It’s about 9:45pm on Sunday, 18 Feb 18 (3:15am Sunday Pacific time) as I write this and we have just left Adelaide, Australia. We were here about 14 hours, arriving at 7am. Last night was fairly calm compared with the night before which was heavy rock and roll as we had larger swells and were traveling almost parallel with them so the ship would roll side to side in an exaggerated way. Some people who have sailed the world cruise in the past on the Pacific Princess say this trip is by far the worst for the ship rocking and rolling.
Sun came up as we were docking with a red sunrise; ooops: “Red sky morning, sailor take warning.” Left for today’s excursion with nice temperatures and clear sky. At the end of the four hour excursion the sky had clouded over and a light drizzle started so I guess the saying works. But the wind stayed calm and the temperature nice so the T-shirt I had on was all I needed to be comfortable today. It’s supposed to warm up a bit more as we move further along as Burnie was the furthest south we are to travel and we are now headed back toward the equator.
Today’s excursion was a simple bus ride through Adelaide and surrounds with a couple of stops for photos and, of course, shopping. Adelaide is about 12 kilometers away from the port. We used a bus but a train also runs from the port into the city center (and back) and a number of folks who wanted to be out on their own took that route into the city. The city itself is arranged into sections around rivers and creeks and we basically went back and forth through the central portion looking at the various buildings and sections with a photo stop by the river for the city skyline. That did not work out quite as well as it could because they are in the middle of a big festival celebration and portable stages were in the way of some views.
The main stop of the day was at the Museum of South Australia (see photo) which had a Aboriginal Culture display. We had about a half hour (not nearly enough) and the visit there mostly turned into a bathroom break. I did get through about half of the aboriginal display but had to miss much of the rest of the museum. A two block walk from the museum brought us to Rundle Mall. Some shops were closed because it is Sunday but most opened at 11am just as we got there. The mall is an open air space that is a street converted to a mall. Many brands were represented including Target (pronounced as a French word here: tar-jay) and a store I have not seen in awhile: Woolworth. Here that brand is a supermarket instead of the “dime” store I know it as. Down a little side arcade I found a little shop that had, among other things, the “fridge” magnet I was looking for to add to my collection for this trip. As I travel I’m picking up magnets and where I can’t find a good one I’ll make one from my photos once I get home. They presently decorate one of the walls in my cabin (it is a steel ship so they hold quite well despite the thin covering pasted onto the metal).
While there I saw a sculpture (two reflective balls on top of each other) and used it for a photo that I have submitted to the ship’s photo contest for this leg of the voyage. The leg subject is People, Family or Friends and my photo is titled “Self-Portrait.” (see attached) Also stopped at a McDonalds for a $1 frozen Coke. Very refreshing.
We then left the mall and returned to the ship. A bite of lunch and then I sorted and organized the photos. As long as I keep at it, the job is fairly easy. I’m really getting to like the Photo Mechanic 5 software. So far, excluding photos I took this evening as we left and have not yet cataloged, the current count is 4,568 photos and a handful of videos.
Tonight we had a local company come in for a show and then left the dock at 9pm. Two days at sea await before we arrive at Esperance, our next port.
The time zones here are a bit crazy and hard to follow. Last night we had to turn clocks back a half hour to match the current time at Adelaide. Tonight we set clocks back another half hour and then tomorrow night (Monday) we go back a full hour and another hour Tuesday night. We will then be current for time at Esperance, Fremantle, Exmouth and Singapore. At least it’s setting the clock back which is much easier on the body than setting it forward.
More later.