So, let’s call it “⅓ of “the Big One” - we’re back on World-Cruise-Sojourn!

[shark b8]

“for those who celebrate”.      😎

 

 

 

[frantic36]

@shark b8 sorry about the weather. Friends who are still onboard were going to take a fight to Kakadu but cancelled a few days ago due to the predicted weather. 

 

I think you still have a day in Darwin my recommendations are:

 

The WW2 Museum which has a many interesting things including a visual & audio about the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese. The audio is personal accounts from civilians and military bout what they experienced and how they felt.

American friends who went with us found it very interesting as they learnt a lot about our "mini Pearl Harbour".

 

The Royal Flying Doctor Tourist Facility was recommended by fellow Aussies. I haven't been which is oversight on my part. It again has information about the bombing of Darwin but also includes information about the Royal Flying Doctor Service and how import it is in the community. There is Visual and audio again to enhance the experience plus one of the now retired planes they use and how it is set up for taking patients. Even better it is near where you are docked.

 

https://www.flyingdoctor.org.au/sant/news/territory-tours/

[frantic36]

@shark b8 my husband just checked on cruisemapper and it looks like you are docked further out of town with Odyssey in the usual port spot near town. It will mean a taxi in or a long shuttle ride. I hope you still have a good day.

[shark b8]

Yes, when I opened the curtains this morning, I thought…..”this doesn't look like it did yesterday”.  Evidently we changed location overnight, we’re now in the “East Arm Wharf” area, and the Odyssey is now in the spot we occupied yesterday, closer to town.  I’m sure there must have been announcements and mentions in the Herald, but I managed to miss them.

[shark b8]

We sailed away from Australia, and right by the Odyssey, with a few loud blasts of the horn.  (Apologies for my video-directing skills.  Or lack thereof)

 

 

 

[shark b8]

Mostly, onboard internet has been very good.  Today, for a few hours, this was the status.

 

 

[shark b8]

We’re in Dili, Timor Leste tomorrow.  In the meantime…more foodie pix.   Beef carpaccio, and osso bucco in the Colonnade - one of our faves.    (before I caught & corrected it just now, auto-correct turned “osso bucco” into “Oslo Gucci”.  🤷‍♂️)

 

 

 

[shark b8]

Several cruises ago we were apprised of the fact that the chef/Restaurant has some stuff stashed away that doesn’t make its way onto menus.  Three nights ago we asked about sweetbreads, and the next night (no intervening provisioning, of course), we had a wonderful custom-dinner.   Probably helps if one is relatively high up on the sailed-days/Seabourn-points food chain, I’m guessing.

 

 

[frantic36]

17 minutes ago, shark b8 said:

We’re in Dili, Timor Leste tomorrow.  In the meantime…more foodie pix.   Beef carpaccio, and osso bucco in the Colonnade - one of our faves.    (before I caught & corrected it just now, auto-correct turned “osso bucco” into “Oslo Gucci”.  🤷‍♂️)

 

 

 

 

Yum! We miss out on Osso Bucco from the Colonnade as we usually go to MDR for Formal Night so we did a special order for lunch a few days before we left Sojourn. Nigerian Shrimp for starters and Osso Bucco for main...it was delicious.

[shark b8]

…and a few prior nights that that, there was the Keller ribeye dinner at the Colonnade.  In the Keller wars online, I’ve tended to support the TKG more than oppose it - pleasant enough, but like a lot of people, would like to see something other than the same old rotation.  That said, I do like the crab cake and the ribeye in the TK Grill, it’s exactly the way I like to try to grill steak at home.  But these Colonnade dinners….I dunno, just seems like WE can do this sort of American comfort food at home, can’t you offer us some exotic 6-Michelin-starred things that are further beyond our abilities?   The changeover from TKG to Solis will happen in the last week we’re onboard - I’m told there will be no physical change to the room, only the menu.  Will be interesting to experience this kind of switch. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 5 by shark b8

[shark b8]

8 minutes ago, frantic36 said:

Nigerian Shrimp for starters and Osso Bucco for main...it was delicious.

 

Hmmmm!  We’re grizzled osso-bucco-veterans but I don't think I remember Nigerian shrimp.  Will look for it.  (And perhaps drop hints to the restaurant staff)

[frantic36]

Just now, shark b8 said:

 

Hmmmm!  We’re grizzled osso-bucco-veterans but I don't think I remember Nigerian shrimp.  Will look for it.  (And perhaps drop hints to the restaurant staff)

 

They are long shrimp about 10 inches long they are grilled in butter. Usually more likely on Earth & Ocean. Ask Wian the Maitre D' . He organised it for us. We asked for Escargot & Osso Bucco but he wasn't sure about the escargot as the ones sent in LA were too sandy so he suggested Nigerian Shrimp. We were happy with either. When we had the lunch they served escargot, Nigerian Shrimp & Osso Bucco. It was too much but we did have some of all because it was delicious. Thankfully we don't usually eat breakfast.

 

Pleases send Wian our best wishes from Mr & Mrs M. He will know us from the special order lunch we had on the 18th Feb.

[shark b8]

29 minutes ago, frantic36 said:

We miss out on Osso Bucco from the Colonnade as we usually go to MDR for Formal Night…

 

So, is every formal night also a Colonnade osso bucco night?   If so….had no idea.

[shark b8]

9 minutes ago, frantic36 said:

Pleases send Wian our best wishes from Mr & Mrs M. He will know us from the special order lunch we had on the 18th Feb.

 

Will do!    (at least will try to remember)

[frantic36]

8 hours ago, shark b8 said:

 

So, is every formal night also a Colonnade osso bucco night?   If so….had no idea.

On Formal Night in the Colonnade it is either Italian themed so Osso Bucco entree or French themed so Chatauebriand. There may be one other option but I can't recall it.

 

I hope you enjoy Dili. It was a few years since we visited and we did a group tour. We were lucky and got the car with another couple. We learnt a lot about the history and especially what happened when Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975. Australia was sadly both the bad guy in the early part but thankfully did the right thing in the end to help the East Timorese.

[shark b8]

Yes frantic36, we enjoyed Dili - we were here four years ago, and while it’s still quite obviously a developing country, it looks to us like visible progress has been made.  And yes, the deeper you dive into the independence-effort of the mid-70’s, the more depressing it becomes.  There’s a strikingly-artistic wooden cross in the museum that addresses the Timorese people and the Australians back in those days:  

 

 

 

[shark b8]

 

 

[shark b8]

The rather impressive museum in Kupang (West Timor).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shark b8]

Street markets.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 7 by shark b8

[shark b8]

A rather impressive palm-climbing demonstration.  The resultant palm milk is pounded and developed into palm sugar - dark and rich, and bittersweet.  Rather like dark chocolate.  Might be fun to cook with.  (We have some in our fridge, from ages ago, but I can’t remember where/when/why I used it) So we’ll maybe try again.  Or swirl a bit into a sweetish cocktail.  We shall see.

 

 

 

[shark b8]

[shark b8]

This very beautiful young lady serenaded us on an equally beautiful and complex stringed instrument - I expected local Timorese folk music, and got some…..as well as “You are My Sunshine” and “Let it Be”.   

 

[shark b8]

We’re on Banda Neira island.  Evidently near ground zero for some of the spice trade obsession of the European 1600’s - the nutmeg tree may have originally evolved here.  The Dutch Fort “Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie Belgica“ still stands.  

 

 

 

 

[shark b8]

 

 

 

Edited March 9 by shark b8

[shark b8]