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

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 30, Darwin (Cont.)

 

 

We had a shower and relaxed a bit and then went to happy hour in the Crow’s Nest just after sailaway. After that was dinner. Here are the MDR dinner and dessert menus:

 

 

 

 

 

 

For starter, DW had the Caesar’s salad and I had the corn and squash soup (excellent as all HAL soups are). For main dish, she had the chicken cordon bleu, while I had the braised brisket. For dessert, we had the chocolate thingy, with the brownie and mousse. It was Ruth-worthy!

 

More later,

Dave

[Krazy Kruizers]

Love the pictures of the crock.

[Mtn2Sea]

Great photos from your excursion!

[kazu]

Great photos Dave.

 

Your On Locations look better than mine on my live threads.

 

I think you are scanning them one page at a time? I do pics (no scanner) but thinking I should do one page at a time in the future.

 

Your threads are always enjoyable to read and so appreciate you doing it again for us. Really enjoying following along :)

[RetiredMustang]

Great photos Dave.

 

Your On Locations look better than mine on my live threads.

 

I think you are scanning them one page at a time? I do pics (no scanner) but thinking I should do one page at a time in the future.

 

Your threads are always enjoyable to read and so appreciate you doing it again for us. Really enjoying following along :)

 

 

Jacqui,

 

Yes, I scan them one page at a time, because the small portable scanner I have can't handle larger-size pages.

 

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 31, at sea

 

 

Today we are at sea, sailing toward Komodo Island for a visit tomorrow. Here are the first four pages of today’s On Location:

 

 

 

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 31, at sea (Cont.)

 

 

Here are the other two pages of the On Location:

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[scluvsrain]

Just spent the last hour catching up with your thread. Great photos! Great info! I'm looking to do this cruise sometime in the next couple of years, so I'm reading your description of everything with great interest.

[PhoenixCruiser]

Great pictures Dave!

 

###

[RetiredMustang]

Oct. 31, at sea (Cont.)

 

 

Today was Halloween, and the ship had a few things to mark that, such as a pumpkin carving contest, and decorations around the bars and other public spaces. There is to be a Monster Mash later this evening, and we learned why the Crow’s Nest closes at 10:30 tonight – it is the site of the crew’s Halloween party. Joey, now bartending in the Crow’s Nest, said he did not have to tend the bar, but that others like the Beverage Manager would be doing the honors. But, it would be only beer and wine. We told him he probably would appreciate that, actually, since he would not have to re-arrange his bar tomorrow after someone else moved everything.

 

Instead of the decorations, I was more interested in the featured special drinks:

 

 

 

 

Joey had shown us the list yesterday, but he did not have the recipes then and so could not tell us what they really were. Tonight, he showed me the recipes. Here is what the drinks contain:

 

- Vampire Martini: 1.5 oz. Bacardi white rum, 1 oz. crème de cacao white, 1 oz. half and half, ½ oz. Chambord

- Midnight Pumpkin: 2 oz. Jose Cuervo Reposado, 1 oz. Cointreau, 1 oz. fresh lime juice, ½ oz. simple syrup, 1 oz. pumpkin puree.

- Blood Moon: 1 oz. Scotch, ¾ oz. cherry heering, ¾ oz sweet vermouth; ¾ oz, orange juice.

- Black Sun: 1.5 oz. rum, ¾ oz. Cointreau, Coke.

 

DW and I decided to pass on the specials and stuck with our usual libations.

 

The MDR only had some simple paper jack o’ lanterns for decoration, but they did have a display at the upper level entry of real ones; I don’t know if they were from the carving competition:

 

 

 

 

During dinner, we passed the tip of East Timor en route to Komodo. Dinner featured a favorite for us, prime rib beef, but we learned from some Aussie fellow passengers that the menu also had their favorite – lamb. Here are the dinner and dessert menus:

 

 

 

 

 

 

For starter, I had the salad and DW had the pasta e fagioli. We both had the prime rib for main, and the chocolate mousse for dessert.

 

 

More later,

Dave

[bcummin]

Enjoyed the jack-o-lanterns and dreaming about the menus. :)

You are a trooper, Dave. Through thick and thin, you share countless details and photos for us to enjoy. Thank you.

Remember to look out for yourself and DW, savoring this great adventure and getting enough rest.

When our grandchildren arrive this morning (Kg teacher conference) (new baby brother is six weeks old), they will delight in seeing your different carved pumpkins. Tonight is our Halloween.

 

Barbara

[RetiredMustang]

Nov. 1, Komodo

 

 

Today we visit Komodo Island in Indonesia. We have booked a ship’s excursion to go ashore in hopes of seeing the dragons. For days, the On Location and announcements on the ship have made it clear that you can only go ashore if you have arranged for a Ranger to meet and escort your group, either by booking a ship’s excursion or by having an official letter confirming that your private arrangements have been approved; I believe a CC group has done this. Even so, DW and I wonder how many people are going to appear in the Showroom asking for tender tickets so they can just go ashore and look around on their own.

 

Yesterday during the message from the bridge, the captain said he was glad that all of us had made it back from Darwin and that none had been eaten by the crocodiles, and that he hoped everyone would avoid the dragons today and make it back aboard.

 

Here are the first four pages of today’s On Location:

 

 

 

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Nov. 1, Komodo (Cont.)

 

 

Here are the other two pages of the On Location. There was no Explorer sheet for Komodo, probably because you can’t just go ashore on your own and look around:

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[Krazy Kruizers]

Enjoying your review.

When we were on the Zuiderdam one year, there was a competition for the best carved pumpkin (crew members) -- we got to submit our votes.

[kazu]

Jacqui,

 

Yes, I scan them one page at a time, because the small portable scanner I have can't handle larger-size pages.

 

Dave

 

thanks Dave for taking the time to answer.

 

It has a nice flow to it IMO, better than the 2 page ones I usually do.

 

Much appreciated and enjoy your cruise :)

[RetiredMustang]

Nov. 1, Komodo (Cont.)

 

 

We arrived and were cleared nearly on schedule. Komodo Island is somewhat mountainous, and semi-arid. The island is not a desert, but is not a rain forest one either. Here are some photos of the terrain, the village and the dock area we could see from where Maasdam approached and positioned in the bay:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ours was the first of three Komodo Island Trek ship excursions, and we left the Showroom for the tender shortly after 10. When we had entered the Showroom, we received white stickers with the numbers 1 through 5 on them, 25 people per number. This was to facilitate the Ranger and guides ashore, who led the groups of that size along the paths.

 

The tenders actually took us to the smaller dock that can be seen to the left of the larger dock in the photo. From that dock, I took a photo of Maasdam:

 

 

 

 

 

We walked ashore to the reception area where we were marshalled into our groups:

 

 

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Nov. 1, Komodo (Cont.)

 

 

Each group was led by a National Park Ranger, and a guide and assistant provided narration. There were restrooms available, and there was complimentary 600ml bottle of cold water available at the reception area. DW and I both took bottles, and were grateful for it, even though we had brought some of our own ashore. We needed it. The day was warm, about 28C/82F to start, but it soon got above 30C/86F, with high humidity. If you take this trek, take a liter of water or more each, because you will need it.

 

 

They staggered the start of the groups by a few minutes, so we would not all bunch at various stopping places. We stopped often, to stand in the shade, drink water, and listen to guide tell us about the dragons, the park, the habitat, the plants, etc.

 

The trail started off level and easy, but then came uphill parts and sections where the path got rougher:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

None of the uphills were long or all that arduous, and the path never got really difficult to walk on, but the heat made the 1.5-mile/2km route more difficult than we might have thought. There was a place where the path branched and the came back to after the major part of the walk. The park had set up a few folding chairs in the shade there -- I believe all five groups lost at least one person there.

 

We walked most of the way without seeing much but trees, butterflies, orchids, etc., and I was thinking we would not see any wildlife, but as we approached the watering hole, we saw one of the dragons’ favorite foods:

 

 

 

 

A short while after that, we encountered four large dragons at the watering hole. I guess they were doing what anyone with any sense would do on a hot day – instead of going out walking in the hot sun, they were in the shade somewhere they could get a cool drink. (A couple of hours later, so was I: in the Crow’s Nest).

 

We approached the dragons, with the Rangers moving us around in groups. The rangers would go first and motion us to safe places to take photos and admire the animals:

 

 

 

 

I had wondered what those forked sticks they were carrying were for, but it didn’t occur to me that they might be used to fend off a dragon; they looked pretty puny for that. But, I was reminded of the old joke – I didn’t have to outrun the dragon, I just had to outrun the Ranger (or fellow passengers even fatter and slower than me :D).

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Nov. 1, Komodo (Cont.)

 

 

This part is for posting five of the many more pictures I took of the dragons themselves:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great pictures.

[kazu]

Fabulous pictures Dave and what a wonderful day and sights to experience.

 

I am a little green with envy. ;)

[RetiredMustang]

Nov. 1, Komodo (Cont.)

 

 

We came aboard and showered and slurped several glasses of water to rehydrate – this is serious, you need to keep drinking a lot of water if you do this excursion. Once we had cleaned up and cooled down, we went to happy hour in the Ocean Bar, as the Crow’s Nest had team trivia as well as the usual crowd for a beautiful sailaway. Only we didn’t, for a while. The captain announced the ship had a problem raising/closing one of the tender platforms, and that delayed us for a good part of an hour before we actually sailed.

 

After that, we went in to dinner at the MDR ready for a meal, having missed lunch (not like we couldn’t use missing several more). Here are the MDR dinner and dessert menus:

 

 

 

 

For starter, I had the salad while DW had the cockie-leekie soup (they called it something else, but that’s what it was). For main, we both had the chicken dish, which was excellent. For dessert, we both had the chocolate mousse torte, oh my!

 

 

More later,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Nov. 2, Benoa, Bali

 

 

Today we visit Bali, pulling in to the port of Benoa. Some of the crew are looking forward to leaving the ship today, with their contracts completed, and going home to family. A lot of others are looking to see family and friends in port or aboard the ship – I believe the ship will host as many guests as they can, so they can see where their loved ones work and live.

 

We have a day-long excursion to see temples and monkeys, so it again will be a while until I update the blog with today’s trip.

 

Here are the first four pages of today’s On Location:

 

 

 

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Nov. 2, Benoa, Bali (Cont.)

 

 

Here are the other two pages of the On Location:

 

 

 

Here are the Explorer pages about Benoa:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Nov. 2, Benoa, Bali (Cont.)

 

 

Today we took a shore excursion to see temples and monkeys. We did not return to the ship until well after 6 p.m. Bali time, so I will sort out my photos and notes tomorrow morning and post about the excursion then.

 

As we were leaving for our excursion this morning, we saw lots of obvious family members waiting to board to see their loved ones. A lot of signs were on staterooms this morning with notes along the theme of “skip doing our room today and enjoy time with your family instead,” which we thought was a nice move (and we had a sign of our own). We haven’t seen many of the Indonesian crew to ask them how the day on board went – we missed our fixed early dinner and ate in the Lido, so did not see Ayep and Ronny (we had told them in advance we would be missing). I saw our main room steward briefly this evening and he said he had a wonderful day, but he did not have family visiting and had spent his time ashore. I hope it all went well for everyone.

 

As I wrote above, we did not eat in the MDR. But, I was able to scan the MDR dinner and dessert menus:

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[debut]

Hi Dave,

Really enjoying reading about your trip with your lovely wife, enjoy your pictures and menus. Will be on the Maasdam in Feb., our first ever cruise with Holland, so really love looking at pictures of the ship. We always eat at the buffet on our cruises, thought I would ask you how you enjoyed your meal there last night. Thanks again for your interesting report on your cruise and enjoy the rest of the trip.

Debbie