Sailing on the Sea Princess

Main Activity Deck - Sea Princess

The Sea Princess was the first ship on which we did a tour - 40 days! We went from Sydney, Australia to Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, China, Japan, Guam and back to Sydney.

You can read about that tour here.

This tour began at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and took us south to our neighbour country, New Zealand.

It's the third time we've been to the "Island of the Great White Cloud" and I always wonder why anyone who lives in NZ would leave. It's a beautiful country.

We traversed the west coast of the islands and then came up the eest coast calling into several ports, the following map shows our travel route.

Unfortunately, it was too rough for us to visit Akaroa and Napier which was a disappointment, however, as the ship's captain said, it's better not to push the margin of safety with so many people on board.

This trip was during the Australian school holidays and included New Year's Eve. There were numerous children on board and a much young group of adults - their parents and other adults apparently taking advantage of the Christmas-New Year slow down and holiday break.

As we had been on a number of previous cruises, we didn't get involved in many of the on-board activities - been there, done them. Christina did attend regular Knitters and Knatters Group meetings and we attended several excellent evening shows we had not seen before. One of the comedians was spectacular.

I caught up on a stack of reading I had stored for the occasion and of course, on those places we visited, we got off the ship and had a good wander around, even though we had seen them before. At Auckland we visited the Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life attraction where we met some interesting creatures like this pufferfish which eyed me off as I took its photo.

I can see you Robin !

Initially I thought it was ugly (who am I to talk?), but ultimately I realised what a beautiful piece of work it was. Only evolution could produce such an odd creature with antennae to perform whatever function they perform. (Anyone help here?)

Probably the highlight of the trip was doing a cruise along Milford Sound. We'd visited previously by bus, but the tour in and out covered all of the Sound and we had a good look at the dozens of waterfalls running down steep rock walls into the lake below.

Milford Sound from Sea Princess

I have a large number of photos of Milford Sound all of which are pretty similar - steep Sound walls, plenty of greenery and billions of Litres of running water that would probably be among the purest on our planet.

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip around New Zealand and meeting the inhabitants was also enjoyable as they are inevitably friendly and appreciate those of us from "over the ditch" visiting.

Robin

The Big Trip North

An Aboriginal sign on a salt lake

When you drive around Australia, you get an idea of how very large our country is. It's huge!

The interior is largely underdeveloped, lacks water and the nutrition to grow food crops. It's used extensively for cattle industries. 

In the north of South Australia is the Woomera Rocket Range prohibited area where nuclear bombs were tested in the 50s and rockets are still tested. Some of the range is still radioactive, thus, nobody is allowed to travel into the range.

The terrain changes from open expanses with gibber rock, few trees and no capacity to turn it into anything of value to similar country with red sand and short acacia trees that survive for years without water among the salt bush. Over the South Australian border in the Northern Territory, the landscape produces some small hills with rugged landscapes that have been there for millions of years since Australia was underwater.

Many fossils, including trilobite fossils, remind us of how long ago it was since we were underwater.

It's harsh country and over the couple of hundred years since European occupation, dozens of explorers have died there of heat exhaustion, dehydration or starvation. In some places it's hard to find anything living but a number of lizards seem to appear at frequent intervals. Flies seem to survive anywhere.

The trip from Adelaide to Alice Springs in Central Australia is 1500 km and although it can be done in one 15 hour day, we usually stay overnight at Coober Pedy going north and Woomera going south. That way we avoid driving at night when it's more dangerous because of the kangaroos, emus and cattle that wander about the roads.

Here's a video my wife Christina took while we were driving through the Woomera Rocket Range, it shows what the country is like.

If you ever come this way, bring plenty of water and invest in either a satellite phone or a personal locator beacon (PLB), because if something goes amuck, there is no mobile phone connection in many of the areas and PLB will attract a rescue helicopter much faster than word of mouth from a driver travelling to the nearest township.

It's a lovely trip if you haven't done it a hundred times.

Robin

2019 - A Big Year for Tory

Tory is presented with his certificate

So much can happen in a few hours. 

For Tory it was two significant events in anyone's life; the culmination of 12 years of schooling AND transition from child to adult.

On Thursday, 23 November 2019 Tory attended his high school formal looking impeccable in his suit with tie and received his Graduation Certificate.

Surrounded by his peer group and their parents and guests, teachers and others, he received his Graduation Certificate.

In a convenient stroke of luck, 23 November 2019 was the day before Tory turned 18, so at the stroke of midnight he gained the key to adulthood and all that goes with it. For a new 18 year old, the most important key is that they can now enter licensed premises without supervising adults and partake of the nectars of the gods.

It's that difficult period of one's life when some of your friends can join you at a bar and others can't. However, the good side is that when each friend turns 18, it's another reason to celebrate as the crowd at the pub expands.

Tory and Mum Meredith

Meredith attended the formal with Tory and his partner for the night, Lucy. They had arrived in a vintage vehicle that you can see in the photo below of Tory and Lucy.

From all reports, it was a pleasant night for all of them and after the formal, Meredith went home and Tory and mates went to the Alice Springs Casino shortly before midnight where they waited outside chatting until the clock struck 12 and then walked in, knowing they were all of legal age.

I understand Tory had his first beer in a licensed venue and then the group went to a friend's house to party with some of their not-yet-eligible mates. How very thoughtful.

At the time of writing, I haven't spoken to Tory, but my guess is that, like many of us, he probably overindulged and slept for most of the next day, his birthday.

Tory, Lucy and the Vintage Car

Now, with his formal schooling years behind him, the next thing is to find a job. We've all been there - our first job. Remember it?

Tory hopes to get an apprenticeship, preferably in electrical work and now that school has ended, at least until and if he begins an apprenticeship, it's knocking on doors seeing if he can find an employer.

If he gets an apprenticeship it will be back to school, but this time on-the-job training and trade school by block release. 

My experience in TAFE Queensland where we ran pre-vocational programs, suggests that students undertaking trades often do much better academically than they did at school. This appears to be because the topics being learned have a direct bearing on their "real world". As teachers, we were always pleased to see young people who had performed poorly at school come good and enjoying thier work.

As proud grandparents, of course we wish Tory every success in the future and as long as we can will help it happen. 

Robin

PS: Here's a shot of our young man on his first day of school. It's amazing what a difference 12 years makes.

Jan, 2007. Living Waters School, Alice Springs NT