On to Asia

,Day 7 - 27 June
Darwin looked beautiful today and even relatively early in the morning the temperature was in the 30s.   As we've been there twice before, we decided that a walk into town was sufficient.  We went with our friends Marilyn & Ray from Brisbane,  who were also on the WC last year.  It is only just over 1 kilometer to the bottom of town and as we found out last time, the lift at the end of the bay makes it really easy!

We had a destination of Woolworths in mind to get some "essential " supplies.  Well we were so engrossed in conversation we actually walked an extra block, before realising.  It was really sad to see all the Aboriginal people hanging around the car park.  They all had dead eyes and noone smiles. Even more sad to note a young man buying a $50 bottle of vodka.  We wondered how long it would last - this was at 11.00 am.  By comparison our 2 bottles of "sail away" wine was insignificant.

Back to the Mall and coffee called.  We were thankful for our 6 days practise in "spot the customer about to leave" in the International Cafe on board, and Ray soon grabbed us a table.  Good coffee & muffin and many thanks to Darwin City for the free and speedy internet.  That was pretty much Darwin as far as we were concerned,  so headed back to the ship and lunch upstairs.  Vivian won't let me use any variations on the official name of Horizon Court,  so I am being good (so far).

I learned my lesson last year where I made derogatory/honest comments in the blog, in the belief that my audience was limited, only to find out later that I had been "sprung ".  That is not to say that the blog is censored but perhaps I am just a little more careful in my descriptive prose.

Day 8 - 28 June
Wow, is it really a week since we joined the ship?   I suppose that being the same layout as the Sea Princess,  we feel as though we have lived here for the last year.  Well another 4 sea days as we head up to our next port of Kodak Kinabalu in Borneo.  It is still warm, with lots of cloud and a little more of a swell with quite a breeze.  I thought I'd sit outside, but all the loungers were taken on Promenade Deck.  Deck 5 is fully occupied and to make it worse, they've taken over half of the Atrium for a "Sale".  Deck 6 is woefully short of seats, with over half of them being removed.  So here I am  in the Wheelhouse Bar.  No, the bar does not open until 3.00, so it is a good spot to be, with excellent wifi.  Oh yes, Vivian has morning bridge today as there is a wine tasting in their usual venue this afternoon.

Lunch today with Maggie & Ash (from our dinner table last year).  It was great to reminisce our 100 dinners together.  The afternoon clouds gathered and a spot or 2 of rain fell, so we retreated to bed and read all afternoon!!  After dinner we made the mistake of going to the show - Trevor Knight.  While we thought that we had seen him last year, we were dismayed that his show was exactly the same word for word. Yes, I realise that new material is difficult but after 50 years in the business I would have expected a bit of variation.  I don't recall seeing so many people leave immediately after the final song,  nor the lacklustre applause. Tomorrow is another day.

Day 9 - 29 June
Today we make it over the hump into the Northern Hemisphere.  We actually went through the equator at 2.20 pm and the sun is shining.  Once again the sea is like glass and we did spot some flying fish this morning when we did our deck walk.  We also saw an abandoned "tinnie" floating by - must have come off some other boat.  We are of course sailing through the Indonesian islands and although we haven't seen many, I imagine there  are plenty of fisherpersons about.  At least we are far too far north to have any asylum seekers.

The internet has been even more erratic over the last couple of days and currently, although I can receive emails, I am unable to send any and eventually they just dissappear.  So if you haven't heard from us, this is the reason (or simply we haven't sent you any!!).

The clocks go back another hour tonight and this will be as far west (in time zone) as we go.  Towards sundown the clouds gathered and it rained, briefly but heavily (not as bad as Auckland though I understand).  The humidity is climbing steadily.

Day 10 - 30 June
Heavily overcast and humid as we progress through the Malacca Straight.  Got our walk in before the rain started and are currently sitting on our balcony.  We have another Formal tonight, preceeded by a Captain's Circle Cocktail Party, which I am pretty sure we will not be bothering to attend.  Too many people who have never had a free drink in their lives!

Another sea day tomorrow and then we start the Asian part of our cruise in earnest.  We had a pamphlet from Customer Services, detailing the different steps required to satisfy immigration in the various countries and are surprised at the formalities, such as 2 copies of passports in some countries and those where we need original passports ashore.  We'll go with the flow and fortunately in all the ports except Jeju we have Princess tours which should help us through officialdom (bearing in mind our Chinese Visa experience ).

The photo below is Vivian with Marilyn & Ray in Darwin.