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| Our spot on the beach |
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| Terry always finds a way to get in a run |
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| Joyce's favorite way to spend a day on Aruba |
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| Look, Jen! Dad found the Amstel Bright |
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| Next we head to Curacao...just 110 miles away |
Friday, March 18, 2011
Aruba - One Happy Island
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Two sea days
We are chugging away at sea heading to Aruba, our first port of call. The weather is warm but windy out on deck. On sea days there's lots to do on ship but we tend to keep to a routine of a morning workout and then relaxing the day away in a lounge chair--a great time to catch up on our reading. (Dad has already finished the book you lent him, Jen!)
Heading to the Sun Deck yesterday morning for a run on the jogging track (.10 mile per lap) we were surprised to see the track blocked off. On this ship, this area is now turned in to "The Sanctuary"....lots of super comfy lounge chairs and cucumber flavored water for drinking....all for only $10 per person for half a day (4 hours)! No thanks, as tempting as it would be to find a place for lounging that was out of the wind.
To get our workout out of the way, we next headed to the gym only to find the treadmills and stationery bikes all in use. So, it was down to the Promenade Deck for some laps around the perimeter of the ship. On this deck, 3 times around = 1 mile. At the bow of the ship, there's a built in stairmaster exercise as one must climb up to the next deck to go around the bow and then back down again. Not our favorite place to run as there are lots of walkers at various speeds to work around, but it gave us our workout and it's good to see so many people wanting to get some exercise.
Today we passed within a mile of the Emerald Princess heading the other way. Seeing a ship so close at sea was a new experience for us.
We think the average age of the passengers on this cruise must be in the mid-70's. Watching them is like a glimpse into the future. We cerainly hope we are able to travel for many years to come. There are just a few families with young children on board, but not many. Hard to take kids out of school for 2 weeks. And, there are no college-age spring breakers! These 2 week Caribbean cruises are ending on this cruise line...next year they will be sold as 2 back-to-back 7-day cruises instead of the 14-day loop. We think that is to accommodate the spring breakers, who no doubt bring in a lot of $$ with drinking. More profitable for the cruise line than a bunch of senior citizens!
Today the seas are quite rough. We don't really feel any rocking on the ship but can see the effects of the rough seas. The pools have been emptied as they were splashing waves way outside the perimeter of the pools. We took up residence on deck chairs by the inside pool, trying to stay out of the sun as we know we'll get plenty of it when we go to the beaches on the islands...and it's out of the wind.
Tomorrow.....the first of 9 ports....Aruba--one of our favorites!
Heading to the Sun Deck yesterday morning for a run on the jogging track (.10 mile per lap) we were surprised to see the track blocked off. On this ship, this area is now turned in to "The Sanctuary"....lots of super comfy lounge chairs and cucumber flavored water for drinking....all for only $10 per person for half a day (4 hours)! No thanks, as tempting as it would be to find a place for lounging that was out of the wind.
To get our workout out of the way, we next headed to the gym only to find the treadmills and stationery bikes all in use. So, it was down to the Promenade Deck for some laps around the perimeter of the ship. On this deck, 3 times around = 1 mile. At the bow of the ship, there's a built in stairmaster exercise as one must climb up to the next deck to go around the bow and then back down again. Not our favorite place to run as there are lots of walkers at various speeds to work around, but it gave us our workout and it's good to see so many people wanting to get some exercise.
Today we passed within a mile of the Emerald Princess heading the other way. Seeing a ship so close at sea was a new experience for us.
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| Emerald Princess |
We think the average age of the passengers on this cruise must be in the mid-70's. Watching them is like a glimpse into the future. We cerainly hope we are able to travel for many years to come. There are just a few families with young children on board, but not many. Hard to take kids out of school for 2 weeks. And, there are no college-age spring breakers! These 2 week Caribbean cruises are ending on this cruise line...next year they will be sold as 2 back-to-back 7-day cruises instead of the 14-day loop. We think that is to accommodate the spring breakers, who no doubt bring in a lot of $$ with drinking. More profitable for the cruise line than a bunch of senior citizens!
Today the seas are quite rough. We don't really feel any rocking on the ship but can see the effects of the rough seas. The pools have been emptied as they were splashing waves way outside the perimeter of the pools. We took up residence on deck chairs by the inside pool, trying to stay out of the sun as we know we'll get plenty of it when we go to the beaches on the islands...and it's out of the wind.
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| Pool water splashing due to rough seas. |
Tomorrow.....the first of 9 ports....Aruba--one of our favorites!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Sunrise over Fort Lauderdale!
We are traveling again--this time a trip to Fort Lauderdale to visit our Florida daughter and then, since we are here, why not jump on a cruise ship and sail away! Actually, we found a really good deal on cruise to the Southern Caribbean. That's our favorite area of the Caribbean and we will visit a few ports that we have not been to before. It's good to be retired and flexible with any plans. It's spring break time and the beaches (and roads) were packed in Fort Lauderdale with all the spring breakers! Jen successfully navigated around the traffic and delivered us to Port Everglades so we could board the ship.
We are on the Grand Princess. It's one of the bigger ships, with 2600 passengers, and from what we can tell, the ship is full. This ship has one more voyage after our cruise and then it goes to dry dock in the Bahamas for a few weeks before it heads to Europe for the summer. We have friends that we met on our last cruise that will be on the first cruise after dry dock....the transAtlantic voyage in early May. We look forward to hearing what wonderful changes will be made. We do know that the 'shoppping cart handle' on the back of the ship will be removed. It is closed now (used to be Skywalkers Lounge). The change should result in more fuel efficiency.
At sail-away time we headed to a meeting place where others who joined a cruise critic forum for this voyage gathered. It was fun to meet some fellow cruisers and compare notes on cruising. We will be doing a couple excursions with several of these cruisers. But for most of the cruise ports (9 in all) we will be heading to a beach and chillin' out with our books, our IPods, and snorkeling gear. Should be a relaxing time.
The next 2 days will be sea days as we head south to Aruba and white sand beaches and palm trees.......ahhhhhhhhhhh!!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Goodbye Australia!
Sunday, November 7 and we leave Hobart, Tasmania and fly to Melbourne. We had to retrieve our luggage and then WAIT and WAIT for a little over 3 hours before we could check in with VAustralia for the international flight home. Then the last two hours went pretty fast because we stood in line to check in and then had to go through immigration and then customs before heading to the gate to catch the flight that left at 9:30 pm.
The flight was smooth and the flight attendants did everything possible to make us all comfortable. We had a nice dinner and then lights out in hopes of sleeping a bit before the airplane reached sunshine. Each seat had its own tv screen where we could pick from a variety of tv shows, movies, games, etc. So after giving up trying to sleep we each watched a couple of movies and some tv shows before landing in LAX about 4:30 pm on Sunday, November 7, the same day that we left Australia.
Australia currency does not have any paper bills under $5. We usually had a collection of $50, 20, 10, 5 bills and assorted coin. The coins are: $2 small gold coin; $1 bigger gold coin; 50 cents, 20 cents, 10 cents, and 5 cents. Unlike US currency, there is no 25 cents and the 5 cent coin is smaller than the 10 cent coin. While in Australia, the AUD currency hit a 28 year high against the USD, exchanging just about even dollar for dollar. We were fortunate that we had paid for everything except for $$ needed for daily expenses (food, souveniers) when the exchange was lower (1 AUD = .90 USD) so that saved us some money. Things are expensive in Australia. I've mentioned before that a cup of coffee (and that is just ONE cup..no refills) was anywhere from $4-5.50 a cup. Most meals were $25-$35+ per person and everything ala carte. We often shared a main meal--that helped the money stretch and the waistline not stretch. LOL
By the time we reached the airport, we didn't have much Australian currency left. After a purchase of a (small) bag of chips and a bottle of water, we were down to this:
Now we're home and dealing with a little bit of jet lag and a mountain of laundry and mail.
The trip was awesome and we loved every minute of our cruise and our travels down under. We met some wonderful people, learned lots about travelling, and experienced cultures and countries totally new to us. It was a dream trip come true! Now, where should we go next???!!!
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| Our last Australian sunset |
The flight was smooth and the flight attendants did everything possible to make us all comfortable. We had a nice dinner and then lights out in hopes of sleeping a bit before the airplane reached sunshine. Each seat had its own tv screen where we could pick from a variety of tv shows, movies, games, etc. So after giving up trying to sleep we each watched a couple of movies and some tv shows before landing in LAX about 4:30 pm on Sunday, November 7, the same day that we left Australia.
Australia currency does not have any paper bills under $5. We usually had a collection of $50, 20, 10, 5 bills and assorted coin. The coins are: $2 small gold coin; $1 bigger gold coin; 50 cents, 20 cents, 10 cents, and 5 cents. Unlike US currency, there is no 25 cents and the 5 cent coin is smaller than the 10 cent coin. While in Australia, the AUD currency hit a 28 year high against the USD, exchanging just about even dollar for dollar. We were fortunate that we had paid for everything except for $$ needed for daily expenses (food, souveniers) when the exchange was lower (1 AUD = .90 USD) so that saved us some money. Things are expensive in Australia. I've mentioned before that a cup of coffee (and that is just ONE cup..no refills) was anywhere from $4-5.50 a cup. Most meals were $25-$35+ per person and everything ala carte. We often shared a main meal--that helped the money stretch and the waistline not stretch. LOL
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| Australian currency |
By the time we reached the airport, we didn't have much Australian currency left. After a purchase of a (small) bag of chips and a bottle of water, we were down to this:
Now we're home and dealing with a little bit of jet lag and a mountain of laundry and mail.
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| 6 weeks' worth of mail |
Thursday, November 11, 2010
A hike and a snake
Our last full day in Hobart, Tasmania! Today is Saturday, November 6 and our first destination was to the Salamanca Market, just a couple blocks from our hotel. The market is held under the huge plane trees in front of the old whaling warehouses in Salamanca Place. The market has been held every Saturday for the last twenty years or so. It boasts a wide range of crafts, books, vegetables, and ethnic stalls as well as street theater and entertainment. We browsed the stalls and found a few souveniers of Tasmania that we couldn't live without!
We next walked along the wharf adjacent to the markets and inquired about the Sea Shepherds. We watch the show "Whale Wars" which is about the whale saving activist group, Sea Shepherds, who sail the Antartic Ocean to tharwt the efforts of Japanese whaling vessels. We knew they have stopped in Hobart on their journeys and inquired as to where they may have docked. We found out it was on the pier just down the street that they docked at last summer. It would have been fun if they had been in port while we were in Hobart!
In the afternoon we headed up Mount Wellington, the tallest mountain around Hobart which provides fantastic overviews of the city, harbor, and ocean. It was just a 20-minute drive from our hotel to reach the top of the mountain. Just before the summit we stopped for a short hike that climbs about 50 yards uphill before leveling off and running along the contour of the mountain. We had some beautiful views, but the hike was difficult as it was mostly navigating stepping on and over rocks from landslides. Once we decided we had gone far enough, we turned to return the same way and within 5 feet we saw a black snake. It was about 2 feet long and it had to have been about 1 inch in diameter. Well, I screamed and jumped up and down while Terry claims he was telling me to run...like I could do that over the rocks--I had all I could do to stand up and walk. It was then declared that the snake was more afraid of us than we of him (ya, right) as he quickly slithered away under the rocks. From that point on, I was very aware of every little scampering I saw on the rocks as we hiked back to the car. All we saw were geckos, which was fine with me. Australia has 23 of the 27 venomous snakes in the world.....I'm hoping this one was not one of them!
We continued the drive to the top of the mountain for some fantastic views. Once we were back into Hobart, we walked around St. David's Park by the harbor and watched the Salamanca Market vendors pack up their goods--selling was done for another week. St. David's Park is situated on th site of the first cemetery for the colony of Hobart Town, and has many of the tombstones of the first settlers, as well as those of some settlers who arrived on the First Fleet in 1788.
In the evening we returned to an Italian restaurant, Da Angelo's, that we visited the first night in Hobart. We spent the whole dinner time reminiscing over the past 6 weeks of travel. Amazingly, we could remember what we did at each location.
The last two days have been clear blue skies and wonderful temperatures in the 70's and we now must soon face the long airplane ride home and the approaching winter weather in Colorado.
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| Salamanca Market held every Saturday morning |
We next walked along the wharf adjacent to the markets and inquired about the Sea Shepherds. We watch the show "Whale Wars" which is about the whale saving activist group, Sea Shepherds, who sail the Antartic Ocean to tharwt the efforts of Japanese whaling vessels. We knew they have stopped in Hobart on their journeys and inquired as to where they may have docked. We found out it was on the pier just down the street that they docked at last summer. It would have been fun if they had been in port while we were in Hobart!
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| Where the Sea Shepherds docked last summer |
In the afternoon we headed up Mount Wellington, the tallest mountain around Hobart which provides fantastic overviews of the city, harbor, and ocean. It was just a 20-minute drive from our hotel to reach the top of the mountain. Just before the summit we stopped for a short hike that climbs about 50 yards uphill before leveling off and running along the contour of the mountain. We had some beautiful views, but the hike was difficult as it was mostly navigating stepping on and over rocks from landslides. Once we decided we had gone far enough, we turned to return the same way and within 5 feet we saw a black snake. It was about 2 feet long and it had to have been about 1 inch in diameter. Well, I screamed and jumped up and down while Terry claims he was telling me to run...like I could do that over the rocks--I had all I could do to stand up and walk. It was then declared that the snake was more afraid of us than we of him (ya, right) as he quickly slithered away under the rocks. From that point on, I was very aware of every little scampering I saw on the rocks as we hiked back to the car. All we saw were geckos, which was fine with me. Australia has 23 of the 27 venomous snakes in the world.....I'm hoping this one was not one of them!
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| Our hike along the side of Mount Wellington |
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| View of Hobart from high above along the trail |
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| We made it to the top of Mt Wellington and the Visitor Center |
We continued the drive to the top of the mountain for some fantastic views. Once we were back into Hobart, we walked around St. David's Park by the harbor and watched the Salamanca Market vendors pack up their goods--selling was done for another week. St. David's Park is situated on th site of the first cemetery for the colony of Hobart Town, and has many of the tombstones of the first settlers, as well as those of some settlers who arrived on the First Fleet in 1788.
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| Relocated tombstones from early 1800's |
In the evening we returned to an Italian restaurant, Da Angelo's, that we visited the first night in Hobart. We spent the whole dinner time reminiscing over the past 6 weeks of travel. Amazingly, we could remember what we did at each location.
The last two days have been clear blue skies and wonderful temperatures in the 70's and we now must soon face the long airplane ride home and the approaching winter weather in Colorado.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Derwent Valley and Mount Field National Park
Today was a bonus day....about a month before we left on the cruise, the airline for our return trip to LAX made a change in the departure time by moving it up about 9 hours earlier. Since we would be travelling from Hobart to Sidney to catch that flight that same day, it would be impossible to make the connection. So....we added one more day to the trip--what the heck--we're retired! Today was the added excursion to our itinerary, a day in the Derwent Valley to the north of Hobart and the Mt. Field National Park.
We left Hobart and followed the Derwent River north, through pretty historic townships built on the banks of the river. We passed through the most beautiful green rolling hills, which were farms for sheep and cattle. The flowering trees and shrubs are in full bloom.
Our destination was the Mount Field National Park, which is one Tasmania's oldest and most loved national parks. We parked at the Vistor Center and went in to find out that there was a daily park usage fee of $28. We hesitated ever so slightly as all we knew of the park was that there was a waterfall after a 10 minute walk. Sure glad we decided to take in the park as it was SPECTACULAR! We took a 2-hour hike that passed by 3 beautiful waterfalls, tall tall swamp gum trees, which are the world's tallest flowering trees, and on the forest floor, huge ferns. The day was beautiful; the skies were clear and the sun shone down through the trees onto the ferns and moss. It was a great hike.
We left Hobart and followed the Derwent River north, through pretty historic townships built on the banks of the river. We passed through the most beautiful green rolling hills, which were farms for sheep and cattle. The flowering trees and shrubs are in full bloom.
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| This photo in no way does justice to the bright green hills. |
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| The Derwent River, which flows all the way to Hobart and to the sea. |
Our destination was the Mount Field National Park, which is one Tasmania's oldest and most loved national parks. We parked at the Vistor Center and went in to find out that there was a daily park usage fee of $28. We hesitated ever so slightly as all we knew of the park was that there was a waterfall after a 10 minute walk. Sure glad we decided to take in the park as it was SPECTACULAR! We took a 2-hour hike that passed by 3 beautiful waterfalls, tall tall swamp gum trees, which are the world's tallest flowering trees, and on the forest floor, huge ferns. The day was beautiful; the skies were clear and the sun shone down through the trees onto the ferns and moss. It was a great hike.
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| First waterfall--Russell Falls |
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| Large ferns covered the forest floor |
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| Terry alongside a very tall swamp gum tree |
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| Inside the base of a fallen tree |
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| Waterfall #2-Horseshoe Falls |
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| Waterfall #3--Lady Barron Falls |
Kangaroos and Tasmanian Devils
Thursday, November 4 and we checked out of wonderful accomodations at the Cascade Colonial and headed back towards Hobart stopping at the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park. It was fun to see the Tasmanian Devil and Kangaroos at feeding time--we even got to hand feed the kangaroos. We just could not go to Australia and Tasmania and not see kangaroos and Tasmanian Devils. It was an interesting place and we spent over 2 hours there.
Next we travelled back toward the Hobart area by going through Richmond, a quaint village that was the first area granted to free settlers from England for farming, and at its center they established a township reminiscent of their homeland. Richmond now includes some of Australia's oldest colonial architecture. Most of the buildings were constructed by convicts, including the sandstone bridge built in 1823 and Roman Catholic Church built in 1825. It is in the heart of the Coal Valley Wine Country, with many vineyards and wineries.
We arrived at our hotel in the Historic Battery Point. The building in which it is housed was the Duke of York Hotel back in the early colonial days of the 1800's, and the owners have done it up with modern amenities, but have kept a feel for the dimensions of the original building to make a most comfortable, centrally located accommodation. We have the entire 2nd floor of the building, which includes, 2 bedrooms, a bath, full kitchen, and dining/living room. WOW!
A walk around the immediate area which is adjacent to the wharf and a dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant and we are set for a relaxing night!
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| Tasmanian Devil saying "hello" to us! |
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| Waiting for her lunch. |
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| Kangaroo and her joey |
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| We were invited to feed the kangaroos |
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| Richmond Bridge |
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| The Catholic church |
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| One of the many vineyards |
We arrived at our hotel in the Historic Battery Point. The building in which it is housed was the Duke of York Hotel back in the early colonial days of the 1800's, and the owners have done it up with modern amenities, but have kept a feel for the dimensions of the original building to make a most comfortable, centrally located accommodation. We have the entire 2nd floor of the building, which includes, 2 bedrooms, a bath, full kitchen, and dining/living room. WOW!
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| Our hotel--we had the entire second floor of the building |
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| The living room of our hotel floor |
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| View from our hotel window |
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| Every house has the front yard filled with flowering bushes, mostly roses. |
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