Day 53  Adelaide, South Australia

Today we are docked in Adelaide and as we got off the ship there was a band there playing for us.  There were volunteers all over the place asking us if we needed help.  The last time we were here in 2012 the passenger terminal was not completed it was now and they had a few shops inside. 

Since we were on a tour we headed out to the tour bus.  We are doing again Historic Handorf the German town.  The guide we had was very informative.  He moved to Australia from Germany and he told us that his wife was Japanese.  He said she only spoke Japanese to the kids and he only spoke German and they worried that they would not learn English but because of this their kids who are grown speak all three languages fluently!  Talk about Diversity!

This time our guide had the bus driver drive through Adelaide and gave us a quick tour.  It is a really neat city with some beautiful old buildings and we were happy to be able to see some of Adelaide as well.  Our first stop was Mt. Lofty which is high up and you get a panoramic view of Adelaide.  It was cold up there for me and since I have been there before I took one picture and headed for the gift shop.  Bill headed for coffee.  We then continued on to Handorf as this is a long weekend for the Aussies, tomorrow (Monday here Sunday there) is Labour Day so since it was a three day weekend Handorf was extremely busy!  It is a quaint little town with shops, German Restaurants and German Bakeries.  Our guide told us about the Handorf Inn and we headed there but the line was outrageous so we headed to the place we had a meat pie in 2012.  We chose a meat pie again instead of a bratwurst or something else.  After that we split a piece of warm apple strudel.  Our guide came in and told the owner we were here before and he told the other workers we were crazy to come back but it was very good.  Being refueled we started to walk  the town.  Bill had seen a jacket he loved in 12 and did not buy it and was hoping they still had it.  We first went to the cuckoo clock store and I loved a few of them.  I will not buy it unless I get it from being in the Black Forest so that was good.  we headed to the German shop and I saw a great tile  It said “A Cranky German is a Sour Kraut”  loved it and if Bill was German I would have bought it.  We finally got to the leather shop and I bought a belt (black leather) and a crocodile belt and Bill found a better jacket.  We were very happy with our purchases and headed back to the bus a little early.  Everyone was on time and we headed back to the ship.  One of the ship’s doctors was our escort and when we got back to the ship the other doctor (his wife) had just come back from overnight when she escorted the patient off the ship.  Said the patient was doing well so that was good news.  This cruise we are lucky as we have 3 doctors onboard.  As I said there was suppose to be 2 but we got a bonus as one has his wife here who is also a doctor.  It has made it better for all concerned.  We have had 5 people leave the ship already and we aren’t halfway done yet!  Last night Augusto our head waiter made us his special Caesar salad and his famous pasta.  It is penne ala vodka with pancetta!  It was fabulous.  It is also the first time in months that I have had pasta and so worth it.  In case I didn’t say it yet (Im old and confused if I did too bad) I have lost 12 lbs since I boarded the ship!  We skipped dessert and we were heading out of the dining room early as we passed Helen and Allen’s table we said hello and starting talking to them they invited us to join them for coffee.  Bill had I did not.  We were laughing and before we knew it Augusto (Our head waiter)was there as well as Leo (Matre D)  They told Allen and Helen that they could not have us.  He would gladly give them some other people but we were not available he told them he had some Pains in the ---. he would give them.  We all had a good laugh.  Helen and Allen headed to the movies, Bill to the cigar lounge and I headed to the casino.  20 minutes later I headed up to the room and there was Helen and Allen they were not thrilled with the movie!  The other night we had to turn our clocks back 30 minutes.  Tonight we turned them back 90 minutes!  We are getting our day back hour by hour!

We will have two sea days before we get to our next port of all Albany, Australia.

What can I say another great day!

These nice guys serenaded us as we got off the ship

Downtown Adelaide

Parks all over the place in downtown Adelaide

HANDOFF THE GERMAN TOWN

VIEW FROM MT. LOFTY

Day 52 @ sea enroute to Adelaide, Australia

We are at sea today with so much to do and not enough time!.  The big news is that Edie Rodriguez and Thomas M. are on board today.  Edie is the President and COO and Thomas is the Executive Vice President of Operations.  They are here to talk about the  sale of Crystal and what it means to the passengers and crew and also to debut WC18.  Now you all know that Bill is not thrilled with being away from home for so long well hold onto your hats and Joe and Kevin if you are reading this you need to really make us money as we have signed up for the WC18!  It is going to a lot of the places left on my bucket list!!!!!!!  Edie answered questions from the audience and the crew seems to be happy with the sale.  I am taking a wait and see attitude!  Time will tell but they are visiting boatyards next week to start the design of a new ship.

We  have been cruising along nicely since we left Melbourne but we were told to expect another night of rockin and rollin just not as bad as the other night as the winds the other night were 90 miles an hour.  We were doing great and the captain came on and said we had to head to land as there was a medical emergency.  We headed close to land and the Coast Guard met us.  The patient and spouse and one of our doctors went aboard the coast guard ship and we then continued on towards Adelaide.  It was starting to pick up and the Australian Group Encore were performing and I felt sorry for the girl in the group in her beautiful gown and heels she was being tossed a little.  We had a great dinner in Silk Road.

Today was our last computer class of this segment  next segment we have 14 hours of classes plus labs if we want!  This is work but I am learning so much!  Another great day I love port days but I love sea days just as much.  Tomorrow we will be in Adelaide South Australia.  We were here in 2012 and just loved it.  We did a trip to Handorf which is a German town that was founded by German immigrants in the 1800s.  Bill loved it so much we are going back.

More on that tomorrow.
No pictures today as I didn't feel like lugging the camera around!

Day 51 Melbourne Day 2

We were up nice and early since we had such a great nights sleep.  We had to go to the Apple store today Bill’s IPAD charger was not working and it is a different size from mine.

This is a great city and they have information people all over the city to give directions.  They told us at the port instead of a cab that we could take the Tram into the City Center and  so we decided we would be brave.  It was quite nice and when we got off we had to walk about 3 blocks and there were people directing you.  After we got our stuff in Apple we wanted to head to Queen Victoria Market. As we were walking back to the tram stop we ran into Bob and Glo and spend a few minutes talking to them.  They were headed onto the street we just came from so we told them which way to go! This market is where in 2008 I bought Luke an Indiana Jones hat and he needs a new one.  Well we had to take another tram and it left us right across the street from it.  My only problem is since they are on the wrong side I get confused as to which way we need to go.  The Victoria Market as the locals call it is huge.  The one building is all fish and meats, one building is all delis. We did find the beef pies we had in 2008 so we were able to have that for lunch. Then there are huge tents and it goes for blocks you can find and buy anything here.  Our mission was accomplished so we decided to head back to the ship it was already 3pm.  We took the free tram back and met the information women going home she told us to take the 109 tram back to the ship.  So we headed back to the ship.  The tram is a long walk from the ship and between all the walking already I was tired when we came back.  We dropped off our packages and headed to the bistro for Bill to have his Latte and to play some backgammon.  We both just love Melbourne even more than Sydney.  It is much more cosmopolitan it feels a lot like New York. And the people of Australia are so friendly.

Tomorrow is a sea day then we will be in Adelaide.  3 more Australia ports to come!

I keep pinching myself as this is like a dream.  Feeling truly blessed!

Good night and God Bless

T

This is the tram we took back and forth as well as having to take another one to the Market

Okay like I said you could buy anything here

Bill relaxing in Costco

I wanted the Pink wig

Wonder what they sell!

Day 50 Melbourne, Australia

Okay it was some night last night!  I awoke at 2:30am with the ship Rockin and Rollin.  I got up to go to the bathroom and was knocked right back into bed and decided Nah I’ll wait till morning.  Well it was still moving really good in the am but at least you could see.  We picked up the Pilot boat as we made our way into Melbourne.  We were delayed getting in were suppose to be in at noon and didn’t arrive till 12:30 so therefore everything was backed up.  Since we did not have a tour we just sat and waited.  The bank came on board and since we had no time in Sydney to get some money we exchanged some and we were off the ship at 1:00pm.  Ilene, Andy, Bill and I met for breakfast and then we headed to COSTCO.  Yes, the guys were having withdrawals so we hopped a cab and went.  Right across the street there was a huge Ferris Wheel that we wanted to ride but it was one of those that take forever so we did not go.

I actually was interested if they had local stuff available but it looked like I walked into the Scottsdale store.  They did have all kinds of lamb.  There was one case with all the legs of lamb and Chris and Melissa I was thinking about you. After shopping I did pick up some more toothpaste and some protein bars we took a cab back.  As we walked from the cab to the ship there were a lot of Jags parked waiting to board the ferry to Tasmania.  Mostly old ones and Bill did get a few pictures.  We decided there must be a car show over on Tasmania Island.We dropped off our purchases and walked into the little town here.  We went into a grocery store and again looks just like the states.  After all my walking I was exhausted and since I did not sleep well the night before we were ready for dinner early and Augusto and Leo saw us sitting there and came over and said they had a table ready for us.  I can’t even remember what I ate I was so tired.  I was in bed by 10:30 and fell fast asleep.  Bill went to the cigar lounge and I have no idea what time he came home!

More Melbourne tomorrow!