5/25/24, World Cruise 2018 #10
I’m finally back....miss me? Lol. Have no idea what has kept me too busy to sit down and
do one of these emails. We’re only on day 45 of a 113 day cruise so I better get a move
on.
We had a fun sea day full of activities and folks. There is a new speaker on board named
Alan who is an astronomer and is really good at presentation. Not all of them are. He’ll be
on board for several weeks and I think he’s going to be very interesting. He’s British but
now lives in Tasmania. Right after his lecture he offers, what he calls, an informal
astrochat as he’s really into sharing what he knows and loves meeting people. I’m
interested in the subject and like the guy so am looking forward more than usual to
attending the lectures.
We arrived in pretty Hobart at the south end of Tasmania by 8am the next day. The
weather was nice but we had been warned of a storm that was headed our way so the plan
was to leave that evening instead of the next day afternoon. In addition our stop in Port
Arthur had been cancelled and our route north changed to avoid the worst of the
weather.
We had been planning to head up the west coast of Tasmania to reach mainland Australia but
the Captain had decided that heading up the east coast would keep us a bit in the lee of
the land during the early part of the storm. Hopefully it might not be too bad by the time
we had to head west as we crossed over the top of Tasmania through the Bass Strait on
our way to Kangaroo Island.
Meanwhile we had Hobart to enjoy all day.
There was a market that we walked through to
get to the street and the first person we met was Milton. He was so excited for us to see
his hometown and what a friendly greeting he gave us. Full of information and just a
delight.
Next we met a lady that dyes yarn and Joyce let me pick out the one I liked best and she said that she would make me a scarf. Very cool.....I do not knit but she’s really
enjoys it and is very sharing of her beautiful work.
We walked the town admiring the port and the wonderful buildings. A nice lady stopped us
on the street (we were obviously tourists!) and said we should go inside City Hall and see
the ballroom and huge pipe organ upstairs. It was amazing.
We walked down to a market
that Joyce remembered and admired the produce. There were lots of little shops with
beautiful and unique items for sale....and restaurants. We had chicken that I think the
name of it was Karange but I’m probably wrong. Something like that and it was good.
We wanted to visit the wine tasting room on the other side of town and, since it was
closing soon, we took a cab. Our driver was named Guy and gave us a quickie tour and told
us about the next place to go after wine tasting....oldest bar in Australia. But first the
wine. Of course we run into Mike and Donna there....no one is surprised but we do have to
laugh about our similar tastes and timing. It was quite an extensive wine tasting and we
each bought a bottle. Good stuff.
We did make it to the bar and later went to Mures, which was recommended by several
people. They had fish and chips, a window seat and happy hour. Perfect. We were there
quite a while and watched the seagulls and the people. Don and Marshall walked by and
lots of other familiar faces. Finally went back to the ship.
I was pooped and didn’t last
long but Joyce went up to the Crow’s Nest for the Mardi Gras celebration, as was
evidenced by the beads she collected.
Now the weather is deteriorating. After me attending the astronomy lecture and Joyce to
Abby’s cooking class we decided to eat lunch in the dining room so we could be served
rather than to try and walk around much. It was getting rough. We had our lunch with a few
other people and I noticed that Dolly, the famous most cruise days on earth Dolly, was
seated at the table next to us. Our lunch companions left before we were quite finished
and Dolly started up a conversation with us. Mostly me because Joyce had her back to
her. This went on for a few minutes and I whispered to Joyce, c’mon, let’s go join
her.....this is our chance to talk to Dolly. So we did.
Now Dolly is known to be a crabby opinionated (she’ll be 95 on August 12th) old lady who
doesn’t like just anyone and keeps to herself quite a bit. She has regular places that she
sits by the Lido Pool for lunch, at the shows, for dinner.....and you better not be in her
seat. The Amsterdam is her ship and she’s the first to dance with the Captain at the
Galas!!
For some reason I was fascinated by her. I found her to be very funny. People
think she’s mean but she’s a big kidder. When I asked if we might join her she says to me
rather sternly...”Well, you’ll have to behave yourself!” Well, you know me. I look her in
the eye and say “so will you”.
Since it was Valentine’s Day we were scheduled to have a
Gala night with a Ball and Dolly had a scarf over her hair full of curlers in preparation.
She was wearing it in a very unique way with the ends of the long scarf threaded underneath the shoulders of the sleeveless top she was wearing. Joyce commented on the
attractiveness of the inventive way she had utilized the scarf. Well, Dolly started to tell
us tales of how she had dressed herself for very swanky parties and had compliments
from very swanky people (She mentioned names, I won’t) for her style.
We discussed the
weather and she told of the worst storm she’d experienced where a couple waves actually
came all the way over the bow and hit the windows in the Crow’s Nest. As we left we were
talking about Valentine’s Day and Dolly had some idea of what she could create with one of
the red cloth napkins on the tables and stuffed one in her bag. A waiter came over and
though he’d said nothing, nor would he, she’s saying “I’m innocent. I’m innocent.” I think
she’s very funny. I believe we passed the test and will be allowed to speak to her
again.....but we must wait and see.
Too bad they cancelled the ball.....too rough.
We watched the storm from our room and, after a couple really big bashing waves, decided
to go up to the Crow’s Nest for a bigger view. That was about the time the Captain
decided to slow down to about 3 knots, just enough to keep steerage, and we were
basically hove to for a number of hours. The spray from the wave had hit up on the Crow’s
Nest windows but not as bad as Dolly had described. We ultimately had 26 foot seas and
70 knot winds. Quite the ride but we managed to enjoy ourselves with various
activities....just had to be careful.
It took two days to get to our next stop, Kangaroo
Island. We were on time because we had skipped Port Arthur even though we basically
went nowhere for 12 hours or so during the worst of the storm. Nice to have that over.
More to come, sooner rather than later I hope.
Gayle
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