The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-seven

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November 4 (Tuesday, Day 49, Sydney, Australia) -

Filbert woke up around 5 AM to watch our arrival into Sydney Cove. Snookums woke up at 6 AM when the port lecturer started narrating our progress. We docked and once again we had the great view of the Sydney Opera House while the other side of the ship looked at the port terminal. We continue to be lucky.

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-six

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November 3 (Monday, Day 48, Cruising Tasman Sea) -

We woke up in time to go to the golf putting for Dam Dollars and Filbert won two while Snookums got the standard one. After spending time on the computers, we took a tour of the Penthouse Suite since Gary wanted to see it. (We could easily arrange it since we have ready access to a concierge in the Neptune Suite.) It really wasn't very impressive. Unlike the penthouse suite that we got to use for two hours on a Regent Seven Seas Mariner cruise as we were docking in San Francisco, this was a poorly designed one. It had a single bedroom in it and did not offer a sofa bed so only two people could sleep in it. It had two televisions and a full-size Jacuzzi tub, a small shower, two toilets, a bidet, a dining room table for 8 and a sofa. It only had one balcony.

Photos after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-five

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November 2 (Sunday, Day 47, Melbourne, Australia) -

Arriving at Melbourne

Filbert woke up around 6 AM to watch the docking process which turned out to be quite boring. We were behind schedule and were supposed to dock at 8 AM. We ended up being all done around 9:15 AM. In the meantime, the ship sailed through the bay which was wide open and "boring". We got off the ship as soon as it cleared customs and immigration and bought an all-day Sunday public transportation ticket for around $1.65.

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-four

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October 29 (Wednesday, Day 43, Fremantle, Australia - Continued) -

Last post, we were in the kangaroo feeding areat--but weren't quite done feeding kangaroos:

The adventurers attract a mob

Look out below!

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-three

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October 29 (Wednesday, Day 43, Fremantle, Australia - Continued) -

We were half-way through our walk through Perth, Australia's Caversham Wildlife Park when we hit our blog system's 10-picture -per-post limit. So, we had just visited a cockatoo and a rather sickly looking Tasmanian Devil, working out way towards the kangaroo feeding area. On the way, there were more animals out and about:

Peacock in full display

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-two

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October 28 (Tuesday, Day 42, At sea) -

We lost another hour last night and Filbert decided to wake up for the 5:23 sunrise. Unfortunately, the ship had forgotten about the lost hour and the sun didn't really come up until 6:23. He was up anyway and took photos during the rainstorm. By the time Snookums woke up at 7:30, it was bright and sunny.

Morning showers

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-one

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October 26 (Sunday, Day 40, At sea) -

Snookums woke up and decided to work out and then went to the mandatory Australian passport check by 10:30 AM while she was still all sweaty. Filbert had woken up and showered in the meantime and also went to the passport check. Since we skipped breakfast, we were ready for lunch around noon and decided to enjoy the poolside special “Around the World” feast. Filbert enjoyed some Chinese, German and Indian foods while Snookums stuck to the Indian curries.

At sea again

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty

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October 25 (Saturday, Day 39, Padang Bai, Bali, Indonesia - Continued)

Filbert bought a terribly overpriced 600 ml Bintang beer for $4 (it would have cost $1 if we would have had rupiah but by now we decided that U.S. dollars would work just fine and didn’t bother using the one ATM that we eventually found) so that was the tip. We ate lunch at the restaurant across from the Wayan’s store.

We ordered beer, pork/chicken/fish with Balinese spicy sauce and rice, nasi goreng (stir fried noodles, shrimp, chicken and vegetables – kind of like fried rice with a fried egg on top) and chicken satay. While waiting for the food a lady selling Balinese fabrics came by. Snookums started touching the fabric and Filbert decided he wanted shirts made out of them so we ended up buying three pieces of fabric for $40. She wanted $70 and we later found out we probably could have gotten them for $10 total! As our tablemate, Gary, says "It’s foreign aid".

Foreign aid

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-nine

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October 25 (Saturday, Day 39, Padang Bai, Bali, Indonesia - Continued)

While returning to the Padang Bai beach in the canoe, Snookums noticed that one of the passengers in the tender looked like Charlotte so she yelled. Sure enough, Charlotte and Gary were on the tender that was getting ready to unload at the pier right when we were ready to "dock" on the beach. Filbert took Gary's picture and Gary leaned out of the tender and took our picture in the dugout canoe.

Gary's photo of the adventurers

More after the jump . . .

Here in Noumea, New Calidonia, we're sitting on the veranda (on the side of the ship facing the dock) and can get somebody's "Linksys" wireless network, so what the heck? We'll steal some bandwidth. Arr, maties! We be pirates of the cyber-seas! Avast ye! And again, Arr!!!!