Day 50 - Downunder 2016 - Tue - 11/15/16 - Burnie, Tasmania

For the third time, we made it back to Tasmania. It's one of our favorite places in the world, and it all started when we hosted a young lady from Yolla, Tasmania for a year on a foreign exchange program. That led to our coming down for her law school graduation and then again in 2014 for her sister's wedding which we followed with a cruise to New Zealand on the MS Oosterdam. These relationships have been the most enriching long term international relationships we've ever experienced (it extended to her family and even her in laws!).

We took the first port-provided shuttle to the Maker's Workshop (a super cool hands on museum) and walked the boardwalk into town where we met our hosts and friends for the day: Lana and Lindsey, parents of E who we hosted. They treated us to a short trip up to Table Cape and its lighthouse before we headed for tea in Ulverstone, the home of Lindsey's mom where we enjoyed tea and conversation. E's sister and her cute one year old daughter then joined us. We then went to a local fish and chip place where we enjoyed some local fish and chips. But all too soon they needed to drive us back to the Maker's Workshop shuttle bus pickup point. Since this is an industrial and active port, the only way a passenger can go from or return to the ship is by the free shuttle. We caught a 3pm shuttle and all too soon were back on board before the 3:30pm all aboard time. At 3:35 around 4 busloads of shore excursions rolled up to the ship.

We went up to the Crow's Nest and joined a team for the 4pm trivia contest. This was a hard game and we came in 2nd with a score of 10 out of 17. The winning team only had a score of 11! One of the official answers in the trivia game was wrong (What was Ford's first mass produced car? The game's answer was the Model A when in fact it was the Model T with 17,000,000 produced. While there was a model A before the T, it's production numbers were a paltry 2,000) - so we lost. Later the correct answer was acknowledged.

I finished the gruesome read of Lucretia's Batavia Diary before grabbing a quick dinner in the Lido before the main show, Tim Motley, who was a sort of comic, magician and mind reader. He was pretty engaging. Afterwards we watched the latest Ben Hur movie.

While the destination is important, remember to savor the journey.

Day 49 - Downunder 2016 - Mon - 11/14/16 - At Sea

The word of the day was 'late' which meant that we forgot to advance our clock by 1/2 hour to the Sydney/Melbourne time. So we ended up skipping breakfast in order to make the second to the last devotional time. Afterwards we had a small breakfast before attending the Mariner's award ceremony and luncheon.  

The Seattle Seahawks were on Sunday night football, so we watched it Monday starting at 12:30pm up in the Crow's Nest. It was an exciting game to watch. Afterwards I resumed reading 'Lucretia's Batavia Diary' which is a fictional diary of a prominent female passenger based upon the ill-fated final voyage of the Batavia. While reading, I noted a strange structure off the starboard side of the ship, so I went back to the room for my zoom lense camera. It was an oil derrick!

We had a final Gala night and enjoyed a jumbo shrimp cocktail along with steak and lobster. Annie Gong and her magic accordion returned with a new show after entertaining us when sailing out of Hawaii. Our evening ended by watching the movie 'Legend of Tarzan'.

Tomorrow is Tasmania.

While the destination is important, remember to savor the journey.

Day 48 - Downunder 2016 - Sun - 11/13/16 - At Sea - Was to be Kangaroo Island

Around 7:45am this morning, the Captain's unmistakable voice came over the PA system with the announcement that due to the high winds we would not be tendering at Kangaroo Island. It would be the second island stop on this cruise that we missed with the first being Mystery Island on the trans-Pacific segment. Instead the ship was put into slow mode and we sailed ever so slowly up the St. Vincent Gulf back towards Adelaide.

At 12:15 he gave a further update with continuing winds and word that we would be executing a 180° turn and we would sail back towards Kangaroo Island. Even with the winds we are experiencing, we are sailing in the lee of (protected side) of the island.

With the change in plans, the daily schedule was revised. Kelly, our location guide, gave a picture filled and enthusiastic presentation on Australian wildlife. Then Phil Creaser gave one of the most interesting talks we've been in. It seems he lost his voice and did the entire talk in mime and slides. It was brilliant and well liked by all.

I ended up playing trivia with Dennis and Dayle and another couple and we won it which led to free drinks from Jeremy, the Cruise Director.

In the afternoon Dr. Wright presented on the topic of the 12 Great Controversies in Astronomy. We followed that by reading and watching the waves and scenery from the Crow's Nest. There was certainly motion in the ocean! The interdenominational Sunday service at 5pm was very well attended, and afterwards our dinner in the Rotterdam Dining Room was nice with another couple from Texas.  

The evening's entertainment was a singer, Patrick McMahon, who performed earlier in the cruise. Once again it became necessary to be in the Showroom at Sea 45 minutes early to get a good seat. He was energetic and performed a wide range of Neil Diamond, John Denver, and the like. The theatre was packed at the 8pm show and well attended at the 10pm show. In between we watched 'London has Fallen' a spy - terrorist film. Lots of blood and guts!

The ship was definitely moving around after we passed through the channel separating the mainland and Kangaroo Island. We'll see how sleeping goes tonight! As we walked back to the room, we walked by the information screen and noted a wind speed of 47mph! The outside decks were also closed 'due to inclement weather'.

While the destination is important, remember to savor the journey.

Day 47 - Downunder 2016 - Sat - 11/12/16 - Adelaide

While it's Veterans Day in the US as I write this, we're already about to finish the next day. Today found us in Adelaide where we docked at 8am. A bit later we were cleared to leave the ship so we headed on out. A short walk out of the terminal and across the parking lot found us at the train station where we purchased a day pass for cruise ship passengers for $10AUD each and boarded the 9am train.

It was a 40 minute ride into the heart of the city and today was their annual Christmas parade so we found a viewing spot on the corner on King William Road and North Terrace Street. It was a festive event called the Christmas Pageant with 350,000 of our new closest friends. We met some shipmates (J & J from San Diego) there and they invited us to join them in a walking tour at 2:30pm which we agreed to do.

After the parade we walked around downtown and found the HUGE pedestrian mall on Rundle Street. It  opened in 1976 and was the first of its type and is the largest. We found some lunch in one of the many foodcourts before walking to our meeting point to validate its location. We then walked to the Central Market which the busiest market we've seen in the world. We then walked back to our he meeting point and joined our tour guide, Bob, and our shipmates. For the next 2.5 hours we wandered the downtown area learned by all sorts of Adelaide's history.

Afterwards we found St. Xavier's Cathedral before using the free tram to get us back to the Railway Station where we caught the 5:42pm train back to the Outer Harbor where we were moored. On the train ride to the port a German Couple on the ship clued us in on a cool free navigational app called Here We Go. I downloaded it and will report back later as to how I like it.

We ate a very quick dinner in the Lido (noting that a storm was moving in) and then watched the movie, The Secret Life of Pets. I'm glad I didn't spend money in that one in a theatre. At least as much as I saw! ( ;-) )

The Tanunda Town Band came on the ship and played a rousing concert of German oompah music interspersed with some modern tunes. Jeremy, our Cruise Director, also announced that the ship would not be leaving until 3am as there is projected to be a lull in the storm. Our next port is Kangaroo Island which is a very short sail away and the exit from the Outer Harbor in Adelaide is very narrow.

While the destination is important, remember to savor the journey.

Day 46 - Downunder 2016 - Fri - 11/11/16 - At Sea to Adelaide 2

Th centerpiece for today was the Veteran's Day remembrance ceremony which started at 10:45. All who wanted them were provided a poppy. Rev. Barry Sutton opened it with prayer, CD Jeremy shared a few words about the significance of the day, a cadet rang the ceremonial bell announcing 2 minutes of silence, the ship's horn gave a long blast at 11:11am, Hotel Director Mike Mahan shared a reading on the significance and meaning for the empty meal setting in the center of the stage, and a man named Barry read the Flander's Field poem, and finally all veterans present were acknowledged. It was a pretty moving ceremony.

Dr. Wright gave a wonderful lecture on the 12 most frequently asked astronomy questions, and Phil Creaser did a light-hearted overview of paleontology. I spent much of the rest of day reading much of the excellent but gruesome book 'Batavia' about the shipwreck of the Batavia and the aftermath. It makes the Mutiny on the Bounty seem like a Sunday picnic.

We're definitely not in the tropics any longer. It's in the 50's f and very windy while walking the deck. All night and day we also had about 10 foot rolling swells which certainly produced significant ship movement. 

The ship had its premiere of BBC's Frozen Planet and it was good to experience once again (we've seen it previously on other ships). Essentially it's a movie about Arctic and Antarctica with live orchestral accompaniment. The evening's movie was 'Suffragette' which we had seen previously so we didn't watch it.

As our two month trip comes to a conclusion, I took a look thus evening at the 2017 projected route and it's similar to this year and worth considering. However, the Maasdam's trans-Pacific route for 2017 begins in San Diego instead of Seattle. The Noordam is also doing a trans-Pacific route similar to the Maasdam's 2016 route, but I don't know if that route can be connected with the Maasdam's 2017 circumnavigation. 

While the destination is important, don't forget to savor the journey.

Day 45 - Downunder 2016 - Thu - 11/10/16 - At Sea to Adelaide 1

The word for today is 'tired'. With the clocks being advanced by one hour combined with staying up to watch Hillary's concession speech, it was a really short night for sleeping. So we stumbled out of bed and listened to more TV coverage of the election results which seemed to focus on why Hillary lost. The devotional time was really interesting with Rev. Barry doing an interview with Dr. Alan Wright, the astronomer who is lecturing onboard. Afterwards we did a mile walk around the ship in the cold and windy weather before attending Dr. Wright's astronomy lecture on 'Where are we?' concerning celestial navigation. Following his lecture we sat in on his Astro Chat for about 30 minutes before eating a light lunch.

Our afternoon included Philip Creaser's lecture on the geological makeup of Australia and watching the 2016 version of Ghostbusters. There was another Gala night for dinner followed by the cast's last performance of 'Classique'. Since the clocks were once again being set ahead by an hour tonight, an early bedtime seemed to be wise instead of attending the champaign party in the Crow's Nest.

Day 44 - Downunder 2016 - Wed - 11/09/16 - Albany

The question of the day today will be: Where were you when you heard the news that Donald Trump was elected 45th President of the United States? For us the news came today while we were walking around Albany, Australia. It's a charming and welcoming city which has a long and rich history associated with seafaring and whaling. We enjoyed a slow and pleasant sail in after our normal breakfast. There's a narrow channel leading one into King George Sound and past the Vancouver peninsula, and a cargo ship taking on a load of some mineral ore. As we approached the dock, the captain had the ship do the cruise ship dance, rotating the Maasdam 180° clockwise and gently bringing her alongside the pier where a fleet of tour and shuttle busses were waiting to take on their precious human cargo. At 10:02 we received our Cruise Director's announcement that we were cleared to leave the ship via the gang plank on Deck 3.

We disembarked the ship immediately to a brisk chill and found our way to the free shuttle which quickly whisked us into town. We were the only ones who elected to stay on the shuttle until the second stop near the museum and the Brig Amity replica. We got to the museum at 10:50am and learned that because of our ship being in town it would open at 11am and not the advertised 1pm time. We chose to tour the ship first (it was really interesting) with an audio guide to describe the various aspects of the ship and its cargo. All of this cost only $5AUD each. Then we toured the museum (another $5AUD) with a powerful exhibit on forced consent adoptions and an exhibit displaying aboriginal artifacts that are normally on display in the British museum in London.

Next door was the Gaol (jail), and we toured it as well for another $5AUD. From there we walked up the main street (York) admiring the Art Deco and touring St. Paul's Anglican where the helpful docent rang the bells for us. This church also has some nice stained glass which I am always on the lookout for.

We enjoyed a very nice döner lunch at a Turkish owned restaurant. It was probably one of the best sandwich of its kind we have eaten throughout the world. We also enjoyed some pleasant conversation with the owner and his wife about Trump's election. While they are concerned about him as president, I tried to convey that he was elected because the American people wanted a change.

We continued our walk around town and then back to the ship where we reboarded around 4:30pm and went to the Crow's Nest to watch the sailaway which started around 5:45pm. Once we slipped away from the dock, the Maasdam headed back out to sea around the ore carrier and through the narrow dredged channel. As the sun set off our starboard side and darkness crept in, we suddenly had a pod of dolphins cavort in front of the ship.  

After a quick minute steak and mahi mahi we enjoyed an Irish magician, Patrick McCullaugh and then watched an Australian movie, Goddess, which was a funny but perceptive 'chick flick'. We finished the evening watching the election coverage and needing to move our clocks forward one hour as we are now heading back west towards Adelaide as our next stop.

If you have been reading my blog this far (thanks for the thousands of page views!), you might be interested in how it's created. Each night as we wait for the main show (showing up 45 minutes early is important if one wants a seat on the comfortable benches), I would compose the text on my iPhone 6 using the app Evernote using my left pointy finger as I didn't bring my Bluetooth keyboard. If needed, I finish writing it later (sometimes the next day when we were at sea). Then when we reach a port location with internet access, I copy the title and text into an email and send it to my blog address where it automatically posts.

Some may ask, why no pictures? My answer is simple, it takes up bandwidth ($$) and time. Plus I try to paint word pictures in my writing style and provide helpful observations. But never fear, when we finish the cruise and get back home, I'll upload many, many pictures to a website and provide the link. I am on Facebook and do put a number of pictures there (ease of upload and seamless picture compression) during the day while we are touring for my friends to see. If you want access to those, friend me on Facebook.

Remember, while the destination is important, savor the journey.