Adelaide: What a beautiful city! Unfortunately, we had scheduled a tour to a wildlife park north of the city to see the obligatory kangaroos, koalas, etc. Our tour bus took us all around and through the city though (a necessity to get where we were going), so we did get to see the downtown and some of the housing areas, their new hospital, parks, and university. The Cleland Wildlife Park was very nice but the koalas were in their artificial habitats because of recent heat that bothers them. That worked out OK since we got a good look at them. Our visit was during the heat of the day, so the kangaroos were all napping soundly. Even food wasn't much of an inducement out of their slumbers! Emus were active as were some animals we didn't know of: Potoroos and Bettongs in particular. (In photo, the Potoroos is the small marsupial about the size of a large rat, the Bettong is the one that looks like a kangaroo but is about the size of a cat.) We enjoyed the park, but friends had spent the day in Adelaide and had a much better time…oh, well…there's only so much we can see in these ports!
Today (Feb. 18…Sunday) is a Sea Day, as is tomorrow. So far, the sea is calm with a few "rollers" to let us know we are on a ship. (Temperatures in high 60's.) We arrive in Albany, Western Australia on Tuesday. We have no plans, but look forward to walking the small town after learning about it this morning from our Port Lecturer, Barbara, who is a gem! This afternoon we heard a lecture on this whole state of Western Australia which comprises 1/3 of the whole country of Australia. It's quite diverse with vineyards on the southwest, resorts along the shores, and lots of various mining inland in the deserts. We will only "round the southwest corner" of it and see Perth/Freemantle a few days after Albany and then we will leave Australia and head to Indonesia…first stop there is Bali!
Today they also put out the potential World Cruise itineraries for 2020 for us to all vote on and give our input on various ports, etc. I can see why people get in this habit of cruising, since two of the four itineraries were quite interesting to me! (One revisits Antarctica and another Africa, China, and Japan. Two itineraries include stops in San Diego and HI) It will be interesting to see what the final choice is! We feel fortunate to be able to do this one, but can easily see why so many do it year after year (as long as money and health hold out!)
We are thoroughly enjoying our new friends on board…both staff and cruisers. Facebook seems to be the favorite way of keeping in touch for the future. We have "adopted" several new grandchildren on this ship…they, in turn, look on us as their grandparents on this journey. Our cabin steward is having his family come on board in Bali to see him for a day, so perhaps we'll get to see them, but we have a tour already set up. One friend has knitted a blanket for her cabin steward's new baby she'll get to see in Bali. So Bali will be busy since quite a few of the staff are from there and are allowed to have their families come on board and visit. Usually, signs are placed on cabin doors saying "No Service Today" so that the stewards can have more time with their families. Alas, a few will also leave since their contract (9 months) is up and others will take their place. One of our favorites is leaving…but we may see him again on another Dam ship. Enjoy the photos!
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