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

[Krazy Kruizers]

Wonderful excursion -- wonderful pictures.

[bluesplayer]

Beautiful photos.. thanks for sharing!!

[dmg1956]

Hi Big Bad Dave

Loving all the wonderful photos and commentary. Thanks for finally including a photo of Mrs. Dave. She looks lovely. Undoubtedly a living saint.

Paul in St. Paul

[rwams]

Dave, I'm really enjoying and following your trip and pictures. may I ask what camera are you using?

 

Rick

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 27, Great Barrier Reef (Cont.)

 

 

(I encountered connectivity problems again and was not able to update the blog for a while. I will catch it up as I can, internet permitting).

 

 

Today has been a relaxing day as we sailed along little islands, atolls and reefs awash in the Great Barrier Reef. We sailed between the reef and mainland, which required several changes of course. I went out now and then to the highest observation deck to see if I could get better views, but it was very hot and humid and the sun was quite bright off the white decks. Here are a couple of photos to show what the day was like:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was Gala night again. In the early afternoon, we looked at the MDR menu, and although I could find a few things to order, DW really was not sanguine about any of the dishes. So, we booked the Pinnacle again, and enjoyed a great steak dinner with asparagus and brussels sprouts, with Grand Marnier chocolate volcano cake for dessert.

 

I was able to scan the MDR combined dinner dessert menu. The Ocean Bar had two versions – the long fold-out one and a regular size one, although it was a bit unusual.

 

Here are the pages of the fold-out:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is the regular size menu:

 

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 28, Far North Region

 

 

Today is the second day of the Great Barrier Reef Experience with the Far North Region. Early this morning we went through the Torres Strait, which runs between the tip of Australia and Papua New Guinea. Also today, we surrender our passports and document so authorities can clear us for entry to Indonesia.

 

 

Here are the first two pages of the On Location:

 

 

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

Edited October 27, 2016 by RetiredMustang

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 28, Far North Region (Cont.)

 

 

Sorry, I had a glitch with file names, and then the internet crashed again before I could post the rest of the On Location:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

Edited October 28, 2016 by RetiredMustang

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 28, Far North Region (Cont.)

 

 

We spent most of the day relaxing, and I tried a few times to get online, finally being successful, I think after the ship stopped maneuvering through the strait. Connectivity still remains sporadic as we go over the top of Australia.

 

DW got a shot of our passage through Torres Strait at dawn:

 

 

 

 

This afternoon, we went to happy hour in the Crow’s Nest. Just before then was held a session where you could learn to try to play the didgeridoo – a few people were still practicing as we arrived, and they were, to be charitable, pretty … um, not expert. At four p.m., the classical flamenco guitarist played for the relatively large crowd that had assembled. He was excellent. But at the end of the set, at about 5 p.m., he was joined by the didgeridoo expert for a duet. I have never heard a score for a guitar-didgeridoo duet before, but these were truly talented musicians in their own fields, and their performance was quite enjoyable:

 

 

 

 

We went to dinner in the MDR. DW had the bacon and cabbage soup and I had the tangerine shrimp. For main dish, she had the eggplant parmigiana and I had the fired chicken dinner. The Lido has had fried chicken several times this combined cruise, and I enjoy it, although it has more breading that I might prefer. But, I just wish hey had brought aboard some chickens that actually had legs and thighs for the cruise – I always seem to get the white meat .

 

For dessert, DW had vanilla ice cream (Ayep know us and added chocolate syrup), while I had the raspberry sorbet.

 

Here are the MDR dinner and dessert menus:

 

 

 

 

 

 

More later.

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Dave, I'm really enjoying and following your trip and pictures. may I ask what camera are you using?

 

Rick

 

It's a simple digital point-and-shoot, a Nikon Coolpix L32.

 

Dave

Edited October 28, 2016 by RetiredMustang

[kazu]

Oct. 28, Far North Region (Cont.)

 

 

Sorry, I had a glitch with file names, and then the internet crashed again before I could post the rest of the On Location:

 

Dave

 

 

You have nothing to apologize for Dave. ;) You are doing a fabulous job on this Live thread and your time and effort (not to mention the $ for the internet) are SO appreciated :)

[KirkNC]

Did anyone else notice under "Future Cruises " with the cruise being Antarctica that it says, "join what maybe the last cruise to Antarctica "...huh? I hope that's just marketing. I know they are getting stricter so is HAL bowing out of that market?

Edited October 28, 2016 by KirkNC

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 29, at sea

 

 

Today is another day at sea as we sail toward Darwin. Here are the first four pages of todays On Location:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 29, at sea (Cont.)

 

 

Here are the other two pages of the On Location:

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[CJcruzer]

Did anyone else notice under "Future Cruises " with the cruise being Antarctica that it says, "join what maybe the last cruise to Antarctica "...huh? I hope that's just marketing. I know they are getting stricter so is HAL bowing out of that market?

 

They have been saying this for years, predicting that cruising will become more restricted..... but the marketing ploy has been that "this could be the last season" - I think they have been saying this for a good 5 years now!

 

I think HAL will always have an itinerary (or 2) going to Antarctica - if restrictions are put in place, HAL can be assured that they would sell out of whatever limited cruises they are able to offer!

Edited October 28, 2016 by CJcruzer

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 29, at sea (Cont.)

 

 

I photographed a couple of flyers over the last couple of days that I thought might interest you. The first is one for the various specialty nights in the Pinnacle this cruise. We spoke with someone in the Pinnacle on our last visit, and he said the specialty nights were so popular, they are doing lots of them. There are three Le Cirque nights, two Cellar Master dinners, and a repeat of the Indian night from last cruise:

 

 

 

 

The second one is a flyer they have put up in the bars to advertise the Australian beers and wines. The bars are moving a lot of Victoria Bitter and Four X Gold beer:

 

 

 

 

 

One of the bartenders told us the new very small Ocean Bar and Crow’s Nest bar menus will be going fleet wide, and they did the change in part to push the specialty cocktails of Dale DeGroff, whom I have never heard of but apparently won some cruise ship competition sometime. The DeGroff cocktails they list seem to me to be pretentious, overpriced and running between odd to “gack!” We are primarily wine drinkers or if we do order a cocktail, it is a standby like a margarita. So, I let people who are looking at the new menu know that, if they don’t see their usual drink, the could just ask for it and the bartender would be happy to make it for them. I still see being ordered a lot a pina coladas, chocolate mint buzzes and others not on the menu any more. I haven’t seen/heard anyone order one of the DeGroff drinks yet.

 

 

More later,

Dave

[MissShelllly]

I see they list Bundaberg Ginger Beer under the Australian beers. It is non-alcoholic. They made the same error on the Volendam circumnavigation last year. It's an Australian favourite in warm weather

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 29, at sea (Cont.)

 

 

At 11 or so we went to the Mix sports bar area to watch the World Series game on a bigger screen than the one in our cabin. We joined the crowd at the Mix bar to watch the game. The ship had scheduled some sales pitch going for some jewelry or something, kind of like a timeshare spiel, and some staff member actually asked us to be quiet when the umpire made a really egregious call. Let’s see, they staged a lame sales pitch. In the Sports Bar! During the World Series!! And they asked US to be quiet, not the huckster!!! Really?!? What were they thinking?!?! (O.K, there were maybe 5 people listening to the pitch, but surely they could have held it somewhere else – during the World Series.)

 

This afternoon was quiet, as was the Crow’s Nest at happy hour. We arrived at the end of the session for learning how to play the didgeridoo, and the participants sounded better than yesterday, and some were getting pretty good at it.

 

Then we went to dinner. Here are the MDR dinner and dessert menus:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started with the greens (minus the bell peppers) while DW had the curried cauliflower soup. She reported that the curry was mild, and consisted mainly of the “sweet” spices like cinnamon, allspice and cardamom, not the peppery spices. For main dish, we both had the tagliatelle alla Conti, which we agree is one of the Italian dishes HAL does well. For dessert, we both had the chocolate cake.

 

More later,

Dave

[kazu]

OMG Dave on being told to be quiet in the Sports Bar with the World Series on. I agree - there should have been another place that the sales pitch happened.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Wonderful reporting.

[fatcat04]

Thank you Dave for the very detailed reporting.

 

One of the bartenders told us the new very small Ocean Bar and Crow’s Nest bar menus will be going fleet wide, and they did the change in part to push the specialty cocktails of Dale DeGroff, whom I have never heard of but apparently won some cruise ship competition sometime. The DeGroff cocktails they list seem to me to be pretentious, overpriced and running between odd to “gack!” We are primarily wine drinkers or if we do order a cocktail, it is a standby like a margarita. So, I let people who are looking at the new menu know that, if they don’t see their usual drink, the could just ask for it and the bartender would be happy to make it for them. I still see being ordered a lot a pina coladas, chocolate mint buzzes and others not on the menu any more. I haven’t seen/heard anyone order one of the DeGroff drinks yet.

 

Yes, the new cocktail menu is exactly as you say. Gack!

 

Did they remove all the mocktails from the menu as well? Guess I'll just have to print off the old menu and take it with us as I know our son always liked the fun mocktails. I enjoyed quite a few myself.

[retafcruiser]

I see they list Bundaberg Ginger Beer under the Australian beers. It is non-alcoholic. They made the same error on the Volendam circumnavigation last year. It's an Australian favourite in warm weather

 

The mistake includes pricing it outrageously.:eek:

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 30, Darwin

 

 

Today we visit Darwin, Northern Territory. We have booked an excursion to see jumping crocodiles and have a drink at the Humpty Doo Tavern. Sounds really tacky and really great! Here are the first four pages of the On Location:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 30, Darwin (Cont.)

 

 

Here are the other two pages of the On Location:

 

 

 

 

Here are the Explorer pages about Darwin:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 30, Darwin (Cont.)

 

 

Our tour left just after the ship cleared this morning, and we got back with only about an hour before all on-bard, so I can’t you much about the city of Darwin, but the tour was awesome.

 

There were two buses on our tour, and another two buses went on the 9:30 tour. We drove out of the city for about an hour, passing towns such as Palmerston, Coolalinga and Humpty Doo, out to a water buffalo farm and across it to a dock alongside a river, where our boat awaited. It had two levels, an enclosed lower level and a covered but open-at-the-sides top:

 

 

 

 

The guides told us that if we went to the lower level, we would see the crocodiles at eye level, so we went below. It meant I would take photos through a window, but I thought it would work.

 

The boat went down the river for a way, and we spotted a small crocodile, who jumped for us, lunging for pieces of water buffalo that the crew dangled into the water and then up to entice the croc to jump. The boat would first have the croc jump for one side of the boat, and then turn around and do the same for the other side, before allowing the croc to have the meat. Here is a shot of the interior of the boat when the croc was on the other side:

 

 

 

 

I got some photos of that croc jumping, and was pretty pleased. Then, we went further downriver for several minutes, and then turned around and headed back. On the way back, we encountered a huge croc that the crew was able to get to jump, and I got even better shots, even if taken through the window:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

Edited October 30, 2016 by RetiredMustang

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 30, Darwin (Cont.)

 

 

The boat tied up and we got off, passing the people from the 9:30 tour waiting to board. We then boarded our buses and drove back to the town of Humpty Doo to have a free beer or soft drink and packets of potato chips/crisps at the famous Humpty Doo Hotel. Additional drinks were available for sale if you wanted.

 

We all filed off the bus and got our drinks and snacks and most went back outside to the terrace. Here are some photos of the famous spot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then drove back to Darwin, took a quick windshield city tour, and were soon back at the Maasdam.

 

This was one of the excursions we’ve been looking forward to, realizing that it may be hokey but we loved the idea of seeing jumping crocodiles. And we did see them, sometimes less than a meter from my face (I was actually thankful for the window glass at those times).

 

 

More later,

Dave