Month: February 2023

Darwin is a bust.

                                      Apparently, there is a mini-cyclone of sorts that is/will be affecting this port today. The Captain got on the squawk box last night and informed all of us that the Port Authority of Darwin (Australia) did not recommend, nor even want us in port today. Winds up to 65mph (or 100 kilometers per hour down here) are forecasted and, believe it or not, being at sea and in control of one’s destiny is favored over being tied to a pier where the bashing and grinding of metal on concrete is not the favorite activity. We’re talking about ships here, not boats. If we were a smaller vessel, say like a cabin cruiser or some other pleasure type boat, being in harbor may be of some advantage.

 Remember the old adage… “Any port in storm” ?

 I guess it only applies sometimes!

But…. as I write this (4am here) the winds are non-existent, and the seas are calm. I do not know our present location as Google Maps chose not to pay attention to the “location” part of its App, it had us back in Fort Lauderdale and unless we invented Warp Speed travel overnight and had it installed, there is no way we are in Florida!

We could be in a calmer part of the approach to Darwin as we still need to meet up with the Pilot Boat and disembark the Reef Pilot that we’ve had on board to help us navigate the Great Barrier Reef. It is bad business to have the ship hung up on one of the more cherished and protected reefs of the world!

Or… even worse, the weather stooges may have “Oopst” it, and the weather is now fine, but all of the Excursions have already been canceled and trying to get them up and running again would create more chaos than it would be worth.

If we don’t get into port, then it means that we will be at sea for six looong days as we don’t arrive at Komodo Island in Indonesia until three days from now. That means that when I get bored, I get to bore you to death with a Topic du Jour of my picking, probably having to with the natural history of something 🙂

          So… here’s hoping that we will in fact get some Rockin’ an’ Rollin’ going on the High Seas today! At least there would be one person on board not disappointed!

          It looked as if the Weather Prognosticators were correct. Just like yesterday, and as predicted, the day dawned cloudy, gloomy, and there was visible rain on the horizon…. over the land. And to the Land is where we were headed.

                                                Cairns, Australia.

                                                Pronounced “cans”.

                             We did not have any set plans for the day, and we were not sure if Mick Dundee was going to show up as rumor had it that he had a might too many coldie’s down at the pub last night.

                             While we waited, we strolled the Esplanade, a very pretty area of this port.

But sure enough, both surprised us, the Weather Stooges were wrong, and Mick showed up (a little hung over and a bit late, but that’s how he works best).

                             We piled into Mick’s old rattly Land Rover and hit the M1 north until we came into Mick’s stomping grounds, a tiny town in North Queensland called Wujal Station. As we drove down the main drag it was obvious that the locals either worshipped Mick or despised him… at time it was hard to tell the difference. What was also obvious as we ventured farther and farther into the bush, was that Mick not only knew his business, but he also knew most of the creatures that inhabit this little section that he chose for us to do our walkabout. We were not in the Outback, that part of Australia is way far away, we were just in the local bush, complete with many billabongs and streams. I had my new 15,000,000 mm lens with us, so as close as Mick could get us, the lens got us even closer, as you will soon see!

We crept quietly through the bush, trying to be as stealthy as we could be. The mosquitoes were fierce, and the croc’s were even fiercer! He brought us down to a large billabong where he had a boat moored to a tree stump. Climbing in, we shoved off, and when we had drifted a bit, he took a chicken carcass out of his tucker bag and hung it from one of the oars. “Watch this mates! he said with a somewhat sly, evil (?) grin. It didn’t take long!

Well, THAT was enough excitement to last us for a while. Mick got a charge out of our reactions. He guided his now way too small rowboat to shore, and we hastily clambered out, scanning for any more of his “mates”!

Begging him for something just a little less exciting, he brought us deeper into the bush to get away from the billabong and the croc’s.

It didn’t take long for us to come upon some koala’s resting sleepily in the trees. These guys sleep about 20 hours a day and could have cared less if we were there.

As we meandered about there were a myriad of birds that were quite cooperative as the mid-day heat kept them down under the canopy and therefore nice and close to us. Mick knew most of them which helped a lot! Plus, my 15,000,000,000,000 mm lens came in handy!

Begging Mick to get us out in the open a bit, hopefully to an area that had less bugs and mosquitoes, he led us through the trees until we came to a bit of a clearing. “Now ‘ere’e a spot for the like’s of you! We should be able ta spot some ‘roo’s ‘ere!” Sure enough, as we stood still, Mick gave a few “calls’ and soon we had some ‘roos about us!

A little further away from the wooded area and more out in the open, he led us to an area that the local lizards and wombats liked to frequent.

By now the day was getting on and we did not want to be in the bush as it was getting dark. So, Mick had us retrace our steps back the way we came, up the trickle, past the billabong, and eventually back to his truck.

We chanced upon some emus and cassowaries, all the time pretending that we didn’t see them, especially the cassowaries, who can be fierce and have legs and claws to pound an unsuspecting victim into submission! All these birds are “flightless” which just means that they can run you down if you are not careful!

Not wanting to tempt fate and cross the billabong again, we skirted the edge of it and worked our way around. We did meet and see some of Mick’s acquaintances again, but this time they kept to themselves.

We finally got back to Mick’s flat in Wujal Station where he invited us in to have some photos taken with his pet koala, Daisey and his little joey Abbie! Isn’t she cute? Not the koala…… Paula!

And last but not least, here at Jurassic “Down Under” Park, we found this little guy. Unfortunately, we could not locate any Velociraptors to pose with!

                Into each life a little rain must fall.

                             Or… a lot of rain!        

                             But, we have zero complaints.                                  

                             This is really the first “rainout” that we have experienced and where we probably would have chosen a different day, say like a “Museum” day, we were not given that opportunity.

                             Oh well  😊

                   We did make the best of it however. The Water Shuttle ride into the delightful, but sopping wet, little town of Airlie Beach was much better than usual because they hired some nifty high-speed catamaran motorboats to bring us back and forth. This did make a huge difference as the distance was about three miles one way and that takes a long time in one of our little plodding lifeboats turned shuttlecraft.

The insides were air conditioned and had nicely padded individual seats (think motorcoach) instead of the fiberglass bench seats in the water shuttle, which obviously if they needed to be used in an emergency would compare to a Strato-lounger in your TV room, but thankfully we haven’t tested them under those circumstances yet!

                   We were scheduled to have an excursion called Airlie Beach Ocean Rafting Safari. Thankfully we were able to cancel this event and receive a full refund even though we canceled within the “Sorry, too late to Cancel” window. Princess had sent out a message to us that the conditions were not going to be good, complete with some rough seas, so they and the tour operator understood if anyone wanted to back out. We’ve come to realize that none of these tour operators, nor Princess, want anyone to experience bad conditions. There isn’t any amount of “current” business that can outweigh a bunch of negative comments or reviews.

                             Instead, we made a trip to the local grocery store and procured seven packages of a cookie that is only available ‘down under’ and in Kiwi-land.  They are called Tim-Tams and come in several varieties, all of which work nicely for a cookie, or biscuit as they are known down here and abroad. Think awesome British shortbreads covered and filled with some tasty chocolate. Add in the varieties, dark, mint, caramel, etc. and you get a real treat! They are a favorite of our afternoon “Cards Playing Group” that meets on Sea Days. I have learned several games.

I’m becoming my Grandparents.

More on that later.

                   We got soaking wet even though we had ponchos and raincoats. We even bought an umbrella at the Port Terminal when we arrived there. Oh well, no issues, as everything that we were wearing was “sport wear” and perfectly able to get soaked without any ill effects.

                   As I write this (it’s 4:45 am here) it is raining. The Captain announced last evening that our weather for today in Cairns (our next Port) was going to be similar to our day in Airlie Beach.  ☹

                                      At least it’s not snow!

Ok…. the next few need some explaining, just for context purposes. The Australian way of dealing with some let’s say, “unpleasant” realities mirror the attitude of their relatives in England. The open and sometimes crude (to our standards) ways of showing photos and the like are way more liberal than what we find here in the States. Their tabloid photos go far past anything that would be found in even the most liberal city newspaper over here. So…… the next few photos from the Melbourne Zoo show exactly what I mean. For those of you that are not familiar with their slang term for our collective posteriors, it is “bum”, which is bandied about with quite a bit of regularity even in everyday conversations.

The next two photos are of the Vows Renewal Ceremony that was held on Valentines Day. The staff really outdid themselves with the planning and execution of this event. The Central Plaza was decorated to the N’th degree, and no expense was spared in the preparations for this. The Captain was there to read the Vows, to be repeated by the Husbands and Wives. That 146-person Volunteer/made up of Passengers Harmony Choir was up on the top level and at the appointed time burst into song. At the same time, thousands of little cut-out red hearts came drifting down from up above. It was a sight to behold!

That’s it for now, thanks for reading! We are pulling into Airlie Beach, Australia and the anchors are dropping as I write this. Unfortunately, the weather is not cooperating, and it is forecast to be stormy and rough, not good conditions for our Sea Safari and Snorkeling excursion that was planned for today. 🙁

The dim horizon slowly dissolved into a faint outline of a small island.  The eager people on the ship had finally spied land. As the strange island slowly grew in size, it became apparent that it was not large like Tahiti or Hawaii, rather it was small, but still about the size of Catalina, say 20 miles long and a few miles wide.  But, no worries, because land it was for sure! Soon they would be close enough to lower the boats and carefully creep their way forward, ever mindful of the sharp corals that lay just beneath the surface, ready and willing to tear the tiny boat to shreds if the slightest miscalculation was made.

                             Meanwhile on the island, the sleepy natives were waking, ready to start their day. It was an idyllic place this island was…. the shore was dotted with inviting beaches making it easy for the residents to dive in and hunt the abundance of fishes here. Fish and other underwater inhabitants were always on the menu. Life on the Island was peaceful, the natives not having a care in the world except their next meal, which thankfully, was always just a few steps away.

                             Throwing back the flaps of their tents, the natives walked down to the beach to greet the new day. Gazing out at the sea, they spied the ship getting ready to anchor just offshore. Quickly they ran back to their encampment and cried out,

“Get ready! There’s another freakin’ Cruise Ship today! I can’t believe it! We come here for a nice, relaxing camping vacation and who shows up but 2000 Robinson Caruso wanna-be’s!

That’s what it felt like was happening when we dropped anchor at Moreton Island, a small island just off the coast of Brisbane, Australia. It is only a short ferry ride from here to Brisbane, so it is a favorite, peaceful getaway for Brisbanites…. except for today!  But I’m sure that the local Tour Operators and businesses were happy to see us! We were all here to just enjoy this place. All the watersports are here, plus any number of adventures awaited those of us venturing into the wilds of the interior of the island. Unfortunately, this is another Water Shuttle “port” (?) as there is obviously no welcoming handy-dandy Cruise Terminal and its convenient pier for us to use. We anchored off the tiny hamlet of Tangalooma which has a pier just large enough to accommodate our Water Shuttles.

                             We were here to experience the highly touted Desert Safari. Lest we confuse you, the word “desert” is used very loosely here on the island. We need to go back a bit now, say a couple of hundred thousand years to the dry, windy interior of the Australian state of Queensland which makes up the entire Northeast of Australia. Now let’s dry up that interior’s dirt and rocks, mix in some fierce winds and blow all of that to the east and deposit it on the shoreline. Throw in the Ice Age and the rising sea level, and Presto!

Well, maybe not that much presto because it started about 20,000 years ago and still continues to today. This island and her two sisters formed and eventually became the largest sand islands in the world. This is no small feat of Mother Nature, the largest of these islands is Fraser Island which comes in at a whopping 74 miles long! Now, that’s a lot of sand! And don’t confuse these sandy islands with say, Long Beach Island which at its highest is only about 12 feet above sea level. These guys have hills on them that top out at about 700 feet above sea level!

          Anyway, there are large stretches and areas on the islands that are just pure, almost 98% silica sand which is very slippery, as in silicone spray….. just perfect for sledding.

          Sledding?

          Yup!

          This is where we did not pay too much attention to the description of this particular excursion. You know, “Desert Safari” sounded pretty good, being in a large 4-wheel drive bus, maybe seeing some of the local species of critters, sounds ok, doesn’t it?

          Besides, it was the only excursion left by the time we logged on to find things to do.

          Well, the only critters we saw were the local version of buzzards drifting high in the sky just waiting for what we did not know was something akin to the March from (to?) Hell, but they did!

          Circling lazily overhead they were waiting for this intrepid group of senior citizens to keel over and die. Equipped with their “sleds” of sorts, they marched out over the endless sand dunes in search of Dune Nirvana, purportedly found at the pinnacle of the dune in front of us, rising to heights that looked as if it touched the stratosphere.

                   These vultures knew what they were doing.

                   The march started after each victim was issued their sled, a long smooth piece of the kind of stuff that you put on bathroom walls. The wisest of these lambs was smart enough to stay behind because:

1. – I hate sand.
2. – I knew that after reaching the top, gasping for breath, I would only exacerbate my already 4-week-old annoying cough.
3. – I hate sand.
4. – I used my somewhat recently installed arterial stent as an excuse.
5. – Did I say that I hate sand?

                             Paula, on the other hand, was the intrepid and adventurous “Hill Slayer”. She grabbed her new best friend “Boardy” and fell into line the other vulture morsels, gallantly placing one foot in front of the other, marching to their destiny. When the going got tough, the tough got bogged down a bit. Apparently it was like two steps forward, slide back one step. Nothing like very loose slippery sand to impede one’s progress.

                             When they arrived at the top, they collapsed into one big heap until they all caught their breath.

                             Well, it wasn’t quite that bad, but as observed from the safety of Base Camp, there was a particularly long delay between reaching the summit and proceeding over to the Launching Pad for Parabolic Sand Dune Swooshing.  

                             When it was Paula’s turn to be Jettisoned, she bravely advanced to the Launch Platform and faced her destiny. The Flight Instructor, who moonlighted as our Adventurous Bus Driver and Guide, spoke in clipped commands as he readied our valiant Dune Slayer for her ride down the several thousand-foot drop-off……

                             “Remember!” he barked….

                             “Pull up on the leading edge!”

                             “Wing tips (elbows) up!”

                             “Face forward, do not lift your head and chest!”

                             “Ready?”

                             “Ready”

                                    “I can’t hear you!!!”

“Ready!!!” she cried out as the Ignite button was pushed.

          Accelerating quickly to escape velocity and eventually experiencing weightlessness she touched down safely just a few feet from Base Camp.

          A NYC Ticker-Tape Parade has been scheduled in her honor.

Sydney, Sydney, Sydney……

                                      Where should I start…….

                   Maybe not at Sydney, maybe I should with a thought….

                                      We are in deep, deep, trouble.

                                      We now understand how someone could take multiple World Cruises with basically the same itinerary. On the surface, this seems a bit crazy, but when you dig a little deeper you come to the realization that it is impossible to even scratch the surface of a particular destination in just one visit. We have all experienced this issue, but until this problem beats you over the head over and over and over again, as it has on this fifty-plus ports trip, it never really sinks in.

                                      Until Sydney.

                             We had a great time in this city. It is a good-sized city, home to a tad over five million Aussies who all drive on the wrong side of the road. Well, the Kiwi’s did too, so I guess we’re getting used to it, but riding in the top of that Hop On, Hop Off Red Bus still made us cringe every once in a while!

                             Sydney is large enough to have two loops on the bus, the Red and the Blue. We did both and found another city that embraces its past and at the same time extolls its vibrant present and future. This is readily apparent in its architecture. Again, like Auckland, the old buildings fold nicely in with the new as you will readily see in the accompanying photographs.

                             Sorry, I can’t help it! I really like buildings!

                             Anyway, our tour around town did not leave us any real time to explore anything in particular. (Hence my previous observation) The place is as clean as a whistle. Every section that we went through was well cared for, and we went through a lot of sections! Now I’m sure that there are some seedier sides of Sydney, but I will venture that they may be less seedy than another city of this size? The Economist magazine, which has been publishing for over 179 years, (and has a stellar reputation) has named this city one of the top ten most livable cities in the World!

                             This is the spot where in 1788, a bunch of British ships dumped 760 convicts and their keepers. Fast forward to today and we find that Sydney is Australia’s largest city and a prime destination for millions of travelers around the world. The harbor here is one of the finest on the planet, having over 70 bays and beaches, one of which is the renowned Bondi Beach. Bondi, loosely translated, means “Water breaking over rocks” in the original Aboriginal language.

                             Speaking of original Aborigine language, guess how the Kangaroo got its name?

                             Some European settlers were in the Outback when they saw some kangaroos. Gesturing to some Aborigines who were there with them, they asked, “What are those?”

                             The Aborigines, who spoke no English, responded with “Kang-ga-roo” which means……. “We don’t understand you.”

                             There are no Kangaroo’s in Sydney, except at the Zoo and since we had visited the Melbourne zoo a few days ago, we found no need to go there. We did visit the Sydney Opera House, but just the outside. What a marvel of design! This iconic (Yes, this place certainly deserves that moniker!) structure took fourteen years to construct.

                             I will give you the Readers Digest version of this tale.

                             The City decided in the early 1950’s that they wanted a place to hold concerts and other performing arts. They had an international competition for the design of their venue. There were over 200 designs from over 30 countries entered in the competition. It was won by a Danish architect named Jorn Utzen and was finally awarded in 1957. In 1959, construction at last was started with a completion date of 1963 announced and a budget of about $7,000,000.

                                      Oops!

                                      Ten years later and about 1,357% over budget, Queen Elizabeth II finally dedicated this building that ranks up there with the Taj Mahal, Empire State Building, and the Eiffel Tower as the most recognized buildings in the world. Part of the issue with the delays was that the construction techniques used to construct this revolutionary design needed to be “invented” along the way!

                                      It is evident that now no one cares about any of this as the Sydney Opera House ranks as one of the foremost international concert halls around and is one of the most successful venues when it comes to bringing the dollars to the bank.

                                      No ‘Oops’ there!

          This is a city that we definitely could see ourselves trying to revisit in the future. Their museums are extensive and if the Maritime Museum is indicative of how they treat the others, then a Museum Tour alone would be worthwhile. We were only able to do a “Drive-By’ at the Maritime Museum, which practically killed me, but it would have taken the entire day to do it alone, never mind trying to get a taste of the rest of the city. So…. We’ll just have to come back…. it’s the only way to get us out of trouble! 😊

          Well, here we are in Australia.

                             We were supposed to be in Sydney first, but because of Miss Gabrielle, we tanked those last three New Zealand ports and booked it to Melbourne first.

                             This would av been fine ‘cept Mick Dundee (aka ‘Crocodile’) promised me he’d meet us wen we got heah so he needed ta get in the bloody truck ‘n drive all the bloody way down heah. Fair dinkum mate!

                             We did not get to “Throw another shrimp on the barbie” as neither of us was home. That will come later, after we get out of the bush and finished our walkabout.

                             What we did do was drag him to the Zoo!

                             Yes, we came all the way down here and went to the bloody Zoo. We teamed up with our new mates, Darla and Sandra, and forayed into the wilds of the Melbourne transit system….. so far, the most daring thing that we have done on this trip.

                             No Princess Excursion.

                             No “Guaranteed” return if we had issues.

                             And Absolutely Zero problems with any of our connections, stops, returns, or …….. anything! The day went very smoothly, you see, it’s really hard to get lost or have any kind of problem when Everyone is willing and eager to help you. Random strangers could not have been nicer. We made friends everywhere we went, especially sitting on the Tram with them.

                             Our goal was to see those wonderfully endemic Australian species as close to their homes as possible. We were mildly successful in that department, as forces beyond our control kept a few of them tucked away for various reasons. The Platypus, for example, was hidden behind closed doors with a sign proclaiming Animal Not Available At This Time.

                             Rats! (not the critters, the expression of dismay)

                             All the way here and these guys decide to take a nap!

          The rest of the fine zoological specimens that are here were fairly obliging, except….

                                      Have you ever heard the expression, “Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon-day sun”? Well, we arrived mid-morning on the hottest day of the year so far. 35 degrees! (double that and add 30, it’s Celsius mate!) The locals kept apologizing to us as if they had some kind of mystical power to control of the weather. All we said was “It’s ok, it’s the real 35 back home and cold and icy!” and went about our way.

                             The Melbourne Zoo is celebrating 160 years of existence, having opened in 1863. The Bronx Zoo, by comparison opened in 1899, and most of the European zoos had their genesis in the early 1800’s. But, hey, let’s give these guys a break! They only arrived here in 1788, as a boatload of British convicts and their Marine guards.

                             More cool Aussie history in a later post!

                             Back to the Zoo….

                             The place is quite well done with each section nestled in its own area of the park. It is not large in size, just well planned and executed. Kind of like California’s Disneyland which is relatively tiny in size by todays standards, but when you visit, you’d never know that Tomorrowland is right next door to Adventureland. They do that good a job of encapsulating each section so as not to ruin the illusion.

                             Same here. The paths, winding through giant groves of bamboo and other tropical plants eventually lead you to viewpoints carefully tucked into the habitats of the animals that are here for us to see.

                                      Our issue was that bloody heat!

                                      These critters do not live in air-conditioned environs, so they take matters into their own paws and beat it to the shade.  

                                      And hide.

                                      Very effectively.

                             So, we got all of our steps in for the day (and more!)

          We saw some nice fauna amidst the flora, had some ice cream, and got to have an adventure in Melbourne!

                             Mr. Dundee kept muttering something about being able to get us into the bush and showing us some “croc’s in the billabong” or something like that.

                             All we want are those shrimps on the barbie!

          By now I’m sure that you guys have come to be able to identify “Sea Days” because I bombard you with anything but “Ports Of Call” posts!

                                      Today will be no different 😊

                             We are in the middle of the Tasman Sea, halfway between New Zealand and Australia, on the lam from Cyclone Gabrielle churning northeast of us. By now you know my feelings on this subject, so I will not belabor this issue. Suffice it to say, “Unfortunately” it looks like the Captain’s wise re-positioning of our ship has been wildly successful.

                             We are sailing on the proverbial “Mill Pond”.

                             “So Don, What do you have for us today?”

                             I’m glad you asked that question! Today will be a very tiny meteorological lesson on Cyclones, Hurricanes, Typhoons, Nor’easter’s, Bathtub Drains, and the Coriolis Effect.

I don’t know if you noticed it or not, but a few days ago when I posted some satellite images of Gabrielle and our relative position within her sphere of influence, did something strike you as ‘odd’?

Did something look not quite right?

Out of place?

You couldn’t quite put your finger on it?

                   Up in the Northern Hemisphere we are used to seeing our hurricanes and nor’easters spiraling in a counter-clockwise direction. You may not even have noticed it because that’s the way it’s always been. And, we never see satellite views of a system in the Southern Hemisphere because, well, we just don’t. It doesn’t affect us, so no one bothers about it. We have nothing to compare to.

                                       Until now!

                             First let’s discuss the Coriolis Effect, something that we have all learned about a thousand years ago in Physical Science Class. We are going to dispel the myth of the bathtub drain rotation and put that behind us. While it is true that in the Northern Hemisphere, the Coriolis Effect causes things to rotate in a counterclockwise direction (and the opposite is true for the Southern Hemisphere) a drain is infinitesimally too small for this effect to affect which way the drain water rotates. In both hemispheres, a drain can, and does, rotate in either direction and this depends far more on the slightly-not-quite level aspect of your sink, or what is clogging or slowing the water down in the pipes causing a resistance on one side or another.

                             Ok, if a small drain way too tiny, then a hurricane, cyclone, typhoon, or large low-pressure system (like a Nor’easter), is way too big not to be affected by this effect!

                             Got it?

                             That’s why up in New Jersey we get the bad winds from the northeast, both in a hurricane, and those monsters that are quite often worse for us, a Nor’easter.

                             All of these tropical systems (except a Nor’ easter, that is not considered a ’tropical’ system) start close to the equator in the warmer waters of the oceans. We all watch the Weather Channel when they talk about a small tropical depression coming off of the west coast of Africa. This depression (called an Inspect) starts to make its way across the Atlantic, north of the Equator. They all move to the left and drift in a northerly direction towards the US mainland, Caribbean, or just peel off and head up the middle of the Atlantic, usually with little effect, except maybe Bermuda.

                             In the Southern Hemisphere, they also start in the warm waters near the Equator. But in this case, they travel to the south and then turn to the left.

This illustrates the beginnings of how the Coriolis Effect starts its influence.

Lastly, (I’m sure you’re all thinking “It’s about time”)

What the in the name of all that is wet and windy is the difference between a Hurricane, Typhoon, and a Cyclone?

          Answer:  Nothing!

          Well, that’s not entirely true. They are exactly the same meteorological events. The only difference is where they are spawned.

          Hurricanes are in the Atlantic above the Equator and in the eastern Pacific above the same.

          Typhoons are in the northern hemisphere also, but they start in the northern Pacific and primarily affect Asia.

          Cyclones are their relatives that live ‘down under.’ These guys start in the Southern Hemisphere (down here by us!)

Now, to throw this all into disarray….. when, and if, a Hurricane or Typhoon happens to cross our old friend the International Date Line, it morphs its name from one to the other! West to East it changes from a Typhoon to a Hurricane and vice versa.

          Confused?

“No worries mate! ” It’s only two more days ‘til Melbourne!

          Well, we’ve been aboard now for about 40 days, only 71 more to go! So far it has been just fine. No real issues to report, the small glitches with the Dining Room at the beginning of the cruise were all washed overboard with just a little time and patience. It took us about a nanosecond to adjust to our tiny inside cabin. I am sure that first having downsized to the Motorhome made the adjustment fairly easy.

Do we miss having a balcony?

Not really.

Would it be nice to have a balcony?

Sure it would!

But it kind of came down to ‘World Cruise without balcony’ or ‘No World Cruise with balcony’….. if you get my meaning!

          Maybe the best part so far is really the people that we’ve met and become friends with. Don’t get me wrong, seeing all of these incredible places is a total hoot, and in away, to be the expected aspect of this kind of trip. But meeting these other folks has been the proverbial ‘icing on the cake’ (of which there has been a significant amount consumed so far!)

          We have learned now that when taking a cruise like this one there are certain things that can be expected, like us being on the younger side of the average age of our fellow passengers, and we turn 69 this year! Along with that higher average age comes all of the accoutrements that accompany “Mobile Deficient Persons of Age”. We declined an invitation today to join an elevator that had two motorized scooters in it…… just not enough room!

          I have mentioned this one before, but it bears revisiting. We also find ourselves on the lower tiers of the Cruise and Travel Experience shelves. We have met multiple people that are not only on their second or third world cruise, but in fact there are many aboard who are over double that number and that doesn’t include all of the other cruises, safaris, and country visits that they seem to be endlessly pursuing! Don’t get me wrong here, we are in no way jealous or anything like that, we just wonder how they do it! Well, I guess when I put it like that, we are a tad jealous of someone being able to do that, just not jealous of the fine folks themselves!

                             Observing randomly around the ship one would come to admire the seemingly affectionate habit of couples holding hands, even at our age!

In this ‘Vacation Situation’ it is possibly true.

In reality it is totally true that we are just trying to hold each other up while walking on a rolling deck!

          This theory will be tested to the max as we are possibly going to encounter a typhoon, (or the effects of one) in the next few days. There is a system off the northwest coast of Australia and it seems to be in our way. The Captain has taken certain liberties in order to keep us safe. Itinerary changes, port cancellations, and additions are all on the table. This situation is nothing new to the Cruise Industry. There are many, many, stories, and videos now of “Cruise Ships Gone Wild” when caught in unpleasant weather. Sometimes it is just unavoidable. I have heard stories of times that ropes needed to be strung in dining rooms and other areas of the ship to give passengers something to hold on to as they attempted to walk from one side to the other.

                   All these events have taken place without me aboard.

                   It’s not that I’m looking for trouble, it’s just that a little Meteorological Mayhem would not be lost on me!

                   In the beginning of the cruise when the Dining Room was in disarray, I sent a note to the Maître d’ letting him know that as former foodservice operators, we commiserated with him and understood his problems. My note was met with a certain amount of appreciation from him, he was glad that someone understood his predicament. We had a very nice conversation.

                             This led to him asking us if there was anything that he could do for us. Initially we said, “No, thank you, we’re ok”, then after thinking about it we decided that we would like to have what we asked for in the beginning, and that was to have a table at a dedicated time every night instead of the “Anytime Dining” that is prevalent now. He granted that wish without any hesitation. At the same time, we asked for it to be a table for four and we would either handle filling the other two seats, or let Nancy the Hostess know, and she could find another couple that was willing to “share” a table.

                             This is possibly the best thing that we did! We have met some of the nicest folks with the sharing part. This in turn has led to filling the seats with these same people as we got to know them better and invited them back again and again.

                             As I said before, this has been maybe the best aspect of this trip so far! You can’t spend four months with nice people and not develop a relationship with them.

 We are all in the same boat 😊.

                             This is our home.

                             This is our neighborhood.

                             This is our kitchen table.

                             This is our living room.

          All of these places are the places where you enjoy time with your friends.

Before we were unceremoniously booted out of New Zealand by Mother Nature and her cohorts, the Nga Wairua Kino (Māori evil spirits) we had a chance to learn some more about the Māori culture in the port of Tauranga, which loosely translated from Māori conveniently means….. Port!

                                      Our bus picked us up at the ship and we were first transported to a local Māori High School. This school was obviously started to ensure that the Māori culture and customs were passed down to the succeeding generations. But one does not need to be of Māori descent to be enrolled here. Anyone that is interested in learning more about the Māori culture may attend!

                             The fine young folks that put on a wonderful performance of just a few of their customs and rituals were obviously fully immersed in it. They did specifically say that we were not witnessing a performance per se, but in reality, when these routines were being executed, we were seeing the real thing because every time that they went through these movements it was the real thing.

                   When we arrived, they were all standing in front of us, lined up on the “stage”. They looked rather nervous, their hands were visibly shaking at their sides. We were not sure how this was going to go based on our initial observations.

Whoa! Were we ever wrong!

Apparently, the Māori believe that movement is life and so by standing still, they needed to show some movement and that is displayed by the shaking hands.

They proceeded to bowl us over with their voices in song and their movements in dance. This particular school took fourth place in the nationwide Māori Culture gathering last year. There were over fifty tribes represented at that event.

          So, these guys and gals were good!

          After they were finished with showing (and teaching 😊) us, they all stayed to meet us, answer any questions, and have a few photo opportunities.

          It was an eye-opening experience for all of us and the perfect introduction for our next stop, that of visiting an actual Māori Wharenui or meeting house. This where it really did get serious and if you were not in the mood to participate, you best stay on the bus.

          Our Guide, who was a member of this particular Wharenui prepared us on the way there. We needed to learn a song, and the correct responses to certain phrases of greeting and other such things.

          I have a feeling that most of us are at least vaguely familiar with photos of menacing Māori Warriors in stances of defiance with their tongues sticking out and/or rolled up, again in a fierce manner. Well, that is exactly who greeted us upon our arrival. There we stood facing the Wharenui when the Warrior came out and very aggressively advanced towards us spear in hand, chanting and screaming in Māori, challenging us to either break and run or stand our ground. I will be honest, there were times when breaking and running seemed like the intelligent thing to do!

          Luckily for us, we had nominated a “Chief” of our own to represent us and assure this Warrior that we had, in fact, come in peace. The Warrior dropped a peace offering on the ground and it was up to us to either pick it up (good) or ignore it on the ground (bad).

                   It was quite a relief to see our “Chief” pick it up and advance towards the Warrior because even though there were about fifty of us and only one of him, my money would have been on him!

          This ceremony was exactly what would have happened when a lookout from the Wharenui would spot some war canoes filled with members of other tribes advancing towards them. The Warrior was always the largest and fiercest one that a tribe would have, and his display was meant to be a show of “Don’t mess with us.”

          The peace offering was not always accepted and that’s when the battle would break out.

          We were invited inside, but not before removing our shoes and promising not to take any photos of the inside. Once we were inside and seated (Men in front of the women, in order to protect them if any untoward exhibits were to happen in the front of the Wharenui) we were greeted by a lengthy speech in Māori delivered by the fierce Warrior who, as it turned out, was only 18 years old. Could have fooled us! We then sang our song of greeting to their Chief (the real one) and once we were accepted by him things calmed down a bit. We were encouraged to ask questions. The answers were honest and forthright, acknowledging the trials and tribulations of trying to keep the Māori culture alive, much like our own Native Americans are trying to do.

          We were then invited into their dining hall for some refreshments and to have further conversations with them. This total experience was thoroughly enjoying and eye-opening at the same time…. and oh, our rendition of our “song” was obviously better than what they were used to because their surprised expressions of amazement were quite obvious!

                             Kia Ora!