Down Under 2022

 We had a nice sleep at Lana & Lindsay's although when we woke up it was 16ºC or about 60ºF.  It was tough to get out of bed.  We enjoyed a nice breakfast before heading off for the day's adventure. We first drove through Westbury and saw some sights, and ended up at the 41ºSouth Restaurant and Bakery and Salmon farm.  We had a delightful lunch of Atlantic salmon sandwiches and a lot of terrific conversation.  We toured the facility and watched the salmon in the pens and other items around the facility. From there we made our way to the Ashgrove Cheese plant where Angela and I bought a package of cheese ends.  From there we made our way to the Raspberry Farm where I had my first Australian Milkshake.  It's not like an American milkshake:  it's much thinner and can easily be drank or sucked through a straw.  It was actually quite good.  Across the street was an ice cream shop which the other three indulged in.  I chose not to eat one in order to keep my sugar intake

 By the time we were awakened by the Australian bio-security announcement at 7am, the Westerdam was docked at Circular Quay.  We had a leisurely breakfast and said our goodbyes to Komang and Eka, our stateroom attendants.  We learned that Eka will be on the Noordam this summer when we are on it in Alaska, so we'll look her up.  Since we had left our luggage in Melbourne with our exchange daughter, we only had backpacks to travel to Tasmania.   We scanned off of the ship for the last time and as we were walking down the gangway, Angela asked me where my hat was.  I had left it in the stateroom as it's the same color as the walls.   I reported it to the staff and they had me wait on on the gangway while a crew member was sent to retrieve it.  A half an hour passed with no word.  I caught an officer leaving the ship and he radioed the information once again, and I continued to wait.  Another half hour passed and I thought I saw a non-crew member pass by with the hat, but didn'

 It's almost over.  Our two month cruise ends tomorrow.  There are so many great memories, many interactions with new people, sailing with old friends, new port visits, a great Captain, wonderful crew, and so much more. We started the day with a coffee chat with Annie Francis, the singer, who revealed that she also became a painter of birds during Covid.  Her website is www.anniefrancisart.com .  Check it out. Dr. Woodman gave her final lecture on linguistics and covered the topic of computers and learning languages.  It was quite good. Her talks really grew on me after the first one which didn't impress me. At lunch we ate with a couple from New Zealand that we had eaten with in the Caneletto a week ago.  It was a fun conversation and we shared contact information. After lunch there were two meet the artist sessions: Grace & Nathan from Billboard Onboard were in the BBKing lounge and the Lincoln Center Stage quartet was interviewed in their venue.   I finally booked and ch

 It was a nice visit with our exchange daughter and her family over the past 2 days.  We'll be back in 7 days to spend more time with them.  We made it back to the port and re-boarded the ship at 3pm for a 4:30pm onboard time.  I finished some last minute sermon preparations for tonight's 6pm interdenominational service.  We were then able to watch the initial sail away from the Crow's Nest. Covid cases are on the rise to 49 passengers and 2 crew.  The Captain again pleaded for all to accept personal responsibility and mask up. When I chatted with him later at the Orange Party, he indicated the new cases were primarily among the recently embarked guests. After the interdenominational service (which had a low attendance) we enjoyed a 7pm dinner with Peter, the onboard Catholic priest. Afterwards, we attended the 9pm Annie Francis set which was music from the 60's.  Tonight was the Orange party and it was a good one.  Chris, our Cruise & Travel Director, sported a fan

 We arrived on time in Melbourne despite having one engine offline.  Since we had mostly packeted up the night before, we just had to do last minute hand carry items.  Around 8:45am we headed off the ship and were stopped At security as it looked as if we were departing the ship since we were rolling off luggage and had backpacks on..  I was quizzed by the security officer who then called the front desk.  He then handed the phone to me and I explained that we were just overnighting with friends and would be back on the ship and that I had reported all of this to the front desk 4 days earlier.  I assured him that we were just overnighting and we'd be back before 4:30pm on Sunday night.  With that we were free to depart.  And we did.   We met our exchange daughter at the end of the pier and were whisked off to her home in the suburbs.  The rest of our time was spent doing family things which I'll not recount here, but I will mention that we have now seen the first half of the Lor

 On this next to last sea day it was a pretty quiet day on board the Westerdam.  Carlos, the lead entertainment host was the coffee chat host.  He's a ball of energy and well suited for the task.  Dr. Woodman presented a morning talk on gender differences in language and an afternoon talk on how children learn language.  Her teaching style and content has grown on me over the weeks she has been on board and it's been good content.  It is, however, sparsely attended. We were invited to attend a Mariner's award ceremony (I think they needed to have some "filler" in the audience).  4 couples and a single lady received medallions.  Those of us who were 'most valued' members were also acknowledged as well and we could have had our picture taken with the Captain and the Hotel Director.  But we declined and enjoyed a free soda and some nuts along with a short discussion with Chris, our Cruise & Travel  car with yesterday.  It was fun to reminisce and I airdro