Almost there!

I’m back!   Just over 8 days left!

Let’s fill you in on what’s gone on the last two weeks or so.

We left off in Burnie, Tasmania, so our first stop was Melbourne.  Jenn and I got off with no particular destination in mind.  It was Easter Sunday so we weren’t sure what to expect as far as things being open or not.  We took the tram into town and stopped by my favorite souvenir shop to get a couple last minute things before asking our way to a liquor store.  We’ve been having Wine Club where we all bring a bottle of wine and do tastings pretending to be fancy sommeliers, so we wanted a few more bottles to stock up.  We couldn’t find the place to the store she mentioned, but we did find, of all places, a Korean corner store, that also had a good value on wine so we both bought a couple bottles.  On our way there, we found a delicious little cupcake store that had all sorts of mini-cupcakes in flavors.  We each indulged in that and a drink before moving on.  We finally made our way to Nando’s chicken, a chain restaurant that probably provides the closest to chicken wings you can find down in Australia (trust me, I looked all over Sydney too), and had a delicious lunch there before wandering back to the tram along the water.

We returned to Sydney two days later for our last time :(  I had to open early because of our million CVGs but went back to sleep for a bit until Alicia, Jo and I got off to find Sydney’s Hard Rock Café.  We did, across town, and also found a couple really nice souvenir places so I picked up yet a few more ‘last minute’ things before we headed back to Circular Quay.  I ran over to the Opera House because I still hadn’t found Australian Christmas ornaments as nice as those I found there.  Grabbed some nice ones and then headed back to the ship after using up my last Australia dollars on a coke and meat pie! (my last :().  At four, I got off work and Christina and I decided to take advantage of our 3 hour break to get off again and grab dinner off the ship, which I never ever do.  We wandered all over Sydney through the botanical gardens and a lot of areas I hadn’t been yet and then found a food court that offered quick service and exactly what we each wanted (I’d passed my buffalo wings craving to her so she got Nando’s while I got a burrito similar like what you might get a Chipotle’s).  We enjoyed it and then moseyed back towards the ship.  It was an absolutely drop-dead perfect fall night and I reveled in it (and being happily full of tasty Mexican food) and was reluctant to get back on board.

We left the dock at 10pm that night and started our journey back towards the right hemispheres and the right continent!  We also started our marathon of hour forwards and crazy date changes!  It took two days to make it to Noumea, New Caledonia (which included hour forward #1).  I was IPM in Noumea but was able to get off for a half hour to spend my Pacific Francs, of which I had 2000 (about $20US).  I ran over to the authentic French bakery and bought an éclair and baguette and picked up my final gift and still had 500 Francs left over, so I’m probably exchanging it with Christina since she’ll be back this way in the fall.   Spent the rest of the day napping, doing laundry and other typical IPM day things.

Our next two ports were also in New Caledonia but both were tender ports.  The first day, I didn’t bother to get off by the time they announced open tenders I would have had to be back too soon and the weather was iffy.  The second day, we didn’t get crew leave because we were leaving the port too early so I actually joined Alicia (on her birthday!) and lay out in the sun.  Yes, me!  Although, of course I was armed with my book!  And it was only an hour :P  That evening, we all went to a birthday dinner in the Dining Room for Alicia’s birthday and I happily stuffed myself full of delicious foods.

This was followed by a sea day (hour forward #2) and then Suva, Fiji, which was a new port, despite having been to Fiji before.  It was also a weird port, because it was half third-world country and half-first world country.  A large group of us got off together but we split into smaller group – I wandered with Greg and Ryan (both cast members) in a search to find Ryan a pin, since he tries to buy one in every port/country.  We had a good time, despite the oddness of the town/city and met back up with a bunch of the others by accident on our way back to the ship.  It was nothing special.

Another two days (up to April 19th and hour forward #3), we were in Apia, Samoa.  Christina, Jenn, Alicia and I got off and wandered all the way into town, explored the not-too-impressive town and then wandered back out, stopping at the Aggie Grey hotel (a popular haunt with American soldiers during WWII and also the basis of Bloody Mary from James Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific/the musical South Pacific) for a tasty lunch and tropical, fruity drinks.  It was ridiculously hot and humid this day so we were all overheated and dying.  I managed not to burn, though!  Be proud, Dad.  I also don’t have a farmer’s tan for perhaps the first time in my life.

Now we had three full sea days (and hour forward #4), before reaching Fanning Island, Kiribati.  Sea days in general this cruise have been busy – out of those three days, I had two book clubs (finished Bill Bryson’s In a Sunburned Country and started James Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific), participated in a couple group activities, including a 50/60/70s Name That Tune game, which we lost but made a good showing of, considering we hadn’t been born yet!  We also did a group run Olympics the last sea day in the afternoon (which was a crazy day). 

That morning, we had the ship’s big Equator Crossing Ceremony as we crossed back into the Northern Hemisphere at 3pm.  This is quite the event and involves pollywogs (crew who haven’t crossed before) having to kiss a dead fish and get slimed with all sorts of gross, old food products.  I was a pollywog, so I was originally going to participate, but with my underlying stomach condition, we decided perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea for me to get smothered in gross smelling food.  Instead, I got to be a pirate, which meant we got to lead the pollywogs around and pick on them (we didn’t get to smother them with food, though, that was a different group, mostly technically pollywogs too who didn’t get picked to be the select few to go through the trial).  We had it out on the back deck and practically the entire ship attended and we had a good time – all the pirates were Expo team except Ryan from the cast and we probably are on the cameras of about half the guests.  It seemed like we posed for years!  Definitely a strangely once in a lifetime experience.

Needless to say, that coupled with a few other things including the Olympics that day (and about 200 guests all deciding to return their books AT THE SAME TIME), it totally wiped me out.  Luckily, we were in port the next day (yesterday) and I got to nap for two hours after work so I’m functional again.  Yesterday was a bit of a crazy port day, though.  Due to many factors, tendering was supposed to go slow – we couldn’t anchor, long tender ride, etc. – but then we got bad weather on top of it so it just got ridiculous.  They cancelled crew shore leave, which was totally understandable but a bit disappointing because I was supposed to participate in a soccer game with a bunch of locals and crew, but c’est le vie.  I also came back to work an hour earlier because we were expecting the place to be crawling and it was…for about a half hour and then it was dead!  It was weird – I have no idea where all the guests were hiding because they weren’t playing bridge either. Last night was a crew party, but I didn’t stay long – I was tired and we were rocking and rolling quite a bit and I just wasn’t up to stumbling about like I was drunk after one glass of wine.

At midnight last night, we had to reset all our watches and dates, because we finally crossed the International Date Line so we are back in BOTH the right hemispheres :)  Boy does it feel good after four months on the other side of the world!  Of course, this does mean we’re not just repeating a day but we’re repeating a Monday!  Last night around 6pm, Alicia asked me when the day was going to end.  I started laughing and said: in about 30 hours!  Luckily, despite her morning getting yelled at for the tender process, she found it funny too.  Yet one more reason why we get along so well.

I really need to remember to bring my camera up to work one of these nights because I still don’t have pictures of the library!  Maybe tonight.  It’s sure to be quiet since it’s a formal night.

Oh and I got my flights!!  Departure from Vancouver at 12:55pm (local time) on May 2, flying through Minneapolis-St. Paul and arriving in Albany at 10:40pm (local time).  Not too shabby!  That should get us home right around midnight.  Then it’ll be sleep time for a couple days :)

Coming up: (the Grand Finale)

Wednesday: Honolulu (this day involves a full customs inspection of crew and guests, plus our bi-annual Coast Guard inspection so it’ll be a short day ashore – we’re planning on finding a grocery store and then a beach where we can stretch out and us our US cellphones!)

Thursday: Hilo (cross your fingers I get the excursion to go visit the volcano!)

FIVE sea days (which might be the death of me)

Wednesday (May 2): Vancouver (7am arrival, 12:55pm departure, ~midnight arrival at home)