Darwin, Australia

February 23, 2015

What a great day.  Cindy's Birthday and a new place for her to celebrate - Darwin, Australia!

We traveled a westerly course for several days through the Arafura Sea to reach Darwin, the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia and is the largest city in the sparsely populated area.  Darwin was originally a pioneer outpost, named after Charles Darwin, the British naturalist.

Early on the morning of the 23rd, we sailed South West through the Timor Sea and entered the Middle Passage to dock.

Expecting to find Darwin a rustic place, we were surprised to know that it is actually one of Australia's most multicultural modern cities.  Half of the Northern Territory's population resides in Darwin!

There is plenty to do - between the rain!  Relax with a Harbor Cruise, take a city drive down a lovely esplanade to view historic buildings and see the Botanical Gardens, do a Pub Crawl - the Aussies like their brew-, take the very popular jumping crocodile cruise or travel a great distance to see the termite mounds and lovely falls.  Quite a lot for a small city but vast territory.

At 6PM we set sail for Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital city of Brunei on the north coast of the island of Borneo.

Cairns, Australia

February 19, 2015

On the evening of February 15, we slowly navigated out of Sydney Harbor.   

February 17 we entered the famous Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, located in the body of water known as the Coral Sea.  It covers an area of 133,000 square miles, and contains 2900 individual reefs and more than 900 islands.  It is officially the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms and is a World Heritage Site.  Historically, this area was extremely difficult to navigate and there are many shipwrecks in the area.  World War II sites and many lighthouses all are maintained and protected by the Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

Once we entered the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park we were advised that water usage and consumption is severely restricted.  We were asked to conserve water through the length of time spent showering and while brushing teeth or shaving, etc - OH, and no complimentary laundry!

Onward north past the smaller townships of the far north of Queensland, Australia to Cairns.  We are closely watching the formation of Cyclone Marcia off the coast, but the Captain assures us we are in good shape and we are also watching the cyclone near Darwin.....

Finally reached our berth early morning the 19th, to gorgeous sunshine.  Since we have seen most of the area sights on a previous visit (snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, Kuranda Railway, Katoomba, Rainforest Skyrail and Tjapukai Aboriginal Park) we opted to stay in Cairns and visit the city and the delightful esplanade.

Cairns is a small, tropical city, nestled between the Coral Sea and the mountains of the Great Dividing Range.  The temperature remains fairly constant year round, warm to hot, always humid and the rainy season is November to May, but we missed it today.

The waters in the area are known for their tropical reef fish; i.e., red emperor and coral trout, large tiger prawns and freshwater barramundi.  Crocodiles are farmed too (no swimming) mostly for their skins but some restaurants feature CROC burgers!!!

We set sail at 5PM back through the Harbor Channel and out to the Great Barrier Reef heading north to begin our trip to Darwin, the last stop in Australia.

World Cruise Photo Contest

On each World Cruise, the ship's photo gallery runs a photo contest for passengers to enter.  The contest is done by segment and category.  During the 1st segment, Los Angeles to Sydney, the category was Nature,  Landscape and Animals.

Most people know Curt loves birds and sea life.  He has taken hundreds, maybe thousands, of bird photos over our years of cruising.  On a  beautiful sea day near the International Date Line, between Honolulu and Apia, Western Samoa, he took the winning Segment 1 photo of this Brown Boobie!

Sydney, Australia

February 14 and 15, 2015

Sydney Daily Telegraph ran a full front page about our arrival on the Pacific Princess.  This was the first time the "Love Boat" arrived in Sydney on Valentine Day.  With a gorgeous sunrise in the background and as we passed by the Opera House and under the Sydney Harbor Bridge, the Princess Choir sang; the ship's whistle played the Love Boat theme song and all the ship's passengers were on the open decks waving flags with red hearts on them.  News TV helicopters flew overhead and TV camera crews met us at the pier.

Sydney is the capital of New South Wales, home to 4 million residents and the oldest city in Australia and largest port in the South Pacific.  The biggest challenge when arriving in Sydney is deciding what to do - sightsee?  go to the beach?  shop?  eat?  just walk and walk?  - the choices are limitless!

We decided to do a little of all the above except the beach.    Darling Harbor and Chinatown were our destinations.  Lunch with friends at one of our favorite restaurants, Golden Harbour in the heart of Chinatown, shopping at Paddy's Market (more like sightseeing) and lot's of walking in Darling Harbor.

Arrival in Sydney ended the first twenty-three day segment of the World Cruise.  Approximately 200 passengers disembarked and we are expecting 110 to board.  Tonight at 10PM we drop our lines and head for our next port of call, Cairns.  This will be a special sailaway as the ship passes under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, past the Opera House and out of Bennelong Point.   Always a spectacular sight at night.

Happy Valentines Day!!!!

On board the Pacific Princess

G'day mates - see 'ya next time!

Auckland, New Zealand

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Docking at Queens Wharf, the perfect location for walking in downtown Auckland, the sun was just rising over the island although we could see the day was destined to be overcast with rain showers forecast.  Auckland offers so many things for the ship passengers to fill their day, museums, Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium, Sky Tower, Waitomo Grotto and much more, we are here until 8PM tonight.  Fortunately for us, on our several previous trips to Auckland, we have seen the city and all the outlying areas including the wine regions.  We decided to take the ferry to Devonport, a charming seaside village on the North Shore.  Just as we headed out the skies opened, rains came and we were drenched, so back to the ship to dry off.  Therefore, just a walk around the Quay Street area followed.  The remainder of the day was spent catching up on internet and relaxing.

Our new T-Mobile plan for international use is working great and the best addition in all our years of travel overseas.

With all passengers present and accounted for, lines were cast and we departed for Sydney, Australia a few minutes before 8PM.

Tasman Sea here we come - ready for some rock 'n roll!!!!!

Hawaii to Bay of Islands, New Zealand

Thursday, January 29, 2015

After five days at sea we arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii on a very dreary, overcast and rainy morning.  Certainly not the usual sunshine we all expected.  So off to Walmart Cindy headed to pick up a couple items and some resupply of cold remedies while Curt remained on board. We had a lovely view of the city and Aloha Tower from our balcony.  The ship departed for Apia, Samoa on time at 8PM.

 Sunday, February 1, 2015

Our first of many glutony Sunday brunch days arrived.  On each Sunday the ship is at sea, the Chef and his staff do an amazing brunch to feed the passengers.  During this segment of the WC, we were treated to having Master Chef Commendatore Alfredo Marzi added his touch to the fine dining on board.  This Sunday we joined a table of friends from previous World Cruises -  Sarah and Paul Su, Noemi and Sergio Pescard, Debbie Shields (Port Lecturer), and entertainer Jennifer Fair.  We ate and laughed so much we could hardly walk out of the room.

  

Also a waiter serving on board is Pong our very good friend from Thailand.  Pong hosted us, in September, on a wonderful tour in Thailand and a tasty lunch along with several other of our Thailand friends.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Crossing Date Line (The Day that Isn't)

On this "day that wasn't" we crossed the International Dateline and the Equator between February  1st and 3rd, 2015 on the World Cruise.  Other than all the pollywogs getting initiated to shellback status, the most exciting thing that happened is Curt saw and took a picture of a Brown Boobie - the bird kind, of course!

Thursday, February 5, 2015

A lovely breeze greeted us in HOT and HUMID Apia, Western Samoa, the capital city.  The locals are always very warm and friendly.  One of the ladies even remembered Cindy from our visit last October and the items she purchased from her - perhaps too much shopping.....

Apia is a lovely island, with waterfalls, white sand beaches, year-round temperatures averaging 79 degrees F, a variety of markets and even culture as Robert Louis Stevenson, the author, spent his last years here.

There is still some visible damage from the 2009 earthquake and tsunami.

Departure at approximately 5PM for Bay of Islands, New Zealand, three sea days sail.

Friday, February 6, 2015

Volcano Day!!!!!!!

Somewhere near Tonga and the Tropic of Capricorn, we were amazed to see a volcanic island rising from the ocean.  This was something we had never seen before.

Monday, February 9, 2015

Bay of Islands, New Zealand, only 13 sea days and two ports from Los Angeles!  Everyone was glad to see New Zealand even though it is overcast but so far no rain.  We have not had the best of weather these first two weeks and will see what the future brings.  A couple of nights were very rough seas.  Bay of Islands is a gorgeously beautiful scenery location, green and lush.  Today the temperature is about 70 degrees F.  It is located on the northern most point of NZ and Pahia, the small town, is in a lovely harbor.  The area is surrounded by history, Maori's (natives), Kauri forest, dolphins and lot's of nature.

Ka kite ano - see you in Auckland tomorrow!