Gorgeous day

Happy Birthday, Trudy!
Cyclones
Tornados, hurricanes, typhoons: whatever you call them, they mean the seas are going to be pretty rough. We are running away from a cyclone that was scheduled to be coming up the East coast of Australia. These are definitely high seas and as a result, we bucked all night long. Not much sleep I’m afraid and we finally decided to give up a little after sunrise though I had peeked out the curtains just as the dawn was promising another gorgeous day.
So right now, the seas are full with some white caps and the sky is gorgeous with a bright sun and fluffy clouds. The ship rises high into the air and then seems to crash into the water causing huge spray sometimes. I find myself fascinated by the currents, tides, and influence of the wind on the surface and just below on the seas.
Immigration forms
We seem to be getting more of these to complete this trip. We had a slip a little smaller than the old IBM keypunch cards to complete, once for Sydney and again for Cairns. Now we have one for Papua, New Guinea as we are going to Rabaul (pronounced variously as Rah-buhl or Rah-bah-ul). However this is 2 small cards about the size of post cards. The print on all of these forms is really tiny as it is for the laundry forms we have to send with our laundry. I brought a magnifying glass but they are often in some weak orange or teal ink that makes it even harder for me. Mercifully, the ship filled in many of the boxes for us; many of them would have been ambiguous for us.
We drop these off at the purser’s office and all of the action is behind the scenes to us. I’m always curious to see my passport to see which countries do still stamp the passport as most do not these days. That’s disappointing.
Camel walk
I turned on a show about rounding up the feral camels in Australia to give me a break from the shouting heads on the liberal side now that Ed has access to MSNBC. It seems that they’ve been killing them for years and now the ranchers have learned, based on some research by a scientist who enjoys learning about camels, that they may actually help them with their ranching. First of all, they don’t eat the good plants; they prefer the weeds. And just as important, they have bacteria in their 3 stomachs that helps digest what they eat. WARNING: Yuk alert ahead. Since the camels slobber so much, they infect the water with these bacteria which the cows then imbibe and thus also come to benefit from this bacteria. Who knew?
But now MSNBC is one. Chris Matthews is on and he’s not so tough to listen to. There is a discussion of the fellow with Parkinson’s being taunted by some in the crowds. This vignette just feeds the negative images of Americans around the world especially among those folks who have universal health coverage in their countries who find it hard to understand how our citizens can be without health care.
Note to Nancy:
Ed is off to walk on the jogging track upstairs. He talked about going to the gym but surmised that the treadmills wouldn’t be available because of the rocking of the boat. Then he said he felt dizzy. So he gets credit for whatever he does. Not getting much sleep last night hasn’t contributed to the pep of either of us.
Later: as I expected, all the doors to the outside areas are crossed over with yellow caution tape so none of us fools will hurt ourselves outside. I’m in the library to upload photos and drop of some books so I don’t know what he finally did. There’s not much going on this morning except a culinary demonstration. I think this is their default when they don’t have something better to offer for entertainment. The good programs are crammed into the afternoon which increases our conflict in making choices. They are offering a morning and an afternoon dance class but they also rub up against other more enticing activities.
New Captain
We picked up a new Captain yesterday and at least we know he has a sense of humor. When he finished his welcome remarks this morning, he finished by saying: “Have a good day in the middle of nowhere.”
Paul Hogan
The Aussies at the table told us that Crocodile Dundee had plastic surgery done that looked like it was done with a jack lift or some such remark. So I tried to google it today so I could see for myself. Alas if he has had work done, he should get his money back because none of the photos I saw of him in his older days looked like plastic surgery had been helpful.
Errands
I first took our Papua New Guinea immigration forms down to the purser and then trudged up the 6 flights to the library where I got the day’s quizzes, dropped off the books I’ve been trying out, and fired up the computer where I uploaded the blog and some photos. This takes a lot of time but it is always surprising to me how long it all takes.
Trivia
From there I went to the Pacific Lounge where I listened to the dance classes which were a real challenge with the ship jerking from side to side. The ocean was a gorgeous blue. I’d call it “glass rosary bead blue”. The kids will exactly know the color. But it looks like King Neptune is running the clothes washer. We keep hearing promises that the ocean will calm down but it may be late this evening before this happens.
We were 5 of us including John the dance instructor. I’ve forgotten how we did but it wasn’t awful. This afternoon we had just the four of us: Evelyn, Chuck, Ed and I. Four teams vied for first place (we were next in line with our score) and so it was determined by a tie breaker.
Choir
The new musician in the bar has started a choir and I thought I’d try it. He’s actually doing a fantastic job. He asked me whether I was a soprano or an alto. I have no idea so I’m still listening to see where I fit. People are having a good time and a solo quality voice isn’t required. We’ll see what I do about continuing.
Computer class
I’ve always debated doing this on a ship and today’s lesson enticed me: it was doing some creative things to photos. I don’t want to spoil the secret by telling you what I learned. There was another woman there and it was also her first time; and then there was Chuck. Tim, the young man teaching is very well organized and you are so delighted to be successful quickly. You notice I’m not attributing our skills to our native intelligence. We used Adobe Essentials which I do not have on this computer so perhaps it’s just as well. Otherwise I’d probably be spending most of my time playing with making creative photos. I signed up to take 3 more classes. I can’t resist a bargain you know: pay for 3, get one free. The next one I’d like to try involves working with video. And we’ll see what other classes that peak my interest. The down side is missing the other things I’m interested in.
Moving the President
The General, who is REALLY full of himself, still gave a very interesting presentation on advance work for the President as he moves around. Some of it we knew from our volunteer work but of course there is so much more than we’ve ever seen.
Princess Grapevine
This is the wine tasting and the two white wines weren’t bad; I could have lived with them. They were also from California. The reds are a waste for me. But the dessert wine, a type of wine similar to the ice wine I love from Canada, was delicious. The cheeses were very good and the wheat crackers weren’t bad either. We sat with Warrick and Faye from our table. Ed really dislikes the sommelier we have on here. I have a personal opinion I’m not comfortable sharing in a public forum. And then we were off to afternoon trivia.
TV
The show last night was interviews of the singers and dancers. We didn’t go because …well I won’t say it as I’d get into trouble (and it’s not the first thing that comes to your mind…unfortunately) so I was interested in seeing it and I knew that if I got to the TV first, Ed would lock into whatever was on so I am spared MSNBC or other rants from any quarter. And I can catch up with this blog at the same time.
Dinner
We were all present but two folks were having problems with seas sickness and didn’t really eat much. One left before we finished. Ed and I sat next to the Kiwi and love to hear his stories of experiences he’s had as a part of his work. He is basically a very humble fellow but in the hands of anyone else, the stories would sound like braggadocio because it often involves meeting Presidents and Queens. It is a nice table of folks.
Tonite’s entertainment
There is an “Aussie crooner” but we see that the movie “The Bucket List” is on the TV so we’ll be watching that instead. Prior to the start, we caught upon the Australian History lecture I missed today while we were at the wine tasting.