Hobart

 Hobart

Last night we celebrated my birthday in the main restaurant. We had our usual great meal and wine. Tasty!

The entertainment in the Stardust theatre was a well known magician ( at least in Australia) named Matt Terrant. Yesterday was his first ever day performing on a cruise ship. He was REALLY GOOD. His card tricks and reading minds were wonderful. 

We were awake fairly early today (0630) and after breakfast (and some reading time in the room) we soon sailed into the port of Hobart at 0930. 

The day was overcast and not very warm

My impressions of coming in is how this city reminds me (a small bit) of coming into Vancouver, although the mountains are very small and not as pretty as Vancouver. 

We started our city walk not too far from the pier at a Saturday only market called Salamanca Market. It is rated as one of the great things to do here ( and we are here on a Saturday). This market is one where MANY merchants put up equal size tents and then sell their merchandise ( most of which appeared to be locally made). I was surprised to see a half dozen distilleries selling their product there ( mostly Gins).

At the end of the  market tents I noticed a little sign pointing to “Battery Point” and its historic town Center ( only 5 minutes walk). This place turned out to be the highlight of our day. What an unexpected pleasure!

This area was full of beautiful homes built in the early to mid 1800’s. So beautiful to walk around and look. 

We came to a beautiful Georgian style house that was now a museum. This place was so interesting. 

The lady at the entrance was super informative and very enthusiastic and when she stated that Sir John Franklin had been the lieutenant governor here and that his wife’s piano had been moved into the house some years ago I had to get a

Franklin and his wife had been in this house quite a bit as the original owner had been a successful sea captain ( who later suffered financial problems). He was a big part of the establishment. The house had both male and female convict servants with the females living in the house and the males living out on the stables. All the furniture, paintings and decoration was specific to the 1850’s. 

We continued walking the area and near the end we sat down at a bakery for something to drink and a piece of square. 

We walked into the downtown, spent our remaining coins and headed back to the ship. 

Burnie

 Burnie,Tasmania

Another great night of sleep and we awoke already in port at Burnie. 

This is a small city that was established in about the 1850’s. 

The only way in and out of the port facility is by shuttle bus ( for security reasons- it is a working port)

As the shuttle stopped to drop us off in town the local mayor came on board and thanked us for coming and gave us some information about the city. There were volunteers all over and it was obvious this city is doing everything it can to keep cruise ships coming back ( it appears to me they get about one a week for their summer months).  Anyway a volunteer told me that the mayor ( whoever is in office) has been greeting cruise passengers since they first started getting cruises in the late 1990’s. 

We walked to the Little Penguin viewing area next to the ocean but were unable to see anything because the little guys are nocturnal. They did have a couple of “burrow cams” so I did see the chicks inside. I took a photo of a stuffed adult bird in lieu of the real thing!

On our long malacon walk we saw Potoroos. They are small little kangaroo type animals. 

Back in town after our walk we went to the local museum. It is a very nice one and we enjoyed our visit there. 

Before heading back to the ship we stopped for a pop and scone at a local bakery and wandered around the streets   

We had a late lunch on board ship and at 1600 hrs we pulled out of port 

Heading for Tasmania

 Heading to Tasmania

Our train ride back went smoothly and we were back on board shortly before 4 PM

The train was full of cruise passengers ( more so than locals).

We had a couple of relaxing hours and we watched the sail away from port about 1730

Supper was merely “OK” last night  but we had cherry crepes and ice cream later on which was really good. 

The five piece traditional style jazz band performing in the central atrium was really good so we watched them for a while. 

The evening show was a ventriloquist act. He had us laughing pretty good. 

The night was quite rolling and bouncy but we slept OK. 

If you zoom in you see the splash higher than the white hot tub cover. 

I picked up a book from the library in the morning while Carolina decided to go to the gym. 

Shortly before lunch I went for some exercise by walking the promenade deck. Unbelievably my phone dinged (cell service!) and I had photos from Vanessa and family in Palm Springs. I was able to text Vanessa ,Nathan and Lisa for a while. I really can’t believe that cell service was available. We were a very way long off the coast. 

Lisa sent me the following photo

While walking, the people ahead of me noticed dolphins alongside. I was able to get some nice photos and later, when Caro and I were eating lunch at the buffet, the dolphins were back so she was able to see them. 

A thirty minute hot tub (brrrr outside) and three games of tile rummy later and it was nap time. 

Supper was at our favourite main dining restaurant. Caro’s shrimp plate was better than my Chinese BBQ pork. Rather than desert there, we went up to the Garden Cafe (buffet) and had crepes. 

The nights entertainment at the main stage was the ship’s dancers and musicians doing music of Burt Bacharach. Very well done. I had forgotten how many great songs Bacharach had made. 

Circle shows our room location 

Adelaide

 Adelaide

Yesterday, just before catching the tender back to the ship we saw some dolphins. Caro had more luck than I did however I did manage to at least see them off in the distance. 

Upon return to the Sun Caro went to the hot tub and I ended up near the pool, in the shade, enjoying a podcast. I actually had a nap there. 

By the time we got back together we started thinking about going for supper but while flipping through the TV channels we stumbled upon The Wizard of Oz. Thirty minutes later we headed down to level 5 for another great meal. 

Afterwards we went to a musical bar where a piano player/singer sang Michael Buble songs. He was “OK” but the balance was really out between the piano and his singing. 

We left the Buble” singer and continued to another location where the Flamenco player from the first night was singing with a lady. 

This morning we were up bright and early (0630) and eventually went for breakfast before heading out to the train station to go into Adelaide. 

The train ride into the main city was about 40 minutes and after getting off we took the tram to the Botanical Gardens. My goodness,Australia has beautiful trees and plants. 

There was an exhibition by a famous American glass maker Chihuly ( famous in the glass world I guess , but we had never heard of him). His glass works were truly beautiful and we were taking photo after photo. 

A return to downtown an hour later and we walked around looking at people etc. 

Caro purchased some sushi and I got a package of three types of meat jerky I had wanted to try; emu, crocodile and kangaroo-kangaroo I had already in Sydney but we had a hard time finding the other two. 

The consensus is in. All three meats were horrible. Maybe it was just the curing process. Yuck!

We caught up with Dad and all the kids when using City of Adelaide free wifi. 

Kangaroo Island

 Kangaroo Island

Yesterday afternoon on the ship was quiet. 

We watched from the promenade deck as we departed, before heading back to our cabin (10th floor, forward interior).

Caro went for a hot tub but came home fairly quickly as the wind had picked up dramatically. 

The ship was rolling pretty good so I checked the TV for weather info and noted that the winds were 45 knots. 

Supper was wonderful, and was quickly followed by the 1900 hours show in the theatre. This was a show based on the Helen Reddy story performed by the lady who created it. She was a wonderful singer and story teller. That being said, I have never really like Helen Reddy ( however I am in the minority in that regard).

We had a good nights sleep and instead of our usual buffet breakfast we went to a dining lounge to check it out. 

About 1015 we got the tender and headed over to Pembrooke which is just a small town. We picked up some bandaids at a local IGA (Caro has a hurt toe). I also never thought to bring flip/flops to go to the pool so we bought a set each. 

While walking around the town we found a walking trail which turned out to be awesome because we saw WALLABIES!!! OH boy, that was cool!

We continued back to town center and headed to a local bar for a beer 

While enjoying our lagers three fellows at the next table were glued to their cell phones watching a football game. turns  out to be the college championship game that I usually watch with Lisa. As I write this the game is at half time. 

Portland

 Portland Australia 

Last night we left port at  1700 hours. 

We relaxed a bit, had a snack at the cafe,checked out the ship and Caro went to the hot tub. 

We had a late, light supper and very quickly headed to the theatre to watch a flamenco guitar player. After that a bit of Australian Open tennis, followed by a great night of sleep. 

We were up at 0600 as we came into the port of Portland. A cloudy,lousy looking day that eventually turned  out quite nice. 

We walked to the shoreline, found the tourist tram  station and got tickets for 11:38 giving us two hours to see the town. 

After walking through the local botanical gardens we started around a small lake and as we passed a couple going the opposite direction they informed us of a koala close by so, “of course !”, We stopped for photos and the sheer pleasure of watching it watch us.  So darn cute!

We continued on into town, chatted with a local (very pleasant lady), then into the CBD where Caro found a fabric shop and purchased some panels for future use. 

The tourist tram was great as the guide was very informative and entertaining. 

A few more supplies purchased and we were back near the ship where Caro went to walk along the beach. 

“All Aboard “ is 3 PM today.

First day of cruise

On Board Norwegian Sun

This morning we spent a leisurely couple of hours in the hotel before getting ready for checkout at 1000 hrs. 

With our luggage in hotel storage we went out walking to find breakfast. This time we headed across the river and after a while not finding any restaurant that looked appealing (and knowing our next food was on the ship so quite a bit of time until then)we settled on Subway ( but it “was” an Australian Subway so we were eating local food LOL)

We wandered along the south bank of the Yarra River and when we were across river from the Australian Open tennis tournament we came upon a lesbian/gay transgender group ( forgot the acronym) “mid summa carnival!

Wow, what an experience to say the least! Let’s just say there were many non-mainstream people enjoying themselves. 

We came back to the hotel about noon and about an hour later we caught the tram to the port. 

Once in the main lineup for boarding we were directed into the “priority line “ because we are returning guests.  What a bonus as we were way faster than the regular first timers getting through all the process. 

By 1425 hours we were having a snack on deck eleven

Our room ( an interior handicapped room ) is fantastic! It has a large bathroom and also a sitting area of to the size. Really wonderful.