Darwin Australia Thursday, March 14
Shipboard Meanderings........March 11-13
After leaving Cairns, we have 3 sea days before our next port of Darwin..... Our last port of call in Australia. After the last 2 back to back ports it will be nice to relax and rehydrate before we land in one of the hottest cities in Northern Australia.
Our reef pilot is still onboard and will guide us slowly north through the Great Barrier Reef, the Coral Sea, and through the Torres Strait. He will leave us in Darwin. We were sailing in very shallow water with small islands and reefs exposed on either side of us. Every once in awhile we could see old shipwrecks on those reefs, wondering what their story was. The weather is still hot, but the rain is finally dissipating. It was a very interesting sail.
We also had our Captain's dinner. Every world cruiser who is on for the entire voyage is invited to a dinner with the Captain. Now I'm not saying we get to sit with the Captain, but we get a picture with him and he is dining in the same room with us. There were about 30 of us at the dinner in the Pinnacle Grill. We were at a table for 3 with our host being the America's Test Kitchen Chef. Well, I was in seventh heaven! Having a chef all to ourselves for the evening was even better than sitting with the Captain, or the various officers that were hosting the other tables. Chatting and joking with the young bubbly chef made the delicious 4 course dinner paired with wine less tedious, and the time flew by. I think we were having more fun than the Captain and his wife who were seated at the next table. But I can't blame them. He and his officers have to do about 14 of these dinners in the first 2 months of every world cruise, and I can see how they could become somewhat tiresome. We were even gifted some nice dessert plates for showing up.
Darwin, Australia Thursday, March 14 8:00 am-6:00 pm
Our last port in Australia was sweltering. A predicted 95 degrees with 100% humidity, and no breeze to speak of. It was a steambath out there.....and not a cloud in the sky. At least we didn't need to bring an umbrella this time. We were still restricted from bringing food of any kind with us, so it was just water and ice cold wash cloths.
Darwin is a small city with many different nationalities and cultures woven together. It played a significant role in Australia's defensive activities during WWII, and was bombed 64 times over two years. It has a huge botanical garden and museums filled with war memorabilia and aboriginal art.
Most of the ship tours were either the gardens or war museums so we decided to take the free shuttle into town and have a walk-about around town. We started early because we knew we were not going to last very long in this heat. The information center in the port provided a nice map of the city on a very functional piece of paper....a cardboard map shaped like a fan. Very useful and fun. We hopped on the shuttle for the 15 minute ride into the downtown area and main shopping street. Most of the stores were open so, we proceeded to pop in and out of them perusing their wares and cooling off. Bruce bought some zebra stones which he will take home and grind down to show the various "zebra stripes" We saw lots of interesting jewelry made from these ground down stones. Large and small canvases painted by local aborigines were also shown in some of the nicer stores. Many different colored strokes or dots, shaded in a pattern of circles or waves were very beautiful, and I'm sure for the artist, time consuming. Very similar to the painted dots of Mandala stones. After about 2 hours of shopping we were ready to call it a day. We were hot and our clothes were soaked. We still had some Aussie currency that we needed to spend so we headed a few blocks away to Woolworths to see what we could stock up on. For some silly reason I have been craving cheesy Doritos....I know, I know, why would I need junk food with all the wonderful food on board? Well, after 2 months I just wanted something familiar from home. Guess what? They are just a little bit different....I think they are healthier. Seriously. They don't taste exactly the same.....less salty, less cheesy, and less greasy. Even the ingredient list was understandable. I guess if you are going to have junk food it's better in a foreign country.
As we walked to the store we noticed that there were a lot of local aborigines lingering about the streets. There was also a strong police presence. We asked the security guard at the store about this and he said that most of them don't work and have been banned from the store. They hang around trying to get someone else to buy them booze. He explained that instead of calling them gangs, like we do at home, they hang around in their own tribes. And as with any tribe they stick together and sometimes fight with each other. It was really kind of sad.....but they didn't bother us and they didn't beg. And of course they loved Bruce's mustache. We have had many interesting conversations and friendly encounters due to the "mustache man"
Time for the shuttle and the ship.....we were exhausted from the heat. Even our shuttle bus driver was feeling it. After he dropped us off we chatted with him for awhile and he said that on port days they usually have to call 911 at least once due to heat related issues for passengers that don't heed the recommended requirements of wearing hats, drinking lots of water and wearing sunscreen. I can attest to that, because it doesn't take much in this brutal environment. Back at the port terminal, in air conditioned bliss we examined the 10 tables that were set up with various native trinkets by the locals. This display was one of the nicest so far. After grabbing some more "fans" it was back to the ship, where we always have to go through security.....x-ray bags and purses and walk through the metal detector. It was a terrific day, and we toasted Australia as we sailed away toward Indonesia.
After leaving Cairns, we have 3 sea days before our next port of Darwin..... Our last port of call in Australia. After the last 2 back to back ports it will be nice to relax and rehydrate before we land in one of the hottest cities in Northern Australia.
Our reef pilot is still onboard and will guide us slowly north through the Great Barrier Reef, the Coral Sea, and through the Torres Strait. He will leave us in Darwin. We were sailing in very shallow water with small islands and reefs exposed on either side of us. Every once in awhile we could see old shipwrecks on those reefs, wondering what their story was. The weather is still hot, but the rain is finally dissipating. It was a very interesting sail.
We also had our Captain's dinner. Every world cruiser who is on for the entire voyage is invited to a dinner with the Captain. Now I'm not saying we get to sit with the Captain, but we get a picture with him and he is dining in the same room with us. There were about 30 of us at the dinner in the Pinnacle Grill. We were at a table for 3 with our host being the America's Test Kitchen Chef. Well, I was in seventh heaven! Having a chef all to ourselves for the evening was even better than sitting with the Captain, or the various officers that were hosting the other tables. Chatting and joking with the young bubbly chef made the delicious 4 course dinner paired with wine less tedious, and the time flew by. I think we were having more fun than the Captain and his wife who were seated at the next table. But I can't blame them. He and his officers have to do about 14 of these dinners in the first 2 months of every world cruise, and I can see how they could become somewhat tiresome. We were even gifted some nice dessert plates for showing up.
Darwin, Australia Thursday, March 14 8:00 am-6:00 pm
Our last port in Australia was sweltering. A predicted 95 degrees with 100% humidity, and no breeze to speak of. It was a steambath out there.....and not a cloud in the sky. At least we didn't need to bring an umbrella this time. We were still restricted from bringing food of any kind with us, so it was just water and ice cold wash cloths.
Darwin is a small city with many different nationalities and cultures woven together. It played a significant role in Australia's defensive activities during WWII, and was bombed 64 times over two years. It has a huge botanical garden and museums filled with war memorabilia and aboriginal art.
Most of the ship tours were either the gardens or war museums so we decided to take the free shuttle into town and have a walk-about around town. We started early because we knew we were not going to last very long in this heat. The information center in the port provided a nice map of the city on a very functional piece of paper....a cardboard map shaped like a fan. Very useful and fun. We hopped on the shuttle for the 15 minute ride into the downtown area and main shopping street. Most of the stores were open so, we proceeded to pop in and out of them perusing their wares and cooling off. Bruce bought some zebra stones which he will take home and grind down to show the various "zebra stripes" We saw lots of interesting jewelry made from these ground down stones. Large and small canvases painted by local aborigines were also shown in some of the nicer stores. Many different colored strokes or dots, shaded in a pattern of circles or waves were very beautiful, and I'm sure for the artist, time consuming. Very similar to the painted dots of Mandala stones. After about 2 hours of shopping we were ready to call it a day. We were hot and our clothes were soaked. We still had some Aussie currency that we needed to spend so we headed a few blocks away to Woolworths to see what we could stock up on. For some silly reason I have been craving cheesy Doritos....I know, I know, why would I need junk food with all the wonderful food on board? Well, after 2 months I just wanted something familiar from home. Guess what? They are just a little bit different....I think they are healthier. Seriously. They don't taste exactly the same.....less salty, less cheesy, and less greasy. Even the ingredient list was understandable. I guess if you are going to have junk food it's better in a foreign country.
As we walked to the store we noticed that there were a lot of local aborigines lingering about the streets. There was also a strong police presence. We asked the security guard at the store about this and he said that most of them don't work and have been banned from the store. They hang around trying to get someone else to buy them booze. He explained that instead of calling them gangs, like we do at home, they hang around in their own tribes. And as with any tribe they stick together and sometimes fight with each other. It was really kind of sad.....but they didn't bother us and they didn't beg. And of course they loved Bruce's mustache. We have had many interesting conversations and friendly encounters due to the "mustache man"
Time for the shuttle and the ship.....we were exhausted from the heat. Even our shuttle bus driver was feeling it. After he dropped us off we chatted with him for awhile and he said that on port days they usually have to call 911 at least once due to heat related issues for passengers that don't heed the recommended requirements of wearing hats, drinking lots of water and wearing sunscreen. I can attest to that, because it doesn't take much in this brutal environment. Back at the port terminal, in air conditioned bliss we examined the 10 tables that were set up with various native trinkets by the locals. This display was one of the nicest so far. After grabbing some more "fans" it was back to the ship, where we always have to go through security.....x-ray bags and purses and walk through the metal detector. It was a terrific day, and we toasted Australia as we sailed away toward Indonesia.
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| Roos! |
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| Of course you could get a pic with a baby alligator |
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| Shopping |
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| Artist at work |
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