FEBRUARY 20, 2008 RABUAL

The sea has been so flat, the ship simply glides along. When the sun rose this morning, it was really B R I G H T ! There are seven volcanos on this little island and two are active so we were greeted with two plumes of differing sizes rising straight up into the air. There are also some rubbish fires near the beach.
The harbor lives up to its reputation for service in WWII. It is ample in size and well protected from the open sea.
The ship is here today from 8 am to 5 pm. There are two tours: one to the volcano(s) and the other for war sites. We will walk around the small village on shore for a while slathered in lots of sunscreen and with heads well covered. Because we are in port, the activities are slim and almost all confined to sedate or intellectual pursuits.
THANK YOU to Pat for the newsy email to Ed. I am impressed with his Executive Administrator style and concise writing.

FEBRUARY 19, 2008

OCEAN: It is so smooth in this area that when I awoke in the night it was almost like being in port. This afternoon, it is still that way. It’s very humid and overcast. Given the time of year and the typhoons or monsoons, we may see a lot of days like this. Nonetheless, one can’t afford to ignore sunblock and bug spray.
GUADALCANAL & RABAUL: Prof. Giles reviewed the history of the war and battles in this area and then showed us photos, often a before (during WWII) and now comparison, of the places and war materiel in the area. This would be a great place to scuba dive as there are numerous ships and planes on the ocean floor in this area, both American and Japanese. He obviously is very fond of the natives at Rabaul if one goes by the photos he shows. They all speak English and many live in places created during the war. Both sides of the conflict lived in caves to avoid bombing. A full hospital was underground in many places.
He told a story of being in this area on another Princess ship and narrating from the bridge. The Captain made some comment about the volcano(s) here and lo and behold, it blew up while the ship was there. Maybe we’ll have a little excitement while we’re there. We could add a volcanic eruption to our list of exciting events we’ve seen.
We have a good size group of WWII veterans on board and when the speaker says anything sympathetic to the Japanese who were abandoned by their government, one fellow behind us would say “tough” and other similar remarks. I had mixed feelings about this: I understand where that’s coming from, but it’s time to move on.
There are two tours tomorrow, neither of which interest us so we’ll just get off and wander around on our own.
EMAIL: I am pleased to see that Dr. Lou Rubino is doing a powerpoint presentation about Ellen’s contributions to the China exchanges at the China Banquet. I’ve asked if he will post it somewhere so that others can view it as well.
LIBRARY: It’s so quiet and peaceful here. Folks here and there reading the 1 page newspapers we have here: Australian, UK, USA. Others putting jig saw puzzles together wordlessly. In another area, WiFi is being used with folks’ laptops, and still others are doing the crossword puzzle for today. Amber, a cruise staff member from India, is present for several hours to help folks,
There is a paperback exchange for folks to choose some books; not all of them are paperback; there are a nice selection of hardcover books too. As is usually the case, there are more books each day as more contributions are made.
SUNBATHERS: We have a solid core of folks who fry everyday around the pool. Their skins look like old leather and they really look weird with white or blond hair.
TRIVIA: They’ve moved this event to 15 min. earlier which is a good idea since it now ends just before lunch. Val and Eric were there along with the couple from yesterday. I now have an ethical conflict because the wife in the latter couple writes the questions on a yellow pad she carries, but in the back she has some cheat sheets. For example, there are often questions about phobias and I think I see a list of these with their definitions. They are in teeny tiny font size.
This is pathetic in my opinion beside the ethical concern I have. I don’t want to play with her. It doesn’t really help in the long run; kind’ve like students who want an open book test: by the time they find the answer in their book, they could have successfully answered a number of questions. So maybe I’ll ambush the local padre to see what if anything I should do about this.
RABBIT FOOD: I went to the buffet and got some fruit and rabbit food for lunch. There I talked with a couple who had been on the Prinsendam 2 yrs ago (we were on it last year) and the same captain is really a special person and absolutely perfect for his job.
While I was getting these nibbles, I saw Marty Allen in line; he and his wife are doing the show tonite. We saw him on the Prinsendam last year and he’s still as funny at 85 as he ever was. His wife is 20 yrs younger and talented as well (piano and singing). I’m looking forward to it.
I also ran into my now favorite Republican and his wife. They were finishing up lunch and were going to start playing Triominos. Too bad Ed doesn’t like table games. I love them.
CHICAGO: This is the movie for today so I came back to the room where Ed was laying down watching CNN. He was agreeable to watch this again. One of the best movies we never tire of seeing.
READING: I’m back to Iberia by Michener and enjoying it as much as one can enjoy a text. I’m learning so much about Spain and it will be interesting to see what is still true when we are in Barcelona and the Gibraltar area.
DINNER: Hank has a cold and they had had lunch so they didn’t come to dinner. The seating places changed and this configuration, with couples at each end of the oval, made it much more difficult to have a conversation that included the couples at both ends simultaneously. I felt conflicted in trying to include all in a conversation but without much success. The men at both ends have hearing problems (well many of the rest of us have decrements in this area too) and that complicated it even further. One tolerates this more than the other it seems.
ENTERTAINMENT: This was Marty Allen and his wife. We saw them last year on the Prinsendam. The skit was the same but with some more up to date aspects added. Still, while I recognized it, I didn’t remember all that much of it. It was a good show and folks seem delighted with it.
Tonite was Country hoedown night but JJ said only 6 people were showing up for the 10 to midnight dancing. They do rearrange the times of the show on the nights before we have a port stop and that helps everyone.

FEBRUARY 18, 2008

ESPECIALLY FOR PAT: Let us hear from you. Are you still alive? And Teddy? And Sylvia?
LAUNDRY ROOM: Pure and simple: I hate it. I drug a bag of dirty laundry down and Ed said he was going to bring the other bag and then go exercise. One of the washers is out of order (and I was later told by a woman that it had been that way last week too). There were two ladies doing their laundry so I waited for a washer. Still Ed hadn’t arrived so I called and asked him to bring the other bag down please. Turns out he hadn’t headed for exercise either, nor breakfast. And here I thought I was doing a good deed.
So gradually, 4 washers opened up as the ladies moved things to their dryers and did their ironing. No one else was around to use the washers, so I managed to get all the loads into a washer. In walks another person (I’ll spare you the gender info) and found out I had all the washers available (3) start making not so subtle remarks as if he should be able to waltz in and immediately get a washing machine. As soon as a washer was finished, I gave it to him. Then he started in about the dryer situation. Well you can imagine how this set with me. (Ok so I just realized I gave away the gender). Additionally, another gentleman (he at least was nice) had put his clothes in the dryer and when it stopped he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Since they weren’t dry yet, I put another 4 quarters (no slugs, no Grand Cayman coins in the money from the purser’s desk this time thankfully) and turned it on again.
A lady we see often came in to see that by this time there was a washer available, so she asked me to hold the washer while she ran to get her clothing. Job done and she’s now reading her novel. Sometime during all this, the dryer gentleman comes in and I told him what I had done so he wouldn’t wait until a full 40 min had gone by if they were already dry. He looked a little puzzled, thanked me, and offered me a $1 bill. He did explain that he didn’t have quarters; bless him. I told him to put it in the collection plate sometime. This sounds harsh in the reading but it wasn’t in person.
Then the remaining two folks in the laundry begin to ask me if my clothes are dry. I checked one dryer which held Ed’s underwear and some of the seams were still damp, so I continued with that load. Eventually, I took one load out and a lady came over and felt it and told me it was dry enough. I bit my tongue.
I managed to get everything folded except for the last dryer full and still no Ed. So I called and asked him to come down and get some of the clothes since I can’t manage all of them alone. He was just getting into the shower (it’s now between 10:30 and 11 am).
So basically, I’m dripping sweat—truly, irritated with these folks who presume to know how everyone else should behave when many of us have been waiting for a long time before the latecomers even arrive.
Eventually, it occurs that there are two washers empty and one dryer empty. I looked at the lady who remained (the man I tried to believe didn’t exist) and said: “Isn’t there someone we can call and tell them to bring their laundry down quick because there’s a washer available?”
The folks who were off the ship to see Ayers Rock came back last night and were crowding the laundry room until closing. And one washer out of operation.
So when I’m in a better mood, I’m going to write a sandwich letter to the suggestion box (compliment, complaint, complement) about fixing the washer.
TRIVIA: After all of this, I climbed up to the Lounge for trivia. Val and Eric were already there and another couple we had not met before joined us. It’s fun to see how we all work together and we’ve all decided our team would have a better chance if we kidnapped one of the home schooled kids on board for our team.
We started discussing how badly some people behave around these competitions. Murray told the story of one cruise where some passengers came to a fisticuff over the answers to a trivia question. The Captain had to break it up. Eventually, the staff refused to do the trivia games. Isn’t that amazing? We’ve seen some odd behavior on ships before as well but never that bad. And these are ADULTS???? We just have fun with it all. It’s nice if you win, but the best part is racking everyone’s brains for the answers. We believe it’s keeping all of us out of Alzheimer’s wards.
LUNCH: Ed went to lunch and I had a fruit. Then I went to the library for the crossword puzzle and the USA times. I’m trying to finish the last Vanity Fair issue so I can start putting them in the library for others. I made a good dent in it before going to:
JAPAN’S DEVELOPMENT IN MICRONESIA: These lectures are being done by a professor from somewhere who has had a lifetime interest in this area. His presentation style is somewhat choppy but I wasn’t planning on taking a test on the content anyway. I have little interest in battles or wars; however, I do have an interest in the odd fact now and then that come out in these presentations. I do needlepoint while listening. (And by the way: this needlepoint kit, which you pay $7 for, has “Princess Cruises” on the pattern. I’ve made my own writing and it says: “Dr. BonBon”. Why should I pay them to advertise their company?)
The two main things from today’s presentation was about the buildings the Japanese constructed in Micronesia vs. the one’s the American’s made. The Japanese buildings are still standing even after being blown to smithereens, and many are being used as home. The American ones were temporary and clearly long gone. What does remain of anything Ameican (or Auzzie or others) are the hulls of ships and such and to be honest, Japanese ships as well.
The Japanese had relocated many of their citizens to these Micronesia islands and thousands died of starvation and other atrocities because they were essentially abandoned by the motherland. He has pictures from archives of the facts he’s sharing and they make things come alive.
RABAUL: East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea, is our next stop and the Patter has a little squib about it. I never heard of the place prior to taking this cruise (or of Chuuk—another port soon). It says that the eruption of Rabaul was probably the most important eruption of 1994. It’s all news to me.
PORT TALK: was on our next stop Rabaul and was at 10 am this morning when I was in the laundry. (no I’m not going there again….at least not for a while). The Brisbane couple were really annoyed with his inaccuracies again. Because of conversation at supper I’ve come to the conclusion that the American(s) believe the battle of Rabaul to be significant; other nationalities don’t.
As a follow up to this: I hear many people complain about the speaker for the port talk. I agree with much of it as I’ve described before. In the afternoon, I was in the area of his desk reading. Several people came up and congratulated him on several qualities in his talk. So I can see why nothing changes.
DINNER: Well, for the first time in a long while, we were a full table this evening. We discovered (because we are almost always one of the last tables to empty out) that when most of the people leave the dining room, we can hear everyone at our table. Folks at each end of the table (it is oval) have problems hearing at various times.
I’m working on my weight and so I ordered a fruit plate. Rod brought me a scoop of my favorite ice cream also. Hummm I’m gonna have to find a way to deal with this.
ENTERTAINMENT: It’s someone doing Nat King Cole songs and such, so I’m passing. I knew Ed would want to go.
TOMORROW’S SCHEDULE: There’s a big whoop tee do art auction tomorrow afternoon so there’s not much being offered. They’ll wait a long time to get us to buy a piece of art anywhere but especially here.
And I see the drink for tomorrow is a 24K Golden Rita. I defy you to identify the alcohol in any of these drinks though. Still I like slushies. At the Rainforest yesterday they had a delicious mango slushie. It cost $3 AUD and was about 6 oz. Oh well, it goes to help take care of the animals there….
BOAT BUILDING CONTEST: Remember how funny this was on the Diamond Princess in December? Well there’s one on this ship now. I’ll keep you posted.

FEBRUARY 17, 2008
CAIRNS

6 am! Oh Lordy. I did not want to get up! I let my Treo ring over 3 times and each time I’d stop it. We were entering the harbor of Cairns, so I turned on CNN and we got to watch the part about the Presidents’ health while the ship glided into the harbor. Room service arrived around 7 am and I finally got moving.
As we left the ship, we saw an adorable little beagle. His job of course was to sniff out the agricultural products folks weren’t supposed to be taking ashore. Since I once got busted in Chile because I wasn’t thinking and brought along an apple in case Ed’s blood sugar got low, I seldom attribute conscious behavior to folks having contraband in their carry ons. Well this little beagle just kept sniffing this one guy’s bag and he wouldn’t stop until the handler had checked it. We later saw another beagle and I supposed that this one was for narcotics as I’ve been told they “specialize.”
We were routed onto a bus on the pier. This bus had bucket seats! First time we’d seen that on a “motor coach”. Well it was short lived. Pretty soon, the guide called our name and said we were on the other bus. Rejected! We never did figure out why we were bumped as there were ample seats available on both busses and we went the same place.
Anyway, we got to see parts of Cairns on our way up to the rainforest which took about 45 min. Cairns has about 150, 000 population and is the jumping off place for The Great Barrier Reef. This is a righteous rainforest with all the heat, humidity and critters you expect to find in one plus a few new to us.
We got off the bus, walked through a souvenir area and were taken to ride on Army DUKW pronounced “ducks”. These amphibious craft were made in 1942 and expected to last only 3 mos. They’re still going strong though now they use LPG in it’s 6 cylinder, 10 forward and 2 reverse gear engine. Maximum speed is 85 kph on land, 16 kph in water. Driver can inflate and deflate tyres while moving. Propeller, rudder, bilge pumps and winch on board.
Our driver and tour guide for this was Shan (pronounced Shawn), and he was a real kidder. It’s hard to know what was real among his tales. He hopped on the hood with regularity and used a stick to point out things of interest in the forest.
We saw all kinds of animals here: small turkeys indigenous to this area—they don’t look anything like ours and are full of parasites so no one here eats them. Gorgeous butterflies, dragons, crocks, turtles, koalas (they charge $15 to have your picture taken with a koala cuddling you—we passed), and kangaroos of all sizes. We both had photos feeding them and I’ll try to select at least one to post for you. They are so delicate when they take the food out of your hand.
We also had a demonstration of dances by some aboriginal men. You could tell the animals they were imitating by their movements. Then folks got a lesson on throwing the boomerang. Later we were shown how they throw their spears, and a lesson on the digireedoo (sp). The sound is amazing that comes out of that stick. You can buy the latter all over Australia and they mail it back home for you.
There were dingos somewhere but we never saw them. Cassowaries were free roaming here: nasty disposition though. And as you may imagine, the flora was outstanding and so colorful.
The weather was overcast most of the time with sprinkles now and then but not enough to spoil our fun.
When we returned to the pier, we immediately headed into downtown CAIRNS. Since it is Sunday, not all of the stores were open. We did manage to see several internet and phone stores. However, we didn’t have the laptop with us and everyone was asleep where we call. We had a quick lunch at an outdoor café. We could have gone to the Odyssey in Chatsworth for the cost but you’ve got to consider the location. We walked around downtown and viewed lots of work by aboriginal artists. We did find postcard stamps and mailed a few postcards.
Many of us had asked the tour guide for a supermarket and she kept talking about Woolsworth. While we were in town we dropped in to Woolsworth. It is a supermarket here! So we got 30 diet Coke and 30 zero Coke. We must get some kind of wheeled device for times such as this; it’s much too heavy for Ed to lug around. We can divide the other stuff between our backpacks but it’s impossible with heavy liquids like this. Of course, we could have bought only a few instead of the 60 we got. So we figure we’re set for Cokes until probably Singapore.
THANK GOD FOR SHOWERS: We were both grateful for the shower on board as we were hot and sweater. It is humid here and while the temperature per se isn’t that great at the present, the humidity is high and the sun is blazing. I thought of Adrian as a baby today. When he cried, the tears would pool under his eyes. That’s where my sweat would pool and eventually drip down my face.
DINNER: Hank and Erna didn’t come but we figured they wouldn’t as we had seen them on shore and they had their one meal of the day already. We were joined by Lea and Bill, a couple we met at lunch some time ago who were looking for a compatible first seating table. It was a nice conversation about what they had done as they stayed in Sydney, flew to Cairns yesterday, and just rejoined the ship this afternoon. In the meantime, we regaled them with the stories of the reef pilot and the entertainers they missed while off the ship.
I’m feeling like a pig these days and resolve to watch my intake a little closer. It’s harder when you’re on shore; of course, being on the ship presents it’s own temptations. Dave and Twyla talk about the pastries that cause the tables to groan at the Buffet over lunch. That has never been my downfall==at least not so far.
ENTERTAINMENT: Tonite was the excellent pianist who Ed absolutely adores. She doesn’t disappoint. She practices in the Casino Lounge on occasion and you’ll find Ed (and others) there listening to her.
We have two pictures of her feeding the kangaroos today. Ed said that one of the kangaroos started to nibble on her fingers and he was thinking: Oh No! Not those fingers! She was telling us that she had the photo with the koala and that it kept scratching her trying to climb around her. She was afraid she’d drop him.

FEBRUARY 16, 2008 CONT…

Ed and I went to breakfast when he returned from exercising. I delude myself into thinking that the fruits I load up on equate with low calorie.
I went to the library and read the news, picked up the crossword puzzle for the day, and whispered hello to folks in there. I checked out the atlas to see exactly where we were. The Aussie reef pilot was making periodic announcements about our locations and what we were seeing. In some ways, it reminds me of Alaskan cruises where you have land and forests on both sides of the ship.
MYSTERIES OF SCRIPTURE: This man’s soporific voice volume isn’t what I wanted or expected. He reads some piece of scripture and then gives his explanation for what it means. I don’t know what version he’s using but even as Bible-illiterate as I am, I knew there were some differences in wording and certainly interpretation from what I know of the passages.
Folks in the audience sometimes offered remarks. It was interesting that not all those present were Christian; other faiths were represented.
We didn’t stay long as we wanted to hear the reef pilot’s remarks.
TRIVIA: My majarani was there and so I joined her. Then Eric and Val came in (the Aussies from Brisbane who came on in Sydney) and when Ed arrived we were now, by consensus, no longer the “two fools”, but now “five fools”. We all participated and rolled around the various answers. Eric was feeling he couldn’t make much contribution; he redeemed himself later when he correctly guessed the age of the cruise staff doing the trivia this morning! This was a tie breaker but unfortunately “five fools” didn’t qualify for the tie breaker. We had such great fun though. These folks are all a joy to do things with.
LUNCH: We joined a table with 6 other folks, four of whom we had visited with before. The conversation was fun but the food was disappointing: chicken dry, vegetable mousse (?) was non-descript, and so forth. We have so many new staff after Sydney and it shows as they haven’t gotten into the groove yet. You often have to ask several times for your drinks and getting refills if it’s not coffee, may never com about.
Breakfast and lunch are open seating so we don’t join our usual wait staff. Rod is still with us for dinner with a new assistant, Roy. They have their act together and are delightful.
AUSTRALIAN FOLKLORE: Our reef pilot continues to amaze us. He used a famous Australian poem as the structure for discussing Aussie folklore. There is a drawing on the Australian $10 bill that he explained via this drawing. Apparently there were two movies made about this poem by A. B. Patson (I think—I didn’t take notes; could be Patterson) titled something about the Snowy Road.
He donned an outback hat and vest and proceeded to recite this very long poem entirely by heart with emphases in all the right places. After this, he went through the words to explain those that may not make sense to non-Aussies. This all was used as a method of explaining Australian culture (not the aboriginal: we’ll get that later). I can’t tell you everything that we did but at the end someone asked him to sing “Waltzing Matilda”. He said he would if someone else came up to sing it with him. Eric popped up, was handed a mike, and we all joined in. It turns out that Eric is in a barbershop quartet in Brisbane and he knew all the words!
I can’t convey to you how much we have enjoyed this reef pilot. What a charmer he is, and so unpredictable with so many unexpected things he does. As we were leaving, the couple who sailed for 6 yrs in a 50 ft boat, said: “Now you can see why we loved our 6 mos in Australia. These people are such fun!” We lose the reef pilot in Cairns tomorrow.
WATERCOLORS: Hank and Erna were asked to demonstrate and discuss watercoloring. They have established a presence on the 4th deck where they paint almost every day. Hank has been doing this for 77 yrs; Erna only a few. They paint very different subjects: Erna has only done tropical flowers, bright colors, simple, elegant. Hank does what I’ve called his “Goya” pallet: darker hues of green and brown, and blue. He is a prolific painter averaging one a day. About 10 people showed up to watch them work and to ask questions. I think they’ll have a following now and will need a larger space to accommodate others who want to learn to paint this way. One lady already does this when she’s home.
PHOTO CONTEST: I discussed with Ed submitting two pictures of animals from our Galapagos experience. I double checked and unlike we were told originally, each passenger can submit one photo for each period of the contest. The topics for this section are Animals, Landscapes, Seascapes. It’s hard to choose! We finally settled on a baby and mother sea lion for Ed’s entry, and the sally light-foot crab that I posted on the blog earlier.
This section ends March 15th and it may be a little premature to submit these but I wanted to pre-empt anyone who went to the Galapagos from submitting a photo similar to the ones we are putting in. The video from the Galapagos has some footage of the colorful Sally light-foot crab so that might be a problem even though these are photos. I suspect there’ll be a great selection of photos for this section; many of these passengers have some Big Time camera equipment so it’s uncertain what chances the little guy or gal will have. The winning photos are based on votes submitted by the passengers. No names or cabin numbers are revealed; each photo has a number and that’s all.
The woman who won this time got a terrific camera from Olympus. Her winning photo was a close up of an aged woman with a turban like wrap around her head. She was also edentulous and was not smiling. She will not be allowed to submit another entry in the contests; at the end, all the winning photos will be judged by a representative from Olympus and the final winner will get a very expensive Olympus camera.
The second place photo this time was a little boy about 2 yrs old chasing pigeons in a plaza in Lima. There were many very colorful pictures; I was glad I didn’t have to be a judge.
WEATHER: Has been all around the block today. We’ve had frank rain, overcast, sunshine…you name it. And it’s 80 degrees and very humid.
PARTY POOPER: I asked Ed if he wanted to go to trivia at 4:30 p. He said no. so how did he spend this time? Asleep with CNN on the television. I ask you: what’s wrong with this picture? Of course, I could have gone on by myself but I fixed the pictures to submit and typed this blog.
DINNER: Dave And Twyla, Ed and I again. It’s his birthday and we didn’t even know! The wait staff had a small cake which we all shared with vanilla ice cream. The staunch Republican I’ve often mentioned also celebrated a 58th b’day.
ART AUCTION: There was a display of art in the atrium with wine and snacks. The Captain was there. Speaking of which, there’s a lot of gossip around him and the Art lady, Nicole. I figure it’s their business whatever it is but some of the ladies (haven’t heard any men who were concerned) are upset by what they think is going on---no real facts you understand.
TONITE’S ENTERTAINMENT: It started off with a skit titled “G’day Mate!” where the dancers and singers were dressed up as things Australian such as Capt. Cook, a kangaroo, and such. This was followed by an Auzzie who plays a mean banjo. He was fun as well as being very talented. Val and Eric had seen him before and told us we were in for a treat. Some of the numbers were new to us Americans but we enjoyed them all the more.
This was followed by the male singer in the show’s staff who came out in an old Auzzie uniform and sang a long song about the Gallipoli battle. It was so beautifully done: clear diction, notes held perfectly, just the right demeanor. It was all new to me as any of this Gallipoli info is, but it brought tears to my eyes: it was so moving.
PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT: This was being shown from 10 pm on. Much as I like it, I couldn’t do it because of the need to get up early tomorrow. Boo Hoo.

FEBRUARY 16, 2008

SNOW? Is it true? CNN international is showing substantial SNOW in San Diego? No more morning yoga stretches for you, Barbara! Prescott is probably warmer!
EXERCISE: Ed was up before 7 am fumbling around to get his exercise stuff together without waking me up. It’s a nice gesture, but futile. Still, I’m grateful he’s doing this but I wait to see 21 straight days so it may become a habit.
TODAY’S WEATHER: Overcast, foggy, drizzle, gray sea. Occasionally we see some sunshine breaking through.

FEBRUARY 15, 2008

We woke up before the alarm went off but didn’t start moving around until it went off. Got ready, uploaded the blog, took my book and went to get a good seat for the 10 am port talk. The speaker sat down with me and we talked a little about his job. He was asked to do this at the last minute and thus was not able to get a China or India visa. He spent the whole day in Sydney at the India consulate without any luck as it turns out. He will be lecturing on over 40 different sites. Some people have become very critical saying that the things he chooses to discuss aren’t important. In the case in question, it was the discussion of the Battle of Gallipoli (sp?) and the lost generation (Australia and Turks?). Subsequently, this battle has been mentioned by others including our reef pilot.
He is a delight to speak to one-on-one. I just wish he could convert that to his public speaking style; perhaps then folks would be a little less harsh with him. One fellow told him he could do his job better. As one who’s seen many port talkers, I assure you it isn’t an easy job particularly if you do your background work.
CAIRNS: This is Great Barrier Reef territory. In addition to the expected sea areas, there is rainforest (the tour we are signed up for), odd animals we’ll all curious about. My goal is to cuddle a koala bear; apparently this might be possible.
We get into port at 7 am and leave at 6 pm; our tour is not that long so perhaps we can see some “stuff” in Cairns in addition to the tour which is a distance outside.
LAST NIGHT’S PHOTOS: are really cute. The Chinese jacket I wore is vibrant and the photographer put us into some cute poses. For example, in one, Ed is clenching a rose in his teeth. So we’ve put them aside to make a decision later.
IT FINISHED IT! The book “Eat, Pray, Love” that is. It was the book club choice discussed at the meeting the other day. She is a good writer and it was an easy read. She is very self revelatory and there is something for all of us to learn from it.
So now I’m back to “Iberia” by Michener. I now have two folks waiting for that one: Dave and Linda. Next I’ll do “Miriam” by Maggie Anton. Dave said he’d be interested in reading the next book club selection: “Water for Elephants” so I’ll get it to him.
COMPUTER RELATED: Finally got all the pics and such out to the folks to whom they were promised. Jim, my dyed-in-the-wool Republican friend has one of me and his wife (before the blowhole drenched her, poor dear) and so I gave him my flash card so I can have a copy. Roy bought me some disks in Sydney and I managed to get some American money to him which I hope covers his costs though not his time, which is very much appreciated.
I helped Ed connect to road runner so he could take down some of his email that way. It is such a nuisance to go to the internet café to use email. But that is almost free versus the cost of using WiFi and the laptop—darn it.
LIBRARY VISIT: This is such a quiet peaceful place. I read the one page newspaper to catch up with some news. That and CNN leave me feeling I’m not so isolated from world events. CNN is the international version so we get a wider variety of info and though it has Wolf Blitzer, I’ve yet to see him on this trip.
TRIVIA: Ed and I were joined by a delightful couple, probably in their 80s, who joined the ship in Sydney. They are from Brisbane and will leave in Singapore. Sharp folks. We had a good time playing with them even though we didn’t win. You should hear some of the questions though: What was the nickname of John Dillinger? My suggestion was America’s Most Wanted. The correct one was Public Enemy No. 1. What sport has shifters and I’ve forgotten the other term? Answer was Shotput. However, we were one of the few to get the date of Frank Sinatra’s death correct: 1998. We gave a shout for that achievement.
LUNCH: We sat with a variety of folks. It wasn’t the best fit but not terrible but I was glad when it was over. We were all laughing sharing the jokes told by the Irish comedian last night. Everyone’s # 1 favorite was the guy who took a Viagra at the beginning of a plane flight. When asked why, he said he wanted to keep the guy in the seat in front of him from putting his seat back. Another was that when men get into their 50s, they start peeing in Morse code: dot dash dot.
SIX AUSTRALIAN BATTLES: This was our reef pilot again. He is clearly very proud of Australia but he’s not blind to the unsavory aspects either. He is himself an interesting fellow. He began and ended the presentation with poems, delivered beautifully and very appropriate. In the process of relating the stories of these battles, you learn a lot about Australia, it’s origins and culture, and the adjacent lands. He is such a well rounded, interesting fellow. Very straight forward and very curious to learn from others as well.
CERAMICS: I got a pencil and tracing paper so that when Ed and I finally find a time to do the ceramics, we’ll be ready. I don’t want to give the details away as whatever we make will probably become a gift.
DINNER: We were joined at our table by an interesting fellow, Duncan, who is originally from Portland but now lives in San Francisco. He’s in the entertainment field and has worked as a DJ and producer. But on this leg of the cruise he’s moderating a discussion about the mysteries of scripture: the mysterious stuff called faith: Part III the Acid Test. All faiths welcome. If I don’t have another conflict sometime, I’d like to see what goes on.
COMEDIAN/MAGICIAN: He was interesting enough but you know I’m not crazy about magicians in this setting. And when I was so warm I was fanning myself, I decided I’d leave.
FAVORITE MOVIE: tomorrow night at 10 pm they are going to show one of my all time favorite movies “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”. I think I told you Terence Stamp is on board and he’s in the movie. This will be tough as we get into port at 7 am the next day and if I stay up to watch it, I’ll get seriously short changed on sleep. They won’t be showing it on the TV as some folks will take offense at the language and content. Too bad. It’s very poignant in some ways.
FUTURE WEATHER: We’re holding our breath for good weather in Cairns as there’s windy and rainy weather in the vicinity. We’ve been pretty fortunate weather-wise actually, so we shouldn’t complain.

FEBRUARY 15, 2008
H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y, L I S A !

I’ll write more later about today’s events. But at 8 am the ocean is slate gray with cirrus (?) clouds and the wind howling around the ship. There are small swells (by comparison to what we’ve had in the past) and small to medium waves. I’m beginning to notice the difference between the impact of the swells and the waves; these two phenomenon may be totally unrelated, a fact I’d never been able to imagine before.

FEBRUARY 14, 2008
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY
HAPPY 24TH ANNIVERSARY

The alarm went off at 8:15 and I got up, got ready, and downloaded all the photos from yesterday to the laptop. Then I took the laptop to the Cabaret Lounge with me so I could edit the photos while I listened to the new speaker.
REEF PILOT: He’s with us until Cairns and will be giving lectures and keeping the ship from going aground. I didn’t realize the size of the reef and the fact that ships negotiate inside of it kind’ve like the inside passage in Alaska except that here the tolerances are much less. For example, in some places, at high tide, there’s only 1.2 meters between the bottom of the ship and the reef. Can you imagine? No one better jump up and down or we’re in trouble. We learned a little about his background, about Australia, it’s economy (lots of minerals and natural gas; China is a big customer), and more. And of course a lot about the Great Barrier Reef.
LUNCH: Boy did we get lucky: at lunch we were seated next to Peter, the Reef Pilot. We were joined by a couple from Maryland and some folks who are Italian: one lives in London, the couple live in the States. We tentatively discussed GWB (Peter brought it up) until we determined that we were all of a like mind at this table, and then it was an interesting sharing of ideas. It was interesting to hear how an Aussie views the US, our entertainment and other influences, and particularly our politics and foreign policy.
Australia just elected a new government and it will take them in a different direction. They began by apologizing to the Aboriginies yesterday for the way they’ve been treated. This apparently was a sea change (no pun intended) from the previous administration’s stance.
Peter has a daughter who is going to Italy for 3 mos to practice her Italian.
There’s so much more we discussed—we talked for 1 ½ hrs—and he is so interesting and interested in what Americans think.
COMPUTER WOES: We were able to pick up some disks yesterday but I’m still having problems accessing the D drive. Well to condense several hours of frustration, Ed eventually was able to download the Galapagos photos for the lady who ruined her camera in the ocean water when she fell there. And I put photos on another disk for a couple –remember the rabid Republican I like so much who didn’t know who Ann Coulter was?—When we were at the blowhole at papeete, she got absolutely drenched with the water so there’s a photo of Ed and I flanking her. She’s such a good sport and it really is a funny photo.
EXERCISE TOLERANCE: Well I’m not out of breath, nor is my heart pounding out of my chest when I go up to the top of the ship. Each flight of stairs has 18 steps. So each time I go to the internet café or the library on deck 10, it’s 72 steps. I don’t really count descending. And in Sydney I have no idea how many miles we walked, but it was a lot. I don’t mind that kind of exercise but I sure don’t like to do it just for the sake of exercise.
CNN: Yes! We have CNN now. Earlier in the day we saw a black screen with “no signal” and then suddenly this afternoon, we actually have London and Hong Kong feeds! There are other screens that had the message about no satellite feed into the Pacific but we haven’t had anything on those screens yet.
DINNER: Everything was decorated for Valentine’s Day. Appropriately, it was a formal night. I wore that classy Chinese jacket I have with black slacks and Ed was in his penguin suit looking very gallant. The ship gave us a little chocolate Anniversary Cake and the staff sang Happy Anniversary to us. I cut it into 6 pieces and asked for vanilla ice cream so everyone had some of it. Twyla had gotten a card for us and they, Hank and Erna had signed it. She is a sweet, thoughtful lady and I was touched with this gesture.
IRISH COMEDIAN: I always expect a lot when the listing is “irish comedian” (it’s close to being an oxymoron) but this guy did not disappoint. And how he remembers all that stuff is astonishing. And he works off of the audience too. I hope we see him again. I could have listened to him and laughed right out of the chair all night long.
OUR ANNIVERSARY: 24 yrs. Mercy. And we’re still able to enjoy the other’s company. I brought my (by now) ancient garland of red hearts to decorate the mirror in our room and wrote Happy Anniversary in lipstick on the mirror. Our poor steward will eventually clear it off. Better than using the permanent marker with was the other alternative. And the ship had put 3 colored balloons that say “Happy Anniversary” on our door. In the dining room tonite, there was another couple with an Anniversary too. Overall, it was a nice way to celebrate this milestone (I did NOT say lode stone you know!)
We did have formal portraits taken with champagne glasses (full of ginger ale for the record), and a pink rose—in one photo with Ed clenching it between his teeth. Good thing we don’t have to worry about whether we have to buy these. We’ll see how they look. We enjoyed doing them regardless of what they look like.
MESSAGE TO AMY: who asked for a picture of my hair cut to see how the gal on the ship did it. Well, before I have it cut again, I need you to tell me exactly what to tell them to do. Greta (she has 3 yrs experience just for the record and is from Britain) did a nice job but she didn’t layer as you do. That’ll probably be OK for this round, but next time I’ll need more shaping. My right bang area needs to be cut shorter and I’ll drop in for that when I can’t stand blowing it out of my eyes any longer.
And if I remember, I’ll put up a photo taken of us in the Valentine heart tonite. You can zoom in on the face to check out the hair cut.
YIPPEE! We turn our clocks back one more hour! It doesn’t get any better than this folks!

FEBRUARY 13, 2008
SYDNEY

We went to breakfast which was served ever so late. New staff I guess; the server seemed to be a little oblivious to what to do. Then we ran upstairs to meet the Australian immigration authorities. This is a long queue where you pick up your passport on one side of the Pacific Lounge, go through a snake line until you find yourself in front of one of the 3 Auzzies from immigration (mine was Shannon so I remarked on a fellow Irish), they look at your form you filled out, stamped the passport, and you continue to the other side of the Pacific Lounge where you once again surrender your passport to the ship’s crew and they gave us a small piece of green paper to carry in lieu of the passport when we are on shore. It has a logo of the ship a nd says something like passenger in transit. We had to present this, our ship’s ID, and a government issued photo ID, to leave and return to the ship. Leaving only involves one check; returning is a minimum of three including the X-ray of your parcels and taking your body through the detector.
It was drizzling and so we put our windbreakers on with our hats and set out to follow a map for a walking tour that had been in an advertising piece we were given. This became soggy very quickly and required some diligence to continue to use it. Most things were closed but we played lookie-loou past these older buildings, checked out the sea gulls arranged with their necks pointed into the wind and their heads tucked under their wings. Eventually the drizzle stopped and was replaced by sunshine for the rest of the day. But it was overcast so the weather was never terribly hot.
The lanyard on which I carry my camera broke as we were leaving the room and so we spent some time picking up the beads from the bedspread and floor. I found a photo shop in the quay near the ship while Ed was at the ATM getting Aussie dollars (exchange rate: $0.87 USD = 1 Aussie dollar). As I have said many times, there are no bargains anywhere. We saw churches, old and new buildings, lots of different ships (This is a magnificent harbor with many quays and wharves), and eventually found our way to the visitor center where we ran into Dave and Twyla. We picked up some maps and a few other odds and ends in this complex. Twyla had told Ed about a woman’s clothing store with gorgeous clothes. She was right but neither of us would pay these prices: regularly $600.00 Aussie, on sale for $399.00. I don’t think so. But they were gorgeous.
We stopped at a “chemist” to pick up some eyeglass cleaner, diet Cokes and large print crossword puzzles. We went to the Opera House with the intention of taking the one hour tour. While wandering around there, we met another ship couple; he from Holland. The cost was $27 Aussie for this one hour tour per person. We decided we could enjoy just wandering around the building in the open areas and feel just fine about the visit. After we left there, we checked out the menus and prices at a few restaurants in the area. Lunches started at about $20 Aussie. We found a few other things that interested us and eventually made our way back to the ship to drop our purchases in our room and have lunch on the ship.
After lunch, Ed led the way on a route that had been recommended to him by the visitor’s center. We passed the government buildings, Sydney Hospital, and lots of other interesting buildings with lots of history. Eventually we came to a large central park with a dramatic fountain there. We spent time looking and taking photos. Both of us were intrigued by the Ibis’ wandering around here amongst the sea gulls. There are some funny photos of these basically comical and ugly looking birds.
Then we headed to the sky tower via a underground shopping mall where we did manage to get a few souvenirs. We finally discovered how to buy tickets for the sky tower and it seemed to take forever as some folks in front of us kept asking more questions and changing their minds about God knows what. In the meantime, there were two young Chinese men behind us who knew very little English but had great smiles, and wanted info about the cost of tickets and such. All we know is Nee-How (hello) and Chay-Chay (thank you) and those didn’t get us too far. We wound up giving them the discount ticket that we couldn’t use since the senior rate was better.
You can bet we didn’t sign up for the sky walk (over a glass flooring) or the bungie jumping or “sky walk”: walk around the 1.2 m wide ring, no handrails, 192 m high. For dare devils that love life. Prior to taking you up to the observation deck, there was a Oz – something experience. We were happy just to survive the stampede of Asians who were trying to trample us along the route. We sat eventually in some chairs and were surrounded by 3 screens. The movie played and the chairs mimicked a wild helicopter ride over the bridge (I can do this: I’ve seen IMAX), and other Australian tourist spots. It was fun but Ed and I are both thinking we’re getting too old to have our necks swung around like this.
From there we just walked around downtown and gawked at the architecture, old and new. Sydney is a beautiful city and fun. People dress well; Ed says he’s never seen so many iPods in one place, and we were stunned by the numbers of Asians (tourists?). Eventually we made our way to Darling Harbor; by this time it was after 5 pm. We moseyied here and there taking photos of those stupid ibis’, sea gulls, and people just going about their lives. The harbor is busy and there’s lots of watercraft whizzing here and there.
Eventually we settled at a restaurant “Wine and Meat, Co.” Their info says they’re in Dubai too. The couple who were also on the Prinsendam with us last year came back with their daughter who came from Canberra with their 2 y/o (adorable, blond curly hair, vivacious) granddaughter. Ed ordered a steak; it was terrific. I had the chef’s salad with biltong: jerky but it’s soft. Then we shared an apple and rhubarb crumble with vanilla ice cream. All of it absolutely scrumptious. While we were there, a young couple from Colorado sat next to us and we visited. It is 17 degrees there now and here they are in balmy Sydney. They return in 4 days—boo hoo.
We then tried to decide how to return to the ship. We could have walked it but Ed’s plantar fasciitis was acting up by this time, so we wandered aimlessly until we ran into one of the couples we met at the Captain’s table the other night. We wound up visiting with them and taking the ferry back to the quay and the ship. We got on board at 9:20 pm. Our “curfew” was 9:30 pm.
As we left Sydney harbor at 10 pm, we stayed on the balcony to watch everything. I took some photos of the bridge and the opera house at night but while we enjoy them, they aren’t very focused (I’ve got a point and shoot after all).
Overall, a wonderful day in Sydney and we’d love to come back for a long stay. Australians are friendly and smile a lot. And of course, the accent is a fun thing to listen to no matter what they’re saying.