Bali Wrap up

 “Balinese are probably the most sweetly disposed people under the sun. They are gentle, non combative, and sensitive.” – Miguel Covarrubias

We seem to have an opening in the Sky wifi, so I'm going to try to get the DH's montage up. It's chockful of gorgeous and exotic images. Hope you enjoy it!

So long, Bali! We hope to see you again someday.

Bali...Two Days in Paradise

 

Feb 21 & 22

“Oh, Lord, forgive three sins that are due to my human limitations.

Thou art Everywhere, but I worship thee here:

Thou art without form, but I worship thee in these forms;

Thou needest no praise, yet I offer thee these prayers and salutations.

Lord, forgive three sins that are due to my human limitations."

-  Hindu prayer from MM Kaye's The Far Paviliions

Our first stop in Indonesia with a chance to see the people and their culture is the magical island of Bali.  Marketing material aside, my first impression of the place was one of cheerful squalor. There is a lot of trash lying about, though to be fair, I can see the same thing in the ditches of the back roads around our little town after a rowdy weekend. Or in Times Square any time.

Bali is one of 17,508 Indonesian dots of land spread out over a huge area. In fact, if the easternmost island, Papua was snugged up against England, the westernmost island, Sumatra, would be knocking on New York. It is the fourth most populous country in the world. The primary religion is Islam, but on the island of Bali, 85% of the people are Hindu. (In fact, I told the DH the only explanation for the insane traffic, scooters darting in an out and no adherence to lane lines at all, is the Hindu indifference to death because they believe they have unlimited lives.) 

If Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes, Bali must surely be the land of 10,000 temples. Temples come in all sizes. Some are what I’d call a shrine. Every Hindu home or business has a small temple in front of their establishment. Each day an offering of flowers, food, water and fire (usually incense) is left to ensure a successful outcome.

An example of an offering. If the devotee doesn't have time to put the items together, they can purchase a pre-made offering at the market

The first day of our visit happened to be on a major Hindu celebration in which devotees make offerings for all the metal objects in their lives. It started in ancient times when human culture made the leap from the Stone Age to Iron. The offering was an expression of gratitude for a superior blade. Now observant Hindus place an offering on the handlebars of their scooters, on their cars or small trucks. (Frankly, any vehicle on Bali needs all the blessing it can get!) 

Looks harmless doesn't it? Just wait till the light changes...

The market we visited was filled with colorful and occasionally angry-looking vegetables. Indonesians love chilies and other hot spices. The locals generally shop around 5 AM, so they'll have everything they need for their daily meals, and also to beat the gathering heat. I'd seen photos of the terraced rice paddies and thought them very beautiful. Up close you can see the indentation of footprints under the standing water from when the rice was sown by hand. Our guide told us they eat rice three times a day and feel they haven't had a meal without it. But it's all incredibly labor intensive. This is a very industrious populace. 

Next we visited a very old hotel where we were treated to snacks--a deep fat fried banana, a dollop of sticky rice and a fruit that looked like a hairy eyeball (a lychee). Then we walked to the nearby Jagatnatha Temple. In honor of the celebration day, many of the statues were "dressed" with black and white checked sarongs and plenty of bright yellow, a color of rejoicing.

The DH was wearing long pants so he only needed a sash to be able to enter the temple. Folks who wore short had to have a sarong wrapped around their waist. Male or female, no bare shoulders or knees.

Back on the ship that evening, the chef treated us to an Indonesian feast on the pool deck and a group of local dancers came on board to perform.

Caught the dancers relaxing in the World Cafe before their performance

~

Batik artist

Our second day on Bali started with a stop at a batik factory. It's a fascinating process of fabric printing using a wax resist method involving multiple applications of dye and boiling to set everything and remove the wax. Some  is done by hand and some with stamps for a pre-existing pattern. Each individual color requires another step. We indulged in a little retail therapy and purchased a beautiful piece we'll have to frame once we get home. 

Then we visited Mengwi and a temple attached to a palace. The garden was beautiful. As non-Hindus we were only allowed to enter the outer court, rather like the Court of the Gentiles in Solomon's temple, but we had a clear view into the center section of the structure. It's all open air. I'm still not sure what's involved in Hindu worship. I think it's probably more private than our communal Christian service.

Our next stop was a lovely resort where we had an interesting, albeit carb-intensive lunch. (I was diagnosed with diabetes last May and but I'd lowered my A1C to 5.7 before starting this trip by changing my diet and taking metformin. But sometimes, there's no chance to make low carb choices. I have much better luck on board the Sky). 

There was no public toilet, but the resort opened a couple of their en suites for our use. The bathrooms were open air (to the sky of course) and promised a sky-clad shower experience while preserving our Victorian sensibilities. (I took pictures which I'll try to add soon.) 

Our last stop of the day was the exquisit Tanah Lot Temple, one of the most photographed in Bali. Perched on a rocky promontory, it's inaccessible during some tides. Wind-kissed and continually caressed by the sea, it looks like the sort of place someone might retreat to and enjoy contemplating the Eternal.

Bali is a fascinating little island filled with vibrant people. I count myself blessed to have visited here.

(I promise to add pictures as soon as I can. Honestly I could wait for hours for a single image to post right now.)

PS. Just managed to tuck a few images into this post. The DH has a 7 minute montage he's trying to upload to YouTube so I can put a link here on the blog. It is absolutely gorgeous. I hope it'll be here soon!

Here There Be Dragons...

February 20, 2025
Matching heat and humidity in the mid eighties--kinda like the Ozarks in August

 Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons,

for you are crunchy & good with ketchup!

~ Seen on a T-shirt, once upon a time...

Dragon stories can be found in nearly every culture, worldwide. I can't count how many different paintings and statues of St.George and the Dragon we've seen in Europe. The Vikings had their Jormungander, the world serpent. Chinese dragons are part of all their celebrations. Meso America and even aboriginal Australia recorded images of giant lizards. Were they all figments of someone's imagination or is there a basis in fact somewhere?

I stepped out on our balcony as we neared Rinca, the smallest of the three Komodo islands, and a whiff of sulphur was on the wind, a faint breath from some fumerole amid the sleeping volcanoes. The islands are rugged, rising like shards of basalt from the ocean and are punctuated by perfect cones that betray the land's volcanic past. The island is green and lush and quite...Jurassic.

If there truly are dragons among us, this is where they would live. 

 

There are, in fact, about 1500 dragons on Rinca, about 1600 on much larger Komodo, which also has a human population. No humans live on Rinca. Our guide Aloyisius was from Flores, the third island in the group. He says they have a few dragons from time to time because--gulp!--dragons can swim! 

Male dragons can live to be 50 years old, weigh 300 pounds and stretch to 10 feet long from tail to snout. Females have a life expectancy of 40 years. The dragons form no family groups. They are solitary creatures of very little brain without the endearing qualities of Pooh, the bear of very little brain. Mating season involves a good bit of fighting. Even females will fight if they aren't in the mood for love. "No" means "NO" in dragonland! 

The females lay a clutch of about 30 and buries them, then she abandons them for their 8 month incubation. However, as CS Lewis observed in his Voyage of the Dawn Treader, "There is nothing a dragon likes so well as fresh dragon." Even the dragon momma might dig up the eggs and eat her own babies before they hatch. And if the newborn dragons don't shinny up the nearest tree immediately after leaving the egg, they're likely to be eaten by any passing dragon. Once they reach the relative safety of the tree branches, that's where they live for the first few years of the their life, eating birds, monkeys and yes, other dragons that are unlucky enough to be smaller than they are. 

Dragons are an apex predator. Nothing eats them... well, except for their own canibalistic kind. They can run 18 KPH for short distances. They don't have venom in their bite, but they are so full of bacteria, some of which impedes clotting, any bite from a dragon results in bleeding to death. So even if a waterbuffalo escapes a close encounter with a dragon, it will still die a slow death while the dragon is free to follow the scent of blood at a deliberate, inexorable pace. An adult dragon can consume 35 kilograms (a little over 77 lbs) in a single meal.

When we first knew we were going to see Komodo dragons on this voyage, I shivered a bit imagining being protected from a dragon by a 90 pound park ranger with a stick. And while our guide Aloyisius has fended off dragons with a forked stick and a rope in the past, I was very glad to see that Indonesia's National Park service has developed this island in a way to make it easy for visitors to see the dragons without being in harm's way. There are raised walkways throughout the island and we were strongly cautioned not to wander off them. 

No worries, mate. I got quite close enough to feel I got my money's worth. 

If you ask my daughters they'll tell you I can't visit a museum or any point of interest without stopping to read the signs by the exhibits. To my surprise on Rinka, one of the signs told me that male dragons have not one, but two, penises. When I pointed this out to the DH, he said, 

"Hmpf!" which is a Norwegian expression that covers amazement or boredom with equal fervor. Then he added, "If that's true, seems like they'd look a lot happier than they do."  

Once they've fed, dragons basically just lie around unless it's mating season.

Speaking of what they look like, sorry for the lack of pictures. Our wifi is incredibly weak. I will add them as soon as I'm able. 

 P.S. Looks like we have a little more bandwidth, so I've inserted a few pics and here's the DH's photo montage!

Darwin in Photos

 NAUTICAL TERM OF THE DAY:

"Cut of his jib"

Upon sighting thin foresails (jibs) on a distant ship (which might indicate a warship), a captain might not like the "cut of his jib," and take the opportunity to escape an encounter with the other ship. 

The DH has worked several days to get this montage together. There seems to be fewer communication satellites in the southern hemisphere, which makes sense I guess, since 90% of the world's population lives in the northern hemisphere. But still, it really makes for iffy and slow internet...

Darwin, an unlucky town?

 Feb 17, 2025

When people hear the word Rom, it means our Law. It is Yolnu tradition, happening on Yolnu land with Yolnu people. Rom is what it is to be Yolnu." ~ Yurranydjil Dhurrkay, aboriginal elder

Today we docked (Yay for docking instead of tendering!) at Darwin, which has a larger harbor than Sydney, but isn't nearly as heavily populated. The entire Northern Territory, which reaches inland to include Alice Springs and Ayre's Rock (Ullaroo),  wouldn't match one of Sydney's suburbs for numbers of residents. 

Those big floaties studded with tires keep the Viking Sky from banging into the pier. 

Darwin is named for Charles Darwin of Origin of the Species fame, though he never actually visited here. The area has had its share of woe in the past. During WWII, they suffered more bombs than Pearl Harbor and the US heartily welcomed the Aussies as allies in the Pacific fight. After the war, the city was rebuilt.

Then in 1974 on Christmas Eve, Cyclone Tracey demolished the place in the dead of night. True to form, the residents rose from the ashes and rebuilt again. I think that dogged stubbornness is one of the things I find most attractive about the Australian spirit. 

Our excursion today was The Northern Territory Museum and Art Gallery. Unfortunately, the art portion had just been closed down and moved to storage because they'd had a large competition and judging of aboriginal art a few weeks ago and much of it was sold into private collections. One of the docents confided that the American comedian Steve Martin is a foremost collector of aboriginal art. 

This 1988 rock painting was the only permanent aboriginal painting in residence.

  

So instead of art, we were treated to collections of the flora and fauna of Australia past and present. My goodness, they grew everything big here. There was a skeleton of a flightless goose that once stood 10 ft tall. (The insects were big too, but I won't dwell on that!)

This beautifully marked lizard certainly explains some of the aboriginal motifs.

On our return trip to the ship, our driver explained that Australia had suffered economically during the covid shut down and the government encouraged its citizens to come up with a song to promote tourism. He sang us this little dittie as he drove. Does it tempt you to venture Down Under?

Whatever they have to deal with, be it bombs, cyclones or animals out to kill you, the Aussies take it all in stride! Gotta love em, even if I'm not ready to join 'em.

Today is my birthday. It's one of those special ones with a zero on the end, the kind that make you wonder where the years have flown, and, as my Uncle Rick used to joke, why didn't I take better care of myself? 

But no complaints about getting older. I'm full of gratitude for the myriad blessings God has crammed into my life--my dear husband, my family, my friends, my church, my little dogs...I could go on for days. 

This morning my DH asked if I was happy. 

"Forget Disney World," I told him. "Wherever you are is the happiest place on earth!" 

If it's Thursday, this must be the Torres Straits...

“The land is my mother. Like a human mother, the land gives us protection, enjoyment and provides our needs." Indigenous quote 

 Actually, it's Friday Feb. 14th here, but it's Thursday back home and we're inching our way through the narrow (91 miles wide) and shallow (15 meters of water under the keel) Torres Strait to our port of call, Thursday Island. It's the main yet tiny island (read 1.4 square miles) in this chain of 270-some dots of land, of which only 17 are inhabited. 

This is a tender port and the Sky must tie up in a lagoon an hour's tender away from the town because the strait is so shallow at this point. The sea is rolling and the heavens have already emptied themselves so heavily, we aren't able to see through the torrents to the uninhabited islands we are near.

I travel with a portable oxygen concentrator. Bad things happen if it gets soaked in a downpour. So that's strike one. 

I've been struggling with the motion of the ocean for the last couple of days. I don't mind the swells. It's the jiggles that get me. Our cautious reef pilot Captain Vikram keeps the Sky creeping along at a snail's pace, so every cross-current sets the ship wiggling. Our excursion manager has cautioned everyone that this will be a challenging tender ride. It will be rough. The doors and windows of the tender will be shut tight to keep out the waves and we will be packed in larger groups than usual to accommodate the 200 passengers who have signed up to see the islander's welcome presentation ashore. Strike two. 

We heard that we must stay away from the beaches, even though they are beautiful, because the waters are the home of salt water crocodiles, sharks and poisonous jellyfish. There have been many injuries and not a few deaths. The island really didn't seem to want us there so we didn't wait for strike three. 

We decided to declare an unofficial sea day and stay on the Sky. It has its compensations. I didn't have any trouble getting a treadmill when I wanted one. We were almost the only people in the spa soaking in the thellasotherapy pool. And later we heard that several people did become ill on the tender ride and many were caught in blinding rain showers, so we felt we'd made the right choice for us. 

But then I did a little digging into the island and now I think we missed something very special.

This is a modern linoleum print using ancient patterns and stylistic images. I'd have loved to see more art like this on the island. 

The Thursday Islanders are a unique mix of Aboriginal, Melanesian and Polynesian ethnicity. They have their own creole language, but voted to remain Australian when Papua New Guineau tried to annex them. Every year, they celebrate the "Coming of the Light Festival" commemorating the arrival of the first Christian missionaries in 1871. The first meeting on the beach was not friendly, but the faith took a firm hold on the residents. Our reef Captain Vikram lives on Thursday Island and says they have one post office, one bank, one grocery store, and FIVE churches.  (Oh! and four bars! He said it's hard to beat the Good Book in one hand and a beer in the other.) 

My new friend Marie said she was visiting with a local lady and a couple of the students from the high school joined them. The youngsters were extremely polite, friendly, and respectful. Marie couldn't help compare them to the way American teenagers sometimes behave. 

And Sylvia and Tom who dine at the table for two nearest ours were telling us that they had been on Thursday Island eight years ago during the Coming of the Light Festival and it was a total delight. Today, they were looking for an 18 foot statue they remembered from the first time and when they asked a local where the art work was, they happened to ask the artist's aunt. She was thrilled that they remembered her nephew's work and led them to its new installation. She told them that since they've been to the island twice, she should consider themselves honorary Thursday Islanders. 

One of the rare calmer moments near the Sky. Sometimes, we couldn't even see this island because of the pounding rain.

Forget tourist attractions, beautiful beaches or shopping opportunities (though to be fair I'm always happy to miss shopping!), we missed the island's best asset--its people.

Maybe next time we find ourselves in this part of the world...

What a Soggy Planet

 February 11-12, 2025

"How inappropriate to call this planet earth when it is clearly ocean." ~ Arthur C Clarke

Cairns, pronounced "cans," is Australia's gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. Actually, GBR is a bit of a misnomer too, because the reef is not one giant organism. It's made up of over 3000 individual reefs all in this watery corridor of the relatively shallow Coral Sea. In order to safely negoiate this waterway without damaging the worlds largest reef system, the Sky took on a "reef pilot" in Sydney and he'll be with us until we leave Darwin in a few more days. 

Painted turtle

We didn't make landfall till early afternoon, but that was fine. Our included Viking tour was the really excellent Australia Aquarium just steps from the Vikings' berth. It was also the best way for us to actually see the residents of the reef.

Bioluminescence isn't just for Pandora (Yes, I'm an Avatar fan!) The aquarium shows off this ray and its little friends to best advantage by using ultraviolet lighting. 

The aquarium is home to reptiles and other denizens of the deep. Their living corals are vibrantly colorful as they wave in the currents. 

Yep, that's a type of clown fish making itself at home among those stinging polyps.

 
 Day 2 docked at Cairns

We boarded a Great Barrier Reef excursionn vessel that would take us an hour away from port to an overgrown "pontoon" tethered over a portion of the reef. It was a rollicking ride and I was glad I'd put on a fresh scopolamine patch.

Once we reached the pontoon, there were several activities available--a semi-submersible, a glass-bottomed boat, snorkeling, diving and even helicopter rides. We were required to fill out what seemed to us to be a very intrusive questionaire, so we left a number of items blank. We had already decided to forego snorkeling. Even without my lung issues, it's jelly season here and even with a special suit, I didn't want to risk it. So we checked the no boxes on everything but the semi-submersible (think the Disney ride with a glass hull in sides of the boat while the deck remains above water) and the glass-bottomed boat.

But one of the employees came back to ask us to fill out the form completely even though we weren't going to engage in any remotely dangerous activities. What are our medical conditions? What medications do we take? What are they for? 

After a bit, I got fed up and asked if she had medical qualifications because these sorts of things are usually only discussed with a doctor. "It's our policy," she replied. "Privacy is my policy," I told her. "We promise not to do anything that will cause you trouble."  

I'm sure she thought I was an "ugly American." I usually try to comply with the rules of the places I visit, but I'd been painfully reminded of my limitations just by being there and knowing I couldn't breathe well enough or swim well enough anymore to snorkel safely. I wasn't up to a stranger poking the wound.

I hope you'll take the time to watch the photo montage the DH has put together. You'll see some wonderful aquarium shots and some less impressive pics of the actual GBR. It's been raining in the area--and I mean Ozarks frog-strangling rain--everyday for over half a month. All that fresh water has turned parts of the ocean brackish and the water is not at all clear. It's a murky green. 

According to the marine biologist on board, that temporarily stresses the coral and the polyps expel the microscopic plants they have absorbed into their tissues. Hence the green because the polyps rely on the photosynthesis of those plants for 90% of their nourishment. The plants need the polyps waste too, so its an agreeable symbiotic relationship, much like our gut flora and fauna. 

The fellow driving our glass bottom boat said he'd never seen it so bad, but the marine biologist said the GBR is not dying. Most of it is very healthy and where it is, the major color of coral are ochres and browns. The blues, reds and purples indicate stress, which most corals recover from,  and there are a few, very few, places where bleaching has occurred. She emphasized the ongoing research into discovering which types of coral will survive best in which part of the GBR system. They are systematically adding, planting if you will, those species in those areas best suited for them. 

In addition to fluctuations in salinity due to rain, and water temperature changes, a particular starfish called the Crown of Thorns is actively destroying the reef by feeding on it. A program to locate and eradicate them is in progress.

But as the Reef changes, I want to share one more observation. Not all islands are the result of volcanic activity. Some are coral islands. If you've been to Antigua in the Caribbean, you've visited one. The coral reaches the surface of the water and dies, providing a foundation for an island to develop on its bones. 

And so it goes...

Imaginative Geology

 February 10, 2025

The current sea level is about 130 metres higher than the historical minimum. Historically low levels were reached during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), about 20,000 years ago. The last time the sea level was higher than today was during the Eemian, about 130,000 years ago. ~ Wikipedia

As we cruised around the Whitsundays, our tour guide invited us to imagine the area as it was during the last ice age when the ocean levels were over 400 feet lower than they are today. It made it likely that there were land bridges between these islands and between the islands and the mainland of Australia. 

In fact, there are still a couple of islands where you can walk from one to the other at low tide. So what you're about to see are the mountain tops that are still poking their heads above the waves as the ocean levels have risen. Hope you enjoy the DH's photo montage of the Whitsundays!

More soon...

Whitsunday Island

 February 10, 2025

Mom packing light!

Happy Birthday to my dear mother!

She is 88 years young today and still going strong. She's in the rotation to play piano preludes for our church's services. I wish I could convince her to sing with the choir too because her voice is still a pure, clear soprano. And don't mess with her in a game of Hand & Foot. She comes to play!

When I was a kid, she was a model and was regularly photographed for a syndicated exercize column in the Des Moines Register. She and Dad were avid square dancers and had dozens of matching outfits. As a grandmother, Mom also played on a competitive volleyball team. I've always been so proud of her beauty inside and out, her accomplishments and positive attitude. 

She still lives in her own home, but while we're on the Sky, she's visiting one of my sisters and I know she's having a wonderful time! Best wishes, my dear little momma!

Today, we're in the Whitsunday Island chain just off the northern coast of Australia. In fact, the islands are so close, their electricity and potable water comes from the mainland. The island group was first mapped by Captain Cook who used the date of the chain's "discovery," for it's name--Whitsunday (celebrating the 7th Sunday after Pentecoste) 

Anybody else see the giant kangaroo in the sky?

We're on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef but the overcast sky has muted the usually vibrant blue and emerald water. It's also making it impossible to view the reef from above the surface. 

The tall flat-topped mountain is called Passage Peak and is visible from many other parts of the island chain. Cook used it as a point of reference for his early charts.

But we still took an island cruise to see what we could see. The Whitsunday's have been developed into a world class resort destination including a PGA level golf course on one of the islands. Scuba diving and snorkeling is big business but they are careful to protect the reef. It's illegal for a dive boat to drop an anchor. Instead there are strategically placed bouys in desirable diving areas that boats can tie up to for two hours at a time. After their alotted time, they must move on and give another group a chance.

Back on the Sky, the Viking crew was celebrating the Superbowl with a special culinary event while the game was broadcast on the big pooldeck screen and in our staterooms. Sadly, there's no joy in Mudville. Our mighty Chiefs were thoroughly trounced. It wasn't even a good game. 

However, congrats to the Eagles. Better luck next year, Chiefs.  

Crocodiles are Easy!

 February 8, 2025

"Crocodiles are easy. They try to kill and eat you. People are harder. Sometimes they pretend to be your friend first." ~ Steve Irwin

We'd still rather hang out with people than crocs, but Steve has created a great venue for us to see some potentially dangerous wildlife in a safe-for-us-and-them environment.

 

I loved the zoo. It reminded me of when we took our daughters to the NC zoo in Asheboro. Good times! 

Crikey! Not Another Cricket!

 February 7, 2025 

Mooloolaba ~ based on the Aboriginal word for "Red Bellied Black Snake"
Sounds like a regular Garden of Eden, huh?

Actually, Mooloolaba, our next port of call, is a very beachy, resort style area. Quite charming. And it was destined to be the location of our first encounter with wildlife in Australia. Unfortunately, it wasn't a cuddly koala or gentle kangaroo. 

It was an Australian cricket. 

I have an absolute horror of crickets at the best of times, let alone one that's big enough to fill a man's palm. 

If that sounds a bit unhinged, let me give you some background. When I was in 6th grade, some weaseley boys in my class decided it would be fun to wad up a ball of black yarn, throw it at the top of my head and shout, "Cricket!"

I sincerely dislike any creature possessed of more than four legs. They give me the willies. Always have. The worst school assignment I ever got was to create a bug collection. I begged my teacher to let me draw detailed pictures of the little nasties based on images in the encyclopedia instead. I'd even label the parts, I promised, but she insisted that I catch the bugs, drive pins through their carapaces and affix them to note cards. I felt sick the whole time I worked on the assignment and though I was used to getting A's, I didn't care when my efforts were only worth a C. I'd have taken an F if it would've gotten me out of doing it.

So when I had reason to believe one of those disgusting creatures who wear their skeletons on the outside was burrowing into my head, I screamed blue murder and started tearing out my hair.

The boys were wildly entertained. I came away from it feeling my deep antipathy toward insects was well founded. As was my disdain and healthy suspicion of sixth grade boys. 

Thank God, I have a husband who understands my phobia of things with 6 or 8 legs. When he told me not to go out onto the veranda this morning as we were just coming into the bay of Mooloolaba, I didn't argue with him. He's my primary bug killer (the man once stepped on a tarantulla for me!), but he just wasn't sure what to do with this one. He couldn't grab it and throw it overboard. There are strict rules against throwing anything over the rail. Smashing it would leave a mess for our room steward to clean up. If he tried to catch it and flush it, it might get away from him and I couldn't bear the idea of the thing being loose in our cabin. 

So I did the only sensible thing I could, while the DH and Wayan, our room steward, captured and removed it.  

"Where are you, Miss Diana?" Wayan called out as he came in to help.

"I'm in the bathroom hiding from the cricket!" I told him through the door. Silly man. 

Anyway, my encounters with Australian wildlife ticked up seriously after that. We went to Steve Irwin's Zoo and had a lovely time exploring this lush area with large enclosures for the well cared for animals. The DH has put together a montage of some of the critters we enjoyed visiting. I'll post that as soon as the Sky's wifi cooperates.  

In the meantime, please enjoy the terminal cuteness of this sleepy koala.

One of our guest lecturers on board has told us that half of a koala's skull is filled with water instead of brains, so they're not terribly bright. But they are terribly sweet looking and beat any cricket by my reckoning by several orders of magnitude!

But I want to leave you with a final thought. We weren't anywhere near land when the DH discovered the cricket on our balcony. 

How did it get there?

Sydney Video Montage

 The DH has finished the video with our pictures from Sydney.  We are still feeling euphoric after our afternoon at the Sydney Opera House.  

We hope you enjoy all these pictures!   

A Dream Realized

"Opera is a planet where the muses work together, join hands and celebrate all the arts.”
Franco Zeffirelli

 

You may or may not know that once upon a time, I used to sing opera. In fact on my birthday 40 years ago, I was winning the District Metropolitan Opera Auditions. (It was a very happy birthday!) I sang with a number of regional companies and orchestras, and was offered an artist-in-residence position with a company in Europe. However, singing professionally turned out not to be compatible with having a normal home life, so I didn't go to Europe and traded one dream for a better one--my family.

But I still love opera. It speaks to my soul. 

So once we knew when we'd be in Sydney on this cruise, my DH started watching the opera company's website so he could snag a couple of tickets for whatever was being presented on the day we'd be "Down Under."

It turned out to be "La Traviata," an operatic tour de force, and incidentally the first opera the DH and I ever attended together back when we were first dating! I've studied the role of Violetta and sang her Sempre Libera in many competitions, but never performed the entire role. However, after hearing Samatha Clarke sing Violetta, I hung my head in shame. She is a remarkable coloratura soprano. Read: very high voice that is strong enough to fill a hall the size of Sydney's Joan Sutherland auditorium without amplification, and yet facile enough to effortlessly shape the runs and trills. Having the "money notes" is important, but having a "trick piano," the ability to sing very high and very softly at the same time really pulls an audience in.

Samantha Clarke is a singer in full possession of her glorious instrument (her voice) and as an added bonus is a beautiful actress as well. She made me weep. I managed to speak to her after the show and compliment her phrasing and the way she shaped all her runs and embellishments in ways that really communicated the pathos of Violetta. I'm sure I was babbling, but she was totally gracious.

Samantha Clarke on my right, Catherine Bouchier who sang Annina (Violetta's maid) on my left and there I am, the short little dunker in the middle surrounded by gorgeous, very tall divas!

  

I was flying high after this amazing experience, but our day was not over.  We met back up with new friends, Susan and Cecile, we'd come to the opera with and grabbed a cab. We'd all skipped lunch (La Traviata started at 12:30pm so we were all peckish) and Susan had scouted out Raggazzi's, a little hole-in-the-wall Italian place next to the Sydney City Recital Hall.

Susan and Cecile, fellow opera lovers because their daughter-in-law is a soprano. It's always more fun to explore a big city with friends. 

Viking had arranged a special concert of the Brandenburg Baroque Chamber Orchestra at Sydney City Recital Hall for all Sky guests who wanted to attend. The program was heavy on Vivaldi, so it was glorious. But they diverged from Vivaldi to include Pachelbel's Cannon in D. This piece is so mathematically perfect, so achingly sweet, that it's an affirmation that there is still truth and beauty in the world. (Of course, I also used to use it in the car to get the kids to sleep when we traveled! It always worked like a charm.)

In the morning, we'd taken the city water shuttle that dropped us off at the steps of the Opera House. After the Brandenburg concert, we hitched a ride back to the ship on one of the buses Viking had arranged for the outing.  

The Sydney Opera House in the shadow of the Sydney Harbor Bridge (affectionately known by locals as "the Coat Hanger." 

For our second day in Sydney, we took the included Harbor cruise tour excursion. It is a huge harbor and heavily developed all around. According to our tour guide, it's a very expensive city to live in. Studio apartments can be well over a million AUDollars. 

Walking the Coathanger is an available excursion, but not one I'm up to. They are understandibly strict about the fitness level of those who line up to take the walk. You'll need to demonstrate an ability to climb stairs and ladders with ease. In fact, if you're over 75 you'll need a letter from your physician stating you're healthy enough to make the trip.

This little amusement park at the water's edge has been there for over a hundred years. But that didn't stop the people who built homes and buildings on the land behind it from complaining about the noise people make when they're having fun! 

We decided to have a lazy day after our morning harbour cruise and even ordered room service on our balcony. It was the perfect place to enjoy our 6 PM sail out. 

My hero and the one who makes all my dreams come true!

Thank you, Sydney. Like Hawaii, I've decided not to say goodbye to you. I'll always hope to visit just one more time... 

Tauranga, Napier & Wellington Photo Montage!

 "God bless America. God save the Queen. God defend New Zealand and thank Christ for Australia!" ~ Russell Crowe, my favorite Kiwi actor

The DH has put together a running photo tour of our last three World Cruise stops--all of which are new-to-us ports!

Enjoy!

Weta? Wait, what?

Feb 1, 2025 

"Weta" ~ Maori for "small ugly thing"

In many ways, New Zealand is like a whole different world. The trees and plants aren't the ones we're surrounded by in the Ozarks. In fact, there are a few almost fossle-like throwbacks, cyclades, that were present when the dinosaurs roamed. They have no large predators like our coyotes, small black bears and the occasional mountain lion. Their birds are often flightless. The rugged landscape has been shaped by earthquake, tsunami and fire. 

It was perfect for Peter Jackson's vision of Middle Earth. Not only did he have natural settings to film his Ring Trilogy of Tolkein's epic stories in NZ, he found a partner in a small prop and fabrication company in the fledgling Weta group. 

"What's a Weta?" I hear you ask. It's a disgusting six-legged beastie that seems to be an unholy combination of cricket and cockroach. They grow to a length of 3 or 4 inches and make my skin crawl at the thought of them. But the designers and imagineers who worked with Jackson were diehard sci-fi, fantasy, and horror fans, so why not name their company after this nightmare of an indigenous  insect?

Our excursion today was a visit to the Weta Workshop. It provided 48,000 individual props, costumes and effects for the three Ring movies. Needless to say, the company that started with only 2 employees experienced explosive growth in short order. 

Some wanted to make this sign say "Wellywood" like the Hollywood sign since Lord of the Rings made them a film-making powerhouse. But Wellington is the country's capital, not just a Lord of the Rings mecca. It's also known as Windy Wellington, one of the windiest capitals in the world.

Peter Jackson wanted to shoot the three Ring movies at once, so that meant moving the cast to NZ for a year and a half. He rented out houses for them and their families to relocate to and the result was a very family-like atmosphere in the cast. 

Golem, the pitiful creature who was utterly consumed by the One Ring.

Inside the Weta workshop, we were only able to photograph in the anteroom. Inside the shop, the company has posession of a lot of items they had produced, but the rights to them, so we weren't allowed to take pictures.

The DH and a model of one of the dwarves

Sometimes, the workshop made full body copies of actors so they could be filmed in situations that would be too dangerous for humans. In the case of the dwarves it was a 1 to a certain percentage to give the appearance of a smaller size. For another film, they made a full body double of the NZ actor Sam Neil and we saw him sitting there, realistic down to the last eyelash. 

The techno-wizards at Weta are able to take anything and make it appear as if its something else, with an appearance of great age and weight. Inside the workshop, we saw chainmail made from plastic that looked alike ancient rusted metal. Those were used for extras and long distant shots. Up close, they fabricated things to exacting standards. Vigo Morensen, who played Aragorn, insisted on wearing actual metal chain mail and nearly paid for his method-acting sensibilities with his life when he fell into a river. 

From a high point just outside Wellington

Weta created special effects for dozens of movies as well as the LOTR trilogy. They worked on Avatar and we saw a replica of the 10 ft. tall blue chick. Their horror film credits stretched as long as my arm, but since I'm not a horror fan, I didn't recognize many. They also did small model work on movies like Master & Commander at the Far Side of the World. (You didn't really think they filmed full-sized sailing ships nearly sinking in the Drake Channel, did you?)

New Zealand is incredibly beautiful, but I'm told for sheer awesomeness, the northern island can't touch the southern one. Sadly, we will not see the site of Mt Doom or any of the other rugged locations used in LOTR. 

That just means we'll have to come back someday, doesn't it? 

Napier~ Art Deco from the Ashes

January 31, 2025

"Oh gosh, we thought it was the end of the world." – Hana Lyola Cotter

Feb 3rd~This day in history, in 1931, Napier, New Zealand was rocked by a 7.8 earthquake that killed 256 people, raised 42 square kilometers from seabed to dry land filling in the bay in a moment, and pretty much demolished the main area of town. 

But the doughty Kiwis didn't give up. They decided to rebuild. And not just in a slapdash, ulititarian manner. The town decided to adopt the newest style of architecture and ornamentation--Art Deco. This sleek and elegant aesthetic catapulted Napier into the Great Depression era with a bit of a flair. 

This member of the local car club drove his 1930's Austin cabriolet down to the wharf to share his automotive passion with the Sky's passengers. He was quite pleased when I commented on his very "snappy chariot!" Behind us, you can see a giant charging station. The Sky was attached to several landbased electrical stations so the big engines that run our ship's systems could be turned off.

A bit of a confession--most of what I know about Art Deco comes from watching PBS Masterpiece's Poirot with David Duchet. From the music, to the clean lines of his oh-so-stylish apartment building, to the curvaceous automobiles of the time--the series is a feast for the senses even before you are mesmerized by Agatha Christie's mind-bending stories. 

Mural art dots the business district, almost all calling attention to climate/environmental issues

Parts of Napier made me feel we'd wandered into a Poirot set.

But parts of the town survived the devastation. 

This is the unobtrusive door to the "Stranger's Room" in Hawke's Bay Gentlemen's Club. Ladies might be sneaked into the establishment by slipping them through this chamber so they didn't wander through the more public areas of the Victorian structure.

The Club was threatened by fire that followed the quake, but it was saved at the last possible moment by a shift in the wind and the sea blew the flames away from the gentlemen's exclusive enclave. 

I had no trouble  getting in because this was the main destination of our excursion. 10 local wineries joined forces to set up a tasting for the Viking guests. Since we're not big on wine, we didn't try more than a couple each and only a sip or two at that, but it was a fun venue with quite a colorful past. 

The Grand Staircase

After the dramatic change in their oceanfront, it seems Napier became more interested in building up. I worry a bit about subsidence in these cases, but it doesn't seem to deter them. All over NZ, we've seen neighborhoods that are so vertical, individual homes sometimes have small funniculars to transport the residents from the street level up to their front doors. 

In real estate, as in life, "seek the higher ground!"

Upon returning to the ship about 6 more motorists were lined up to show off their shiny obsessions. Watching lots of American Pickers with my mom has taught me to appreciate everything that goes into reviving these period vehicles.

On to Wellington tomorrow!