Portland, Australia

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We moved the clocks and got back a half hour last night. We needed it and I still slept in to almost 8am. It was very rough last night and this morning right up to the dock. We went down to GDR for breakfast. Service is still spotty. This morning it came with a side of lip and I snapped back. The rest of our service was provided by one of the head waiters. If you make a mistake, just own it and make it right. It doesn't have to become unpleasant unless you argue about your error. Geez. We have mostly had the same waiter at night in GDR and when he makes a mistake or is just slow, he immediately apologizes and that is the end of it. So, clearly some of the people working onboard know how to provide service.

We had a really rough entry to Portland's breakwater this morning. We were on deck 5 in the atrium area when Sirena was really tipping, when a woman with a walker lost control of it and fell hard. They announced a code mike and about a dozen cooks streamed up out of some kitchen with a stretcher and other equipment. The doctor ran through from the casino and shops a minute later. We saw an ambulance waiting from our starboard balcony after we were docked. The locals driving the shuttle vans in town late in the day told us they thought the woman was still at the hospital. That is too bad. Not looking forward to sailing back out tonight! The wind has been strong and cold all day here.

We got off the ship about 10:30am. There were volunteers on the pier handing out map and brochure packets with a postcard and a blue plastic bracelet inside. We walked to the Visitor Center though they had vans to take us from the ship to there and later about town, but we never saw one of the shuttles up in town. We waited for one twice. Once at the Visitor Center since it took us 30 minutes to walk there, but they told us they wouldn't start running until all the passengers were off the ship. Sirena cleared almost an hour ago, so probably everyone who wanted off had left. We don't know when they started. In the afternoon, we waited at the other end by Woolworth's for one and left after several minutes. We were hoping to catch one of the last tram rounds, but missed it by about 15 seconds. We shouldn't have waited for the shuttle.

We spent most of the day walking. Clay had been reading about the Great South West Walk since we knew we were coming here. We asked at the Visitor Center about what part we could do today and received a brochure of a walk around Fawthrop Lagoon. I thought the guy said that the loop around the lagoon was 2.5km which I took to be about 1 mile. I thought he said the whole trail should take 4 to 5 hours. Clay says he didn't hear any of that and groused half way around the loop, then we spotted a wild koala up a gum tree with black swans on the lagoon behind and it was as far forward as back and he got back with the program. He thinks he is getting sick again so maybe that was what the problem was. Or it could have been the 15 minutes of pouring rain without any umbrellas. I guess I wasn't bothered because I knew he had been planning to walk about 5km in Portland and I was resigned to it. I guess maybe he didn't really think I'd go along or maybe he just felt bad. He felt a lot better after we dried out and saw a koala. As I said earlier, we never saw a shuttle through town though there were a lot of flags marking stops. I had thought to cut out either end of the walk by shuttle but that didn't work out. We walked it all.

On our way to the Botanic Garden we visited a sand sculpture and a market of tents and local vendors as well as some historic buildings and plaques and markers. I especially liked Portland's Rocket Shed.

The Portland Botanical Garden was amazing even if that is where we happened to get poured on. We were looking at the special collection of blooming Dahlias. Dahlias collected like that are just so exuberant even in a heavy rain. Later a man told me there was a koala up a tree in the garden, but we weren't looking up in there.

There were lots of water birds around the Lagoon. It is an estuary connected to the sea by a canal. We saw our 2nd wild koala on the far side of the lagoon. It was wide awake and sitting in the sunshine. The tree was again right by the water and he had a great view. We finished the walk around 3pm and had lunch on Bentnick St. at the Brass Compass. Clay had a $10 pint of Carlton's Draught and fish & chips. I had the lunch special of chicken schnitzel sandwich & chips (fries). It was all really good and we were hungry. After that we walked through town and found very little open. Clay wanted to go to Woolworth's to look for a watch. Mom, he says he is going to buy a watch with a kangaroo on and you'll be jealous. Woolworth's is not like at home. Here it is like a groceries chain with a bottle store attached. No watches. He bought another bag of hard candies that he has been using as cough drops.

We dropped purchases back by the ship and went back out to take the last tram tour of the day at 4:37pm. We got discount prices of $15 AUD each. We would not be able to hop on and off but just ride the route once. That was enough, we had walked most of one half the route. We got seats outside and right up front since so few people were still riding. They gave us blankets for our legs as it had gotten quite chilly. It was fun. I am glad we did it. Portland was one of the most welcoming ports we have visited.

We got back aboard Sirena about 6pm. All aboard was 6:30pm. We went up to Terrace for a quick buffet meal. We were back in the cabin before we started sailing. There were multiple announcements about how we could expect rough seas and to hold on to something if we were up and about. We sailed soon after the scheduled 7pm departure and it is indeed rough, but so far nothing like this morning.

We had a good day today even with all 4 seasons in a day!

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