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Culinary Carving
Watermelon carved into the shape of a rose 23/05/14
Before we left Brisbane Greg Reinke said to me that was another Reinke couple on board, very unusual as it is not a common name. Well we have been dining with a lovely couple originally from N.Z. but now live at Surfers Paradise, and last night the gentleman whose first name is Carmen told me his surname is Reinke, imagine that they are sitting at our table. I told Greg and I will be introducing them to each other at dinner tonight.
Another day in paradise I.E. tropical North Queensland, the marine pilot we have had on board for the past few days has been very informative as we negotiated the reef and he left us today. At one point near Thursday Island he stated that we only had 3.8 metres of water under the keel, and that we had to try and maintain speed so as not to sit too low in the water.
Colleen and I got a bit of sun this morning and are working on our tans but we do not want to spend to much time in the sun all at once, so maybe an hour each day
Watermelon carving
Must have used Brian Rumble as a model looks very old. will be adequate.
We had a meet and greet with our fellow travellers to the Taj Mahal this morning the trip is well organized but the heat will be extreme 45 during the day down to 30 at night. This should be one of the highlights of our trip and after finding out the details today we are both quite excited.
After lunch we found a quiet spot down aft where we had shade, a nice breeze and time to relax and read our downloaded books on the I Pad.
24/05/14
Only 96 days to go whew not long now before we get home only seems like yesterday that we left. Had breakfast with a nice couple from Wagga John and Norma, John is a cricket enthusiast so he should get on well with Greg Reinke who plays every day, and when he bowls tries to take the head off one of the cruise staff Basil who hails from South Africa. Basil is a bit cocky and very competitive in everything he does, so with a bit of luck Greg will clean him up.
Pub Grub was served in Horizons for
Ice Dolphin
Located in the Horizon Court one of many carvings. lunch today, bangers, mash Cornish pasties, French fries and most importantly mushy peas, this was washed down with French vanilla slice very tasty. This afternoon we went and soaked up some gamma rays on the quarterdeck, and went for a swim, not much else to do but eat, drink, swim, and work on the suntan.
During the day we maintain a North Westerly course across the Arafura Sea. The Arafura Sea is a shallow tropical Sea with an average depth of between 50 to 80 metres, increasing in depth in the western extremes of the sea.
25/05/14
Set the alarm for 6:00 a.m. and went for a walk on the upper deck for 50 minutes, very humid, from now on I will be going to the gym for my workout at least it is air conditioned. The carvings the chefs do out of watermelon needs to be seen to be believed I have enclosed some photos.
At noon today we will be passing Timor Island on our port side and Pulau Kisar Island on our starboard side, continuing on to Singapore. Not much else happening today we found the card room forward
Timor
As close as we got on deck 12 it is a secret hideaway that not too many people know about, hopefully it will stay that way.
Wind the clocks back another hour tonight, from now on we will be on Singapore time 2 hours behind Brisbane. Colleen and I has a game of shuffleboard tonight after dinner she blew me away 7 games to 2, after that we went for a swim and watched a bit of the Monaco Grand Prix on the big screen.
26/05/14
Today we will maintain a North Westerly course across the Flores Sea. This sea covers 240,000 square K’s of water in Indonesia, the seas that border the Flores Sea are the Bali Sea, to the west and the Java Sea to the Northwest, and the Banda Sea to the East and Northeast.
Have been trying to log on to the internet today without success so will have to wait until we get closer to Singapore.
27/05/14
Not much to report for today all quiet on board, another relaxing day doing nothing. Tonight the crossing the line ceremony was held for Pollywogs and Shellbacks. I decided to take part as I wanted to use the Gro Pro to see how it would go, unfortunately with all the gunk thrown in my direction, flour in particular the lens was covered and not much could be seen. There was plastic sheeting laid down on the deck , which of course became very slippery, and a poor woman slipped and hit the deck so hard she knocked herself out. The stretcher party was called to deck 12 to take her to the doctor’s office.
As we get closer to Singapore the marine traffic is becoming a lot heavier, during the ceremony the number of fishing boats lit up was incredible, some were so bright it looked as if you leant over the side you could touch them.
28/05/14
Colleen’s birthday today, awoke to a nice bunch of balloons and a happy birthday notice on our stateroom door. I took her out for a nice dinner of spring rolls, pizza, pies, and hotdogs, while we watched Queensland get robbed in the first State of origin. Tomorrow we arrive in Singapore and get to see my Brother Ian for the first time in a number of years. Ian is flying in from Vietnam to see us we are most grateful to him for making the trip for just one day.
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