It has been an okay sailing day to finish off this circumnavigation. Not too rough, not too smooth. Hopefully, something for everyone. It started off great. I woke about 7am. Clay had his tablet in bed so I have no idea how long he'd been up. I got up and used the bathroom, then came out and opened the curtains. We were facing east and heading north and the sun was well above the horizon. Then I turned my head a little to the right and there in the center of my balcony view were a bunch of jumping dolphins. Good morning dolphins! That was all the wildlife for the day except for birds.
We went up to Terrace for breakfast. We went to the ship's Country Fair fromm 10:30am to 11:30am. We played all the games except the Whack a Mole with waiters as it seemed too cruel and violent. We took our tickets that we'd won to Sirena Lounge after 11:30am for the drawings and while except for the spa the prizes were not great, we won nothing. We went up to Terrace for lunch. At 1:30pm, we went back to Sirena Lounge for a popcorn movie. It was Collateral Beautry. We hadn't seen it. It was good, I thought. If it doesn't get any rougher, we'll go up to Terrace for dinner.
Our Internet account says we have 18 hours or so left on it. Tomorrow is our last day. We'll tender to Eden, our final port. It was an historic whaling town. We have no plans here so we'll see what happens. I do know packing will be involved as suitcases have to be out by 10pm.
I will post this now, assuming that the sun will set in less than an hour and nothing noteworthy will happen.
Little Bob hits the road
Little Bob hits the road
Friday, April 7, 2017
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Hobart, Tasmania
Photos
The seas were mostly calm last night. For some reason, we were both bothered by a brief rough spell, but then it passed. We woke up around 7am as we were heading north instead of south, entering the harbor to reach Hobart. It was a bit disorienting since we saw sunset facing west off our balcony last night and this morning we had the rising sun.
We went upstairs to Terrace for breakfast after the ship had docked on the starboard side. We are at Macquarie Dock No. 2 which is right at the foot of the center of town. We saw an ambulance arrive this morning and it took the woman who had fallen near us at Portland the other day. She had been back onboard with a wheelchair instead of her walker prior to being removed on a stretcher today. No idea what is going on with her but they are having a rough trip and we wish them the best.
We needed to be off the ship by 10am to effect our plans here in Hobart. Clay was impatient and we left a little after 9am. We picked up a local brochure/map in the cruise terminal and wandered the shopping stalls they had in there. Even with some side shopping trips, we were at the Franklin Square N bus stop at 9:45am and caught a 446 bus immediately. Clay went on and asked the driver if she was going to go to Cascades Brewery since the front didn't say Fern Tree which was what we thought it was supposed to say. She said yes she was and to come aboard. We paid here $3.30 AUD pp and she made change from a $10.
It was only about a 10 minute bus ride but it was almost all uphill. There was no missing the brewery. It was sitting prominently on the hillside with the organ pipes geological formation above it on Mt. Wellington. The bus driver still kindly pointed out both the Cascades Female Factory and the Cascades Brewery as she stopped to drop us off. We had looked at doing a brewery tour here, but Clay was more interested in tasting beer than touring another brewery. The brewery tour cost more than a paddle of 4-7 oz.. beers so that made our decision. The restaurant at the Visitor Centre was open from 10am. It turned out that this morning as late as 11am they were only serving a snack menu which was just as well since we weren't really that hungry. We ordered fries and the scones. Both were good and massive servings. We ate less than half the fries and I ate 3/4 of the scones since Clay filled up on beer and fries.. The scones with cream and jam were amazing. Huge and sweet and light and fluffy. Much better than at the hotel tea the other day. Who knew? We walked through the gardens around the Visitor Center as we waited for 11am.
We headed out for the Hobart Rivulet Trail after we left the brewery. We asked for directions at the bar before we left and still got off track. Signage was non-existent at the top of the trail and the map was vague. We thought the guy at the bar should have mentioned that we had to walk across the dam at the bottom of the Cascades Gardens. We didn't at first, but that meant that we got to see a bunch of Tasmanian bunnies. We stopped at the Female Factory which was more of an archaeological site than a historic building. But, we opted for the $5 self-guided admission rather than a guided tour or dramatic tour. Sometimes history needs more than just seeing a thing. It was our choice. We had a long walk ahead. Depending on the source, the trail was 2.7 or 3 km. From the ship to the brewery, we think it was more like 4 or 5 km. So it was another 5K+ day. Clay had a watch shop he wanted to visit downtown. We found it and it was very little as the name described and he refused to go in. We walked through a couple of shopping malls/arcades and found nothing. I got the idea to shop for yarn from a shop listed in the brochure we picked up so we walked to Salamanca Place. It turned out that was the straw that broke me. I guess it was just too much. The tremor went wild and I just melted down and couldn't function. We made it back and I stripped off my sweaty clothes and laid down and went to sleep. The tremor stayed out of control until dinner. It is better now, but I need to remember this and that I can't just push through fatigue anymore.
We sailed on time without any announcements from Julie or the captain. We turned out of the harbor area back north in the Tasman Sea as we finished dinner in Terrace. You can tell we are at sea, but it is not too rough right now. Hopefully, it will stay calm. Tomorrow is our final sea day. The end really is in sight. We got our disembarkation instruction letter and luggage tags today. We're ready to move on.
Photos
The seas were mostly calm last night. For some reason, we were both bothered by a brief rough spell, but then it passed. We woke up around 7am as we were heading north instead of south, entering the harbor to reach Hobart. It was a bit disorienting since we saw sunset facing west off our balcony last night and this morning we had the rising sun.
We went upstairs to Terrace for breakfast after the ship had docked on the starboard side. We are at Macquarie Dock No. 2 which is right at the foot of the center of town. We saw an ambulance arrive this morning and it took the woman who had fallen near us at Portland the other day. She had been back onboard with a wheelchair instead of her walker prior to being removed on a stretcher today. No idea what is going on with her but they are having a rough trip and we wish them the best.
We needed to be off the ship by 10am to effect our plans here in Hobart. Clay was impatient and we left a little after 9am. We picked up a local brochure/map in the cruise terminal and wandered the shopping stalls they had in there. Even with some side shopping trips, we were at the Franklin Square N bus stop at 9:45am and caught a 446 bus immediately. Clay went on and asked the driver if she was going to go to Cascades Brewery since the front didn't say Fern Tree which was what we thought it was supposed to say. She said yes she was and to come aboard. We paid here $3.30 AUD pp and she made change from a $10.
It was only about a 10 minute bus ride but it was almost all uphill. There was no missing the brewery. It was sitting prominently on the hillside with the organ pipes geological formation above it on Mt. Wellington. The bus driver still kindly pointed out both the Cascades Female Factory and the Cascades Brewery as she stopped to drop us off. We had looked at doing a brewery tour here, but Clay was more interested in tasting beer than touring another brewery. The brewery tour cost more than a paddle of 4-7 oz.. beers so that made our decision. The restaurant at the Visitor Centre was open from 10am. It turned out that this morning as late as 11am they were only serving a snack menu which was just as well since we weren't really that hungry. We ordered fries and the scones. Both were good and massive servings. We ate less than half the fries and I ate 3/4 of the scones since Clay filled up on beer and fries.. The scones with cream and jam were amazing. Huge and sweet and light and fluffy. Much better than at the hotel tea the other day. Who knew? We walked through the gardens around the Visitor Center as we waited for 11am.
We headed out for the Hobart Rivulet Trail after we left the brewery. We asked for directions at the bar before we left and still got off track. Signage was non-existent at the top of the trail and the map was vague. We thought the guy at the bar should have mentioned that we had to walk across the dam at the bottom of the Cascades Gardens. We didn't at first, but that meant that we got to see a bunch of Tasmanian bunnies. We stopped at the Female Factory which was more of an archaeological site than a historic building. But, we opted for the $5 self-guided admission rather than a guided tour or dramatic tour. Sometimes history needs more than just seeing a thing. It was our choice. We had a long walk ahead. Depending on the source, the trail was 2.7 or 3 km. From the ship to the brewery, we think it was more like 4 or 5 km. So it was another 5K+ day. Clay had a watch shop he wanted to visit downtown. We found it and it was very little as the name described and he refused to go in. We walked through a couple of shopping malls/arcades and found nothing. I got the idea to shop for yarn from a shop listed in the brochure we picked up so we walked to Salamanca Place. It turned out that was the straw that broke me. I guess it was just too much. The tremor went wild and I just melted down and couldn't function. We made it back and I stripped off my sweaty clothes and laid down and went to sleep. The tremor stayed out of control until dinner. It is better now, but I need to remember this and that I can't just push through fatigue anymore.
We sailed on time without any announcements from Julie or the captain. We turned out of the harbor area back north in the Tasman Sea as we finished dinner in Terrace. You can tell we are at sea, but it is not too rough right now. Hopefully, it will stay calm. Tomorrow is our final sea day. The end really is in sight. We got our disembarkation instruction letter and luggage tags today. We're ready to move on.
Photos
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Sea Day 13
Hurray, lucky 13! Finally a perfect sea day. It never got rough! We sailed past the rip about 9 to 9:30pm last night. We could feel when we made the turn east for the Bass Strait and we heard the pilot boat come alongside. So, it was full dark and only a half moon and we couldn't see much but we could feel the seas were calm. They have stayed that way, thankfully. It is almost noon and we can see Tasmania off the starboard side already. Fingers crossed the seas will stay calm for us after we turn south and sail down Tasmania's east coast.
Since it was so calm this morning, we went up to Terrace for breakfast. We went to Reception and got 4 laundry tokens with no discussion or caveats this morning, so I guess the laundry token crisis is over. We went up to Horizons to watch for wildlife and to check out needlepoint. We scored. We saw a big bunch of bottlenose dolphins. I got another cosmetic case at needlepoint. It was the only one of that size that she brought. That was good news. The bad news is that it is the solid dark blue with white O logo. I don't think anyone wants that so I am thinking of just making it in stripes. Still nearly solid in all dark blue is really boring to make as I am making the passport case version right now. I am doing needlepoint for therapy and not art so I guess it is okay. While we were in Horizons, everyone was abuzz with the news of a flood by a broken washer in the laundry room. I wanted to put laundry off until Eden but we had started worrying it might not be possible to get it done. So I went to check on the laundry room and arrived as the water sucking machine and white uniforms were leaving. Two washers and two dryers were out of order. Four washers were available! We got in right in the crack between disaster and laundry frenzy! More good luck! We have 25 days to go so we'll both have to do some hand washing to finish the trip or else find a place to do a small load. Clay sat out on the balcony and spotted another group of bottlenose dolphins.
The captain just made his noon announcement and sounded very pleased and optimistic for the first time in days. He said we are almost through the Bass Strait and about to enter the Banks Strait. I guess that is the name for the pass between Barren Island and the coast of Tasmania that we can see. He says he is only doing 15 knots. I guess we made really good time last night.
Off to lunch. Fingers crossed that the Tasman Sea is still calm when we exit the Banks Strait. Back from Terrace for lunch. We couldn't find a table for 2, but there was one under cover in the shade out on the back terrace. It was perfect. It is about 2pm and we are still in the Banks Strait. I checked the nav map on TV and now we are only doing 10 knots. It feels like we are barely idling. I am paranoid that the captain is avoiding popping out of this strait into the Tasman Sea because conditions are different. Hopefully he is just idling along because we are ahead of schedule getting to Hobart in the morning.
Sunset at about 6pm. Between then and 6:10pm, we saw several whale blows perfectly back lit by the pink sky off our starboard balcony. According to Tasmanian Parks website it is too early for humpbacks to be migrating north, but that is what it looked like to us. We saw whale backs at least 3 times from one or more and they looked like humpbacks. We saw 2 blows at once and one blow a distance off so there were at least 3 and maybe 4 or more whales. It was a spectacular end to a good sea day.
We had our final dinner reservation at Red Ginger tonight at 6:30pm on deck 10. For the 2nd time, I had chicken satay that was made with dark meat. I need to remember not to order that again come our September cruise, which leaves me with a main course and dessert. Otherwise, a good dinner.
It looks good for Hobart, Tasmania tomorrow!
Since it was so calm this morning, we went up to Terrace for breakfast. We went to Reception and got 4 laundry tokens with no discussion or caveats this morning, so I guess the laundry token crisis is over. We went up to Horizons to watch for wildlife and to check out needlepoint. We scored. We saw a big bunch of bottlenose dolphins. I got another cosmetic case at needlepoint. It was the only one of that size that she brought. That was good news. The bad news is that it is the solid dark blue with white O logo. I don't think anyone wants that so I am thinking of just making it in stripes. Still nearly solid in all dark blue is really boring to make as I am making the passport case version right now. I am doing needlepoint for therapy and not art so I guess it is okay. While we were in Horizons, everyone was abuzz with the news of a flood by a broken washer in the laundry room. I wanted to put laundry off until Eden but we had started worrying it might not be possible to get it done. So I went to check on the laundry room and arrived as the water sucking machine and white uniforms were leaving. Two washers and two dryers were out of order. Four washers were available! We got in right in the crack between disaster and laundry frenzy! More good luck! We have 25 days to go so we'll both have to do some hand washing to finish the trip or else find a place to do a small load. Clay sat out on the balcony and spotted another group of bottlenose dolphins.
The captain just made his noon announcement and sounded very pleased and optimistic for the first time in days. He said we are almost through the Bass Strait and about to enter the Banks Strait. I guess that is the name for the pass between Barren Island and the coast of Tasmania that we can see. He says he is only doing 15 knots. I guess we made really good time last night.
Off to lunch. Fingers crossed that the Tasman Sea is still calm when we exit the Banks Strait. Back from Terrace for lunch. We couldn't find a table for 2, but there was one under cover in the shade out on the back terrace. It was perfect. It is about 2pm and we are still in the Banks Strait. I checked the nav map on TV and now we are only doing 10 knots. It feels like we are barely idling. I am paranoid that the captain is avoiding popping out of this strait into the Tasman Sea because conditions are different. Hopefully he is just idling along because we are ahead of schedule getting to Hobart in the morning.
Sunset at about 6pm. Between then and 6:10pm, we saw several whale blows perfectly back lit by the pink sky off our starboard balcony. According to Tasmanian Parks website it is too early for humpbacks to be migrating north, but that is what it looked like to us. We saw whale backs at least 3 times from one or more and they looked like humpbacks. We saw 2 blows at once and one blow a distance off so there were at least 3 and maybe 4 or more whales. It was a spectacular end to a good sea day.
We had our final dinner reservation at Red Ginger tonight at 6:30pm on deck 10. For the 2nd time, I had chicken satay that was made with dark meat. I need to remember not to order that again come our September cruise, which leaves me with a main course and dessert. Otherwise, a good dinner.
It looks good for Hobart, Tasmania tomorrow!
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Geelong, Australia
Photos
It was a quiet and short night last night. Our guide this morning told us it took her 50 minutes to commute from Melbourne to Geelong. I have no idea how it took us from midnight to 6:30am. Looking at the TV nav map, it looked like we traveled more or less in a straight line. Anyway.
We were here when we woke up. Tenders were in the water before we got to breakfast. We went up to Terrace since it was calm. Our tour met at 8:45am in Sirena Lounge.
We had the last of our fare-included shore excursions here in Geelong. We made this one here because of it being a tender port. I don't know why everyone in Melbourne was so shocked we were tendering because we didn't see anywhere we could have docked. We had a short tender to the Geelong Royal Yacht Club. It was a good spot and central located.
Our tour was Peninsula Wineries. Four hours and $129. It was probably fairly priced, but we wouldn't have paid to book it. Of course, we had a much better deal yesterday. There were 40 people on our bus today and there were 2 busloads doing this tour. We drove for about an hour to get to Queenscliff. Geelong looks like a holiday town and Queenscliff looked like a smaller more rural version. Queenscliff had an interesting old fort that you could tour, but not us, not today. The fort contained a black lighthouse that was also of interest. Too bad we had wineries to visit. Like us, you might be thinking it is an early start for a wineries tour. Well, we drove on a sightseeing tour for an hour and then had about that much time at our first stop for a Devonshire tea at the Vue Grand Hotel. By now it was after 11am and we'd eaten, so on to the wineries of the Bellarine Peninsula. Our first stop was Scotchmans Hill Winery. We stood outside their Cellar Door for about an hour tasting and hearing about 6 wines. I tried the 3 whites and Clay tasted all 6. They started at $40 a bottle and went up. Neither of us tasted anything we'd buy and certainly not at those prices. It was a serious sales pitch from the bus driver to the guide to the winery employees. The next stop was at Oakdene Vineyards. We stood around inside their whimsical Cellar Door. The employees gave their spiel and then you went to the counter and asked to taste one of the 8 or so, by my count, bottles of wine. There was no sales pressure. The grounds were delightfully artistic and we mostly wandered around for our time there. The drive back to the ship was shorter and included a little overview of Geelong which is pretty small and compact. We walked for an hour or so seeing some of the public art, not finding a late lunch place and checking the Wool Museum's gift shop before returning to the ship.
We had a late lunch at Waves Grill. After all we learned today about how treacherous the rip is, I guess we are glad we were asleep when we entered Port Phillip bay. We are supposed to sail at 6pm today which means we'll witness it and hope it is over before dinner. Well, after 5:30pm and final tender from shore was scheduled an announcement was made looking for 2 women passengers from deck 4. The last tender back went back to shore again and then came straight back and winched up underneath us. Now idea what happened or why the tender went in and we could see it tie up to the tender for several minutes before coming back. We never saw the 2 women. So, no idea what happened but it meant we were a bit late leaving Geelong. So, we went up to deck 9 for dinner and finished eating before reaching the rip. Clay went up to the gym after dinner because we had seen all 3 movies on TV tonight. I hope to be in bed and ready to stay there before we hit the rip.
Tomorrow is another sea day. I am sure it is too much to hope for smooth sailing. All the talk on the tenders today was from people who have tried and failed to cruise to Tasmania or Hobart before. I'm not too hopeful either.
I'll go ahead and post this now, while I'm still upright and stable.
Photos
It was a quiet and short night last night. Our guide this morning told us it took her 50 minutes to commute from Melbourne to Geelong. I have no idea how it took us from midnight to 6:30am. Looking at the TV nav map, it looked like we traveled more or less in a straight line. Anyway.
We were here when we woke up. Tenders were in the water before we got to breakfast. We went up to Terrace since it was calm. Our tour met at 8:45am in Sirena Lounge.
We had the last of our fare-included shore excursions here in Geelong. We made this one here because of it being a tender port. I don't know why everyone in Melbourne was so shocked we were tendering because we didn't see anywhere we could have docked. We had a short tender to the Geelong Royal Yacht Club. It was a good spot and central located.
Our tour was Peninsula Wineries. Four hours and $129. It was probably fairly priced, but we wouldn't have paid to book it. Of course, we had a much better deal yesterday. There were 40 people on our bus today and there were 2 busloads doing this tour. We drove for about an hour to get to Queenscliff. Geelong looks like a holiday town and Queenscliff looked like a smaller more rural version. Queenscliff had an interesting old fort that you could tour, but not us, not today. The fort contained a black lighthouse that was also of interest. Too bad we had wineries to visit. Like us, you might be thinking it is an early start for a wineries tour. Well, we drove on a sightseeing tour for an hour and then had about that much time at our first stop for a Devonshire tea at the Vue Grand Hotel. By now it was after 11am and we'd eaten, so on to the wineries of the Bellarine Peninsula. Our first stop was Scotchmans Hill Winery. We stood outside their Cellar Door for about an hour tasting and hearing about 6 wines. I tried the 3 whites and Clay tasted all 6. They started at $40 a bottle and went up. Neither of us tasted anything we'd buy and certainly not at those prices. It was a serious sales pitch from the bus driver to the guide to the winery employees. The next stop was at Oakdene Vineyards. We stood around inside their whimsical Cellar Door. The employees gave their spiel and then you went to the counter and asked to taste one of the 8 or so, by my count, bottles of wine. There was no sales pressure. The grounds were delightfully artistic and we mostly wandered around for our time there. The drive back to the ship was shorter and included a little overview of Geelong which is pretty small and compact. We walked for an hour or so seeing some of the public art, not finding a late lunch place and checking the Wool Museum's gift shop before returning to the ship.
We had a late lunch at Waves Grill. After all we learned today about how treacherous the rip is, I guess we are glad we were asleep when we entered Port Phillip bay. We are supposed to sail at 6pm today which means we'll witness it and hope it is over before dinner. Well, after 5:30pm and final tender from shore was scheduled an announcement was made looking for 2 women passengers from deck 4. The last tender back went back to shore again and then came straight back and winched up underneath us. Now idea what happened or why the tender went in and we could see it tie up to the tender for several minutes before coming back. We never saw the 2 women. So, no idea what happened but it meant we were a bit late leaving Geelong. So, we went up to deck 9 for dinner and finished eating before reaching the rip. Clay went up to the gym after dinner because we had seen all 3 movies on TV tonight. I hope to be in bed and ready to stay there before we hit the rip.
Tomorrow is another sea day. I am sure it is too much to hope for smooth sailing. All the talk on the tenders today was from people who have tried and failed to cruise to Tasmania or Hobart before. I'm not too hopeful either.
I'll go ahead and post this now, while I'm still upright and stable.
Photos
Monday, April 3, 2017
Melbourne, Australia
Photos
We arrived a bit early this morning. It was pretty calm when we woke up too. That was a nice surprise, but Port Philip Bay is a big well protected bay with Melbourne at the top of it. If you look at the map, you'll see that we sailed right past Geelong, our next port, some time overnight. All day today people were surprised to hear that Geelong is our next port as it is evidently only an hour's drive away and you can get there on public transportation. I hope we'll just do loops in the bay until 7am when we're supposed to drop anchor at Geelong for tendering. Again, no local could understand why we were tendering there. We can't understand either except that certainly it must be cheaper for Oceania.
Since it was so calm, we went up for breakfast. We were some of the first ashore and beat our driver/guide for the day to the terminal. We waited not long and he arrived. For some reason he had noted we were arriving at 9:30am instead of 9am. It worked out.
We had an all day tour today. We booked it last November through Viator. We paid $355.82 total then, evidently the price has risen. The actual tour operator is Australian Coastal & Mountain Tours. We were the only 2 on the tour today, so it was more than a small group, it was a private tour. Score! Since it was just the 2 of us, our guide offered to customize and made some suggestions all of which of course we agreed to. We drove directly through Melbourne, which was unrecognizable from our 2006 visit. Our first stop was in Healesville at the Healesville Sanctuary. The guide walked us through and made the most of our time there since he was so familiar with it. W loved the really active platypus and the friendly wallaby that came up to me and let me pet him. He was soft like a rabbit not coarse and rough like the kangaroos we feed in Brisbane. There are so many varieties of all the strange Australian animals. Next stop was lunch at Beechworth Bakery. We both had the suggested meat pies. Clay ordered the steak as did the guide and I branched out to the potato & steak pie. Mine just had a mashed potato crust instead of pastry. Following the guide we put on tomato sauce (ketchup) and ate it like finger food. It was good. I think Australian tomato sauce is sweeter than ketchup. We shared a vanilla slice for dessert. We bought a small package of yo-yo biscuits to snack on later. While we were eating, the guide asked if we'd be interested in not visiting the winery since we'd been to one in Kangaroo Island and were scheduled to visit more tomorrow. He suggested a California Redwoods plantation that was planted in the 1930's and never harvested and is now preserved. We agreed it sounded cool. After lunch, we went to the restrooms and he went next door. He kept telling us it used to be a brewery. Now it is Innocent Bystander Cellar Door. Cellar Door is evidently the local term for a winery's tasting room. By the time we got back to the car to meet him, he had arranged a tasting for us there. He said it was a Yarra Valley winery equivalent to the one we were bypassing and this way we wouldn't really be giving anything up. It was a great compromise and we bought a small bottle of our favorite. Our favorite was a surprise, a rose Moscato with under 6% alcohol. We spent the next hour or so driving to the top of Mt. Donna Buang. If you climb the tower at the summit, on a clear day you can see Melbourne. So, of course we didn't see it! We stopped at a section of the Yarra Ranges National Park called the Rainforest Gallery for an elevated walk to a waterfall. Now it was time for the Redwoods. It was a really special spot and we were glad we got to see it. Last stop on the way back to Melbourne was in Warburton where we could stretch our legs by the Yarra River and use the toilets. On the way back, the guide offered to drop us at St. Kilda Pier where he had earlier suggested we spend sunset to view the little penguins come in for the night. It was about a 5-minute ride from the ship at the cruise terminal of Port Melbourne. We agreed and spent an hour or so waiting and then watching Little Penguins. It was a superior experience to the one we had near here in 2006 at Philip Island!
We got back to Sirena about 8pm and ate a quick dinner in Terrace. We have another early start tomorrow and it is past bedtime for me, so that's it. It was another good day.
Photos
We arrived a bit early this morning. It was pretty calm when we woke up too. That was a nice surprise, but Port Philip Bay is a big well protected bay with Melbourne at the top of it. If you look at the map, you'll see that we sailed right past Geelong, our next port, some time overnight. All day today people were surprised to hear that Geelong is our next port as it is evidently only an hour's drive away and you can get there on public transportation. I hope we'll just do loops in the bay until 7am when we're supposed to drop anchor at Geelong for tendering. Again, no local could understand why we were tendering there. We can't understand either except that certainly it must be cheaper for Oceania.
Since it was so calm, we went up for breakfast. We were some of the first ashore and beat our driver/guide for the day to the terminal. We waited not long and he arrived. For some reason he had noted we were arriving at 9:30am instead of 9am. It worked out.
We had an all day tour today. We booked it last November through Viator. We paid $355.82 total then, evidently the price has risen. The actual tour operator is Australian Coastal & Mountain Tours. We were the only 2 on the tour today, so it was more than a small group, it was a private tour. Score! Since it was just the 2 of us, our guide offered to customize and made some suggestions all of which of course we agreed to. We drove directly through Melbourne, which was unrecognizable from our 2006 visit. Our first stop was in Healesville at the Healesville Sanctuary. The guide walked us through and made the most of our time there since he was so familiar with it. W loved the really active platypus and the friendly wallaby that came up to me and let me pet him. He was soft like a rabbit not coarse and rough like the kangaroos we feed in Brisbane. There are so many varieties of all the strange Australian animals. Next stop was lunch at Beechworth Bakery. We both had the suggested meat pies. Clay ordered the steak as did the guide and I branched out to the potato & steak pie. Mine just had a mashed potato crust instead of pastry. Following the guide we put on tomato sauce (ketchup) and ate it like finger food. It was good. I think Australian tomato sauce is sweeter than ketchup. We shared a vanilla slice for dessert. We bought a small package of yo-yo biscuits to snack on later. While we were eating, the guide asked if we'd be interested in not visiting the winery since we'd been to one in Kangaroo Island and were scheduled to visit more tomorrow. He suggested a California Redwoods plantation that was planted in the 1930's and never harvested and is now preserved. We agreed it sounded cool. After lunch, we went to the restrooms and he went next door. He kept telling us it used to be a brewery. Now it is Innocent Bystander Cellar Door. Cellar Door is evidently the local term for a winery's tasting room. By the time we got back to the car to meet him, he had arranged a tasting for us there. He said it was a Yarra Valley winery equivalent to the one we were bypassing and this way we wouldn't really be giving anything up. It was a great compromise and we bought a small bottle of our favorite. Our favorite was a surprise, a rose Moscato with under 6% alcohol. We spent the next hour or so driving to the top of Mt. Donna Buang. If you climb the tower at the summit, on a clear day you can see Melbourne. So, of course we didn't see it! We stopped at a section of the Yarra Ranges National Park called the Rainforest Gallery for an elevated walk to a waterfall. Now it was time for the Redwoods. It was a really special spot and we were glad we got to see it. Last stop on the way back to Melbourne was in Warburton where we could stretch our legs by the Yarra River and use the toilets. On the way back, the guide offered to drop us at St. Kilda Pier where he had earlier suggested we spend sunset to view the little penguins come in for the night. It was about a 5-minute ride from the ship at the cruise terminal of Port Melbourne. We agreed and spent an hour or so waiting and then watching Little Penguins. It was a superior experience to the one we had near here in 2006 at Philip Island!
We got back to Sirena about 8pm and ate a quick dinner in Terrace. We have another early start tomorrow and it is past bedtime for me, so that's it. It was another good day.
Photos
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Portland, Australia
Photos
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!
Photos
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!
Photos
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island, Australia
Photos
Land ho! Wow. Out in the air with solid ground and people! It feels like we got out of some torturous imprisonment. We have been holed up for a while. It may have been a good thing because the bus we were on today for our ship's tour sounded like a field trip for tuberculous patients. Hopefully, we won't catch whatever is around amongst the passengers.
We set an alarm to get up early after losing another half hour due to time changes last night. We hadn't arrived yet. We got here to our anchorage in the dark while we were upstairs at Terrace for breakfast. It was super crowded this morning! There were more people than seats and either they are still short-staffed or else the crew is as out of it with the sea/sailing conditions and time changes as we are.
We were on an 8:05am tour. It was Cape Willoughby and Winery. We were early to Sirena Lounge and rather surprised and pleased to find that they were exchanging tickets for bus tickets as soon as you wanted after entering the lounge. Of course, since this had been such a complaint factor among passengers that it created a stampede for every tour and now they stopped creating that problem, they act as if you should know to go all the way to the stage to exchange your ticket upon entry rather than waiting to be called. As if it was always done that way. Of course, at least one party missed their tender and departure because it wasn't always done that way. At least they changed the conflict setup and hopefully eventually everyone will learn the new way. I'm not sure when they changed it because we hadn't done an O tour since Exmouth and that one met on the pier so the last time we had the Sirena Lounge experience would have been in Komodo on March 19.
We got called about 40 minutes after we exchanged our tickets. Our #4 bus was waiting ashore. It was our shortest calmest tender ride of the trip so that was good news. We had about a 4 hour tour. We drove over mostly washboard dirt roads to get to both our stops out on the far eastern end of Kangaroo Island. Penneshaw is the port for the island and on the east end at one of the closest points to the Australian mainland. Pennneshaw has about 400 people and the entire island only about 4000. Most of the island is national park land. We stopped first at Dudley Wines Cellar Door. They offered tastes of 3 whites and 3 reds. As usual, we liked some and not others. The special thing though was the location and the view! We drove on to the end of the island and the Cape Willoughby Lighthouse. On the way there and out, we saw loads of kangaroos, as you might expect, but we never stopped so anyone could try to take a photo. Mind you, we stopped for trees, grasses, cockatoos, a river, a view of the ship, but never once even slowed down as passengers hollered about the namesake kangaroos. At least we saw some. At lunch in Terrace and in the tender back to Sirena, all the talk was about how those who didn't leave the little town saw no kangaroos. Well, we saw some whizzing by on the world's roughest bus ride but we can't prove it. So, it was good to be ashore. A longer stay here would be worthwhile to be able to make it independently to some of the parklands at the far end of the island and focus on seeing animals. Of course, as our guide pointed out most of the animals people want to see are nocturnal and so they don't find them anyway. We saw a lot of birds including black swans, galahs, wedge-tailed eagles. We saw some little penguin burrows, but no penguins since they are at sea all day. But, Penneshaw has some very nice and easily accessible viewing boardwalks and platforms if there are penguins.
We got an almost private tender ride back to Sirena. We were back in time to have lunch up in Terrace for the first time in days.
We now have a burst of port days ahead of us. Tomorrow is another small town of Portland. We have no plans here. Next day is Melbourne where we booked a full day tour with Viator. The next day is Geelong where we have our final free ship's tour. We have one sea day. Next day is Hobart, where we have a loose plan to wander and ride a city bus. One last sea day. Final port before disembarkation in Sydney is Eden. It is a tender port and we have no plans there. I have hopes of leaving the ship for our final 3 weeks or so with clean clothes so that means doing laundry. The last couple of days you could have to laundry room to yourself, but I don't know if that will be true at the end of the cruise after this port intensive part. We'll see.
Well, the last tender of the day should have just returned to Sirena. We should set sail in less than 30 minutes. But, I can see 2 tenders still at the Penneshaw dock from the balcony door, so I expect we might be delayed.
Fingers crossed for a calm sailing tonight. We have our final reservation at Tuscan Steak House tonight. Since it is on deck 10, I am especially hopeful for smooth sailing. I will post this now. I am back. The captain just came over the loudspeakers to warn everyone to take care this evening as we will be back in big swells and high winds attributed to another weather system as soon as we leave this protected cove. Oh well, today was nice while it lasted.
We did not have calm sailing. We did have the best sail away since Sydney though. On the starboard side, we sailed past all the places we rode on our bus tour today. That was interesting for us since we could view it all from our starboard cabin. We had our final dinner in Tuscan. It was very rough up there and we got one of the aft window tables so it came with the vibration as well. Service continues to be spotty. We enjoyed the food though.
Photos
Land ho! Wow. Out in the air with solid ground and people! It feels like we got out of some torturous imprisonment. We have been holed up for a while. It may have been a good thing because the bus we were on today for our ship's tour sounded like a field trip for tuberculous patients. Hopefully, we won't catch whatever is around amongst the passengers.
We set an alarm to get up early after losing another half hour due to time changes last night. We hadn't arrived yet. We got here to our anchorage in the dark while we were upstairs at Terrace for breakfast. It was super crowded this morning! There were more people than seats and either they are still short-staffed or else the crew is as out of it with the sea/sailing conditions and time changes as we are.
We were on an 8:05am tour. It was Cape Willoughby and Winery. We were early to Sirena Lounge and rather surprised and pleased to find that they were exchanging tickets for bus tickets as soon as you wanted after entering the lounge. Of course, since this had been such a complaint factor among passengers that it created a stampede for every tour and now they stopped creating that problem, they act as if you should know to go all the way to the stage to exchange your ticket upon entry rather than waiting to be called. As if it was always done that way. Of course, at least one party missed their tender and departure because it wasn't always done that way. At least they changed the conflict setup and hopefully eventually everyone will learn the new way. I'm not sure when they changed it because we hadn't done an O tour since Exmouth and that one met on the pier so the last time we had the Sirena Lounge experience would have been in Komodo on March 19.
We got called about 40 minutes after we exchanged our tickets. Our #4 bus was waiting ashore. It was our shortest calmest tender ride of the trip so that was good news. We had about a 4 hour tour. We drove over mostly washboard dirt roads to get to both our stops out on the far eastern end of Kangaroo Island. Penneshaw is the port for the island and on the east end at one of the closest points to the Australian mainland. Pennneshaw has about 400 people and the entire island only about 4000. Most of the island is national park land. We stopped first at Dudley Wines Cellar Door. They offered tastes of 3 whites and 3 reds. As usual, we liked some and not others. The special thing though was the location and the view! We drove on to the end of the island and the Cape Willoughby Lighthouse. On the way there and out, we saw loads of kangaroos, as you might expect, but we never stopped so anyone could try to take a photo. Mind you, we stopped for trees, grasses, cockatoos, a river, a view of the ship, but never once even slowed down as passengers hollered about the namesake kangaroos. At least we saw some. At lunch in Terrace and in the tender back to Sirena, all the talk was about how those who didn't leave the little town saw no kangaroos. Well, we saw some whizzing by on the world's roughest bus ride but we can't prove it. So, it was good to be ashore. A longer stay here would be worthwhile to be able to make it independently to some of the parklands at the far end of the island and focus on seeing animals. Of course, as our guide pointed out most of the animals people want to see are nocturnal and so they don't find them anyway. We saw a lot of birds including black swans, galahs, wedge-tailed eagles. We saw some little penguin burrows, but no penguins since they are at sea all day. But, Penneshaw has some very nice and easily accessible viewing boardwalks and platforms if there are penguins.
We got an almost private tender ride back to Sirena. We were back in time to have lunch up in Terrace for the first time in days.
We now have a burst of port days ahead of us. Tomorrow is another small town of Portland. We have no plans here. Next day is Melbourne where we booked a full day tour with Viator. The next day is Geelong where we have our final free ship's tour. We have one sea day. Next day is Hobart, where we have a loose plan to wander and ride a city bus. One last sea day. Final port before disembarkation in Sydney is Eden. It is a tender port and we have no plans there. I have hopes of leaving the ship for our final 3 weeks or so with clean clothes so that means doing laundry. The last couple of days you could have to laundry room to yourself, but I don't know if that will be true at the end of the cruise after this port intensive part. We'll see.
Well, the last tender of the day should have just returned to Sirena. We should set sail in less than 30 minutes. But, I can see 2 tenders still at the Penneshaw dock from the balcony door, so I expect we might be delayed.
Fingers crossed for a calm sailing tonight. We have our final reservation at Tuscan Steak House tonight. Since it is on deck 10, I am especially hopeful for smooth sailing. I will post this now. I am back. The captain just came over the loudspeakers to warn everyone to take care this evening as we will be back in big swells and high winds attributed to another weather system as soon as we leave this protected cove. Oh well, today was nice while it lasted.
We did not have calm sailing. We did have the best sail away since Sydney though. On the starboard side, we sailed past all the places we rode on our bus tour today. That was interesting for us since we could view it all from our starboard cabin. We had our final dinner in Tuscan. It was very rough up there and we got one of the aft window tables so it came with the vibration as well. Service continues to be spotty. We enjoyed the food though.
Photos
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)