February 28 - Flying over the Great Barrier Reef

We’re docked in Cairns, Queensland today and tomorrow and this was my day to see the Great Barrier Reef. Before I write about that I want to back up and tell about two of the luckiest people on the ship with whom I had dinner last night.  They were a couple from the south of Wales who yesterday took a ferry over to Magnetic Island, an island 5 miles off the coast of Townsville.  They went for a hike there and saw two koalas in the wild as they walked!  That is a very rare occurrence – seeing them in the wild.  Stephen got this photo of one of them and I’m so jealous.  Dinner was a lot of fun with our hostess Carla, the Future Cruise Consultant.

Isn't this a great photo he got? 

Our delightful dinner table last night

Back to Cairns.  This is a city with a population of around 170,000 on the far northeast coast of Australia. Like every other place I’ve stopped  the area was inhabited by indigenous people prior to the settlement by the British.  Cairns was founded in 1876 after gold was found in the river west of the town and it continued to prosper as Chinese immigrants came and established agriculture here. There was also a darker side to its prosperity as Cairns was a port used by blackbirding ships transporting slaves and indentured servants to work in the sugar plantations in Innisfall, a community a little further down the coast.  During WWII this place was a staging area for the Battle of the Coral Sea.  Today it’s primary business is tourism because of its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef.

My knowledge of the Great Barrier Reef was limited to knowing that it’s the world’s largest coral reef, that people have to watch out for great white sharks if they swim there and that because of climate change and other factors, much of the coral comprising the reef system has been bleached making it more susceptible to disease.  I had no idea that the reef is about 1400 miles long with about 2900 reefs and 900 islands. It’s protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and it’s listed as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the world.

When I woke up this morning and looked out it was raining and I thought our flight wouldn’t materialize.  The rain had stopped by the time I was to meet for our tour and a van picked us up to drive us to Cairns International.  When we got to the general aviation building for GSL Aviation we were advised that our plane had a flat tire which a mechanic was due to replace in a half hour.  The plane we were supposed to fly in was a Cessna 208 which could carry 9 passengers.  It’s not difficult to guess what happened.  The half hour dragged on and finally a decision was made that those of us who wanted to go ahead could go in a smaller Cessna 206 which held five of us.  The other folks didn’t want to go in that plane because they said it was too cramped.  I forgot to mention that apparently Cairns was hit by a cyclone in December and the power was knocked out at the airport.  The building we sat in had yet to have power restored (two months!).  It was hot and steamy despite the windows and doors being open. We were ready to be out of there and in the air.

This was our plane. It was pretty little for six people.

The sea was flat calm as you can see

And I thought flying in Economy was tight

Finally the little plane was ready and we boarded.  I have a pretty good idea what a sardine feels like now.  I was  put in charge of the emergency door and we took off.  We flew at approximately 1400 feet and at that altitude there was no relief from the heat so the plane quickly felt like a steam room.  I think it would have been more spectacular if the sun had been shining.  As it was, we dodged little rain clouds and the colors of the reef were more muted.  It was still pretty and interesting to see the formations in the water below us.  Taking pictures from the back seat of a little plane isn’t the best experience and my efforts really can’t do the place justice.  We flew over one little island, Green Island, which has a resort on it and is a lush green dot in the water.  Our flight lasted about 40 minutes and when we got back on the ground we found the next two groups waiting to go.  It was also raining so I don’t know that they had any better views.

Green Island.  All the lighter green color is reef

This gives you a little idea of what the colors are like. Imagine if it had been a sunny day.

Well, I did it and I’m glad I did.  I can say I’ve seen that wonder of the world with my own eyes.  I was also very glad to get back to air-conditioned comfort on the ship.  Tonight I’m meeting Val and Deon, the two Australian sisters I met on the last segment, at an Italian restaurant here in Cairns.  It should be fun to eat a meal off the ship after several weeks.

February 26 - Airlie Beach, Australia

Why is that days at sea seem to fly by much faster than when I’m home in Williamsburg?  Since I last wrote we had a stop in Moreton Island and a day at sea.  I had booked a tour in Moreton but I decided to skip it.  There were intermittent showers and the tour was on a glass bottom boat to see fish.  When I thought back on previous trips like that, I couldn’t ever remember seeing lots of wonderful fish and I figured on a cloudy day I wouldn’t have any better luck.  Instead I worked on sorting pictures and writing about Brisbane.

Yesterday was a sea day and besides trivia I went to two art classes and tried my hand at watercolors for the first time ever.  It was fun even though I’m not going to be a Grandma Moses anytime soon.  I painted one of those tropical fish that I probably wouldn’t have seen yesterday had I gone on my tour.  I liked painting so much that when I get home I may have to pull out my pastels and try using them again.

Last night I sat at the captain’s table for the second time and I learned some nautical and weather-related things that seem obvious now but I just never thought about.  We’ve been traveling inside the Great Barrier Reef which runs a very long way along the coast of Australia, not just in one little place.  The water here is relatively shallow and so there is no cold layer of water to upwell in the sea. Upwelling is an oceanographic process in which wind blows across the surface pushing water away and creating a vacuum into which the cold, nutrient rich water rises to the surface.  As a result of the depth here  the water temperature is actually warmer than the air temperature (which is very hot) and so it follows that it feels positively steamy.  I hope that I’ve explained it correctly and maybe only I found it fascinating but I did.

The other thing I learned which makes perfect sense is why the tender rides sometimes seem so rough.  Another person at the table commented on even little waves making the ride seem bumpy.  The captain told us that the tenders are built to be lifeboats which in the case of an emergency would carry lots of people (153 to be exact).  In that case they would ride lower in the water, be more maneuverable and wouldn’t bob around quite so much. As it is, sometimes there are only a few of us riding to or from the ship and the tender sits higher in the water and bangs around more and can be trickier to handle.  So there were my nautical lessons for today which maybe no one cares about but I did and want to remember.

Today we anchored off Airlie Beach which is in the Whitsunday region of Queensland.  It’s one of several departure points to the Great Barrier Reef.  I didn’t have a tour booked but I decided I should go ashore so I could say I’d been here.  It was a long tender ride (30 minutes) and not particularly rough.  We traveled through a little squall as we rode along.  Like in the Caribbean I think passing rain showers are not unusual and it’s interesting to watch them coming across the water toward you. The water here is very blue and inviting but I’m not big on sandy beaches.  At one of the talks onboard they also talked about some kind of stinging jellyfish around here and that’s not my cup of tea either.

Look at that beautiful water

This house must have a view to die for

Once ashore I took a cab for the short ride into the little town center.  It wasn’t far but the walk was in the sun and with a temperature that felt like 92° with the humidity, I just wasn’t up for that.  I looked in some of the shops and walked to the waterfront where there was a lagoon.  In the distance I could see the Odyssey riding at anchor.  I passed a dress shop and continued my quest for some flowy, cool dresses.  I actually found a couple that I liked.  (At this rate I’ll probably have to get another suitcase.)  I’m learning some lessons about clothing in these tropical areas.  What works in summer at home doesn’t work here because at home I don’t really stay outside for any length of time. I go from A/C to A/C with only brief ventures out.   I now have a couple of very loose-fitting things I can wear that allow air to circulate.  That’s my fashion lesson for myself today.

Look at how lush everything is

My home anchored out in the bay

The quiet little main street

After my shopping I headed back to the tender and the ship.  My cabin feels like a refrigerator- it’s wonderful!  This evening I’m eating at the alternative restaurant with friends and then there’s a nice show with a great singer and her fiancé who also sings.

This hasn’t been a very exciting post but I wanted to let you know I’m alive and I want to remember the things I’ve learned for the next time I travel this way. I’ve been trying to figure out what was in my head when I packed to come here.  My brain was stuck on cold and much of what I brought reflects that. 

Sorry I don't have anything more exciting to write about. I suppose I could have made up a chance encounter with a great white but I doubt anyone would believe it.  So, bye for now.

Oh one more thing.  I ran into my friend who saw platypuses the other day and she air-dropped a photo and some videos to me so here they are.

That's a platypus. Ugly critter isn't he?

Oops! I still can't figure out how I've added videos in the past so that one shot will have to do.

February 23 - Is there anything cuter than a koala?

As usual I’m behind and I have no excuses except I’m having too much fun.  Yesterday the 22nd we had a sea day.   Our new team gathered and Miss Kitty came to give us luck.  It didn’t work.  We are back to doing cumulative trivia so it’s not a big thing.  The spread between low and high scores was 30 points and we’re right in the middle so plenty of time to make that up.  The most notable thing other than trivia was that the Seabourn president was onboard and had both a question and answer event and then two hours later a cocktail party.  I missed the first (I’d had such an event with her last year) and apparently she only answered what she wanted to and blew off the ones she didn’t.

Now to the fun stuff today.  We docked in the port for Brisbane, the third largest city in Australia and capital of Queensland. The city lies on the Brisbane River and has a population of around 2.6 million.  As with every place I’ve been in Australia it was inhabited for thousands of years by aboriginal people. Two explorers whose names I’ve mentioned before came to this area.  Captain Cook sailed into the bay at the mouth of the river in 1770.  In 1799 Matthew Flinders, who mapped Kangaroo Island, landed at a point which is now part of greater Brisbane. It wasn’t until 1823 that the Governor of New South Wales gave orders for the development of a new penal settlement north of Sydney and Brisbane was born.  Coincidentally the Governor’s name was Sir Thomas Brisbane.  (Is it a good or a bad thing to have a penal colony named after you?)

By the end of the 19th century Brisbane had become a major port and a center for immigration.  For World War II history buffs, the Allied Command for the Southwest Pacific was based here as was General Douglas MacArthur’s command.  Today Brisbane is a city with towering modern skyscrapers and lots of cranes visible on the skyline.  Interspersed are old, historic houses which our guide Toni called “Queenslanders.” These are buildings with a wide veranda, sometimes with fairly ornate latticework trim. The style was built to try to maximize breezes in the sultry climate, sort of like older houses we can see in our south.  In some instances to make room for stores or cafés, the Queenslanders were lifted up and placed on top of the new construction.  In 2032 Brisbane will host the Summer Olympics and Summer Paralympics so building is going on everywhere.

Modern Brisbane

Just to give you an idea this is what a Queenslander house looks like except this one doesn't have lattice work trim

The old Main Train Station

I had booked a tour to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary this morning and we set out on the bus.  The port is quite a long way from the city through a largely industrial area.  Evidently the sanctuary is on the other side of town so we got a tour of Brisbane as we drove through.  The guide was excellent and she pointed all kinds of things along the way.  Unfortunately from a bus you can’t 1) take very good photos and 2) if you’re on the wrong side of the bus even get a glimpse.  I was on the wrong side and I think 75% of what she pointed out was visible from the other side. C’est la vie.

The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is the world’s first and largest koala sanctuary.  It’s home to over 100 koalas and more than 75 species of other Australian animals.  It was started in 1927 by a Queenslander named Claude Reid who realized that something had to be done to protect this very iconic Australian species.  At the time they were being culled for the fur trade.  He began with two koalas, Jack and Jill, and over the years it grew to today’s park which also includes a hospital, scientific institute and education department.

A couple of things about today’s visit.  First, it was very crowded at Lone Pine.  There were lots of school groups in addition to regular visitors.  Second, it was blazing hot and humid!  If this was a presage of the days to come as we travel further north, then I’m going to really have to get myself prepared.  I had hoped that I might be able to hold or at least touch a koala but that didn’t happen.  I gather that to hold one reservations have to be made.  Also the temperature has to be considered because the koalas can become overheated when the hot ambient temperature is combined with that of the people holding them.  They do, after all, have their lovely fur coats on.  We all had to be content just watching them.  There were several areas with eucalyptus trees around where they were just hanging out.  Koalas sleep for 18 to 20 hours a day; so we saw lots of snoozing ones.  I accidentally made a Facetime call to Katie (a “butt” call) and after she and the guide I was talking to got my attention that she was talking to me, I was able to walk over to an area nearby where the koalas were getting a new bunch of eucalyptus leaves and so were moving around a little.  Alfred was on the call too so he got to see them in realtime.  They are simply adorable.

And now I'm going to put more koala pictures than I should just because they make me smile.

We saw some other animals including birds that I’d seen at a couple of other places, some lizards just roaming around, and of course kangaroos.  I didn’t even go to the kangaroo enclosure.  They are cute but not as fascinating as the koalas.  As usual I avoided the reptile house.  I did go into a building that had two tanks which had platypuses in them.  There were other people there who said “oh, look, there’s one” but my friends and I didn’t see them.  That’s very frustrating.  However, one of my friends did get a couple of pictures of them and when I catch up with her she’ll airdrop them to me and I’ll add them so I can see them and so can you.

This guy was just roaming around

I think this pretty boy must be a cousin of the one who wanted his tummy scratched a few weeks ago

When we left Lone Pine we went up to a place called Mt. Coot-tha Summit Lookout. This is a mountain that’s nearly 1000 feet high and on which there are lots of hiking trails.  Evidently Brisbane holds several kinds of endurance races including both biking and running up the mountain and on the trails.  We passed a couple of bicyclists pedaling up and truthfully I thought they were as crazy as the people I saw climbing the Harbour Bridge the other day.  From the summit we had a great view of Brisbane down below.

I wish I knew how to edit the center character out but I don't

Finally, on our way back to the port we drove through the city again and stopped for a moment to take photos of St. John’s Cathedral, the Anglican one in the city.  It was impressive.  I don’t know how it’s possible but once again almost everything Toni pointed out was on the other side of the bus.  Luck I guess.  It was a nice tour but I was exhausted again from the heat more than anything else.  I hadn’t taken any water from the ship; the bottles are heavy and they leak quite often and at one point Gary, our bus driver came to my rescue.  He had some bottles of water and he gave me one.

We had dinner with Amber, the singer from the band who we sailed with last year.  Her tables are always entertaining.  The cellist performed again and gave an outstanding performance.  Then of course we were off to the club for a little while.  Then it was time to go nighty-night for a few hours not  18 or 20 like the lovely koalas.

February 21 - Sydney in much too short a time

This morning we docked in Sydney for the second time in 15 days, but this time not at Circular Quay  which is practically under the Harbour Bridge and in sight of the Opera House.  We were instead at White Bay, not nearly as centrally located.  Oh well.

I didn’t sleep well because this morning I had to change cabins for the remaining 80 days.  It had been described to me as an easy process but it was a little more complicated than I was led to believe.  Anyway, it got done and I’m settled into my new home.

I had arranged for a private half day tour here to see some of the major sights in Sydney with a lovely guide named Linda booked through Toursbylocals.com.  My friend Helga came along with me.  Linda was very knowledgeable and packed in as much as she could in the short time we had.  Her driver Damien picked us up and brought us into the city where Linda joined us.  I knew that we didn’t have time to see things in depth but I figured if I could see the iconic things like the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and Bondi Beach at least I would have a little better sense of what Sydney’s like.  I can always come back again and spend more time here.  

That's our guide Linda and Helga with me.

Downtown Sydney is full of towering skyscrapers in between which are interspersed some old historic buildings.  Unfortunately riding around in a minivan you don’t have many opportunities to take photos.  Like all big cities Sydney has lots of traffic and you can’t really just stop to take a picture.

The first point of interest we traveled across was the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The bridge is a steel through arch edifice opened in 1932.  Originally it had six lanes of traffic; now it has an additional two lanes which used to be tram tracks on the eastern side.  On the western side are a pedestrian walkway and a dedicated bicycle lane.  At each end  of the arch are a pair of concrete pylons faced with concrete.  These were originally there for aesthetics but all four now have uses. One contains a museum and at the top, if you climb 200 steps, a viewing platform where you can get a 360° view of the city and the harbor.  I forget what it costs to do that.  The other thing one can do is climb across the bridge itself along a walkway on the arch.  That tour operates in all-weather except when there’s an electrical storm and costs  from $300 and up depending on the time of day.  As we drove across I could see some of the crazy people doing that.

Imagine climbing to the top of that pylon or better yet, climbing up that arch.

After driving over the bridge we drove through an old neighborhood past the residences of the Governor General, the king’s representative, and the Prime Minister of New South Wales.  These people live very well with magnificent homes pretty well hidden behind fences and trees and right on the waterfront of the harbor.

The Governor-General's house from the harbor

Next we drove to a wonderful lookout spot where we could see the whole harbor, opera house and city.  When I come here again I will have to make a reservation to take a tour of the Opera House, but there was no time for that this trip.  Linda told us a funny story about one of the tourists she guided.  The man asked her what that ”funny looking building with all the creases in it” was.

What a beautiful sight!

Our next stop was at a lovely park near the Royal Botanic Garden  to get another good view of the harbor and Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair.  The chair is a large sandstone rock that was carved into the shape of a chair by convicts in 1810. Elizabeth Macquarie was the wife of the man who was Governor-General of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821. The story goes that when he was posted to Australia she didn’t want to go but he told her it would only be for about a year.  She was reportedly so homesick that she would go and sit on the rock chair every day to watch for the arrival of ships bringing news from England.  Poor Elizabeth!  Sydney at the time was just an outpost for convicts to be sent and it must have been pretty grim for an English lady.  Planted all around were massive trees that Linda told us are a type of fig tree called a Morton Bay Fig.  The fruit on them didn’t look at all like our figs but birds must love them because there were lots of remnants on the ground.

That's Elizabeth's seat on the left up those steps. It doesn't look very comfy.

And here's the inscription about why it's there

After seeing the chair we headed off  on our ride through more neighborhoods of Sydney, including one named Woolloomooloo (isn't that a great name?), to come to the next point of interest, the Gap.  The Gap is a sea cliff at the southern head of the entrance to the harbor.  It faces the Tasman Sea and is made of sandstone.  While the view from the top is beautiful, the Gap is famous for being a location from which people wanting to commit suicide leap. In the last 20 years about 120 people have leapt to their death here.  Once again there is a story, this one absolutely true, to this place.  Across the street from the Gap is an ordinary looking house in which a man named Don Ritchie lived. Mr. Ritchie was a veteran of the WWII Royal Australian Navy and a retired insurance agent.  If he saw someone out on the rocks, he would cross the street and engage them in conversation. He would ask if he could help them somehow.  Once he got them talking he would invite them to come back to his house and have a cup of tea.  He has been credited with saving a couple of hundred people from suicide.  He became known as the Angel of the Gap and when he died in 2012 he was widely mourned.

The Gap

Finally we drove to Bondi Beach which is a little over half a mile long and has been filmed in lots of movies.  The beach has some strong rip currents and shark nets. (Interestingly the nets don’t stretch all the way across and sharks can swim around the ends.)  The surf conditions gave rise to what is the largest volunteer organization in the world, Surf Life Saving Australia which has 190,000 members. Families in the area begin teaching their children swimming and life-saving techniques almost as soon as they can walk and it is considered a matter of routine to join the organization.  Linda and Damien knew of a great spot where we could get a panoramic view of Bondi.

Bondi Beach from the great viewpoint

The pavilion on the beach

After getting our shots we drove down to the beach itself.  It’s getting toward the end of summer here so schools are back in session.  Because of that there weren’t tons of people on the beach. There’s a large pavilion with restrooms and cafés located sort of at the middle of the expanse and we went there for a pit stop and to get something to drink. Then we started heading back to downtown Sydney.

Downtown from not far from Bondi

On the way we drove through Chinatown.  Lunar New Year was just a week and a half ago and there were still colorful banners up everywhere.  Every store was Chinese with all the signage in Chinese.  The vast majority of people walking around were also Chinese with the odd tourist here and there taking pictures.  

We did pass one really interesting building as we drove back, the Queen Victoria Building.  Built in the Romanesque Revival style it was completed in 1898 and was designed to be an indoor shopping street.  It was never truly successful and underwent several changes to office space, some government offices and fell generally into a state of disrepair.  There was talk of demolishing it.  Evidently there was a significant outcry about that and it was instead listed on the historic register and renovated.  It’s now a shopping mall again but most of the interior structure no longer exists as it was built.  You can’t possibly miss it as you drive through the city because it stands in the midst of towering glass, concrete, and steel buildings.

The Queen Victoria Building

Damien took us back to the terminal and we ended our whirlwind tour.  If I really want to see Sydney I’m going to have to come back and spend at least a few days. It looks like a really interesting place.

Back on the ship I found all my stuff in my new cabin and I had to put it all away again.  At least I’ll have no more moves until May.  Then I met Claudia, my friend from two of last year’s cruises. Helga, Claudia and I had dinner together to catch up on our lives.  We sailed while we were eating so we missed sailing under Harbour Bridge.  One of Claudia’s friends was out on deck and she shared her photos with us.  Thank you Sandy.

After dinner we went to the show and after to the Club where another another reunion awaited us.  The new trio – new to this cruise but old friends from last year’s Antarctica cruise – boarded today and will be with us until Vancouver.  It was great to see them and I love their music.  There is a new singer with the two remaining trio members and she seemed very nice.

That was my day in Sydney.  Packed full of new sights and reunions with old friends. It’s a sea day tomorrow.  Hooray!

February 20 - Eden, Australia

We had a nice short stop in this pretty little town today.  Eden is about 300 miles south of Sydney in the state of New South Wales.  Following the arrival of Europeans it became a whaling port.  An interesting relationship developed between whalers and orca whales.  The indigenous people wouldn’t kill orcas because of some of their local beliefs.  So the whalers began using orcas to help them catch humpbacks.  The orcas would trap the humpbacks in the bay so that they could be harpooned.  In return the whalers rewarded the orcas with prize pieces of the humpback carcasses.

Following the demise of the whaling industry Eden became a port for shipment of cattle and sheep.  When the gold rush occurred in the 1850’s Eden saw many prospectors arrive on their way to the gold fields.  As that era ended and whaling disappeared Eden became a quiet little town again.  Today the population is about 3500.

I took the shuttle bus into town and walked around for a couple of hours.  There weren’t too many shops but several of them did sell local arts and crafts.  There were quite a few pubs and some looked like they had very nice fish and chips but I wasn’t hungry.  (How could I be with all the food available on the ship?).  I’ve been wanting to get one of those floaty kind of dresses that I see lots of women on the ship wear even though they aren’t teeny tiny Twiggies.  I figured if they could wear these things that look so comfortable why can’t I.  Well, I found one and now I just have to screw up my courage to try wearing it.  Some of the places we’ll be going to soon will be very hot and humid and the idea of a light billowy dress seems very appealing.

Back on the ship we had one last trivia round in the late afternoon (we didn’t win) and I said my good-byes to my many new friends.  Hopefully we’ll stay in touch and our paths will cross again.  There is actually something a little magical about the friendships one can form on a ship.  Tomorrow we’ll be in Sydney and the grand voyage will begin.

February 19 - A more peaceful Tasman Sea

It’s our last sea day of this segment of my cruise.  Tomorrow we have a short stop in a port called Eden, reported to be a lovely place as it should be with that name.  Then on the 21st we’ll be back in Sydney to start the Grand Pacific Voyage.  That will be bittersweet because I’ll be losing some of my new friends and I shall miss them.  I’ve had great fun spending time with Deon and Val, sisters-in-law from Cairns, and Leon and Kim from Raleigh.  My trivia teammates Jim and Kristie, Joylian and Steve, and Cynthia and Richard will be greatly missed.  And there have been so many others with whom I’ve enjoyed sharing a drink, a meal or a tour.  One of the very best reasons for cruising is to meet so many nice people and I know that many I may see again sometime.

Now to the big news of the day.  It was our last Trivia and ta-da! We won again!  Joylian and Steve had brought a good luck mascot we’ve had on our table for the last couple of days and we won both times.  Despite the fact they are leaving, they gave me Miss Kitty to keep for our onward cruises.  I shall keep it as my treasured possession and bring it with me as the four of us left of “Ship for Brains” continue our journey.  We have new recruits boarding in Sydney and I know they’ll be happy to have a good luck mascot too.

February 18 - Shopping with the Chef, Opals and a protest march

It was just 15 days ago that I set foot for the first time on Australia, I saw my first kangaroos in the wild and had a cockatoo land on my arm.  Here I am again in Melbourne to try something different.  I had asked for and received an invitation to go shopping with the chef, always a fun and interesting activity, so this morning I met my fellow shoppers at the main restaurant and in minutes we were off to the Queen Victoria Market in downtown Melbourne.

Chef Bjorn ready to go shopping

When you go shopping  with the chef you go with an entourage.  This time he brought along a sous chef, two galley assistants, some carts, ten of us passengers and we traveled in a bus. On the way to the market we passed one of my favorite places in the whole world Costco!  Were it up to me we would have made a stop there. Once at the market which is very large, clean and organized in sections based on food types sold, we unloaded and proceeded to the seafood and meat halls. Chef Bjorn was looking for some seafood first and eventually he found some kind of local fish which he liked (sorry I can’t remember the name I just know it has firm white flesh) and he bought about 100 kilos.  He wanted it cleaned and fileted and he wanted everything cut away given back to use for stocks. We proceeded to look around for other things on his list while the fish was being cleaned.  He was in the market for fresh oysters, but unfortunately all the vendors had shucked oysters which can’t be brought on the ship. He passed on kangaroo meat (he bought that on the last visit here) and instead we went on to the cheese hall. We sampled several really good cheeses and he settled on five wheels of an Australian camembert. Then we proceeded onward to the produce section to buy melons and berries and assorted beans and greens.  

We made this fishmonger very happy

These aren't meats we see often(ever) in supermarkets in Williamsburg

I think our Chesapeake Bay blue crabs look better

I know I'm posting too many photos of food in the market but I can't help it; I love markets.

A little cheese

Some sausages

Some veggies and we're all set

Vendors are quite happy to see the chef arrive because he buys large quantities and he pays for everything in cash, no cards. After a while we went back by the fish place to pick up our fish and trimmings and then we loaded back on the bus and returned home.  It doesn’t sound very exciting but markets thrill me so I had a lovely time looking at the variety of things available. I forgot, while I was wandering I came upon a place selling Tasmanian scallop pies (individual size) so I bought one because I’d heard they are good.  It was too hot to eat so I put it in my bag and took it back on the ship with me. I ate it up at the Patio Grill for lunch and thought it was tasty but maybe a little overrated.

One of the things I have been determined to try to find here in Australia is an opal. After all, this is the land of opals. I had googled two reputable opal stores in Melbourne and I had the people in the Square call to find out if they were open since it was Sunday.  They were so I set out on my quest to find an opal pendant.  I was told I could take a tram to where I wanted to go downtown but I saw the tram leaving before I got to the station so I took a cab instead.  The first place I went was a total loss.  The Sunday help knew less about opals than I do and that’s not much.  The stones they had were unimpressive.  I left there and walked to the next place which was supposedly nearby.

Apparently here they don’t necessarily number places sequentially because I got to the street I needed to be on but the numbers of the places were mixed up.  There were lots of people on the sidewalks and in the streets and it was very noisy.  I saw six very tall, very nice-looking policemen standing in front of a Starbucks so I went and asked one where the place I wanted was.  I think he thought I was a mixed-up old lady (I guess I was) because he pointed me to a sign a couple of doors away.  Oops.  Anyway, I had to go downstairs and there was the second opal store.  The people there were very knowledgeable but the nice man there told me that most of their good opals had been sent to some international gem show in Tucson. What they had left was less than memorable.  I chatted with him for a few moments and told him his place was hard to find and that if it hadn’t been for the nice policeman I might not have. He then said something to the effect of “do you see what they are guarding. Starbucks.”  I asked why they would be guarding Starbucks and he said from the protestors to which I stupidly asked why they would be protesting a coffee shop.  Then things began to make sense about what was going on in the street above. It was a protest about – you guessed it – Pro-Palestine. When I went back upstairs and out on the sidewalk I found myself in the midst of the protest.  There were people in t-shirts saying “Cease Fire” and From the River to the Sea.”  There were men in black and white keffiyehs; there were people waving Palestinian flags.  They all seemed peaceful enough except for one very angry man who was yelling at everybody about everything and shoving people.  I steered well clear of him and hustled to the tram stop.  Thankfully, some of my cruise mates were waiting there and they shepherded me along. 

So while I didn’t find an opal I guess I did do a couple of firsts today.  I had a Tasmanian pie and I walked in my first ever protest. Now that I’ve done them, I don’t plan to do either again.  I did have a beautiful day.  The weather was great. My cold seems to be largely gone.  I had a nice dinner and went to the club for a little while.  I didn’t dance much though because it was British pub night so the dance floor was crowded and some dancers pay no attention to the space around them.  I don’t like getting bumped or stomped on.  And that was Melbourne for the second time.