The choir-65 members all the paying guests on the ship and the choir director David did a show on the ship for the rest of us, they had practiced from ft lauderdale, for about 40 days. On the sail in to Sydney harbor they were all out on the top deck singing Australian songs like waltzing Matilda as we sailed past the Sydney opera house it was quite emotional and many tears were shed. We had been to Sydney before so we had done a lot of the local sights. This time we took the local free bus #555 to the paddy's market a fun place near china town. We roamed around and I got a cool accessory for my hair that is all the rage in Japan now. We next walked to Hyde park to a food and wine festival. There were booths from all regions of Australia. $25 bought us admission with 6 wine pourings. It was sponsored by Citibank. There was a food court and a stage featuring many musicians..after several hours we walked back to the harbor we took a ferry ride to darling harbor and back, always fun to do in sydney. When we returned to the dock syed went back to the boat for a snooze and I walked over to Sydney opera house and watched holland America's Amsterdam take off. They had a plaque on the back of their ship declaring it was a world cruise voyage.
We met Sam at starbuck's at 7:00 and we took him to a mayalasian restaurant- neptune's seafood near the cruise terminal. Sam looks well he has just rented an apt in the woolongong harbor in a building where Russell Crowe has the penthouse apt. The food was excellent.
Friday, March 16, 2012
RE: Burnie, Tasmania
Burnie Tasmania,
A dream come true, visiting Tasmania, which is a truly beautiful and one of the few untouched spots in the world. We had a gentle time on the Tasman sea and were told by John Foster our captain from Liverpool that were were very very lucky!
As we had to go through Australian passport control, we didn't get to Burnie until after 10 . We decided to rent a car and concentrate on one part of the island and explore it thoroughly. We were lucky to get the last rental available in Burnie, at Avis. The cost of the one day rental with taxes was $80.00. We had met a lady from Tasmainia when we were in Auckland and she gave us some advice about where to go. We chose a one hour ride to Stanley. The road ran along the water and was spectacular. There was no traffic. There is very little population here. Stanley is a delightful little town where they have a cable car, that goes up a small outcropping of rock called the Nut. It was formed 13 million years ago. After our ride to the top and a two km walk around the top we returned to town. We wandered into a filming of the Australian version of Top Chefs. The entire town had come out to watch and we retired to a pub to watch the filming too.
We enjoyed interacting with them and had a delightful day. On our way back we stopped at a Whiskey Distillery, and sampled some of Tasmania's special brews. The land around the Distillery looked a little like Napa. Very beautiful. After returning our car we returned to the ship where we were greeted by a group of Tasmanian bagpipers who seranaded us as we boarded. Truly Tasmania lived up to my expectations.
A dream come true, visiting Tasmania, which is a truly beautiful and one of the few untouched spots in the world. We had a gentle time on the Tasman sea and were told by John Foster our captain from Liverpool that were were very very lucky!
As we had to go through Australian passport control, we didn't get to Burnie until after 10 . We decided to rent a car and concentrate on one part of the island and explore it thoroughly. We were lucky to get the last rental available in Burnie, at Avis. The cost of the one day rental with taxes was $80.00. We had met a lady from Tasmainia when we were in Auckland and she gave us some advice about where to go. We chose a one hour ride to Stanley. The road ran along the water and was spectacular. There was no traffic. There is very little population here. Stanley is a delightful little town where they have a cable car, that goes up a small outcropping of rock called the Nut. It was formed 13 million years ago. After our ride to the top and a two km walk around the top we returned to town. We wandered into a filming of the Australian version of Top Chefs. The entire town had come out to watch and we retired to a pub to watch the filming too.
We enjoyed interacting with them and had a delightful day. On our way back we stopped at a Whiskey Distillery, and sampled some of Tasmania's special brews. The land around the Distillery looked a little like Napa. Very beautiful. After returning our car we returned to the ship where we were greeted by a group of Tasmanian bagpipers who seranaded us as we boarded. Truly Tasmania lived up to my expectations.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Sydney, Australia
The choir-65 members all the paying guests on the ship and the choir director David did a show on the ship for the rest of us, they had practiced from ft lauderdale, for about 40 days. On the sail in to Sydney harbor they were all out on the top deck singing Australian songs like waltzing Matilda as we sailed past the Sydney opera house it was quite emotional and many tears were shed. We had been to Sydney before so we had done a lot of the local sights. This time we took the local free bus #555 to the paddy's market a fun place near china town. We roamed around and I got a cool accessory for my hair that is all the rage in Japan now. We next walked to Hyde park to a food and wine festival. There were booths from all regions of Australia. $25 bought us admission with 6 wine pourings. It was sponsored by Citibank. There was a food court and a stage featuring many musicians..after several hours we walked back to the harbor we took a ferry ride to darling harbor and back, always fun to do in sydney. When we returned to the dock syed went back to the boat for a snooze and I walked over to Sydney opera house and watched holland America's Amsterdam take off. They had a plaque on the back of their ship declaring it was a world cruise voyage.
We met Sam at starbuck's at 7:00 and we took him to a mayalasian restaurant- neptune's seafood near the cruise terminal. Sam looks well he has just rented an apt in the woolongong harbor in a building where Russell Crowe has the penthouse apt. The food was excellent.
We met Sam at starbuck's at 7:00 and we took him to a mayalasian restaurant- neptune's seafood near the cruise terminal. Sam looks well he has just rented an apt in the woolongong harbor in a building where Russell Crowe has the penthouse apt. The food was excellent.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Re: Bay of Islands New Zealand
Bay of Islands New Zealand In many ways the cradle of modern New Zealand. It was here in 1840 that the British and the Maori chieftains made a pact which changed the course of the country's history. This made for harmonious relations between the British and the Maori. But this cradle status goes back even further when James Cook in 1769 sailed into Bay of Islands, landed, and claimed the area for Britain. It was Cook who named the large bay which is dotted with 150 islands. The area was quite densely populated with Maori.
We made landfall early in the morning at the Bay of Islands. Once safely anchored the ship commenced its tender service. There is no big dock for ocean liners so the boat is docked deep in the harbor and small tender boats take us to shore. Once ashore we took a shuttle to the center of town called Piahia,
We rented a car, it was called rent a wreck! with a few friends and went exploring the island. Our first stop was the Haruru Falls.This is a waterfall in a horseshoe shape- very rare and quite spectacular. We then proceeded to the Puketi Kauri Forest where an artificially created boardwalk allowed us to marvel at the massive Kauri trees. We then proceeded on a scenic drive to explore the various bays, Matauri Bay and Tauranga Bay on a scenic loop. We then went down to Kerikeri a charming town inland and had a lunch of fish and chips with New Zealand beer. The New Zealand people are all extremely friendly and laid back, one of their favorite phrases is "No worries". After lunch we headed back to Paihia where we dropped off our car and visited a local craft fair. We then proceeded back to our ship.
Coming of Age in Samoa
It is a beautiful island with genuinely warm and friendly people The Samoan island chain lies in the center of the South Pacific about 2300 miles southwest from Honolulu. Since 1899 it has been divided into Western and Eastern or American Samoa. The islands comprise the only American territories in the southern hemisphere.
We took a native local bus around the island, went to a local village, where we tasted the Samoan food. There staple food is bread fruit which is starchy like a potato and they eat coconut and drink coconut milk. This probably explains why the majority of the Samoans are overweight.
After our tour of the island we visited the Jean P. Haydon museum to check out Samoan art and artifacts.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)