CROSSING THE EQUATOR

En route to Saigon

Not far on the chart from Singapore, We have got sheet lightning and rain, it's early morning balmy, humid and lovely out on the back deck having my cup of tea al fresco with no sand flies or mossies , yaaaay.

Can't do my aquacise, preparations are being made for a crossing of the equator with a deck party later on in the morning, around the pool area.

The entertainment manager has already been in touch (by sea phone of course) with King Neptune to make sure of an appearance.

Remembering back to when I first crossed the equator at the age of 6 people got plastered with goo and a Brussel sprout stuffed in their mouth before being dunked in the pool.  It was a hoot.

Our port lecturer is a lovely lady with a wealth of good usable knowledge and surprisingly was stationed here with the embassy during the Vietnam war, so will be giving a talk on that as a stand alone lecture other than her informative port talks, which thankfully are not confined to shopping.

As we are on a small ship we will be docking close to the city of Saigon or Ho Chi Minh, with a free shuttle, unlike a previous cruise on a larger ship where the journey was an hour or so. I saw a bit of the countryside tho, flat, rice fields.

I understand the Ocean Princess has been sold and may be doing more the Asian routes so our favourite will be no longer in the Princess fleet.

Will add more to this as the day unfolds..............

KOMODO

Komodo Island Indonesia UNESCO world heritage site.

Known habitat of the largest Lizard in the world, home to the earth's last dinosaur.  Reaching 10feet in length weighing 300 pounds they are venomous, can sprint 15kph, swim and dive to 15feet, also climb trees.  They hide and pounce on their prey.  Several people have been attacked and a few killed in recent years.  The young live in trees hiding until a certain size as the older ones will eat them

The original people were nomadic and technically under rule of Sultanate of Bima. The worst prisoners were dropped off here to fend for themselves amidst the carnivorous dragons.  Those who survived partnered with the tribes, living in thatched wooden houses built on stilts to keep out the man eating reptiles.

The descendants of those natives and convicts live on the isle today.

Dividing Australian and Asian flora and fauna is known as the Wallace line drawn exactly near Komodo with evolution by natural selection taking place.  Indonesia has names for only 8,844 of the 18,307 islands in this, the worlds largest archipelago, with only 922 of those islands permanently inhabited.

Arrival in the waters off Komodo Island early morning was very scenic with mountainous countryside, smooth seas and perfect light for photography before the sunup.

It was the pool exercises for me early morning doing my own workout while watching everyone on the walking deck one above, surrounding the pool, sweating it out doing their laps.  The air was balmy and water just tepid.

The ship has 697 people on board and 399 were due to go ashore on Komodo to do the National Park walk with guards to fend off these monsters should they get it in their head to attack.

As we have monitor lizards (somewhat smaller variety than the Komodo) in our National Park Noosa Heads, I chose not to go on tour @ $200+ dollars as I could easily imagine a lizard crocodile size and did not fancy putting myself at risk in the open with them.  

We were warned prior to going, anyone with cuts or ladies with monthlies to advise the tour office or dont go.  The Komodo Dragon has a highly developed sense of smell by flicking the forked tongue and recognising which directions to seek prey  eeeek! Very keen eyesight but not so good hearing. (So screaming at them is no good!)

However we could get on the tender to go ashore, but no admission to National park.  I figured as I paid for a visa I would go over and stamp on Indonesian Territory so went for a couple of photo opportunities from the tender and anything that may be interesting ashore in the small area we were allowed.  

It was quite pleasant for the short trip and funnily enough saw a Dragon underneath the shelter with open steps, either resting in the shade or laying in wait for a feast to come along.!  Did not stop for a photo, a quick look at the shape was enough.

Sailaway last evening was magical from Deck 10 with our Cocktail hour and blissful views as we drew away from Komodo along the coastline.

Each sea day we have wonderful lectures which keeps us too busy to eat the banquets constantly laid out for us should we want.  

Do you believe me?

Trevor Knight from Buledelah (may be the wrong spelling) is sharing his experiences on Horse whispering and his love of the spirit of these wonderful animals which have served man, enriching their lives over centuries. He has such interesting experiences and is renowned for his endurance rides both in Australia and overseas, keeping the horses calm while on flights.  

Proudly he wears the special award Buckle for 250mile endurance ride on his belt much coveted by horsemen.  

Better than a useless silver cup I say. Trevorknight.com

Trevors tribute show last night to John Denver was marvellous as usual, together with a couple of songs he has also written and played on his favourite guitar. 

He has a variety of shows around the ship before getting off in Vietnam so has to present a fresh talent each time which is amazing as we have seen him before and just now, talking of his farm and the personalities of his horses was along the same theme but told with a fresh perspective, a real tear jerker for me.

As I write this the seas are calm as a mill pond, and ooh ooh, I just saw a shark fin out the window, it may have been a dolphin not sure.

Earlier, we were passing Bali and the volcano which looked a bit like Mt Fuji shape now coming up the channel between Bali and Lombok heading north past Borneo.

Vietnam is the next Port of call and we are berthed closer to the city of Saigon than before, on a previous trip, this time a short shuttle bus ride.  It is still called Saigon by the locals although known as Ho Chi Minh city. Thinking I may go to the National History Museum, we need to find out whether it is suitable for Frank on his mobility scooter to go ashore.

CAIRNS TO DARWIN

Having seen Cairns a number of times we decided to do the train run up to Kuranda return, it was easy walk from the ship.  The Barron falls were not as spectacular as I have seen them and believe it is due to construction of the Tinaroo dam, so unless you were there in extreme weather conditions one may never see the falls again like they were, so a nice journey but somewhat disappointing in that respect.

Kuranda is a nice tourist town and pleasant for an easy stroll, we had a nice baked chicken pie and milkshake there, feeling a little peckish which spoilt our appetite for the banquet on the ship.

Darwin is our next port of call and the Captain made a run up the coast from Cairns to avoid Cyclone Nathan.  Surprisingly we had no rough seas or wind and the day cruising past all the islands before rounding Cape York was very scenic.

We then cruised for a day through extreme calm and wonder how those big sailing ships got on just lolling about, no wind and oily smooth sea.

The air conditioning is drying me out, and think I will be like a Smiths crisp when I get to Rouen.  My mouth and throat get so dry I drink a litre of water through the night.

2nd post

On the 14th March Saturday morning our departure from Maroochy airport was made simple with dear friend Josie depositing us safely at the airport terminal where we later met with Caloundra friends Diane and Paul, also flying 5 minutes earlier than us en route for a short holiday in Sydney before going on an island cruise.

On arrival at Sydney Airport we awaited our collection with a no show by Princess cruises.  

Mobile phone was out of battery so rang via ipad skype to be advised to get a taxi which took us through the new tunnel at an extra cost in tolls, avoiding much traffic and resulted in a very quick trip.  Princess agreed to refund the costs as we had pre paid our transfers.

Getting acquainted with our cabin and dropping off the hand luggage we made our way to Panorama Buffet for some lunch at 3.30 pm, both ready for it by then.  

Safety drill was then required before Sailing out of Sydney Harbour from White Bay Terminal on the Ocean Princess.

One of the most beautiful harbours in the world with such scenic beauty.  It was a balmy, sunny day and we chose to sit aloft port side in the aft lounge on deck 10 with magnificent views, sipping magarita cocktails, our "happy hour" sailaway.

And dammit I did not have my camera with me !!  The views were too good to miss by racing down to the cabin so in my head they stay.  It is at this point I may have inserted a couple of photos but need a usb wired directly to the brain.

Too tired for evening dinner after late lunch we unpacked and tried out the manoeuvrability within our cabin so as to negotiate a path past the mobility scooter for night jaunts to the loo.

All of it was too hard, I kept bumping and bruising my hip past a corner desk point, no where to put the scooter so we have had to stow the desk seat in the wardrobe, opt for the singles to be pushed together and now stow the scooter halfway under the desk, its working.

Rested and relaxed we now attend the Reef Pilots lectures and will be travelling on the inner reef stretching 2300 km from tropic of capricorn to Torres (named after Portuguese explorer) strait.

Interestingly most maritime lecturers seem to refer to that amazingly interesting book 1421 by Gavin Menzies, where his historical research states the Chinese sailing vessels were around the coast of Australia centuries before the Dutch, French and English, with some typical timbers from wrecked Junks being found. 

Apparently in the Beijing museum archives Chinese explorers detailed having seen and described a large animal with deer  shaped head long tail and two heads. Apparently that was the description of Kangaroo with joey in the pouch.  Also there are Chinese stone pyramids at Gympie, their markings of travels at the time.  Must check the locations of those when I get home.

FRIDAY 13 MARCH

The first blogspot created the night before we leave.
Had a great family lunch (with more than half the family missing) at Secrets on the lake.
Then down to the homework of technology to keep in touch, nearly doing my head in.
Still lots to do but hope i come back wiser, skinnier and will definitely come back older.