10-30-08 - Fremantle, Australia

Finally, cool weather greets us.  The day was a bit cloudy, but temperatures were just like home.  We had kind of a bumpy ride from Indonesia, so it was nice to tie up to the pier. Fremantle is quite a small town, but we felt we were back to civilization we understood.  Adele opted to take the shuttle into town and I went on an excursion to Caversham Wildlife Park. Caversham was great.  It was very nicely laid out and was not crowded at all.  Virtually all the Australian animals were there on display (no platypus, though) and we got to look at them close up.  Although the birds were generally in cages, the flightless ones were roaming in open air pens.  I was able to feed kangaroos and pet koalas.  There were lots of birds of brilliant or dull colors, including owls and giant bats.  It must have been mating season, because a pair of wallabies were getting it on and a male flying fox (a giant bat) was chasing after a female with great (and obvious) hopes of intercourse.  Now I can say that I have seen a bat's erect penis.  How many people can say that? We headed back to the ship.  The drive both to and from the park were also interesting since we drove through the suburbs of the town and were able to see how Ozzies lived.  I wish we had another day in Fremantle, but we sailed away in the evening for Melbourne - a 3-day cruise across the Bight of Australia.

11-02-08 - Melbourne, Australia

For our one day in Melbourne, we elected to take a 4-hour tour to see a bird park, a mountaintop lookout, and a small village.  The weather was cool, but overcast. After a long bus ride, we arrived at a little park with a restaurant and gift shop.  I was really amazed at the semi-tame tropical birds that flocked around for a free handout.  The main bird was a sulfur-crested cockatoo.  There were hundreds and they flocked like chickens around anyone who would feed them.  There were also some red rosellas and a few others I can't name.  We then continued on to the viewpoint.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate too much, so the views were quite hazy.  However, I can now say I have been to the top of the highest peak in the Blue Dandenong Mountain Range - 633 meters! The last stop was the village of Olinda.  It was fun walking around and one of us enjoyed the shopping.

11-05-08 - Sydney, Australia

We had two days in Sydney.  The weather was delightful and we had probably the best moorage we have ever had on any cruise.  We docked in the middle of the “Rocks” section of town with loads of walking, touring, and shopping opportunities.  Directly outside our stateroom window was the famous Sydney Opera House.  Just in front of the ship was the main city ferry terminal, so there was an incessant stream of small ferry boats streaming in and out.  Literally one ferry a minute or more. On the first day we just walked around, saw the sights, and shopped.  The high point was buying my very own didgeridoo.  I hope to become a virtuoso before too long.

On the second day we signed up for a local bus tour.  The first half of the tour took us through metropolitan Sydney.  It was very interesting since Sydney is a beautiful city with many landmarks.  We also got off a few times (the busses run every 20 minutes) to look around and shop.  Adele found an art supply store and bought some goodies, however, she decided the prices were too high to buy very much. Later in the day, we took the second half of the tour which went to the outskirts of Sydney and to some of the famous beaches.  Although the weather wasn't terribly cooperative (from a photography standpoint), I was able to get shots of most of them.

11-08-08 - Noumea, New Caledonia

Finally – a stop off the beaten path.  The weather was muggy, but not too hot, so we looked forward to a shopping walk through the town.  The first thing I noticed was the many kids and mothers.  All the mothers were wearing very brightly colored pareus and the sight of three or four of them together was eye-shattering. We got off the boat fairly early to beat the heat. We were docked only a block or two from the main shopping area.  It didn't take us very long to discover that the stores were all selling the same thing - brightly colored dresses and pareus.  However, there was a craft market open which took up a little of our time.  We stopped for a coke and talked to a friendly Chinese lady in my fractured French and her limited English.  She had relatives (lots of them!) in Los Angeles and Houston.  She also said she really didn't like Barack Obama – mostly because he is black.  She held her nose to make her point. We wandered back toward the ship and stopped at the dockside craft market – more dresses for sale.  I celebrated by getting stuck in an elevator.  It turns out that you have to push and hold the button to take you to the next floor.  If you let it go, the elevator stops.  Until I figured this out, I couldn't move the elevator or get off. It was late in the day as we sailed away.  The sea was like glass and we sailed north up the coast.  It was a really magical evening.  The coast is very sparsely populated, but there were quite a few small motorboats out and about.  I stood on our verandah until dark and watched the coastline go by.

11-10-08 - Suva, Fiji

Fiji was a very pleasant surprise.  First of all, the temperature was quite mild, so even though it was humid, walking around was quite pleasant. We were greeted on the dock by a marching band!  Other than the fact that it was all guys wearing skirts, it could have been a (small) high school band from home.  They marched up and down the dock for quite a while and played a wide variety of songs pretty well. We walked into town.  Every one greeted us with a big smile and “Bula Bula” which seems to be sort of like Aloha in Hawaii.  Adele found a craft market where everyone was willing to bargain and they had some very interesting goodies.  All the shopkeepers wanted to know how many people were on the ship and how long we were staying.  After parting with a few dollars for some of the items, we wandered around the rest of the very small downtown area. Everyone was quite friendly and the stores ranged from open-front hardware stores to very slick department stores.  We snooped around until it started to get hot and headed back to the ship.

11-11-08 - Apia, Samoa

After crossing the international date line, we repeated November 11th in Apia.  We could tell we were close to the equator as soon as we stepped off the ship.  Even though the temperature was not too hot, that equatorial sun felt like a hammer on our heads. The main thing I wanted to see was the Robert Louis Stevenson home & museum, so we negotiated for a taxi ride - twenty US dollars for the trip (we thought).  As soon as we pulled away from the dock, the driver asked if we wanted to come back from the Museum.  If so, the total price would be $35.  We told him to stop.  We got out and waved down the next taxi who agreed to $20 for a round-trip with a half hour stop at the Museum. Adele didn't feel up to the guided tour, so I took it by myself.  Fortunately, we had beaten all the excursion busses to the museum so there were only a small number of people there.  It was a wonderful house and a wonderful tour.  The house was designed to stay cool and catch any breezes that were blowing.  If the place had had plumbing, I would have moved into the place in a minute.  There was quite a bit of Stevenson memorabilia, but I think much of it was reproduction.  However, all the furniture and books and stuff looked quite authentic and our guide was very knowledgeable. After the tour, we were told that the hike to RLS's gravesite was about 40 minutes “up the hill.”   I took one look at the very steep trail and immediately opted out. We headed back to the ship.  It was getting very hot at the dock, so I headed for the cabin.  Adele got her second wind when she saw shops set up in tents on the docks.  While I cooled down in the cabin, she shopped for another 45 minutes. Later on in the evening (after we had sailed away) the captain announced that he thought they had spotted a fishing boat in distress, so he turned our ship around to render aid.  It turned out to be a false alarm.  Apparently the fishermen were just very excited to see the big cruise ship and were waving everything they had to greet us.  It was nice that the captain was willing to burn the fuel and delay the schedule for them, though.

11-15-08 – Honolulu, Hawai’i

As usual, the ship tied up right at the Aloha Tower in downtown Honolulu for a two-day stop.  Since we had been there several times before, Adele knew exactly what to do – she headed for the downtown Ross store.  Not being the family shopper, I walked the streets.  It wasn’t very interesting – similar to any American city.  I did go past a church service letting out (it was Sunday) and saw the ladies dressed in their (very colorful) Sunday best. That evening we were booked for an outing to the USS Missouri.  I had really been looking forward to this since I had never been aboard.  I should have read the description more carefully.  It was a party on the USS Missouri – not a tour.  Virtually all the ship was closed off.  Those who were so inclined slurped beer or wine and listened to the music.  Those who had been looking forward to seeing the ship (me!) sulked in the corner. The next Adele found a famous tourist site – a Nordstrom Rack.  She shopped, I waited.  After that we walked around downtown a bit a headed back to the ship.

11-17-08 – Lahaina, Hawai’i

For the only time on this trip, we were rained out.  Since we had been to Lahaina several times before, we just stayed on the ship.