Adelaide / Fri Feb 15

We docked in Port Adelaide and took a 30 minute ride on the ship's shuttle to get into downtown Adelaide. Adelaide is the capital city of the state of South Australia.

We didn't book any tours for the day so we decided to explore the Rundle Mall area. It was a huge pedestrian mall with street entertainers and lots of smaller malls off the main mall! Seemed like hundreds of cute specialty shops, restaurants and stores most of which were different from what we have in the US.

Later in the afternoon we went on a ship's tour called 'The Ghostly Side of Adelaide.' We weren't sure what it was going to be like, but it was definitely not a good tour choice. We saw historic buildings where the hospital used to be in the 1800's as well as other spots that were supposed to be 'haunted.' Not too many good photo ops (except for Larry trying to contact the spirits) but here goes:

The former morgue

The former hospital

This is Larry holding divining rods trying to get in touch with the spirits

Port Adelaide lighthouse

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Busselton / Tue Feb 19

We tendered in Busselton, Australia today. Busselton is best known for the the Busselton Jetty which was built in 1865. It's more than a mile long and is the longest timber piled jetty in the southern hemisphere. At the end of the jetty is an underwater observatory. You can get to it by walking the length of the jetty or by taking the Jetty Train which looks like a Victorian locomotive but is powered by solar panels. We spent the day in Busselton with two other couples. We sat on the beach for a couple of hours then walked into town to explore. We met Walter who was quite the character. After that we had a snack at a local restaurant then took the train to the end of the jetty and toured the underwater observatory before walking back to the tender. Fun day!

Jamestown, St. Helena / Thu Mar 21

Today we're anchored off Jamestown, St. Helena which is a small (10 miles x 6 miles), volcanic island that's part of the British Overseas Territory which includes Ascension (more about that in the next post) and Tristan da Cunha islands. St. Helena is located approximately 1,100 miles directly west of Luanda, Angola, Africa and about 2,000 miles east of Brazil - basically in the middle of nowhere. Population is 4,500. The island is famous because it's the place of Napoleon Bonaparte's exile and death. When our ship's Captain came on the PA system the other day, he described these islands and what they had to offer. He ended his comments by hoping that we enjoyed our time on these two rocks in the middle of the ocean! LOL! We truly enjoyed our time today! We went on a ship tour that took us around most of this scenic island. Again, the pictures cannot convey the landscape's beauty. Jamestown is wedged between two very high peaks. We drove around m...

Parting Thoughts and More ...

It didn’t take too long to re-enter our normal lives. Although I did miss having our linens changed daily, Larry was delighted to get back home so he could eat dinner wearing shorts (not long pants) ... which he couldn’t do on the ship. Because I get sea (and motion) sick I used the scopalomine patch on this cruise. Usually Bonine is enough but the cruise started in rough waters (crossing to Hawaii from LA) so I decided to use the patch. It worked really, really well with no side effects so I continued using it. When it was prescribed (by two different doctors) I asked each if using it for almost 3 months would be an issue and both said 'no.' Well, I should have done more research as it turns out you can get addicted and experience withdrawal .... and I did. I wasn't able to get off it until the 3rd time I tried and even then it took about 3 weeks to be free of all symptoms. After going online to find out how to withdraw, I saw that some people have much more trouble t...

Opals and Romeos

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