Yesterday we spent in Adelaide. When we looked out our window in the morning all we could see were acres of a green tarp roof with two holes cut in the middle out of which huge Norfolk Pines were growing. It turned out to be a holding lot for cars that had been shipped there. And the tarp was protecting them from sea spray, hail, and bird poop. Baxter could have taken a lesson from whoever built that lot: not every tree must come down! The huge Damond Princess was also in port in front of us. We looked like its [View Full Entry]

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First off, in case you may not know it, the island of Tasmania is one of the states of Australia. Just like Minnesota is one of the United States. So, same money, postage, language, etc., as the mainland of Australia. Nisswa School: I haven't seen a Tasmanian Devil, but our lecturer says they are carnivorous, so I guess I am glad I haven't run into any! The crossing from Sydney to Burnie was the roughest we've had it. The ship creaked all night long. I came down with a horrible cold (headache, sore throat, cough, the works) so felt pretty miserable [View Full Entry]

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I love Sydney! It is so clean, so modern, so "with it," just plain wonderful. We arrived early Saturday morning as the sun was coming up. Truly incredible to step out on the deck and see the Opera House dead ahead with the famous Bridge beyond it. As we got nearer I could see that the roof of the Opera House is not just painted white or made of a solid white material, but is actually covered in what look like bathroom tiles in a white and beige pattern. It really was almost overwhelming to cruise past this icon. The usual [View Full Entry]

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What a joy to visit Brisbane! The city must 90% new in the past 25 years. All gleaming, new, fascinating architecture, sparkling clean streets and cars, and even a Target. But a Target without a drug store department...how weird is that? Apparently some deal they made with the pharmacies here in order to open in Australia. Mom and I went to "The World's Largest Koala Sanctuary" yesterday. We saw about 50 of them, but didn't opt for the rip-off cost of having our pictures taken with them. I felt sorry for the poor things being hugged by all those strangers when [View Full Entry]

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Saturday we were in Fiji, our first island which geologically was once part of a continent. The previous ones were formed out of the ocean by volcanoes or coral reefs. Fiji was very hilly and lush and hot. The people are much darker skinned and have crinkley hair compared with the Polynesians of the earlier islands. Mom stayed on the ship, but I decided to go in to the town, Suva. We had been warned that there were a lot of con artists and pick pockets who loved to prey on cruiseship passengers. I took a shuttlebus to the main shopping [View Full Entry]

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We crossed the International Dateline so we are now (I think) 18 hours ahead of you at home. We lost Tuesday completely, but are making it up one hour at a time as we move westward around the globe. Always nice to get that extra hour a couple of times a week. Yesterday we were in Tonga, the first flat island we have visited. Unlike the others which were volcanic and, therefore, mountainous, Tonga is a huge coral reef and flat as a pancake. It is extremely lush and beautiful, but a terrible mess. Rusted out cars all over the place [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday was a splendid day. We awoke to another perfect view, this time the largest of the Cook Islands, Rarotonga. I went on a snorkeling trip in a secluded lagoon. The water was warmer than any I've ever been in and perfectly clear. Lots of beutiful fish around the coral including what I think were clown fish...so funny-looking with their yellow-striped mouth, blue stripe over the eyes and red stripe on the back. They came up to me as if they were as curious about me as I was about them. There were no instructions about snorkeling, just "Here's your snorkel [View Full Entry]

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Hello Everybody! I've been enjoying myself too much to write. We had eight days at sea...all of them perfectly calm. In fact, we haven't had even a slightly rough day yet. Here's a sample day on board: 8:00 Get up and have breakfast, either Continental delivered to the cabin, or a full breakfast (with cloth tablecloths and napkins and waiter service) in the dining room. 9:45 Attend lecture about future ports. 10:30 Find deck chairs (what they call sunbeds) on the promenade deck. Sit and read. doze, chat. 11:00 Go get a mug of tea and return to deck chairs for [View Full Entry]

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Today we are having cold, rainy weather even as we near the equator. I even had to put on a sweater today. We arrived in Colon, the Caribbean port for the canal early Friday afternoon. Hugh and I went on a jungle tour that walked a mile through the rain forest, then a ride on the Chagres River in a boat that looked exactly like the Jungle Ride at Disneyland. We saw lots of leaf-carrying ants along the trail which just looked like pieces of leaves moving along by themselves. Lots of monkeys, too. Also a "Jesus Christ" lizard (its actual [View Full Entry]

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I still haven't found a WiFi spot to download any pictures, but hope to soon. Sunday we were in Antigua where I went on a zipline canopy tour across a beautiful jungle valley. It was breathtaking. Nine different lines across the valley stretching from tree to tree, each progressively longer than the last, and a finish that dropped straight down 30 feet. I was a sweaty mess by the time I climbed back to the top -- especially with 25 lbs. of gear on me. Monday we were at sea again. But yesterday we were in Curacao, a lovely Dutch island. [View Full Entry]

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