Sand Dune Lancelin Australia

We drove up and down these glad lunch was after

Sand boarding

Our vehicle

view from the sand dune

Koalas all over the place here like deer back home

Koala's in their natural envirnonment

Me getting reading to sand board!

Today we did a 4x4 sand dune tour.  It was amazing.  It was a long 2 1/2 hour ride to the sand dunes. As we headed out of Fremantle the houses started to get nicer, then bigger.  It was a beautiful ride! And it was well worth it. We stopped for a potty break and he had to let most of the air out of the tires!  We had 100 pressure and had to go down to 40~! First we just started going around the perimeter then he got us on the top of the sand dunes and down we went.  It was so great.  Glad lunch was after this.  I felt like my stomach just went out. He kept going up and down and there was a tv on the bus so you could see when we were getting to the top and everyone was screaming.  It was a lot of fun! Then we went to the top of one and he took out the sand boards.  He waxed them up and down we went!  My picture as I was getting ready is on top unfortunately, Bill was laughing so hard he didn't get a picture of me coming down the hill!

After we had a nice lunch of bbq shrimp, and kielbasi, then lamb chop, steak and sausage with the strangest Casesar salad I have ever seen.  It had cooked potatoes, cooked eggs and bacon in it.  plus a tossed salad, we went to the National Park.  Unfortunately it was hot so the kangaroo were hiding but we did see a few Koala.

Then we headed back.  Our driver took us to Perth which was a lovely city.  And so different from Fremantle.  We drove back along the waterfront and it was truly lovely.  We got back and had just enough time to shower and change for our World Cruise Pan Am Mania event.
It is not letting me pull up the pictures so they will have to wait until tomorrow.
But I just want to say it was a fabulous event and James Coughlin, Shore Excursion Manager was the host of our table and  we just love James he is so sweet.  He is also very good to me explaining what I should do and what tours I should try to stay away from.  So Until tomorrow it is 11:10pm Saturday night here so I am going to get ready for bed.
I have Olympics at 9am:
I can't believe that we left home 1 month ago today it seems like we have only been gone a couple of weeks.
This so far has truly been a remarkable trip and look forward to more good thing to come.  We are truly blessed to be able to do this.
Good night and God Bless!!!!!!!

Church in Fremantle

One of the main shopping streets

Tea House where we had a bite to eat

My Steak Pie

Good evening from Perth/Fremantle, Australia
Today we docked in Fremantle.  Perth is a 15 minute train ride away.  We decided to just see what Fremantle had to offer.  We took the Shuttle bus into the town it was about 5 minutes away.  And we walked up and down the streets in and out of shops.  They even have a Target here!  Bought some toiletries I am afraid we might run out of and don't want to be in china without toothpaste or deodorant,  We then stopped in a Tea House and had a bite to eat.  After lunch we headed back to the ship around 2pm.  I had to take my advil and lie down.  My hip really start to hurt last night and was continuing to hurt.  I think maybe my shuffle board the other day I moved different from what I normally do anyway I actually slept for about an hour and then read till it was time for dinner.

Augusto made us a Casaer  Salad and a great pasta dish.  Tonight there is really no entertainment as we are still docked and lots of people are off the ship!  We decided not to go to the movie as we have a really really early tour tomorrow.  We are going into Perth, then to the National Park and 4x4 in the Sand Dunes!  We are in the Western part of Australia and it is not very populated here.  Today a lot of the big shots from NYK Shipping line which is the owner of Crystal where touring the ship.  There was a lot of bowing going on.  I hear when we get to Japan there will be even more.  Guess they need to check on their investment.  We had a nice day today but I really would have liked to have had an overnight in Melbourne instead of here.  There just doesn't seem to be that much to see and do.  I am not into seeing anymore prisons and that seems to be what all Australian Cities have!  The people are just so friendly.

We have an all day tour tomorrow from 7:50am to 4:30 and then at 7:45pm we have a World Cruise affair to go to Called Pan Am Mania.  Tonight when we returned to our cabin after dinner we each got a magnetic pin like the wings of Pan Am.  So I if I am not too tired tomorrow evening I will post all about our tour and our World Cruise event if not it will have to wait until the next day.
Hope all is well with you.  Not hearing from too many of you.
Good night and God Bless!

LtoR Anne Marie, Keith, Celeste, Bill, Becky

Dinner at Silk Road

We had another great day at sea.  More Olympic games and the first medal ceremony,  Bill participated in the golf putting today.  I went and had my hair done.  I had a large stripe down the middle of my hair my roots and gray were showing so I went and had my hair colored and cut.  He did a great job!  I was worried but one thing about hair, it always grows back.

We had dinner tonight in Silk Road with our friends Anne Marie, Keith and Becky and also they all had sushi I had tempora  veggies.  They all had some type of fish I had chicken.  All in all the dinner was great.  Good food, good friends and good wine!

Tomorrow we will be in Perth/Fremantle Australia,  we will overnight here.  We do not have a tour tomorrow.  I am having a pedicure in the early am before we get off the ship.  Will try to do some shopping tomorrow and then on Friday we have a tour of the state park and 4x4 in the sand dunes.  Should be fun.

Friday night there is a world cruise event and I will report on that later after we attend.  So a busy few days for us then on Saturday Bill and I both entered the backgammon tournament so we shall see.  I also entered Free Cell.  So that's all folks I am getting ready for bed.

Good Night and God Bless

PS Sue the Opera was fantastic!  Even Bill said it was good!!

CRYSTAL COVE DECORATED FOR MIXER

VALENTINE'S DAY CHOCOLATE TEA

CHOCOLATE TEA

MY PLATE EVEN THE SANDWICHES WERE HEART SHAPED

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Today there was so much going on.  We went to a lecture by Tom Ferrante. We met Tom and his wife Cheryl on the Symphony in South America.  Tom is a Globalist and very interesting.  We were having tea and coffee in the Bistro the other day when they boarded and he came running up to me and wanted to know where my scooter was he was so happy to see me without it.  They live in Scottsdale!  Anyway after that there was a mid-day Valentine's mixer,  The orchestra played and people danced.  Then Karen Jeffries sang and Beverly and Curtis danced.  Then there were some other songs performed.  They served, bloody mary's, mimosa's and champagne.  It was a fun filled hour.  After lunch Bill went to his golf clinic which he just started to take a few days ago.  John Clark runs it and he is a PGA pro who teaches on the world cruise.  We meet him and his lovely wife in 08 and he tried to get Bill to take the lessons.  He had to leave the ship in Maui as his son was very ill but Thank GOd it worked out and he came back in Sydney so Bill decided to take the lessons.  No Olympics for us today.  After Bill's golf clinic we went to the Valentine's day chocolate tea..... Yummy yummy yummy  even the sandwiches were shaped like hearts!  tonight we have dinner in the main dining room .

Dinner was great.  We each had the cream of tomato soup with ricotta dumpling,  filet mignon with bernaise sauce, grilled veggies and baked potato  Bill had macaroons for dessert I had the "Be My Valentine.  As we were finished our waiter Javier presented me with a long stem red rose.  It was truly a special day.  Some more pictures.

My dessert called "Be My Valentine"

After dinner outside Dining Room

Our nighttime surprise!

Crepes Suzette our dessert tonight

chocolate mouse dessert last night

Augusto cutting the Eggplant Parmagian he made special for us

Eggplant parmargiani

Rick and Capt. Glen @ Opening Ceremony

Cathy Rigby

Elise handing off torch

Peter and Cathy lighting torch

Peter and Cathy

Capt. Glen

Bill's happy face cappacuchino

Bill

Self Picture

At Enroute to Perth/Freemantle
Day 26
We had another wonderful day at sea.  Last night was the opening ceremony for the World Cruise Olympic Games.  It was a fun event.  I posted pictures from it.  Today I competed in Shuffleboard.  Haven't played since I was on here in 08 and wasn't sure if I could do it.  I did it and made it past the first round!  The next round the women got a 10 and I couldn't hit her but I did knock one of her discs into -10 so she had zero unfortunately I did not get any of mine in so she won the bronze metal. Lois if you are reading this Mrs. T. was knocked out and won Silver and Mr. T yelled at her threw his hands up in the air and left!!!!!!!  I felt like I won the gold metal to be able to bend and twist and do it was awesome.  Of course I am a little sore tonight so I will take some advil.  Wasn't able to go to my memoir writing course today since I made it past the first round! Tomorrow there is so much to do and so little time! But still have not used the scooter!  YEAH!
Last night we gained another 1/2 hour and tonight we will gain 1 hour and another 1 hour tomorrow night.  God it is going to be awful when we start giving them all back.
Tonight the entertainer was Jay Johnson he is a ventriquist and he was on Soap as Chuck and Bob, we have seen him before and he is quite funny.
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and they are having a mid-day mixer for valentine's day so that should be fun and then the Chocolate tea!  I don't have class so I will be able to go!
Tonight was my favorite Wiener Schnitzel I started with a real small portion of spaghetti carbonara and we ended with Augusto making us a special dessert Crepes Suzette.
Anyway we have two more sea days before we reach our next port of call Perth/Freemantle Australia where we will overnight!  I am going to turn my watch back an hour and then read for a little while,
Hope all is well with you all
Good night and God Bless!

Nissan Patrol Bill wondering if they are coming to America

Crocodile Dundee line dancing

Koala we spotted from the window of bus

One of the Squares downtown Adelaide

Let me off this bus and no one gets hurt!

World Cruise Day 25

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Greetings from Adelaide, Australia Prettiest Town the Ozzies Ever Made.

Adelaide is stretched along the banks of he gently flowing River Torrens is what many consider to be Australia’s most livable community.  In fact, some experts compare Adelaide favorably with the Scottish landmark city of Edinburgh.

Today we are in Adelaide Australia.  I love Sydney and Melbourne but I adored this city.  It has lots of little squares in the middle of the city just like Savannah.  Houses had balconies like New Orleans.  It is a large city but it had the feel of a much smaller one.  We had an early tour this am 8:15am.  We headed to Historic Handorf which is a German settled town that was settled in 1839. It was settled by settled by German Lutherans.  It was a lovely town.  We stopped first at Mt. Lofty for a look over the city of Adelaide.  We met Becky who was on the Panaramic City tour.  It was a lovely view and we boarded the buses again and headed for Handorf.  Our guide was very informative as we drove all around all over downtown Adelaide.  We were docked in the outer harbor which was quite a distance away.  The Celebrity ship has been with us since Syndey and they are here today also.  When we arrived in Handorf the bus parked and we had 3 hours on our own to walk around and explore all the craft shops, restaurants, bakeries and whatnots.  Lunch was on our own and we ate in the German Cake house.  I had the steak pie I just love these pies that the Aussies make (Sorry Diane I know you hated them)  Bill had a steak and mushroom pie.  They kind of look like a pot pie mine was filled with seasoned steak and gravy and was very good.  We shared a piece of the best apple strudel I have ever eaten.    We went in and out of the shops.  There was one true German shop that sold the most beautiful Black Forest Coo coo clocks and I was truly tempted they even ship but alas I was good.  I want to buy it in the Black Forest if I get one!  When we boarded the bus and started to drive, our guide passed around fresh strawberries that he had bought at the local produce stand.  They were soooooo sweet.  Instead of taking the highway back we came the old road (kinda like Rt 66 use to be)  The businesses all closed since no one travels it anymore but he said we would be able to see some Koalas in the trees.  Harry our driver was really good and when we did spot some he stopped the bus for everyone to take a picture through the window.  We saw 3 on our left side and 1 on the right.  We were on the left and I spotted the first one!  We then road into town and down Victoria street where there were the prettiest houses.  This is the most expensive real estate $1,000,000 being the cheapest for a house.  We then continued on King Williams Road into the center of town where our shuttle bus stops.  We decided against getting out but some people did get out to shop.  I had walked enough and being Sunday a lot of the stores were not open!  So back to the ship we came where I promptly lied down for a little while.  Augusto is making us eggplant parmigana tonight.  At 10:15 we will have our opening ceremony for the World Cruise games.  Cathy Rigby is on again this year.  We will then have three relaxing days at sea before we reach Perth on Thursday Feb. 16th.  All in All a great day in Adelaide, Australia A place I would come back to for sure!

Directions on stage for Moulin Rouge

Decorations

Centerpiece

Melbourne, Australia, February 10, 2012

Crocodile Dundee eat your heart out.

Celeste and Bill whack the bush!

G’day Mate.  Today we went to the Australian Bush looking for Kangaroos in their natural habitat. After our hour long bus ride as we left the bus our guide Roger kept telling us to make sure we were standing on the road and not the grass.  He then asked if anyone was allergic to bug bites, or bee stings.  Of course I raise my hand.  He said “don’t worry I have an Epi pen in case”.  He then proceeds to tell us that there are black ants about  an inch long that will take a chunk out of you and if you are allergic you can die from them.  Nice, my thoughts are “Where the hell am  I, and WHY”.  So after our pep talk out into the bush we go and I  must say that I was glad that I had the cane to whack the bush instead of  it whacking me. This was very challenging as I had to be really careful where I put my cane with all the Roo Poo!  We covered quite a bit of ground as it was windy and the Kangaroo do not like the wind. As we were walking through the bush.  I had a flashback!  No I never did LSD but I was with Betty, Joe and Bill in Pennsylvania Boar hunting and we were walking through new fallen snow in April trying to find boar to shoot.  Here we are in the Australian Bush trying to find a Kangaroo we can shoot, with our camera.  Over all these what seems like miles and miles, we were finally able to see some but what a walk.  Roger asked me a couple of times if I was ok.  One time another women said she was fine he said “I wasn’t talking to you I was talking to the lady in green”  She was not happy.  After finally spotting a group of Roos, we came upon one just hanging out with another one close by.  Roger told us she was sick and dying and that her mother was the one watching her. After this we had a nice Barbie(BBQ) lunch they had set up in a tent.  With champagne, red wine, beer or soda.  It was delicious.  Then we had an original aborigine come and tell us all about his tribe and what they believe in and show us the tools they used to hunt the kangaroos.  Also all the different kinds of boomer rangs.  He them played music on an instrument that he made!  It was really nice. Well we are done with the Kangaroos and we board our bus and head to see the Koalas in their natural habitat.  But first we make a stop at the BIG ROCK it is a lovely viewing place but I decide to stay on the bus.  I am starting to hurt and I want to save my strength for the Koala’s.  When we entered the forest, a forest ranger got on the bus and explained the rules and what we were going to see.  We drove around a bit and then we left the bus and walked and up in the tree was the cutest koala bear.  She was even putting on a show for us. It looked like she was waving after a few minutes we walked a little distance and there on a lower branch was  a male koala we were told that he was a nervous one.  His mate was just killed buy a car 2 weeks ago and he has been nervous since waiting for her!   We have to head back to the ship.  There is a special excursion for all the World Cruisers tonight called Moulin Rouge!.  We got back after  and need to be on the bus by 6.  Fastest shower and drying my hair I have ever done!

Moulin Rouge in Australia?

We were taken by ship to the Regent Theatre.  It is a beautiful theatre in the heart of Melbourne or as I guide said it is misspelled it is pronounced Melbeen.  James’ crew had left a message for me that he had reserved a seat for me on bus # 1.  He has been doing this for all the excursions, he doesn’t want me to have to rush to get to the bus.  It is so sweet of him.  We got on the bus and Keith and Anne Marie were sitting on the right hand side of us so we chatted as the bus filled.  We arrived at the theatre and were greeted by James, Shore Excursion Mgr John Stoll who is VP of shore excursions, Josef, the hotel director, Elise the World Cruise Hostess,  Given a glass of wine, or champagne and we we went and sat.  We sat at a great table front middle of the stage with Keith, Anne Marie, Bob and Glo who we meet in 08.  Pauline sat with us also.  Pauline just celebrated her 260 cruise.  She will be on here till June will go home for 3 weeks then join the Symphony for the rest of the year!  It was a great show and they kept the canapes coming as well as the wine.  It was a delicious red not sure what it was I do know it was an Australian wine.  When we returned to the ship, we were greeted by Elise who hugge us and welcomed us home then Josef did the same.  We were then handed a flute of champagne and a hot towel.  They had a nice buffet set up in the Cyrstal Cove and Augusto came over took my champagne and wanted to know what I wanted to eat.  I was full but I said I would have dessert.  So he filled a plate with all chocolate desserts and into the dining room we went.  By this time my feet looked like balloons so he told our waiter Chetan “NO SALT FOR HER.  NOT LOW SALT SHE NEEDS A SALT FREE DIET”  OKAY CHETAN SAYS, HALF PORTIONS AND NO SALT GOT IT.  I was so exhausted I slept until 9am and we even gained a 1/2 hour last night.

Well folks as Bugs Bunny says; “That’s all folks”

At Sea enroute to Melbourne
Today was the first sea day of this leg of the trip.  I am not sure if I told you that the Discovery Channel is filming on here called "Mighty Ships".  When we returned to our room last night there was a brochure for the World Cruise Olympics.  Today was sign up.  Bill and I went down to sign up and get our shirts.  Bill then went to the lecture and I was walking by the shops when Josef the hotel director walked up the steps and stopped and asked me about the Olympics what I signed up for all that.  So you all know that I am shy and quiet (Right and the sun never shines in AZ) anyway what I did not know was that they filming this.  So after Josef told me to have a great day and went his way.  Someone from the film crew came running up to me to sign a waiver letting them use me in the film. My thoughts and of course it came out.  "You were filming I didn't know that I would have fixed my hair or put on make up.  I have been wearing makeup almost everyday not today.  Today was a lazy day I really wanted to just stay in bed!!!!  Their answer was yes we are glad you didn't know it made it more realistic. So if it makes it into the film or on the cutting room floor only time will tell. Yesterday we had our second life boat drill.  usually when you are on for back to backs you don't have to go down except once a month but I asked James today and he said the law has been changed since the accident of the Costa ship.  James is the Shore Excursion Manager he is also in charge of our lifeboat.  I did tell him that this was one excursion I was not taking and I would not pay for it if he insisted on taking us.  We had a great laugh over that.  He said he will schedule that excursion after I get off the ship in April~! After the lecture Bill and I played backgammon then had lunch then played again.  Now I won't say who won but it was 7 games to 2 and Bill is not happy.  We both signed up to play Backgammon in the Olympics, we both signed up for shuffleboard and I signed up for Free Cell and Bill signed up for basketball!  After all this Bill took the golf lesson and I went to my Memoir writing class.  It was the first class since 3 of our memoirs have been read so they spend the class rehashing them and finding out all the good things in them...  Now I am back in the room and tonight is a formal night so this will take some work.  Of course there is another cocktail party this evening.  Not sure I am going.  Last night I had two martinis and I think that is why I wanted to stay in bed today.  While we were sitting in the bistro this morning Tom Farrante came up to us.  He is one of the lecturers on this segment and he remembered us from our South America trip!
I am going to go and get myself presentable for dinner and the show.
Tomorrow we will be in Melbourne and we have a full day in the Australian Bush, we get home and  have a little while to freshen up and change for our World Cruise Event which is "Moulin Rouge at the Regent Theatre".  There will be heavy canapes, Australian Wines and Beers, Soft drinks, cofffee and tea.  Just so that we are not starving they are setting up a buffet in the Crystal Cove when we return around 9pm.  God Forbid we go more than 2 hours without food!  Yesterday when we were in Sydney, the Celebrity ship was there also and they are riding almost along side of us.  The waiters tell us that tomorrow after lunch our crew is going to play soccer against their crew.  If I didn't have the excursion I would go and cheer them on.
If I have a chance I will post more later if not.
Good night and God Bless!