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3/22/2007 Darwin, Australia
In the Cairns commentary I included a picture of Josanne and Don being greeted by the Captain as he presented them their Silversea’s Saphire pins celebrating the accumulation of 100 days at sea with Siverseas’s. The pins they received are nice but the most important thing is that they now receive free laundry which is great. It comes back within 24 hours, too. Had we planned better we could bought less clothes.
Last night there was a pre dinner show featuring a sensational singer from England, Lorraine Brown. All four of us loved the old favorites she sang and the way she sang them. She is a real pro and is not new to this ship having been on several earlier cruises as an entertainer. Included in the pictures today is one of Sallie with her taken after dinner in The Panorama Lounge where Brown was a participant in the show, “The Liars Club”
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Today the weather didn’t look great as we arrived in Darwin, the capital of northern Australian and known to many as ”Crocodile Dundee” country The weather here is of two extremes, dry and wet. Darwin is closer to Jakarta and Singapore than it is to Sidney or Canberra, the capital of Australia. Because of it’s location, it played a big role in WWII as a major Allied military base Darwin and was finally but on the map. Within weeks of Pearl Harbor, Darwin was attacked by Japanese bombers who supposedly dropped a greater tonnage of bombs than had been dropped at Pearl Harbor. Darwin was named for Charles Darwin by John Stokes who discovered the harbor in 1839. Darwin had been a shipmate, on the historic voyage aboard the HMS Beagle and had gone on to fame as a scientist.
Our tour today took us through the small but attractive downtown Darwin which is situated on a hill overlooking the harbor. We then proceeded about 50 miles south on Stewart Highway, the main route to the Outback. We made a stop at the Visitors Center located on a hill overlooking the wet lands located in the Aboriginal Lands of Kakadu National Park. This is a World Heritage Area. The park protects one of Australia’s Top End habitats, including the entire encashment of a large tropical river, the South Alligator. From this range of habitats stems a remarkable abundance and variety of plants and animals. We than took a cruise on the crocodile infested Adelaide River, home to more than 1500 of these creatures. It is quite an experience to view these large fierce animals as they jump clear out of the water in order to grab a pork chop on the end of a fishing line being swung over the water. It happens so fast, that it is difficult to get a good picture despite being within 10 yards of them. It rained a lot during the day making the port area rather dismal when we returned. A big construction project is under way for a new waterfront that will include an arena and exhibition hall. It is already obvious that within a few years Darwin will be a good destination but we aren’t sure the 4 hours on the tour was worth it. We ended up staying in our suite for dinner. It’s not bad when you can order a four course dinner and a bottle of wine of your choice and they ask whether you want your dinner served by course or all delivered at once.
3.23.2007 At Sea in The Timor Sea
Today, after breakfast and a workout I spent time on this computer and this blog. After making a mistake and erasing the work done earlier it was great getting some e-mails indicating some are reading it. It sure makes it worth it. Our son, Mac, suggests they would like to hear more about us and what we are doing and less about the places we are visiting. Some have commented they like the descriptions. Since this effort is partially for Sallie and me to recall the trip at some future date when it might be very meaningful for one or both of us, I am trying to do a little of both. We don’t have plans for doing it again-yet.
The 142 passengers who are on for the entire 126 day World Cruise were invited by The Captain to a pre luncheon cocktail party today with the only agenda being to get this group aside with all the officers to express there gratitude for our being here and for everyone to get to know each other if they didn’t by now. We learned that only is this the last cruise for Capt. Chiesa before he retires but that he retired last year when The Shadow went into dry dock to prepare for this trip only to be asked to stay on and do Silverseas first World Cruise. They have announce their 2nd one in 2008 and the plans to complete a new 540 guest (The Shadow is 382) luxury ship in the fourth quarter of 2009.
After lunch I was the big winner in our running bridge game with Joanne and Donald and then we played bingo before being talked into entering a Blackjack Tournament. It cost $20.00 to enter and Sallie ended up winning $55.00 and a free T shirt saying she won in the casino. At this point everyone is happy and the whole evening awaits us.
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previous travel blog entry
Jane and Charlie says:
Bill and Sallie, What a wonderful trip you are having. My Bills ships go to New Zealand and Australia now,so was most interested in your Blog. We all miss you and are trying to hold the Bridge together. Ray had his knee operated on today so will be out for a while.