Dave’s Trip To, Around and Into Australia, Sept. 26 – Nov. 23, 2016

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 21, at sea

 

 

We are spending a day at sea, and the weather is not great. It is overcast, and we have a wind of about 40 knots coming out of the northwest – not too many people on the loungers on the upper decks. The CC meet and greet is scheduled for 11 a.m. in the Crow’s Nest.

 

Here are the first four pages of the On Location:

 

 

 

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 21, at sea (Cont.)

 

 

Here are the other two pages of the On Location:

 

 

 

Tonight is a Gala night, presumably instead of the one listed on the Explorer cover for tomorrow night after the Brisbane port visit. So, the booklet was incorrect on that, and we’ll just have to check the On Location each day, although that has had its errors now and then, such as the Lido not being listed as open for breakfast yesterday. Also, note that the first page of today’s is missing a date.

 

 

More later,

Dave

[Karennella]

Oct. 21, Blue Mountains Excursion (Cont.)

 

 

After the performance, we had a bit more free time to get photos, but not enough to walk any of the trails. So I did some exploring closer to hand, in the Lookout Bar, and discovered a pint of quite nice ale.

 

Afterwards, we boarded the bus and went a short distance away in Katoomba toa place called the Mountain Heritage, a hotel and restaurant. It was an older hotel, but elegant, and reminded me of similar places in Britain, with a large sitting lounge, reception hall, etc. We filed into the restaurant and had lunch – previously we had indicated to the driver whether we wanted the breaded fish or the chicken schnitzel. Both DW and I had the schnitzel, which came with brown gravy (it tasted like Bisto to us) with vegetables and boiled small potatoes. Dessert was a fruit pavlova. Water and coffee were included, and there was a bar if you wanted to purchase beer or wine. The lunch was very good.

 

After lunch, we had a few minutes to walk the grounds and garden. I took some photos, including one of the view that could be seen from the restaurant and the front terraces:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary/opinions: This was a long day, with many long segments of bus travel. Restrooms were available at each stop. You get to see a good many things, including the wildlife park and a performance at the Aboriginal Center. But, DW and I think we would rather have had a tour devoted only to the Blue Mountains; we would have loved to see one or two of the waterfalls that we could see signs pointing to off the highway, or to have taken a short walk along some of the trails at Echo Point. I suppose the tour we got is a standard one from Sydney and it may be hard to do a “Just Blue Mountains” tour.

 

 

More later,

Dave

The easiest way to do that is to get the train to Katoomba and there is a HOHO bus up there. But then you have the worry of being held up and not making it back to the ship. It is pouring in Sydney today so at least you got the better weather. Hopefully the cold front will pass over for your day in Brisbane.

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 21, at sea (Cont.)

 

 

The Ocean Bar and Crow’s Nest have new menus. I had thought that they had put one out with Australian beers and wines added. No, these are much truncated menus, with very few choices listed.

 

When you open the menu, the left-hand side has a small slide-in holder like the dinner menus have. This has a list of cocktails. The lists on the left side are different between the two bars. Here is the one from the Ocean Bar:

 

 

 

 

The pages on the right are tucked into a sleeve with blank half tabs, with only four printed pages. These are the same in the two bars:

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s it – that’s the menu. Many passengers would know that they could order something not on the menu, as you could before, such as a Tequila Sunrise or a Rusty Nail, but I wonder how many people will look at the new menu and think that is all that is available and think they could not get their usual Cosmo Cubana or daiquiri or whatever.

 

Another thing – Joey, who has moved to the Crow’s Nest, told me the ship had indeed brought on Australian beers and wines, but how will passengers know that -- what is available at what price? They have lined up the half-dozen brands/kinds of beer bottles in a display so I guess passengers could ask “how much for the Victoria Bitter?” But I don’t know what they will do about advertising the Australian wines.

 

 

The Lido Bar and Crow’s Nest have all along had little flyers as well that feature several things, but those were already in the old menus. The flyers are still out, so there are a few more choices there for the Crow’s Nest (I haven’t checked out the Lido Bar menu situation yet).

 

Next, I will post the left-hand page of the Crow’s Nest bar and the flyer.

 

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 21, at sea (Cont.)

 

 

The covers of the bar menus are not the usual brown leatherette, but are in lighter shades with the bar name on it. Here is a photo of the cover of the new Ocean Bar menu, and one of it opened:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the first page of the Crow’s Nest menu:

 

 

 

 

And the Crow’s Nest flyer which has been there all along; I didn’t scan it before because it was repetitive:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know if this is permanent, or will be going fleet-wide, but they have invested time and money into new covers and designs.

 

 

More later,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 21, at sea (Cont.)

 

 

Tonight’s dinner was almost identical to the first Gala night of the trans-Pacific cruise. The menu was the multi-leaf foldout, so I cut and pasted from earlier, and re-typed the few changes:

 

Appetizers

* Honey Pineapple – toasted coconut, strawberries

* Orange-Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail: melon trio skewer, cilantro lemon grass aioli

* Escargot Bourguignon: herb garlic butter, Burgundy wine, French bread

 

Soups and Salad

* Creamed Artichoke and Heritage Carrot Soup: arugula pesto oil, crème fraiche

* Chicken with Soba Noodles: soy sauce, shiitake mushrooms, scallions, carrot, leek

* Salad of Arugula and Frisee: William pear, mandarin segments, pistachios, cherry tomatoes, organic mixed seeds

 

Entrees

* Cracked Pepper Tenderloin with Grilled Shrimp: sautéed spinach, green beans, caramelized pineapple, balsamic reduction

* Rack of Lamb with Tomato Couscous and Garlic Pearls: roasted red bell pepper, sautéed artichoke

* Maple-Lacquered Duck Breast: corn-cranberry pudding, candied figs, braised Swiss chard, cider vinegar sauce

* Yellowfin Sole Filet: smashed potato crab gallette, sauce verge, haricots verts

* Baked Ricotta Stuffed Shells: garlic-basil-tomato sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses

* Truffled Mushroom Risotto: Parmesan and mascarpone cheeses

 

Desserts

* Chocolate Souffle: warm dark chocolate sauce

* Balsamic Strawberries: white chocolate mousse

* Lemon Meringue Cheesecake: blueberry sauce, crushed amaretti

* Black Forest Cake (no sugar added): chocolate cake, Kirshwasser-flavored cream, Bing cherries, chocolate shavings

 

I had the shrimp cocktail appetizer, DW had the chicken and soba soup. For main dish, we both had the steak and shrimp (she gave me her shrimp). For dessert, we both again had the chocolate soufflé.

 

 

More later,

Dave

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great report and I love the pictures.

[kazu]

Great photos Dave :). And great reports. Sounds like you had an amazing time :)

 

Interesting on the covers for the bar menus. That is indeed a change and a nice one.

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 23, Brisbane

 

 

(Sorry about marking all of yesterday’s at sea posts as Oct. 21 – it was Oct. 22 yesterday. I started out describing the Blue Mountains trip from the day earlier, and just kept copying/pasting the date, d’oh!)

 

Today, Sunday, Oct. 23, we visit Brisbane. As we approach, it is overcast and raining, 16C/61F with a 20-knot wind. I hope it at least stops raining before we go to the koala sanctuary this morning, although some of the parts may be under cover. We have booked the ship’s Brisbane Sights and Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary excursion. I don’t know what the people who planned to spend the day on the Gold Coast beaches are going to do if the weather does not improve.

 

Here are the first four pages of the On Location:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 23, Brisbane (Cont.)

 

 

Here are the other two pages of the On Location:

 

 

 

 

And here are the Explorer pages on Brisbane:

 

 

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 23, Brisbane (Cont.)

 

 

We passed under a bridge and docked by 7 a.m. at the Brisbane cruise terminal. We were told later that larger cruise ships, which cannot pass under the bridge, had to moor at the commercial port.

 

The cruise pier was a couple of miles down the Brisbane River from the city center. We reported to the showroom for out tour, joining about 300 others – the tour had six buses. Our bus set out and we drove through the city, with the guide pointing out points of interest. Just outside the city, we went up the Coot-tha mountain to a lookout (and café and souvenir shop, restrooms, etc). The views were pretty spectacular. The rain had stopped, but it was still overcast and not too warm. Here is a photo of the city center from the lookout:

 

 

 

 

From there, we drove only a few miles to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Our guide said that those wishing to get photos taken holding a koala should do that first, and that tickets had to be purchased beforehand at the general store/café. So, we all hustled down to the store, which was next to the photo station. I stood in the rapidly-welling line while DW went in to purchase a ticket. You could buy them by standing in the café teller line, or if you had exact money, from ticket machines. Here are shots of the ticket machines and of the line:

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were a few options – photo of one person was $18, photo with two people $20, a one-person photo and three post cards $20, and others choices including a package with a calendar. The company would allow other people who were not going to be in the paid photo also enter and take photos on personal cameras, phone or other devices. The line would move quickly for a period, and then slow as the koalas got tired after a while and had to be swapped out. But, there was a large pavilion containing koalas who had not yet posed – a koala green room, so to speak. And they would have four or five photos stations going at any one time, so the line actually moved more quickly than we had feared

 

There were signs and guides to explain the process – stow your bags if you had any, get your devices ready for those taking personal shots, the person to hold the koala would move to footprints on the floor and make a cradle with their hands. A ranger would then gently place the koala into the hand cradle.

 

Here is a photo of the setting-up:

 

 

 

 

 

And, here is DW with her new-found friend Jubilee, a two-year-old female koala:

 

 

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 23, Brisbane (Cont.)

 

 

After we had accomplished the main mission of getting a photo of DW holding a koala (including post cards to send to family), we had plenty of time to explore the rest of the sanctuary. It was not that large, but had some interesting animals to see. There were lots of koalas, as you can expect.

 

Most adult koalas spend much of their time dozing:

 

 

 

 

Although they do rouse now and then:

 

 

 

 

 

There was a section set aside for mother koalas and their small joeys:

 

 

 

 

 

And what the sanctuary called “the kindergarten” for juvenile koalas. These had more energy than their elders, and moved about quite a bit, including chasing each other and wrestling, like kittens (or our sons when they were young, come to think of it):

 

 

 

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 23, Brisbane (Cont.)

 

 

There were other animals and birds to be seen, including an open range area where you could feed kangaroos food pellets purchased from the store. But, the kangaroos had probably been fed for hours and were not much interested. But, I got a photo of one of the beautiful trees in purple bloom that we had seen since arriving in Australia. Our guide told us it is a jacaranda tree:

 

 

 

 

We wandered a bit more, and discovered that, while the Tasmanian devil was holed up in this tree trunk, a hog-nosed wombat was out and about:

 

 

 

 

Two rangers also came out with tethered dingos, including one that was eyeballing me:

 

 

 

 

We also went into a darkened enclosure to see a platypus and did see a very active one, but low light and his speed meant no usable photos – those guys are fast underwater!

 

I did see a caged kookaburra, one that had blue on its wings:

 

 

 

 

But I had earlier photographed a couple of wild birds in a sanctuary tree:

 

 

 

 

 

We boarded the bus and returned to the city, passing along the south side of the river on the way back. There is a long stretch of river bank there with artificial beach, a long arbor-covered walkway, and lots of outdoor restaurants, bars, etc. As it was Sunday, there were a lot of people enjoying themselves. The tour was much shorter that our last one – we arrived back at the cruise terminal at 1 p.m. It was a very enjoyable way to spend a few hours in Brisbane.

 

 

More later,

Dave

[Ineke]

Oh oh, DH just read this and now he's worrid that his Dutch gin (jenever) is not on the menu anymore. Neither is my favourite, Cointreau, or any kind of Riesling. Sure hope you're right about being able to order other items!

[Ineke]

Sorry, meant the new bar menu. Love your trip reports and photographs, thanks so much!

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 23, Brisbane (Cont.)

 

 

We were underway about 3 p.m., and had a long sail out the Brisbane River to sea. The skies cleared near sunset, and the west was ablaze in orange and pink. We hope this is a good sign for a sea day tomorrow (red sky at night and all that).

 

This evening, we went to the Crow’s Nest for happy hour, and were happy to be reunited with Joey, one of our favorite bartenders from the Ocean Bar on the trans-Pacific cruise. Then we went to dinner, and had a wide range of good (to us) choices. Here are the MDR dinner and dessert menus:

 

 

 

 

 

 

For starter, DW had the brie baked in phyllo (one of her all-time favorites), while I had the spinach and mushroom salad. For main, we both had rare prime rib, and for dessert we both had the brownie fudge sundae.

 

 

More later,

Dave

[retiretwo]

I love your pics from the park! I think getting to hold the Koalas would make the whole trip worth it. I can see why your DW looks so happy! Thanks again for "taking us along" on your journey.🤗

[Krazy Kruizers]

That is the type of excursion I would love to take. Animals, flowers and ancient cites are for us.

Great picture of your wife holding the Koala.

[Cruising-along]

As always, such a treat following you along. Amazing photos! I would love to hold a koala too. Thank you so much!

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 24, at sea

 

 

Today is a sea day before we pull into Hamilton Island tomorrow. We have been invited to “An Indonesian Rijstafffel” luncheon for Collector cruise passengers – we’re looking forward to that.

 

Here are the first four pages of the On Location:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 24, at sea (Cont.)

 

 

Here are the other two pages of the On Location:

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[kira5]

This was a favourite sitcom of my husband's from his youth. Ernest Borgnine was the lead character in the show set during WW II. A favourite R & R location was New Caledonia and Noumea and several shows took place there supposedly.

I think the scenes were filmed off California on some handy island. But seeing the names brought back memories of the old show.

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 24, at sea (Cont.)

 

 

At 11:30, we and a few hundred others went to the MDR lower level for the Collectors Voyage Lunch. The staff had decorated the entrance, and we were greeted by two people in costume:

 

 

 

 

The dining room stewards were dressed in different shirts from Indonesia. Bartenders were pouring complimentary wine, or you could have water, iced tea, coffee, etc. On the table was a basket of krupuk (rice crackers):

 

 

 

 

And there was a printed menu:

 

 

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 24, at sea (Cont.)

 

 

And now for some food porn, in case you have never encountered the dishes and wonder what they are.

 

 

First was Gado-gado, a salad-type appetizer, with the peanut sauce giving a little kick to it:

 

 

 

 

 

Next was a delicious chicken soup, Soto Ayam “Madura”:

 

 

 

This was followed by the Nasi Goreng (fried rice), with traditional accompaniments such as the beef and sate. It had some sambal in it – much less I am sure than they would have fixed for themselves, but adding what for us was a good bit of spiciness. Servers would give you more sambal if you asked. I didn’t add extra sambal to the dish, but I ate it all, it was so good. Here is the plate before I got going:

 

 

 

 

 

And at the end, there was a cool rice and coconut milk pudding that helped deal with the sambal situation:

 

 

 

 

If you ever get invited to a rijstaffel on board, I encourage you to go and try the dishes. HAL used to serve it in the MDR occasionally, and once last cruise I found many of the items on the Lido when the Asian section featured Indonesian food.

 

 

More later,

Dave

Edited October 24, 2016 by RetiredMustang

[Cruizer Bill]

Thanks for taking us along Dave! :)