Month: March 2019

Thursday, March 14, 2019

We’ve been promised that this will be our hottest and most humid day of the voyage. I’m ready. Bring it on!

Where am I?

So, what’s been happening?

Today I purchased a ticket for the hop-on hop-off bus in Darwin. This bus is a rolling tour of the city with various stops. If you see something that you want to explore along the way you just hop-off. Later, after you’ve satisfied your curiosity you just hop-on again and continue your tour.

My plan was to take the entire tour and then hop-off at a pub I had previously identified as an interesting one via the Untapped app. At the third stop I realized that we were a couple of blocks away from the pub I wanted to visit, so I hopped off.

I walked the two or so blocks to the pub (Six Tanks Brewing) along one of the main streets in what must be the tourist district. Within that very short walk, I found all of these tavern stalwarts:

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Ultimately, I found my way into Six Tanks Brew Pub. Not surprisingly, right up front and on display are six stainless steel fermentation tanks.

Now, a really unexpected part of my visit to this little downtown Darwin brewery was that they had no beer. At least, they had none of their own beers! All six tanks were labeled as “coming soon!” To me, that just seems like bad management. For example, little McFate brewery in North Scottsdale has but a handful of fermentation tanks, yet always has a full pallet of beers on tap.

In spite of this unsuspected exprise, there were four guest beers, plus Heineken. I had a pint each of the two pale ales offered and threw in an order of fish and chips to round out my experience. The fish they used was called barramundi, which I’d never tasted before. All in all, not bad, and refreshing on a very hot and humid Darwin day.

After having sated my every desire (ha!) I headed back to the bus stop to pick up the hop-on hop-off. While waiting, I started digging around in my pockets looking for my ticket. It was gone! I have no idea where I might have lost it and paying another $23 for a ride home was not in my playbook. Therefore, I decided to walk back to the ship.

The first thing I did as I started in the general direction of the ship (which I could not see, but I was pretty sure I knew where it was) was to detour slightly and take in the bicentennial park that runs right along the coast. It’s a very nice park, well laid out with meandering paths that provide beautiful views of the ocean and the harbor. Here are some of the photos I took along the way. (Click a photo for a larger view.)

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My walk would have been so much more enjoyable if it wasn’t for the heat and humidity. My friends in Phoenix understand monsoon-season conditions, and it was just like that here, only more so. I only bring this up again because I didn’t really know the shortest path back to the ship as I strolled around the town, and it took me a bit longer to find the ship than I expected. All the while, I was exercising in the heat when the humidity was so high that sweating did nothing to cool a person down.

In total, I walked about two miles to get back. Two miles doesn’t sound like much and in better weather conditions I’ve been know to walk more than three times that distance quite comfortably. However, today was a challenge. After walking around for about an hour in this (92ºF, 95% rh) I did finally find the ship and make it back to my stateroom. I was very happy to be back into the cool, air-conditioned room where something odd happened.

After something like 5 minutes back into the comfort of my cool stateroom, my body unleashed a torrent of sweat. I can only remember one other time in my life when this phenomenon occurred, and I’ll bet that Cindy Upson can remember it. Within another five minutes I was completely awash in sweat. My shirt, my underwear, even my denim Levi’s were sopping wet. It was as if I had just crawled out of the swimming pool after having been pushed into it as somebody’s idea of a joke.

And there were other physical symptoms of distress. My Apple Watch monitors my pulse. It is programmed to let me know if my resting heart rate exceeds some threshold amount. I had set that threshold at 100bpm. As I set on a chair in my room, my watch tapped me on the wrist and informed me that, over the previous several minutes, my heart rate had exceeded that threshold. Typically, if I receive that message, I can calm myself, breathe deeply for a minute or so, and my pulse will return to normal. Not this time. After taking a moment to “meditate” my pulse went down to around 90bpm (still too high!) for a moment, but then jumped back up to over 100. After three of these episodes, I decided to take some additional action.

I stripped myself out of my clothes and immediately jumped into a cold shower to try to bring my body temperature down. With the cool water beating down on my head, I started to feel some relief. After a while, it worked, and within about 30 minutes I was feeling much closer to normal.

And yet, the story continues. Within a couple of hours after that shower I developed an insatiable thirst! While sucking down water (so much that I almost felt nauseous) I realized that when I left the ship, I had taken no water with me. And, apparently, the two pints of beer I consumed weren’t much help, either.

Anyway, using the Joe Caracci recommended urine color measuring scale, I determined that I was somewhere between the bottom two colors indicating. Kinda scary, and really stupid. I’ll learn from this experience.

SO, anything else?

Well, yes. Kinda.

Later in the evening I had arranged for a rather special dinner in the Pinnacle Restaurant aboard ship. The Pinnacle is a high-end steak and seafood restaurant for which an additional charge applies. In this case I was welcoming a new friend to join me for dinner.

I’m a solo traveler and I like that just fine. However, humans are social animals and we do need to interact with each other on occasion, at least. On this occasion, I asked a charming fellow passenger to join me for dinner.

Barbara is somebody I met during my tour of the Temple of the Moon in Trujillo, Peru. During that tour we came across each other largely, I think, because we could both climb the 12,734 stairs from the visitors’ center to the entry point of the temple with less difficulty than some of the other visitors. (Ok, not 12,734 actual steps, but in my mind…) Barbara caught my attention at that point because she got to the top of all those steps as if we were walking on level ground. Most certainly, I was impressed. I swear Barbara is as physically fit as Stephanie Foster. (And, I might add, equally attractive!)

Since dinner in the Pinnacle is prix fixe without a set sequence of courses, we were free to order as many items as we desired. And so, we did. We knew all along that we would never be able to finish everything that we ordered, but it made no difference in the price and we were anxious to try a good many kitchen delights. So, the mega-feast began!

Since we were indulging in pork, beef and fish, we asked our sommelier to make a recommendation for a wine to accompany our feast. When the sommelier suggested a rosé I thought he was just copping out, at first. Still, we accepted his recommendation and he brought to our table one of the nicest rosé wines I’ve had in recent memory. It was delectably dry with such a nice light flavor that I could not detect any flavor conflicts between the wine and the many sauces and spices of the plates we ordered. You can see Barbara holding that shapely (and empty) bottle of rosé in the photo above.

We somehow managed to enjoy over three hours at dinner, sampling so many items from the menu.

I know that some of you are either hoping I’ll find the love of my life on this cruise, or are worried that I may die of terminal loneliness. I know that you’re wanting to ask me, “So, was it a date?” Let me say this: Barbara and I did have a very memorable meal together, and a lot of my pent up need for human interaction was released over our three (plus) hours of conversation. And, I do look forward to our next encounter, whenever that might be. I hope that answer is as ambiguous for you as I meant it to be.

Following dinner, I was still a bit wound up so I went for a stroll around the ship. From the very back of the ship, looking toward the bow, I saw this sight (see below) and though it was rather pretty. What does not show in the photo was there were several lightning storms sparking around the ship in as many directions. I stayed out there on that deck for about an hour just “living in the moment.” It’s amazing how fast an hour can pass when you’re not thinking about the time.

At some point, I realized I was very, very tired. It had been a long day full of new experiences. Physically, spiritually, and a bit emotionally, too, I was spent. At last, a wave of exhaustion was crashing over me so strongly that I could no longer resist the arms of morpheus.

Anything else interesting?

No. Wasn’t that enough? Jeez!

So, what’s coming up?

Two more days at sea as we head to the land of dragons. No, not the castle at Dragonstone, but rather the island of Komodo. Komodo is the home of the largest lizards on earth.

More about that later.

Monday, March 11, 2019
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Wednesday, March 13, 2019

It’s getting hot and humid! Every day it becomes just a bit more “sticky.” Good thing I’m monsoon-season tested!

Where am I?

SO, WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING

Well, the most significant thing that has happened in these three days at sea is that I’ve moved. I’ve relocated. I’ve upgraded!

Early in the trip, I posted photos of my room, Stateroom 1960. Here’s what I posted.

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I mentioned in my earlier posts that I was not very happy with my room, but that I had chosen a window room (rather than a balcony room) to save some money. Each day I grew a little more disappointed that I hadn’t just spent the money on something that would leave me with happier memories.

Then, two sisters on my trivia team (Molly and a-woman-has-no-name) informed our team that they had upgraded from a Verandah room to a suite, and that their Verandah room was possibly available. Possibly, because this cruise is sold not just as an entire voyage but also in segments. It would be possible that somebody had already purchased their room and would be joining the ship at a future port.

I decided to check in with customer service and let them know I was interested in taking stateroom 6209 if it was available. It took them a couple of days to confirm that it was, indeed, available. After a quick tour of the room, I told them I would be very happy to take it!

Well, as of this writing, I’m in my new room. I’m no longer just above water level. I’m now two decks below the Lido. I’m on deck 6, if you will, and they call it the Verandah deck.

Examine the photo in the gallery above captioned “A very dirty window.” That is what I would wake up to and look through each morning. Trying to take a photo through that glass was ridiculous. Now, compare that photo with my first outside view after moving to my new location:

I think you’d agree that there’s quite an impressive difference. Now, let me give you a very brief tour of my new room.

The bathroom in the new stateroom is about the same as the old room with a couple of key exceptions. The first one (pictured) is that I now have a Jacuzzi tub, which I plan to enjoy with some bath salts. Not pictured is the upgraded shower and faucet hardware.

As you enter the door and walk past the bathroom, you come into the bedroom.

The bed itself is the same as in the last stateroom, however I now have a seemingly infinite supply of pillows. There are also more mirrors in this room and I’m still training myself where not to look.

Next room is an area I’ll call “the study.”

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This area is bigger than the “study” area in the old stateroom. It has a better TV and a better connection to the entertainment provided by the ship. Not actually pictured in the above photos is the mini-fridge! I now have a place to keep multiple bottles of wine and bubbly cold.

You can also see the door to the balcony which just may be the most important room of all!

On the balcony there are two deck chairs with ottomans (ottomen?) Also included but not pictured is a small cocktail table where I can set my cold beer! I really must say that it is so nice to sit on that balcony and watch the ocean go by. I feel much more in touch with the world I’m sailing through. I expect to see more marine life now, including dolphins, turtles, and flying fish. If I was lucky enough to see a whale I think I’d be in need of emergency laundry service.

Moving from one stateroom to another was a bit of a pain. Anything on a hanger was easy to hang on a bellboy’s cart. But, everything else had to be packed up in my suitcases for transport. Once I got to the new room, I then had to unpack everything. Which…

…is something I haven’t finished doing yet. So, if you’l excuse me…

What’s coming up?

Tomorrow we’ll pull into Darwin, Australia. It is supposed to be the hottest and most humid day of the voyage so far, therefore I’ve planed a tour in an open air bus. Oh, yes. I’m so smart.

P. S.

My photos are missing some of the details of the room, and I’ve tried to describe those details in text. If you’d like to see a video tour of the room, just let me know in the “Reply” section of this post.

Sunday, March 10, 2019

I’m now in the FNQ! That’s how the locals tell you that you are in Far North Queensland.

Where am I?

So, what’s been happening?

Like many of the places that we’ve visited, Cairns is a quiet place to be on a Sunday morning. I did arrange for a Segway tour this morning, so the lack of people out and about was probably a plus for me.

My first challenge was to get to the meeting place for my tour. The ship and the meeting place were about two miles apart and I was determined to walk there. My walk was actually quite enjoyable. I started out going down Abbot St. which is in the downtown area and is a center for touristy shopping. Unfortunately (or, perhaps fortunately) the stores were all closed on Sunday morning. About halfway to the meeting point (about 1 mile) I left the city streets and continued walking along the esplanade.

The esplanade is a narrow park that runs alongside the coast and fronts almost the entire downtown area of Cairns. It is well maintained and offers a nice meandering path through trees and well manicured lawns. I saw people jogging, biking, and just walking hand-in-hand. Eventually, I could see Craig Chalmers waiting for me at a park picnic table.

Craig Chalmers is a co-owner and full operator of Cairns Ninebot Tours. Although he is a native of New Zealand he has lived in Cairns for more than ten years and knows his tour territory well. When I write “tour territory” I mean the places where Segways (or Ninebots) are allowed to be used. Unlike in the US, the Ninebots are not allowed in many places, one of them being the esplanade (and many other places, too!)

As is common, many of the cruise ship passengers elected to take in some of the attractions outside of town. Today, though, I decided to get to know the town of Cairns a bit more intimately. Craig took the lead and we “glided” over to the Cairns Botanical Gardens.

If you’re into plants, especially tropical plants, this place is nothing short of amazing. Growing up in San Diego, I use to love to go to Balboa Park. In that park there is a botanical garden that has many tropical and sub-tropical plants. It was free to visit and I use to love to go there on a Sunday afternoon and see what was new or what was blooming. (It also made a nice place to take a date in middle and high school!)

The gardens here in Cairns are configured to resemble a rain forest. Today was also a rainy day so my tropical experience was complete. Now, allow me to show you some of the plants that simply took my breath away.

• The “lipstick” palm: I love palms and this is, for me, one of the prettiest palms in the world. I first saw a small grove of these in Panama in front of one of the government buildings. This palm looks almost like bamboo and the red stalks make it very eye-catching. These plants remind me of when I lived in San Diego a few years. There, I had a small cluster of Baby Queen palms that looked very similar but did not exhibit the bright red color of these beauties. I would love to grow these a home, but they wouldn’t last through the first winter there. They need heat and humidity. Too bad.

• Heliconia Rostrata, or Lobster Claw: This plant produces some of the most spectacular blooms, and in super bright colors. Furthermore, the blooms look like long strings of lobster claws. It has no real scent, but with a face this pretty, who needs perfume?

• Pitcher plant: This cool looking flower hangs down from a leaf from the main plant. The stem grows down, then curves up forming the bell of the flower, kinda like a saxophone. Now here’s what makes this flower so special: in the bottom of the bell is a sweet nectar. Insects can smell it and are drawn inside the bell. Once inside, the insect finds that there are fibers (“hairs”) growing in there and they point down. This means that the insect can only go deeper into the bell and cannot crawl out! Ultimately, the insect tires from trying to escape and falls to the bottom of the bell where it is decomposed and absorbed into the main plant. In other words, this plant eats meat!

The lushness of the plants in the botanical garden must be seen to be believed. And the variety! There must be over a thousand different kinds of plants, each one special in its own way. Cruising through here in a light rain on a Ninebot with butterflies and dragon flies all around made me think of Jurasic Park. When the ride was over and we had to return to our starting point, I truly just wanted to stay and explore more of this amazing place.

Craig dropped me off back at the ship so I didn’t have to walk the two miles back. He also put me on to the fact that there was a brewery in the building right next to the cruise ship terminal back at the dock. I stopped in and found a couple of tasty beers while I watched a heavy shower come down. It was a sure sign that (after our visits to Picton and Sydney,) we’re definitely back in the tropics again.

Too soon, the hour for our departure of this port of call came and went. As we pulled away from Cairns, I felt like I would love to come back here and spend a couple of weeks. The people I met were very friendly, the town is laid out in an attractive fashion, and the tropical climate supports the kinds of plants that you or I would never see back home in Phoenix.

Anything else interesting?

Why, yes! Thanks for asking.

On the ride back to the ship, we drove down Abbott St. once again. I don’t know how I missed this sight on my walk from the ship earlier that day, but when Craig pointed them out, I could see them everywhere.

Those are fruit bats, also known as flying foxes. There’s hundreds of them and they’re all hanging from the trees that line the commercial district. This would be one block away from the esplanade. Craig tells me that the city of Cairns has been trying to find a way to get the colony to relocate but their efforts, so far, have failed. This year they’re relaxing their efforts because of some environmental issues that have occurred in the last twelve months. First there was a very extreme heat wave last summer. It was so hot for so long that fruit bats began falling out of the trees, dead. There were dead fruit bats lying all over the commercial area and people were using wheelbarrows to haul the bodies away. There was also an impact on the source of the fruit bats’ food, so they have been doubly strained this year.

Some people don’t want them around the city area, but I think all of those flying foxes look pretty exciting as they hang from trees directly above high-end department stores! What do you think?

So, what’s coming up?

We’re headed next to Darwin, which is a very small, very hot, and very humid place. Perhaps I can grow some gills to help me to breathe in all of the moist air that waits for me just four days from now.

Saturday, March 9, 2019

We’re now heading north up the west coast of Australia. I’m excited to visit some places I heard about all my life but have never seen. Townsville is one of them.

Where am I?

So, what’s been happening?

Townsville is an interesting little place in Queensland. Like most communities in Queensland, Townsville seems to rely upon tourism to fuel its economic engine. At least until 3pm on a Saturday.

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The downtown area of Townsville is full of little stores and shops, some of which cater to very narrow interests. I just had to go in when I walked by a shop that was advertising this:

I don’t know much about this game other than the miniatures that you use to play it look pretty cool. And here’s another thing that I found odd: the only game that the store sold was Warhammer 40,000 and its various add-ons. I guess this game must have a huge customer base in order to keep the doors of a store open when it sells only this one game. I dunno, but if you want further information I suggest you contact Matt Danger Tolle.

So, why was I walking around downtown Townsville? I had been looking forward to my visit to Townsville for a couple of reasons.

Reason #1 – Fast Internet

The Internet aboard ship is atrocious. The service I receive on board is nothing like what they told me in the sales brochure. I suppose I should have seen that coming.

The problem with slow Internet at sea is that it becomes very difficult to upload photos for this blog. The upload process times out and it takes many, many, many retry attempts to get a single photo uploaded. This takes a lot of time and I find that I spend vacation time waiting for uploads to complete instead of reading a book, rewatching Game of Thrones, or just getting three sheets to the wind! (See that? I worked in a nautical term! Excuse me while I take just a moment to feel clever.)

OK, that’s enough of that. Let’s get back to business.

So, when I come ashore I like to find a place that has fast Internet so that I can upload the photos that I had taken two to four days prior. However, sitting in some library or museum just to upload photos means that I’m not out exploring. I think you can see my dilemma.

Now, if I could find a place with fast Internet that also is a point of interest to me, then that would make things better. Much better. So that leads me directly to reason #2.

Reason #2 – The Taphouse

I had been communicating with the good folks at The Taphouse in Townsville a few days before we arrived. I was hoping this would be a place where I good get a great IPA, some excellent pub grub, and enjoy some fast Internet.

I actually received several replies back from the staff of The Taphouse informing me that they could make all three of these things possible. Hooray! I mentally prepared myself to head into town, find this little place (it’s located in a pedestrian “alleyway” off of the main street in town), get a pint, upload photos, and maybe even get some writing done.

Well, I participated in all of those planned activities except one; I did not get any writing done. Here’s why.

While I was sitting at my table, who walks in but one of my ship’s crew buddies, Michael. Michael is a bartender on the Amsterdam and he is also a beer lover. He heard about this place as well and came in during his mid-day break to check it out. We had a couple of beers and talked about beers from around the world. It was great to have some company at lunch, even if it further delayed the next post to this blog.

The Taphouse has a very unusual feature that is worth mentioning here. They have a “serve yourself” system set up.

Now, this only makes sense if you’re a local, but here’s how the system works. You purchase an “ID” card of sorts. It’s programmed for your account and it’s about the size of a credit card. Once you have your card you can go up to any of the faucets found in the middle of the room. To the side of each faucet is a little black box with a screen, proclaiming the beer you receive if you use that faucet. You pick the beer you want, then you lay your Taphouse card on the screen. Then when you pull the tap handle, you get your beer. You can pour just a taster, a glass of any size, or a pitcher! You’re only charged for the amount of beer you pour.

The advantage to the cardholder is that you can try a sample of as many beers as you like without waiting for a bartender to set up a “paddle” for you. You also get immediate service (because you are your own service provider.) And finally, it’s kinda fun to pour your own beers from a tap.

While we chatted, Michael and I enjoyed a tray of charcuterie that was a nice mix of meats, cheeses, breads, and other goodies. All in all, The Taphouse turned out to be a great little place with great food and beer, but also with a great staff. And since I created such an excellent segue, I’d like to send a shout out to Jesse Marano who works at The Taphouse and is my newest friend on Untapped. Hey, Jesse! Thanks for making my visit to The Taphouse such a pleasant one!

So what are Robert’s beers of the day?

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So, anything else interesting?

Well, since I know you’re keeping track of such things, I should tell you about the perils of walking on a city street while looking at the map app on your phone. If you don’t watch where you’re walking you might just find a hole in the sidewalk where a tree used to be. I did. I stepped right into it, then I flew right out of it.

So, now I’ve got a new injury to nurse. It’s not bad, just scraped up my foot and ankle a bit. Give it a couple of weeks and the bruise will be gone, too. Sorry, I don’t have any photos of this event.

And, this is also interesting (much more so than me lying on the sidewalk.) Townsville has some very attractive beaches, but you can’t just go out into the water. Oh, no. I have been told that, when choosing a beach swimming area, I need to look for those places that are fenced and guarded so as to keep me well separated from the natives. In this case, however, the natives are box jellies. (NOTE: Koalas are NOT bears. Jellies are NOT fish.)

When it’s jelly season (and that season is happening right now!) these beautiful sea creatures can be found in plentiful quantities along Queensland beaches. But it doesn’t take an army of box jellies to hurt you; we were told that a single animal has the potential to actually kill you.

My advice is to avoid the jellies altogether and find a place where you can safely enjoy a pint or three of quality brew.

So, what’s coming up?

We just have this one short day in Townsville. Tomorrow we sail through the Great Barrier Reef and then park this limousine in Cairns for the day.

That’s all for now, so I’ll be saying “G’day, mate!”

Thursday, March 7, 2019
Friday, March 8, 2019

So now we’re headed north from New South Wales to Queensland, which means setting the clocks back one hour, yet again.

Where am I?

Day 1 aT SEA

Our first day at sea was rather nice, so I spent much of the day reading the Stephen King novel “Outsider.” Good book, and I might even finish this one in less that 12 months! That’s about the average time I need to finish a book.

I also enjoyed our evening trivia game, especially since I acquired and introduced a new team mascot to bring us some good luck!

I found this little guy while visiting the Sydney Zoo and he’s now an official member of our team. Oddly enough, on his first night’s participation, we won! First time! So that’s why we named him Lucky!

Day 2 at sea

On the second day we ran into some bad weather. The seas weren’t too bad, but it did rain intermittently. This gives me a chance, though, to show one of the cool features of the Amsterdam.

On a nice day, the roof is open and we can see the sky. The warm air from outside pours in and the entire pool area on the Lido deck becomes a haven of warm relaxation.

When the weather gets nasty, like it did on Friday, the dome can be closed to lock out the rain, yet we still get to enjoy the pool (and the pool bar!) All buttoned up, the roof looks like this:

The panels of the roof are on rollers and are electrically operated. It takes about 90 seconds to close and secure the dome. Kinda neat!

So, what’s coming up?

Tomorrow we dock in Townsville, Australia. Townsville is a relatively small city but I’ve made contact with a very welcoming pub there called “The Taphouse” and we’ve arranged a get together.

If you like beer, hang on until tomorrow.

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

So, what’s been happening?

Today’s tour included a drive around to see some of the sights of Sydney, but the main portion of the day was to be spent touring the outside and the inside of the Sydney Opera House. The tour was scheduled to be six hours long.

Things did not turn out as planned.

We left the ship and boarded our bus at 9:00am. Our tour group started out with a nice drive-by tour of some historical places on the way to the opera house. This was nice, but unless you’re the one doing the driving or the navigating, it’s hard to develop a sense of where you are, exactly.

It’s a long drive from where the ship is docked to where the Sydney Opera House is located, even if a bird could fly between the two places in just a few minutes. So, this part of the trip was not a highlight for me.

Eventually, we reached the Circular Quay (pronounced “key“) which includes the area where the Opera House sits.

Tours through the Opera House can only be conducted buy a special Opera House guide. Unfortunately, when we arrived, our special Opera House tour guide was nowhere to be found. The tour guide from our bus hustled around trying to get us in, but was ultimately informed that the next available Opera House guide would not be ready to take us around for two more hours.

Our bus tour guide decided that we should go out and drive around some more until our opera house tour was ready. Yawn.

Now, we did see some important sights around the town. For example, we learned about the ANZAC bridge.

ANZAC is the acronym formed from the initial letters of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. This was the formation in which Australian and New Zealand soldiers in Egypt were grouped before the landing on Gallipoli in April 1915. If you would like to know more about this group and their fate at Gallipoli, I invite you to watch this excellent movie.

On either side of the bridge there is a statue of a soldier. One side has an Australian soldier and the other depicts a New Zealand soldier. I was told that the ANZAC bridge is the only place in Australia with the flags of the two countries flying on either side of a bridge.

We also got to see people participating in another, different tour. It was one that I chose to stay away from, though it might have appealed to many of you. In the photo below you can see a group of people descending from their climb to the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. I’ll bet they had a great view from up there!

Ultimately, we made it back to the Opera House in time for our tour of the inside. Now, the bad news is that photography was very limited inside, owing to some copyright issues. As we toured the various theaters inside (there are four!) we were not allow to take photos if anybody or any part of a set was on stage. On this particular day, that was every theater.

Still, the architecture inside the hallways was just as breathtaking as the theaters themselves.

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The tour through the opera house lasted about 60 minutes. After this tour we were supposed to visit Bondi Beach which, I’m told, is something that every visitor to Australia must see.

We didn’t. Why? Read on.

At this point, we were way behind schedule and the evening rush hour traffic was beginning to build up. Our tour guide announced that we would not see Bondi Beach, but we would visit another cove instead. Then, it started to rain and the traffic just got worse.

After another 15-20 minutes in stop-and-go traffic our tour guide announced that we would have to return to the ship as we were supposed to be back at 3pm and it was already after 4pm. So, that was the end of my $119 tour. I was not happy. I bought a six hour tour and got to spend one hour at the Opera House and six hours in traffic. grrr.

Still, as we pulled away from Sydney at 5:30pm, the skies cleared up a bit and I did get some nice photos of Sydney harbor as we departed.

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As of our departure from Sydney, we’re now facing two days at sea. I didn’t see as much of Sydney as I would have liked, but I still left there feeling like I’d seen some nice highlights, and I’d had a very good time over all.

So, what’s coming up?

Two days at sea. I find that I sleep so well when we’re out on the water.

See you tomorrow?

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

The monkeys stand for honesty
Giraffes are insincere
And the elephants are kindly but they're dumb
Orangutans are skeptical
Of changes in their cages
And the zookeeper is very fond of rum

So, what’s been happening?

The lyrics above likely gave it all away, but today I went to the zoo!

The Taronga Zoo is located on a steep hill overlooking Sydney Harbor. The animals living here definitely have the best views of anybody in town.

The Taronga Zoo is over 100 years old and the entryway to the park is quite reflective of that age. Curiously, the entryway has the heads (not real heads) of various animals protruding from the masonry as though they were game trophies hanging from the library in an English mansion.

The zoo is large, but not nearly as large as the San Diego Zoo, a zoological park with which I am very familiar. In fact, I found my visit to Taronga filled with many mental comparisons to San Diego’s world famous zoo. Although, Taronga may be smaller than the San Diego Zoo, it compares favorably in many other ways.

Taronga Zoo is a very clean place. It was difficult to find any trash, garbage, or other litter anywhere in the park. It is also easy to find a place to grab a snack, a beverage (even beer!), or a rest room. I also like the signage found everywhere admonishing me (the visitor) not to give any animal a bite of my burger or a sip of my beer. Yeah, as if I’d share a good bee-ah with any of these guys.

The main entrance to the zoo (pictured above) is at the top of the hill, and the pathways to see the animals wind their ways from the top to the bottom, making the park more accessible to elderly people or people who experience some difficulty walking, especially up hill.

Once a zoo visitor finds their way to the bottom, there is a “Sky Safari” (I like to call them “Sky Buckets”) that will take you pack to the top of the park where you can find a new path back to the bottom. This really helps to make visiting the animals an effortless thing.

Oh, yes! The animals!

This zoo, like so many others, has many of the African animals we learned to love as kids: giraffes, elephants, monkeys, and all the rest. However, I have a limited amount of time to spend here so I sought out the animals any visitor to Australia wants to see: Australian animals, of course. And here is a collection that I found and studied.

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• Kangaroos: In Australia, kangaroos are almost everywhere. The “big reds” are as tasty as they are ubiquitous. They make great burgers, but don’t take my word for it. Buy some, and decide for yourself!
• Emu: Along with the kangaroo, emus appear on the Australian coat of arms and, again like the kangaroo, are also considered to be a national symbol. And, once again, if you want to eat healthier but can’t seem to give up those cheeseburgers, the flightless emu can offer you the break you’re looking for.
• Wallaby: The wallaby is, like the kangaroo, a marsupial which means that they carry their young around in a pouch until the young ‘uns are old enough to care for themselves. They are smaller than kangaroos and, according to my personal experiences, far more polite.
• Koala: A cute, furry animal that should never, under any circumstances, be called a bear.
• Wombat: Wombats are nocturnal animals about the size of a small pig. In this post they are shown in a zoo, but I have had the heart-stopping experience of meeting up with one of these beasts on a dark road outside of Melbourne whilst riding a rented Harley. Buy me a bee-ah and I’ll tell you the story.
• “Silkie” chickens: These little “puff ball” chickens are not unique to Australia, but it was the first time I’d seen one in real life so I snapped the photo. These are not your ordinary chickens. Their feathery “puffs” are smooth to the touch (which is how they got their names.) they have five toes on each food rather than the usual four, and their skin (and meat) is dark grey to black. I think this bird could lend itself to some very unusual culinary artistry!

Now, there was an African animal here that I had some fun with and helped a gathering crowd obtain the photos they were after. Do you recognize this guy?

Yup, it’s a meerkat. Meerkats live in groups much like prairie dogs. They burrow into the ground and into hills. They’re very cute and are often photographed standing up on their back legs in groups. They only exhibit this behavior, though, when they’re on alert. If one meerkat sees, smells, or hears a predator in the vicinity, they will stand up on their hind legs (likely to get a better view) and will produce an “alarm” sound to alert other meerkats that danger may be close by. Today, as a small group of people watched the meerkats dig in the earth and look for food, no meerkat was “on alert” and all of the little guys just wandered around doing their thing.

So, I unlocked my phone, went to YouTube and searched for a video (with sound) of meerkats spreading an alert. Once I found what I was looking for, I played the video at full volume while holding my phone high enough to get the speaker higher than the glass walls that contained the meerkat habitat. Immediately, every meerkat in that exhibit was up on its hind legs and looking for the source of the danger. That would be me.

I wonder if they (the meerkats) ever figured out that it was me that sounded the alarm. Oh, well. The other zoo guests thought it was pretty clever and everybody got the photo they wanted.

Perhaps it’s just because I’m a foreigner and I’m not familiar with Australian animals in general, but I found some great animal watching outside of enclosures. They were just walking around the zoo, much like me. For example, before entering the park proper, I found this little guy rummaging around in the bushes. I don’t know if he’s an iguana or some other kind of lizard but there he was, in the wild, and as free as you please!

Another beast that could be seen everywhere would likely be kept in an aviary anywhere in North America. This guy is known as an Ibis.

This particular bird propped himself up right next to me as I was trying to eat some lunch. He was very bold and didn’t seem to care that I could (if driven to it) reach out and wring his scrawny neck with very little effort.

Our tour guide explained to us that these birds normally live in swamplands. They use their long beak to probe in the murky waters for insects and small fish. However, New South Wales (the state in which you’d find Sydney) has been suffering through a drought for seven years now. As a result, the wetlands are drying up and the ibis has migrated into the city where it has been living quite successfully. It now uses its long beak to open the tops of garbage bins at the zoo as well as those found all over town. Now, the locals (who seem to make up funny names for nearly everything) call them “bin chickens.”

So, anything else?

Ok, the animals at the zoo were both interesting and entertaining, but you don’t have to look much farther than the human animal and his creations to produce a little snicker under your breath. For example, this sign:

I wonder if this sign in simply informational or serves as a warning. I dunno, but I can tell you that I have decided to be very careful about how I sit down on one.

So, what’s coming up?

This is an overnight stay in Sydney which gives me more time to explore. Personally, I think everybody who visits Sydney should go see the Opera House, so that’s on my agenda for tomorrow!

Come back and I’ll tell you all about it.

Sunday, March 3, 2019
Monday, March 4, 2019

Once again we’re sailing west, setting our clocks back, and enjoying some marvelous weather while crossing the Tasman Sea.

Where am I?

So, what’s been happening?

Today, the main dining room put together a rather unique Sunday brunch. Rather than put out a big buffet and let people choose what they would like to sample, this brunch gave us everything!

When I was handed the menu I saw quite a selection of items. I sat for a moment just checking out the selection of foods under First Course. While reading the list the waiter came by my table with breakfast pasteries, some coffee, some orange juice and offered me champagne at the bargain price of 2-for-1.

Even with all of this food in front of me I started narrowing down what I wanted from the list of foods under First Course. While I was deciding, the waited brought to me a plate full of a big variety of goodies on it. It took me a second to realize that the plate that had just been delivered to me contained very small portions of everything on the menu!

I should have taken a photo of that first plate because it was beautiful and everything on it was fresh and delicious. However, I did take a photo of the second plate full of hot food items. Please ignore the bite I had already taken out of the Mini Chicken Cordon Bleu. I had already started to dive in when the thought of a photo occurred to me.

Everything on that plate was absolutely dee-lish! At this point I was getting pretty stuffed. Dessert was next and I’m not much of a dessert eater. However, when it arrived I couldn’t not try a bite of each.

When I walked away from that breakfast table I was most certainly in my happy place. So, I skipped lunch. I almost skipped dinner as well, but while walking through the Lido restaurant I saw this being served as an appetizer:

What a great day for food!

On Monday, I was out on the Lido deck, aft, in the Sea View Lounge when this happened:

These are the Maori performers we picked up in New Zealand and are traveling with us providing entertainment until we reach Sydney. It’s scenes like this that satisfy my goals for traveling. I’m mean look at that photo again. Three island women and Kahl Drogo!

So, what’s coming up?

Tomorrow we dock in Sydney, Australia. We’ll be there overnight so there’s lots of time to explore.

I’ll have more for you after we leave Sydney!

Saturday, March 2, 2019

After a quick voyage across the Cook Strait, the Amsterdam arrives in Picton! We’re only here for a few hours (8am to 1:30pm) so I dragged myself out of bed early (before 10am) to have some time to spend ashore.

Where am I?

So, what’s been happening?

Originally, I tried to schedule a Marlborough Valley vineyard tour for today. As it turned out, the amount of time given to us in port prevented any such tour. I guess that I’ll just have to enjoy those wonderful Kim Crawford wines having never been to the actual winery.

Still, the ship’s touring company was offering something that looked pleasant. It was a walking tour of Picton, with a guide who would tell us about the history and the economics of the area. The walk was schedule to last only two hours and cover about 1 mile. In the end, the tour was every bit of two hours and covered about 1.5 miles.

Although he was a little late arriving, our tour guide, Ray, was pretty cool. He really knew his stuff, although getting him to speak loud enough to hear about it was a problem, at times. Ray was an old retired navy man, and to hear him talk about life around the sea, you’d expect he had a peg leg, a pipe, and a waterproof bag of tobacco.

Ray shared with us some of the history of the area, which was very informative. One story that I found particularly interesting was that, in the time before the Māori’s arrived (and certainly well before the British settlers arrived) there were no mammals on the South Island. Instead, the island was well populated with many species of birds. The birds had no natural predators and so, over time, some lost their ability to fly. These now ground dwelling birds never took flight, and nested in trees, and seldom feared being eaten. One of those birds was the moa. At that time, New Zealand was home to the moa and it was the largest bird that ever lived.

After the Māori arrived, the moa became extinct rather quickly due to over hunting.

But, there were still lots of flightless birds left on the island including New Zealand’s precious kiwi. The kiwi is a flightless bird that nests and lays eggs on the ground. It is also the national symbol of New Zealand. Read on to see how this all fits in.

After the British arrived, they brought with them a variety of animals from home. This included dogs, cats, sheep, cattle, and rabbits. Over time, escaped rabbits began to breed like, well, like rabbits. Owing to the lack of predators on the island, the rabbit population soon soared out of control. Before too long, there were rabbits everywhere and they became worse than a nuisance, they became pests!

In an effort to control the rabbits it was decided to bring in some of their natural predators from home. These predators included weasels and stoats.

Well, the imported stoats set out to work as soon as they arrived. They are excellent hunters and killers. So did they take care of all of those pesky rabbits?

Nope.

From the perspective of the stoat, it seems, it’s much easier to raid bird’s nests on the ground and eat their eggs than it is to chase rabbits! It seems that, in New Zealand at least, eggs don’t run away as fast as rabbits do.

As a result of the stoat introductions, the kiwi (the national bird) almost went extinct. The thought of this happening is unbearable to the Kiwis. (The humans, not the birds, though I suspect the birds aren’t too keen on their own extinction, either.)

Continue to hold that thought.

On our walk around town we also got to hike just a little bit through a forest park near the yacht harbor in Picton.

Along the way we saw lots of stoat traps near our path and some lesser used paths as well. Ray, our guide, told us that residents in Picton (and some other towns on the South Island as well) have been asked to place these traps around their residential property, as well. Ray said the request is for at least every third residence to put in a trap.

Additionally, we were told that certain areas are being created that are “predator proof” and kiwis are being placed in these reserves to help them to boost their population once again. Making the reserve “predator proof” means not only tall fences, but also deep fences to keep the stoats from burrowing in.

Today, New Zealand is very restrictive about bringing animals into the country from abroad. It seems as though some lessons have been learned from their painful history.

Our walk continued around the harbor as we learned some of the history of the town. In the photo above, the left side shows a covered dry dock which houses the seventh oldest ship in the world (or so we are told.) Just a bit to the right in the photo, but farther in the distance, can be seen the Amsterdam.

Picton was once involved in whaling, acquiring 200-300 whales each season for over a hundred years. The boats they used are amazingly small (no photo, sorry.) I think it would have taken a very brave man to go out in one of the small whaling boats and harpoon one of the biggest animals on earth.

Once again, just like in Tahiti, Captain James Cook is celebrated and honored on this island as well. It would have been interesting to have met this man and to have heard him tell stories of his travels.

To get from one side of the yacht harbor to the other in Picton, one must cross the bridge, locally and lovingly referred to as “the coathanger.” And, I guess if you at the right angle, like maybe on a boat going under it, the bridge is shaped a bit like a coat hanger. On either end of the bridge, the rules for using it are clearly posted and strictly enforced…almost all of the posted rules, at least.

The harbor area in Picton has also been developed into a park and commercial area that is supporting of, and appealing to, tourists. Tourism is the number one industry in New Zealand. Pictured above is a nice clean open area adjacent to the yacht harbor that is sometimes used for public performances. Out of frame and to the left is a large grassy park where lots of people enjoying some live music on this Saturday morning. The local Lion’s Club was hosting a little party to raise money to support a local orphanage. I’d say the town was really hopping on this cool, fall-like day.

As part of the festivities, I was lucky enough to catch this quartet of bagpipers marching through the area, again try to raise interest in, and money for, the orphanage.

At the end of the tour, all participants were offered a long black (some way of serving coffee), a tea, or an ice cream. I turned down all of these offers since I had noticed an Irish pub very close by. I excused myself from the group and walked a half a block down to the pub. (It’s that “pub gravitational pull” once again.)

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This little place seem very authentic to me, as if it had been plucked right out of Dublin at set down here in Picton. And, that it was happy to be here. There was beer on draught including the ones you would expect. You could order up a pint of Guinness, or have a Kilkenny’s. Or, you could also find and enjoy a very decent Panhead American Pale Ale, which I did.

At about 1pm I started back toward the ship. “All aboard” was to be at 1:30pm so it was certainly time to go. On the walk back I came across a gentleman who was on his way to a car rally. He was planning to attend in his 1961 MGB, pictured here.

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This car was nearly as old as I am, and it was in far better shape! It’s really fun to see old classic cars like this one when they’re still running properly and reflect all of the love and attention that has been given to them. The only thing that could be cooler than driving around in this little blue british heartbreaker would be riding around on a BSA or Triumph motorcycle of about the same vintage. Huh, Matt?

So, that was my brief, but very pleasant, visit to Picton, New Zealand. Within an hour of my arrival back at the Amsterdam, we were pulling away from Picton and heading straight for Australia!

So, Robert, do you have any other friends on board?

Why, yes! I do. World, I’d like for you to meet Lizel!

Lizel works in the many bars on board and is second in command to the all powerful bartenders. It’s always very nice to hear Lizel call out my name when I come up to the Lido deck. She does an excellent job of keeping a cold drink at my table. She also knows that I’m seeking out craft beers from around the world. On Tahiti, while she was out enjoying some of her rare shore time (crew of this ship seldom get a whole day off) she remembered me and smuggled a bottle of Tahitian beer back onboard the Amsterdam, held it in her room, and the delivered it to me the next time she saw me on the Lido deck. I’m not sure which filled me with happiness the most, the beer she brought to me, or the notion of what she went though to get it for me.

That’s what friends do!

So, what’s coming up?

Next, we have two days at sea, then we’ll dock in Sydney, Australia. Two days at sea sounds good to me. I need that time to get all caught up on my posts.

I’ll have more for you later!

Friday, March 1, 2019

Woke up this morning in New Zealand’s largest (and capital) city. Wellington!

Where am I?

So, what’s been happening?

Originally, I tried to schedule a craft beer tour. As it turned out, there were not enough people signed up for the tour and thus I found myself on my own.

Fortunately, the company that offered the tour was, at least, able to send me in the direction of a very good pub in the downtown area. Since the ship was offering free shuttle buses, and because one of the stops on that shuttle bus’s route was just a couple of blocks away from the recommended pub, I hopped on the shuttle.

Now, I don’t have a lot of photos of Wellington because I wasn’t really on a tour. Also, my main focus today was to try out some local Wellington craft beer, I didn’t really do any sightseeing. Additionally, Wellington is the national capital and it just looks like so many other large cities. In fact, Wellington struck me as something like San Francisco but with roads that curve every which way instead of roads that run straight (some would say San Francisco roads run straight up and down.)

After walking a couple of blocks I found the Fork and Brewer pub. The pub is in an old building downtown. It really doesn’t look like much, but they had a very large selection of beers (and also wines and a full bar.)

The bartender asked me what I would like and I told him I was not from the area and had no idea which beers I might like based upon their names alone. I asked him to choose four of the hoppiest beers he had. In a few minutes I was presented with four 150ml glasses, each filled with one of their home grown IPAs.

The Alpha Greek was my favorite, with a front to back tasting experience similar to what I would expect from a SoCal IPA. The Zeus Juice was a bit too flowery-tasting for me. I-P-Yay! and Feature Creep were both very good, but just couldn’t match up to the overall “goodness” of the Alpha Greek.

After I finished my flight of beers (and an Angus Cheeseburger and fries) I needed to move along. This was because Fork & Brewer was supposed to have fast internet (as well as food and beverages) but on this particular day the Internet was out. It seems I wasn’t having much luck in achieving my goals in Wellington.

BTW, the beer flight was $16 and the burger was $21. That’s $37 for 1.25 pints of beer, a burger and fries. Now after taking the exchange rate into account, that’s still $25.15 US. New Zealand in not an inexpensive place to live.

Leaving the pub, I started walking in the general direction of the shuttle bus stop. Along the way I found, Coco’s Bar and Grill. I stopped briefly to see if they had free internet, and they did! So, I went inside, ordered a pint of beer (a delicious APA this time) and sat outside by the sidewalk to enjoy my beer and being digitally connected to the world.

And, WOW!, was I connected! The wi-fi speed completely blew me away. I was now enjoying upload and download speeds almost 1/15th of what I have at home and it felt just super! And, it was easily 10 times as fast as the ship’s internet for which I paid dearly. So I used this “beer break” to upload photos and videos so that I could continue my posts on this site and keep you entertained and following along in my adventures.

So, I did all of the uploading of photos and downloading of system and app updates that I could fit into the time remaining. I did get back to the shuttle well before the service ended for the day, and in no time at all I was back aboard the Amsterdam.

Today I visited Wellington, just about the southernmost city on the North Island. Tomorrow, I visit Picton, just about the northernmost city on the South Island. Picton is a short visit (dock at 8am, cast off at 1:30pm.) We’ll see how much sightseeing I get down there.

Until then, adios!