FREMANTLE and PERTH

FREMANTLE and PERTH

What delightful towns! The people are friendly and helpful, with volunteer tourist guides all over town, giving out information and maps. Even their buses are free and clearly marked to help tourists find their way around! They’re very proud of their history and cities and love to explain the highlights. Even though it was hot and humid, we enjoyed walking around exploring the shops and watching the people at the outdoor cafes. Of course, the Swan ale helped with the heat!

Perth is called the City of Light because in 1962 when John Glenn was orbiting the earth, they turned on all their lights for him. They repeated this tribute to him in 1998 when he was in the space shuttle.

Fremantle is a manmade harbor that handles all the cargo for these isolated communities which are about a 45 minute train ride apart. It’s one of the most isolated metropolitan areas in the world and is actually closer to Singapore and Jakarta, Indonesia than Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane! It was originally a sandstone cliff, and blocks were cut out of it and used for many of the buildings. There are also many pretty brick buildings built in the Flemish style, with the bricks being made out of local clay. Most of Australia was built by convicts, and all of the cities here, as well as in many of the South Sea Islands, have prisons in various states of use or ruins.

The Heritage Society is very active here, too, and great pains have been taken to preserve the old buildings. No structures taller than three stories are allowed, and like in Sydney, the facades have been kept intact while the insides of the buildings can be updated or new buildings put up behind them. King’s Park has a touching War Memorial to the fallen Australian soldiers in the various conflicts around the world. The Australians are very proud of their military forces and contributions! The streets are tree lined with many parks and gardens throughout the sprawling neighborhoods, as well as beaches and marinas along the many bays. It was the site of an unsuccessful defense of the America’s Cup Race Trophy in 1987.

The beautiful winding Swan River runs through Perth and Fremantle to the ocean. Black Swans are native birds here and are on the State flag. The soil is very fertile, and they grow most of their crops. Swan beer or lager is an important export, along with wine. The main industries are fishing, and mining of gold and industrial diamonds.


Fremantle Sail Away Party

So ends the Australian chapter of our adventure…

SHIP TRIVIA

SHIP TRIVIA

Do you know what the short forms “ss” “tss” and “ms” stand for?
. . . ss = Steamship
. . . tss = Turbine Steam Ship
. . . ms = Motor Ship

The “flag” state is where the ship is registered.
The “port” state is where the ship operates.

The ms Rotterdam consumes 120 tons of fuel per day (31,000 gallons) and goes 15 feet per gallon …. It has 5 diesel generators, but uses only three, leaving the other two free for maintenance activities. It weighs 90 thousand tons and can go up to 55 knots.

How does a ship handle its waste?
60,000 gal. sewage
66-110 thousand lb/wk
5-9 lb. solid waste/day/person
Food waste is ground up, the water is removed and it can then be mixed with paper waste. This can then be incinerated and the ashes scattered at sea. Paper and cardboard can be either baled and sold on shore, or also burned. Other solid waste such as glass, plastic or aluminum is sorted. Glass is separated by color for recycling on shore, either whole or crushed; cans are crushed and plastic is shredded. In some areas this waste can be sold and the funds are put into a special recreation fund for the crew.

WATER:
The ship has its own purification and deselination systems which produce 700 tons=185,000 gallons of water a day -- they use 158,000 gal/day. Economizers put sea water under vacuum pressure, it’s turned into steam and then cooled again and the water is collected. “Gray water” from showers, cooking, bilges etc. is purified by running it into tanks where it is treated with enzymes and chemicals that break down the solids, then purified with UV light which produces carbon dioxide and water. Many countries do not produce drinking water that is this pure!
Holland America Line is very conscious of the environment and has strict standards of their own, in addition to international regulations that must be adhered to.

Ships with sharp body lines are more stable in rough seas than those with rounded hulls.

Reading the New York Times on line

Room Service Breakfast in Bed!

THEME NIGHT & MISC. PICTURES

THEME NIGHTS:

Black and White Ball

Flower Power Party

Hawaiian Party

Valentine's Ball

The "Golden Line" Cocktail -- where
the International Date Line and the Equator meet

Our "Guardian Monkey" who watched over us in our stateroom.

Isle des Pins

Soft white sand, gentle warm waves -- a perfect beach!

WISH YOU WERE HERE ...!!

MELBOURNE and ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA

MELBOURNE & ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA

Melbourne was a disappointment to us -- the tours were sold out so we wandered around the city on our own. It’s the 2nd largest city in Australia, and what we saw was just that, another city, with skyscrapers mixed in with some smaller, older buildings, buses, cars, and lots of young people with piercings, tattoos and colored hair lounging on the sidewalks. The Yarra River runs through the center of the downtown area, surrounded by a large park established during the gold rush in the mid 1800s. Dick was excited about the Racing Museum which was small, but well done. It showed everything from clothing worn by thoroughbred racing patrons through the decades to equipment evolution to past champions -- horses, jockeys and trainers. The old railroad station was well preserved, along with several churches nestled among the modern high rise office buildings.

Adelaide, on the other hand, is a quaint and charming town, bisected by the winding Torrens River. It is much more compact than either Sydney or Melbourne, and is located about a 45 minute train ride inland from Port Adelaide and our ship’s dock. Port Adelaide, the harbor, developed into a small city of 44,000 to support the cargo shipments. In the city of Adelaide itself, there is a pedestrian only area called the Rundle Street Mall, which is full of boutiques, souvenir and specialty shops, cafés and restaurants. A favorite “Kodak moment” spot is the brass pig sculptures, one of which is standing on its hind legs eating trash from the litter bin! There are many War Memorial statues scattered throughout the town, with lots of large green parks. There was even a cricket tournament going on the day we were there. There is a nice blend of old, well preserved Victorian style architecture with some more modern glass and steel buildings.

All through southern Australia there are many valleys which produce grapes for their excellent wines. In Sydney it’s the Hunter Valley, in Melbourne it’s the Yarra River Valley, in Adelaide it’s the Barossa Valley and in Perth it‘s the Swan River Valley. Of course we had to sample some … They sell a less expensive wine that they call ‘clean skins’ which is a blend of wines from several different areas, probably when there’s not enough left for another full run of each. There was a very big fire north of Melbourne that filled the air with smoke, and unfortunately some tours to the wine country had to be cancelled. The flags in all of Australia were flying at half mast in remembrance of all the people who lost all their possessions and even their lives.

Having crossed the International Date Line some time ago, we’re a day ahead of the U.S., and we’re still turning our clocks back regularly and gaining an extra hour every day … it should be quite a shock when we start to come back towards the States and start losing hours!! We’re loving the extra hour of sleep!

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

SYDNEY:

What a beautiful city this is -- we could very easily live here! We were very fortunate because our cousin, Helene and her husband Luciano have lived here for 30 years and know the city intimately. They spent our two days here giving us the ‘Insider’s Tour’ driving us through many of the local neighborhoods and districts (including the Red Light District!), and around many of the hundreds of beautiful beaches including the famous Bondi surfing beach. They pointed out the many rock pools -- rectangular swimming pools built at the shore with rocks, that are filled naturally by the tides and are a good protected place to swim laps. There are footpaths along the beaches and shoreline for everyone to enjoy.

The heritage society is very strong here and has preserved many of the early buildings. One of the things they’ve done to blend the old and the new is to keep the façade of the building intact, but put up a modern skyscraper five or six feet behind it. Some of the older “federation” homes have elaborate iron railings similar to those in New Orleans. Because the natural harbor has many fingers (like an open hand) homes have been built on both sides of the spits of land giving them marvelous views of the bay and/or ocean. Many movie stars and sports figures have condos here, with their yachts parked in front. People take pride in their homes and almost all of them are very well maintained. It’s a very green city with lots of trees, many of them flowering, lining the streets. There are hundreds of beaches, boats and marinas everywhere, as well as high, rocky cliffs. The scenery is spectacular!


We were treated to a private tour of the Taronga Zoo and in spite of the rain, we went into the walk-through area and interacted with kangaroos, wallabes and an emu. What fun!

The signature landmarks like the sails of the Opera House, the Sydney Bridge, affectionately nicknamed ‘the coat hanger’ and the ‘Madonna’s bra’ bridge (a bridge held up at the center by a series of cables coming to a point), were visible on the skyline from almost everywhere in the city. And the Victoria Building was unbelievable! It was originally a stable, and the slightly slanted floor has been kept. It later became a market and is now a beautiful enclosed shopping area -- mall isn’t an adequate description -- populated with lots of boutiques, cafes and specialty shops. Special colored tiles were made for the floors, and there are several beautiful stained glass windows, along with two huge clocks, one with changing marionette tableaux and the other with a ship sailing around the equator. Needless to say, in spite of the showers, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit with our relatives, and are very impressed with Sydney.

PORT VILA, NOUMEA & ISLE DES PINS

PORT VILA, NOUMEA & ISLE DES PINS

PORT VILA, Vanuatu, was a busy little town with lots of cars and not a single stop signal anywhere. We took our lives in our hands trying to cross the street! The roads were built in 1943 by the Americans when the island served as a supply base, and probably haven’t been touched since then. The potholes were amazing!! The main street is about 2 blocks long and 4 army trucks wide! The market was very picturesque and interesting. The stall keepers brought their entire families with them, and simply laid down beside their merchandise and slept, fed and changed their babies, or made baskets from palm fronds. We saw several kinds of bananas, papayas, green veggies, coconuts, root veggies and lots of beautiful unusual flowers, along with live coconut crabs. Later we spoke to a handicraft stall owner who was sewing and embroidering on an old manual Singer sewing machine who told us that the average income was $2600/year, and they have to pay for education, about $26/mo for each child. Because this is very expensive for the locals, many children leave school in about the 3rd or 4th grade and start to sell newspapers or find whatever kind of work they can to help increase the family income. Their handicrafts consisted of t-shirts which they import from India and China and then embroider, sarongs, sundresses, shell and wooden jewelry, and carved masks and totems.
Pigs are considered a symbol of wealth, and a tusk is part of the national flag. In fact they make a pretty good beer that is called the Tusker. We’ve kept one that we plan to compare to the South African Tusker beer …
NOUMEA, the capital of New Caledonia, is a bustling city with fairly good streets. Here, too, as in Vanuatu, the main language is French. It’s interesting to me that the French often sent their convicts to these islands where they did much of the construction. A lot of the walls and some buildings are made of coral. This was used as the U.S. military headquarters in the Pacific during WW II. Education in this country is free, and if locals want to study something that isn’t offered in their college, they can get their education paid for in France and they don’t have to pay back the student loans -- the only requirement is that you come back and live in Noumea for 10 years …! Prices were higher here than in the other islands we visited, but the handicrafts were similar -- local shell, coral, wood carvings and ceramics were available. They have nickel and gold mines. The scenery is beautiful, with lovely palm trees and white sandy beaches with windsurfing, parasailing, kayaking, snorkeling, and scuba diving available.
ISLE DES PINS, New Caledonia
This small island truly is the closest island to Paradise! The coral reefs are very fragile so the ship had to stay out from shore and we took the tenders in. I can see why Captain Cook named it Isle of Pines because the skyline has rows of what look like pine trees -- not like our mountain pines, but with softer leaves. It sprinkled a little but that didn’t stop us from enjoying the clear water and white powdery beaches (and getting our first tropical sunburn of the trip!!) This is a favorite resort for people from Australia and New Zealand, and water activities like snorkeling and scuba diving are popular. There are many species of tropical fish, and it is also the home of the Crested Gecko, and the world’s largest gecko which can stretch to 14 inches! There are some nickel mines here.

LUGANVILLE, VANUATU

LUGANVILLE, VANUATU

We haven't had CNN for 3 days, and miraculously they were able to get the Super Bowl signal.. ! We're a day ahead of you since we crossed the International Date Line, and the tailgate party started at 10:00 a.m. Monday morning -- weird!

We just completed our 8th ‘at sea’ day -- the longest stretch of cruising on the entire trip. The scenery doesn’t change much, but surprisingly we saw a very large white bird in the middle of nowhere -- with a wingspan about the size of an eagle’s -- that was circling the ship, and we saw it dive for a fish! We couldn’t tell if it was successful or not, but as far as we knew, we were miles from land …


They cancelled the stop in Funatuvi and added another one in Vanuatu instead. We're somewhere in the South Pacific, and landed in Luganville in the republic of Vanuatu this morning. I'd never even heard of this group of islands, which were formerly the Hebrides Islands, before we booked this tour, let alone found it on the map!! I now know that it’s approximately the same latitude and west of Suva, Fiji. The lecturers are pretty good about giving us historical and political information on the countries that we'll be visiting.



The town/village is barely pushing a population of 2,000! We only stayed out for about an hour because we woke up to 84 degree temperature, and 100% humidity -- a raging tropical rainstorm and got soaked right through. The main street is about 2 blocks long, and their stores are "multi function" i.e. dept. store clothing, hardware store, groceries, toiletries, fresh bread, sacks of flour, beer, etc. all in one stop shopping! It hasn't been discovered by tourists yet, so it's very quaint and charming -- which I'm sure we would have appreciated more if we weren't soaked to the skin! This is the rainy season, and it’s officially classified as a rainforest, getting its rain from November to April. There’s a little mining of manganese, and they fish and grow kava root which they pound into a fine powder and make into a drink. They also grow some cacao. It was a supply station during WW II, and at the end of the war they pushed all the remaining armament off of Million Dollar Pointe into the ocean, where tourists explore it on dives.

Tomorrow we go on to the other stop in Vanuatu -- Port Vila, which is a larger city of about 230,000 people. Hopefully the weather will be more cooperative ….