Uralba Introduction

[Uralba]

G'Day

 

Yep, it's Uralba here from Australia!

 

After yet another very uncomforable trip from Melbourne to London to Melbourne (the relatives' boomerang loop!) for Christmas 2011 we decided that there must be a better way to do the trip and maybe have some fun at the same time!

 

Friends recently enjoyed the 32 day Seabourn Legend Mediterranean cruise (their second but not their second on the Legend) and as a child I remember that Robert Menzies, our Prime Minister for 18 years, spent every Annual Holiday in England, and probably travelled on the P&O Canberra! He may have returned on a DC 3 but he would certainly have sailed there.

 

So chatting to Mike and saying that we really don't have to throw the (his) relatives out with the bath water, there are other ways - P & O for instance! of getting to the Old Briny!

 

And hey, presto! Before we know it, we have booked for the Sydney to Southampton 46 day idyll. Talk about from one extreme to another!

 

So we have swapped a 24 hour temporary inconvenience (and I LOVE QANTAS, no criticism there!) for a 46 day adventure!

 

Hey, this is what dreams are made of, and a whole year to enjoy the delicious anticipation!

 

Oh, what joy! and what joy to have found a site like this, a forum for the converted!

 

I hope to 'meet' more than a few of you over cyberspace over the coming twelve months and perhaps meet a few of you on board the Arcadia, bound for Southampton, next year!

 

In the meantime, I am practising my bow, stern, port, starboard, alongside and at sea ... well, I just can't help the smugness, it feels great!!

 

And the UK relatives are Mike's, descended from Flemish weavers, and my ancestry is basically English settlers, the first of the line born here in Geelong in about 1839, but while I would not want to live anywhere but Melbourne, I have to admit that I really enjoy visiting everyone in Norwich (although the coffee is still truly dreadful!) and our recent cold weather visit was a ripper!

 

 

Cheers

Uralba

Interesting history can be found at

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~maav/uralba.htm and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Uralba and for the wreck, at

http://altonabeauty.blogspot.com.au/2011/02/shipwrecks-in-port-phillip-bay.html and at

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~maav/uralbadive.htm

Uralba is Aboriginal for 'Between Two Hills' and I am between two places!

[paul929207]

Uralba,

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

We were down your way in September and October for 42 days on the Dawn Princess.

[John Bull]

G'Day

 

Yep, it's Uralba here from Australia!

.........In the meantime, I am practising my bow, stern, port, starboard, alongside and at sea ... well, I just can't help the smugness, it feels great!!

 

Cheers

Uralba

 

Hi Sheila,

Welcome to Cruse Critic - I see you've already joined your roll-call so I'm guessing you'll know about all the other useful forums, such as the various ports-of-call on your voyage.

 

But you can't go feeling smug about your nautical lingo, when at the same time you mistake Blighty (England) for the briney (the sea).

So back to Naval College, gal, for a refresher course. :p

 

Though I have no problem with terms like pointy, blunt, left, right, and parked. These terms serve well to wind-up the politically-correct. :D

 

Have a great cruise,

regards to Bruce

 

JB :)

[Uralba]

G’Day John Bruce

 

Oh my Goodness Me!

 

Well, I’ll be buttered on both sides! Of course I meant ‘Old Blighty’, how silly of me, but there you go and here I am!

 

Maybe Hamish and Jean would be closer, as Bruce and Sheila are a bit of a misfit with Mike being from East Anglia and me from Orstralia??? Aaah, by gum, pass the dumplings!

 

 

Paul, we were at Station Pier on 22nd January to view Dawn Princess while she was in port between trips to New Zealand

 

When I was a child, you could walk the length of the Pier, look at the ships, catch and throw streamers, fish if you liked (which I did) and generally mooch about!

 

Now, the pier is closed if there is a ship alongside so we walked over to the Outer West Pier but couldn’t really get a good look at her http://www.globenettravel.com.au/cruises/melbourne_port_cruise_schedule.asp

However, we enjoyed a great gelato while standing in the bandstand while she fired up, and the tugs came and got her and took her out to the shipping channel

 

The night before, I had stayed up to watch her come through The Rip

 

I picked her up on the radar about 6.15pm just south of Wilson’s Promontory http://www.baywx.com/ships.html and about 3.15am the Pilot went out to meet her and she cruised leisurely through the Heads http://www.portofmelbourne.com/shipping/webcams/ptlon_cam2.aspx lit up like a Christmas Tree causing the Point Lonsdale webcam to flare with the brightness of the light

 

 

 

Yes, I know, I should get a life, but this is all so new and exciting! Dawn Princess is at sea as I write, the webcam not showing a lot (pitch black) - she is at Station Pier this Sunday but I won’t be staying up to ‘watch’ her come through the heads.

 

While you are in Melbourne I hope you like our lovely city. Port Melbourne is just delightful, and in parts, still ‘colonial’ with the style of buildings, palm trees along the foreshore and a sort of faded grandeur about it.

 

However, don’t be mistaken! The real estate in and around Port Melbourne is serious stuff and with the gentrification of the area, even single fronted, un-renovated ‘worker’s cottages’ now sell for well over $1million.

 

You can catch the ‘light rail’ from Port Melbourne into the Melbourne CBD but the light rail will even take you through to Box Hill if you want to really see some of Melbourne’s lovely leafy suburbs

 

Melbourne became wealthy during the Gold Rush and the City Fathers & Mothers spent the money well. We have some beautiful parks and gardens and suitably impressive public buildings. Southbank is quite delightful, what was once the seedy side of the river is now a vibrant modern ‘tourist’ precinct enjoyed by many on a Sunday afternoon

 

Last year, I took the family for dinner on Australia Day on the Tramcar Restaurant http://www.tramrestaurant.com.au we had a great meal but would have liked to have stayed on for longer. The Tramcar does lunches as well as dinners and you get to drive around Melbourne while you eat a truly delicious meal! We just loved it! And the waiters did a good job of serenading us, too, with renditions of various Australian songs and ballads.

 

I took Mike on a Foodies Walking Tour around Melbourne http://www.melbournefoodtours.com for his (our) Birthday last May and it was just a great way of walking around our own city, tasting and sipping at some really amazing restaurants – Taxi, and Kitchen Cat, to name just two on the itinerary. Well, what do you buy a man who has everything? He doesn’t need another pair of socks – but walking around Melbourne lanes, peering into or eating in, some out of the way places, was a memorable birthday treat! Our Host, Alan Campion, writes books about Melbourne restaurants and a more passionate and knowledgeable ‘foodie’ I am yet to meet.

 

Two years ago for our Wedding Anniversary we had lunch on the Puffing Billy Steam Train in the Dandenong Ranges http://www.puffingbilly.com.au/wine-dine/steam-cuisine-luncheon-train/ this was just lovely, full silver service, looking out over the Ranges while sipping on a nice Yarra Valley wine and eating a delightful meal in a classic rail carriage

 

And in April 2013, we will be aboard Arcadia for our Wedding Anniversary. We intent to do every tram, train or mobile restaurant or event we can get on for the shore excursions and I would be interested to hear from anyone who has done the cooking classes on board Arcadia.

 

We are very thrifty with special occasions in our household:

 

• We got married on the same day, and
  
• We celebrate Christmas on the same day, and
  
• We have our Birthdays on the same day.
  

 

So we look forward to splashing out a bit during our (half pint) World Cruise!

 

Thanks for your comments. I don’t always talk this much. Sometimes, I talk more!

 

Cheers

Uralba

[CruisinEars]

Uralba, Welcome to Cruise Critic! Cruising is very addicting and I hope you enjoy your cruise next year.

 

I, too, was just in Melbourne. My kids and I were there from Dec 12-Jan 8. My hubby is there until the end of April. He is working for his company down there. He has an apartment in the Docklands with a direct view of Station Pier. I absolutely loved Melbourne and would go back in a heartbeat.