This leg of the trip is super tough and it’s all because of the reroute from red sea to south Africa (we blame it on the Houthis).. 7 sea days to Mauritius and then 5 sea days to Cape Town…. We are crossing the Indian ocean now after crossing the Pacific ocean…. The crews are all working very hard to throw in as many activities as possible and here’s today’s platter just to show what they are…
TookΒ a 40 min train from Fremantle to downtown Perth,, the students on the train were probably wondering why there are so many foreigner’s on the train this morning π€….. There are many super tall and lean people in Australia, and Perth is more obvious…. Also city of Perth is much more lay back than Sydney or Melbourne
P got a nice haircut while I enjoyed a wonder coffee at downtown Perth… Win win!!
Back to Fremantle and found this seaside town absolutely charming with beautiful architecture and small seaside town vibe…packed with small cafes, pubs, thrift shops (called opportunity shops in Australia) novelty stores… Many Asian themed restaurants as well
Enjoyed Happy hour by the Bathers beach while P took a dip
After Fremantle /Perth, it will be 7 sea days before we reached Mauritius…. Last night after we return from the nightly show, we had a surprise guest…..
Yesterday evening they did an Australian party and the band is playing music by all Australian singers….. Includes Those we are familiar with : Olivia Newton John, Kylie Minogue, Bee gees… And some only familiar to P : AC/DC, INXS, man at work…whenever there’s a chance for party dancing we will always try to join since no one knows us here and we can go all out and crazy π€ͺ
We can see that the weather is getting nicer and nicer as we are getting closer to Perth…
Today we decided to have Instant ramen plus room service for lunch just to give ourselves a break from the buffet lunch π
The little folding chair that P brought is very useful!!
There’s a new activity today on the ship for flash mob dancing…. That should be fun.. Those that join will be trained during sea days (which we will have many all the way to the Mediterranean) and “flash mob” the audiences at the theater during one of the nightly performance
A cruise voyage is kind of like a life in condense, New people get on board on Sydney while some left…” Sunrise, sunset… Sunrise, sunset…. Swiftly flows the days”
Named the world’s 3rd most livable city by Time out last year….the same year it’s city’s population surpassed Sydney’s and became Australia’s largest city… Lets check it out!!
Melbourne is indeed very charming…. A Metropolitan city with a harmonious mix of: old and new buildings, diverse cultures, a big melting pot of people from all over the world… A city that feels young, vibrant and full of energy
We always find the cities we have been to with a river flows through it especially luring ( Florence, Paris, Chicago, Amsterdam, Rome, new York, London, Budapest, Moscow … Etc) and Melbourne proves our point again..Yarra river runs through it and divide the city into north and south bank
We really like the way NGV ( National Gallery of Victoria) displays their art works, just like their city, they mix things up beautifully, classic with modern art intermingle thoughtfully anf gives a refreshing perspective
One of the exhibit at the museum is for people to write a love note to their mom and paste it on the walls, all 4 walls are fully covered….. we contributed as well βοΈ
The block arcade is a time capsule that brought us back to Victorian era with its intricate mosaic floors, boutique shops, tea rooms and cake shops that make customers swoon
We had lunch at one of Melbourne’s famous Laneways, Degraves St Laneway … Laneways are narrow alleys packed with boutique coffee shops, chic restaurants, and bars…the food is ok, but great place for people watching and great vibe
And then we went shopping along Swanston st…. Its Friday afternoon and the whole area is packed and buzzling… Also crawling with Swifties!! Taylor swift is doing her concert in Melbourne starting today!! We can feel that energy and excitement in the air
Their tram system contributed greatly to the charm of Melbourne… Super convenient and it’s free within a downtown area zone
We were given almost 11 hours to conquer Melbourne but by the 7th hour R already used up all her energy after logging in est. 18000 steps…. And P kept going (apparently he has a bigger battery powerπ, he ended up logging 28000 steps) this city is huge…. We only covered the CBD (Central business District, Australian for downtown) area, hopefully next time, we will do the suburbs…
A little hungover today from the excessive beer we drank yesterday at the opera house bar…. Having one sea day in between ports is wonderful… Unfortunately it doesn’t always work that way…. Before arriving at the Mediterranean at around 3/17 , we are going to have lots and lots of consecutive sea days …. Princess is already gearing up to swamp us with activities in case we get cabin fever…. Lol… And then the reverse will happen when we hit the Mediterranean, port stops almost every day with few sea days in between which means no rest mentally or physically or at least digesting what we had experienced on the last port…hope we can adapt..
We had officially hit the 1/4 mark of the 111 day cruise… Yay!!
They said the sailing in to the harbor of Sydney at dawn is going to be spectacular with the full view of the opera house and the harbor bridge and that is so true… They were covered in a halo of Pink clouds!!
Since we have both experienced Sydney’s downtown scene before, we decided to go out of town and join a Princess excursion that went to The Blue mountain (an hour drive out of town) .. Kind of like grand canyon but with Disney land like rides… Scenic railway (at one point they even play the Indiana Jones music) , skyway, cablecars and elevated walkways…. The place is very popular and crowded with tourist from Asia…..guess its the Chinese New Year holiday crowd
And then they took us to featherdale wildlife park, told us we have 1 hour and release us into the wild …!! So many rare animals that is native to Australia
The sea calms down a bit and feels warmer as we are traveling north towards Sydney Australia moving away from Antarctica.. Excited about Sydney! We were both here before but separately on short business trips and way before smart phones thus no accessible pics… Glad we were given a second chance with Sydney..
Not sure how or when, but a little stowaway worm got into our cabin bathroom… Might be via the little bouquets the nice folks in Picton gave us?! It’s been many days now… Not quite sure what to do with it…. Maybe let it out in the wild in Sydney? Or maybe it’s not welcome in the continent of Australia?! Oh well…. At the meantime we will treat it as our pet
