of plantings in fields and beers. (Aussies do not drink Fosters.) Because we both elected to do an 8-hour 'A Day in the Barossa Valley' tour we had no time left for Adelaide.

What a wonderful experience it was. Europeans arrived in 1841 and brought with them a love for food and music. Seppeltsfield was the first winery we visited.  And as we got closer Cap started Googling a boutique producer we'd been introduced to in Scottsdale and later met in Boulder, John Duval. He learned John was a member of  https://www.artisansofbarossa.com as we drove by their Cellar Door. Sadly the tour bus couldn't stop.

The irony of our hour drive was seeing palm trees bordering vineyards and a 1950s police car.

Seppelsfield grows grapes for many wineries with only a very small production for some very exclusive production, mainly 100 year old port Para Tawny!

 

In the case above are ports from 1914, '15, '16, '17 & '18. Price as I recall was $5,000 AUD.





Our last stop was at Ch Barossa, another custom grower with very deep German roots. Most impressive was a very large room displaying Hermann Thumm's collection of porcelain https://barossawinetour.com.au/blog/the-hermann-thumm-collection-at-the-barossa-chateau/, second only to collections of the Queen of England and another in Germany. The Meissen, Sevres and many others on display were beautiful, if intimidating, and showcased by a $4M+ vase.

Our return to Adelaide afforded some spectacular views over the Barossa Valley and a regatta on our sailaway.

Barossa Valley

Adelaide regatta during sailaway

So now for your test, one we would have failed 5 weeks ago.

1) What is the Australian Capital?
2) How many States are there?
3) What Territory is on the continent?
4) What are the capital cities of the above States and Territories?








Answers; #1) Canberra, #2) 6, #3) Northern Territory, #4) New South Wales-Sydney, Queensland-Brisbane, South Australia-Adelaide, Tasmania-Hobart, Victoria-Melbourne, Western Australia-Perth, Northern Territory-Darwin.

In a few days when we have completed our tour of Australia we will have visited all except Hobart. & Canberra.

January 11-12, 2018, Fremantle and Perth

January 11-12, 2018, Fremantle and Perth

We docked in the charming little town of Fremantle, just south of the much larger Perth, capital of Western Australia. We had two gorgeous days there, clear, cool, and windy, thanks to rough weather expected for Esperance, which caused us to skip that port, as we would have had to tender.

Perth plaque

Friends we made on a 2014 Uniworld river trip live in Fremantle, met us as we arrived, and took us on a wonderful tour of the area. This place is very livable, one in which we could certainly imagine making a life (should the US become totally intolerable). Beautiful water; lots of boats, houses and condos thereon; vibrant downtown in Perth; charming older feeling in Fremantle.

Elizabeth Quay and downtown Perth.

The Bell Tower at Elizabeth Quay is about to be swallowed up by cranes.

Barry and Leonie were born and raised in this area of Western Australia, and you won't find two more gracious people. We loved their personalized tour!

From the beaches to Kings Park (a large city park overlooking Perth with a beautiful botanic garden), from Elizabeth Quay to the America’s Cup site of the 1987 Aussie victory in Fremantle (and plenty of people to remind us of that loss), we found Perth and Fremantle to be lovely. The  homes along the Swan River are spectacular.

Two mansions along the Swan River; the one at bottom has a drive-in boathouse underneath (see arched door).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many modes of transport are used, but on land mostly buses and cars—very few scooters or motorcycles—and a very efficient train that runs right next to the port and between Fremantle and Perth. We did see a gondola, the occasional Segway, and a camel tour. Boats of every persuasion abound—the Swan River between Perth and Fremantle seems to have thousands of pleasure boats in marinas.

Cap visited the WA Maritime Museum, and saw Australia II, of America's Cup fame, as well as a lot of other memorabilia.

Ocean Shield Border Force ship.

Around us at the pier in Fremantle were an auto hauler, a cable layer, several large container ships, and two other cruise ships, Silver Shadow and Astor. Docked behind us  was Ocean Shield, the Aussie Border Force ship, originally intended for oil platform servicing, but procured before service by the Aussie Navy, then turned over to Border Force. It has two .50 caliber deck mounted machine guns and a helipad. Following the disappearance of Malaysia Airline #370, Ocean Shield was one of several Australian vessels to take part in the search.

Memorials of many types remind all of the tolls of the sea and of war. There’s an impressive tower and monument in Kings Park to Aussie WWII losses, as well as one commemorating lives lost fishing at sea. But one of the most charming was one representing all the children who were sent alone from Britain to Australia (post-convict settlers).

And, speaking of children, Fremantle's Little Creatures brewery (an impressive venture), where we had lunch, offered a large sandbox for kids to play in right next to the outdoor tables. Clever!

 

For the next three days, we are off across the Great Australian Bight--the southern coast of the Western and Southern Australia territories.

Heroes

HERO #1

Some of you may have received a separate email from me about two vets I met onboard, but I want to share this wonderful experience with more. On our very first night onboard Regatta, 20 Dec 2017 Suzy & I, at the last minute, decided to dine at Toscana and to 'Share' a table for four.

Fen & Bunny Ludtke

We were seated aft with a couple older than us (hard to believe-isn't it?) Fenton (Fen) & Bunny Ludtke from Savannah, GA. Fen, then 94 now 95, and I got to the topic of WW II, and what a wonderful continuing experience that conversation started. Fen shared stories as if they were yesterday. He was an aide to Patton and did he have stories about that. He also shared stories about meeting Eisenhower at a senior staff meeting in France and later as a cub reporter for the Pontiac newspaper meeting Ike again on a campaign whistle stop in '52. From that he got an exclusive interview with Ike. I believe his front page headline read 'Today I Talked to Ike.'

So we were with them again last night for dinner and the state of Michigan came up, like where have you/we been or visited. I mentioned some of the places I'd been, one beginning back in 1946 at Cross Village, MI at my uncle's cabin on Lake Michigan. Fen asked if I'd been to Legg's restaurant. I couldn't remember so I emailed my cousin who still has a home there, and Texas. Barb came back and said she had once been a waitress there in the summer!! This conversation will continue.

HERO #2

Mel Pollack, Ex-POW Vietnam

We've all heard a non-serving politician proclaim POWs are not heroes; let me beg otherwise. It was in Darwin at an air museum when a fellow traveler came over to me and said a guy over by the B-52 seems to know a lot about warbirds. I walked over and introduced myself to Mel Pollack, Lt. Col. USAF (Ret) and Ex-POW Vietnam. What blossomed from that conversation, and meeting his wife Sheila, has been a humbling experience. I honestly didn't want to ask Mel questions, but let him share what he felt comfortable telling. He was out of Da Nang flying an F-4 40 miles north of Hanoi when a 'Golden BB' shot them down. He was a prisoner for 5 1/2 years. He shared his stories, many of them how they communicated and his respect for John McCain. Even though Mel is quite liberal, John asked Mel to give a campaign speech for him in PA, which Mel agreed to do. I could write for pages, but let me close with what happened when they were finally released. On the ride back,  Mel immediately asked for a pencil and paper as he wanted to write down all of the names/details he could remember from his 5-1/2 years in captivity; he wanted no one to be left behind. You might access this link for what Mel is currently involved with https://www.vetshelpingheroes.org. Make sure you read about the board and directors. Mel and I, through word of mouth, have organized a Vet's Get Together in Horizons and I organized a cocktail party for Vets in our suite later on. I guess if we had been Friends of Bill W. Oceania would facilitate an announcement and time and place for us to meet.

Fen & Mel--Two Heroes

Above are just two examples of why we enjoy longer cruises with some days at sea.  But we are confused when Aussie time zones change by 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or an hour and a half.

Needlepoint Thank You

Needlepoint Thank You