March 17-18
At sea/Adelaide
The sea day was as usual, just with a St. Patrick’s day thrown in, meaning little more than a big party with a lot of free drinks. I stayed in my room and practiced my didge. And that’s about it for the 17th.
Adelaide was the next port of call, and I got off the ship after my rehearsal, hopping on a shuttle around 12:30. The port time was cut short by the 40 minute shuttle ride into the city, leaving Terry and I a couple hours before we needed to be back on a shuttle back to the ship. We stopped for lunch where I got this amazing beef burger, complete with gourmet bread, a huge chunk of beef, bacon, eggs, caramelized onions, and who knows what else, but for $15 it was one of the best burgers I’ve had.
My burger stop was followed by a stop to listen to one of the street performers, an aboriginal-looking man, dressed in a red loin cloth, covered in white paint, playing didgeridoo! So after my quick didge fix and already having annoyed Terry with didgeridoo talk for the past week, we moved on.
Then we did some shopping for the usual necessities (chips, cheese, wine…) and headed back to get on the shuttle. Oh, I did buy another hat, similar to the first, but this one is black sea grass and was only $5, so I couldn’t pass it up for that price. The shuttle bus back took us the scenic route while our driver acted out his dreams of being a tour guide. It was actually a nice ride back though, I learned a few things about the area, and the beach we drove along was beautiful.
This brings me to now, sitting on the ship typing this. Tonight we’re playing Terry’s show, so that should be fine, and that’ll be about it for today. Thanks for reading and I’m going back to some more didge practicing!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
At Sea
March 16
At Sea
Usually I’d combine this with tomorrow’s post, but I’m on a roll right now with writing these and don’t feel like stopping. Nothing big today, a sea day and a night off, meaning I get to entertain myself all day. However, I ran into a problem today, my didge is cracked!!!!! I picked it up this morning to show my roommate that I found the best place for my embouchure, and when I played it I could feel a leak blowing onto my hands and thinning out the sound. I guess this is what happens when you buy a didge with 15 minutes of time available to check them out. I went online looking for remedies, of which I found a recommendation to play the didge no more than 15 minutes a day for the first week, 30 mins a day for the second, just to allow the wood time to get accustomed to being played. Maybe my 3 hours a day over stressed the wood a little…oops. Anyways, I took some gaff tape and taped up the crack, making sure to seal off any leaks, and then took string and tied up the top of the didge. Though I didn’t read it anywhere, I figured that binding the crack would not only keep it from growing, but would help the didge vibrate better, which after 45 minutes of wrapping and tying string, I have a didge that not only looks cooler than before, but probably even plays better. So, problem solved, at least for the time being, and I’ll be going back to my 3 hour a day practicing without further worries for that crack.
The rest of the night is off for me, which is nice. I’m writing this on the 16th just to get it done and don’t expect anything exciting for tonight. So thanks for reading, send up a prayer for my didge, and I’ll talk to you later!
At Sea
Usually I’d combine this with tomorrow’s post, but I’m on a roll right now with writing these and don’t feel like stopping. Nothing big today, a sea day and a night off, meaning I get to entertain myself all day. However, I ran into a problem today, my didge is cracked!!!!! I picked it up this morning to show my roommate that I found the best place for my embouchure, and when I played it I could feel a leak blowing onto my hands and thinning out the sound. I guess this is what happens when you buy a didge with 15 minutes of time available to check them out. I went online looking for remedies, of which I found a recommendation to play the didge no more than 15 minutes a day for the first week, 30 mins a day for the second, just to allow the wood time to get accustomed to being played. Maybe my 3 hours a day over stressed the wood a little…oops. Anyways, I took some gaff tape and taped up the crack, making sure to seal off any leaks, and then took string and tied up the top of the didge. Though I didn’t read it anywhere, I figured that binding the crack would not only keep it from growing, but would help the didge vibrate better, which after 45 minutes of wrapping and tying string, I have a didge that not only looks cooler than before, but probably even plays better. So, problem solved, at least for the time being, and I’ll be going back to my 3 hour a day practicing without further worries for that crack.
The rest of the night is off for me, which is nice. I’m writing this on the 16th just to get it done and don’t expect anything exciting for tonight. So thanks for reading, send up a prayer for my didge, and I’ll talk to you later!
Albany
March 15
Albany
Albany is another lovely little town with a main street for shopping and not much else. I walked into town alone and quickly found some friends in the small downtown area who were going to head to the beach after lunch, something that sounded just fine to me (despite yesterday’s waters being cold). Having already eaten myself, I did some exploring which led me to someone dancing in a gigantic chipmunk-like costume, a Dixieland band playing really poor Dixie music (not that I think the Chipmunk minded), and not much more. I met up with my group some time later, we took a cab to the nearest beach, found out that the water was too cold and the cool sea wind wasn’t helping the situation, and opted to play Frisbee in the grass instead. My group then split up to get back to the ship in time for their shift, a problem I didn’t have to deal with, and I hung out eating a muffin outside a café (all of which are totally useless details).
I made the walk back to the ship along a boardwalk that stretched from the beach, along the water front, to very near to our pier, a walk that would take about an hour to complete. It was gorgeous though, the sun was shining, I had nowhere to hurry to, and I just enjoyed the fresh air and scenery.
Back on the ship I had the night off, which means one thing, more didgeridoo practicing. I think I’ll try to popularize the didge in Chicago, which would be awesome…just so long as I can get my playing chops together before I get back to the states. Maybe I’ll even make up some crazy story about being stranded with aboriginal bush people for a few months where I was taught how to play didgeridoo while going on a spiritual journey through the bush. Yeah, that’ll sound good, but you’ll know the truth – thanks for reading!
Albany
Albany is another lovely little town with a main street for shopping and not much else. I walked into town alone and quickly found some friends in the small downtown area who were going to head to the beach after lunch, something that sounded just fine to me (despite yesterday’s waters being cold). Having already eaten myself, I did some exploring which led me to someone dancing in a gigantic chipmunk-like costume, a Dixieland band playing really poor Dixie music (not that I think the Chipmunk minded), and not much more. I met up with my group some time later, we took a cab to the nearest beach, found out that the water was too cold and the cool sea wind wasn’t helping the situation, and opted to play Frisbee in the grass instead. My group then split up to get back to the ship in time for their shift, a problem I didn’t have to deal with, and I hung out eating a muffin outside a café (all of which are totally useless details).
I made the walk back to the ship along a boardwalk that stretched from the beach, along the water front, to very near to our pier, a walk that would take about an hour to complete. It was gorgeous though, the sun was shining, I had nowhere to hurry to, and I just enjoyed the fresh air and scenery.
Back on the ship I had the night off, which means one thing, more didgeridoo practicing. I think I’ll try to popularize the didge in Chicago, which would be awesome…just so long as I can get my playing chops together before I get back to the states. Maybe I’ll even make up some crazy story about being stranded with aboriginal bush people for a few months where I was taught how to play didgeridoo while going on a spiritual journey through the bush. Yeah, that’ll sound good, but you’ll know the truth – thanks for reading!
Bunbury
March 14
Bunbury
I think that’s how you spell the cit I was in today. Regardless, it was a nice Australian town where I spent the day at a Seafarer’s Center (free internet!!), got Thai food with Terry, and walked to the beach to go swimming in the Indian ocean before it was too late. The beach was nice but the water was much colder than I’d been expecting, but it didn’t matter, I was determined to swim in the Indian ocean while I had the chance, and did. I had some nice waves to play around with, did some body surfing (that’s where instead of you standing on a surf board, you pretend you are the surfboard, and came back in before hypothermia set in. Ok, maybe it wasn’t that bad, but that was really the highlight of my day, and there’s not that much more to write about.
Back on the ship I practiced my didge again for hours on end and continued my new found obsession. We had a show that night where the guest bought drinks for the band, always a welcomed gesture, and that’s about it. Thanks!
Bunbury
I think that’s how you spell the cit I was in today. Regardless, it was a nice Australian town where I spent the day at a Seafarer’s Center (free internet!!), got Thai food with Terry, and walked to the beach to go swimming in the Indian ocean before it was too late. The beach was nice but the water was much colder than I’d been expecting, but it didn’t matter, I was determined to swim in the Indian ocean while I had the chance, and did. I had some nice waves to play around with, did some body surfing (that’s where instead of you standing on a surf board, you pretend you are the surfboard, and came back in before hypothermia set in. Ok, maybe it wasn’t that bad, but that was really the highlight of my day, and there’s not that much more to write about.
Back on the ship I practiced my didge again for hours on end and continued my new found obsession. We had a show that night where the guest bought drinks for the band, always a welcomed gesture, and that’s about it. Thanks!
Perth
March 13
Perth
Technically, I guess I was in Fremantle, the port just outside of Perth, but we’ll title this Perth just the same. Anyways, I’ve been excited for this port for quite a long time now because I have a friend who lives in the area. Shannon, a friend from the first 4 months aboard the Navigator, and I have been talking back and forth somewhat frequently about my visit into Perth, but in usual fashion, we waited till the last minute to try to actually plan something. She’s an army girl so I was hoping for something extreme, preferably gun related. Unfortunately, all those plans fell through and I ended up leaving the ship that morning not having a clue what I’d be doing that day.
We were meant to meet up at the terminal at 9:30 the morning and I got off the ship right around that time to go look for her. I got outside, didn’t see her, and began to wait. I waited for 25 minutes, confused both because she wasn’t there and I hadn’t received an email back from her that morning. At that point I decided to run back on the ship to look up her phone number online – something I should have written down when she first sent it to me. The ship, however, shuts down the internet at embarkation ports, so I ran on to find out I couldn’t get online…foiled. So I grabbed some change from my room and ran back off the ship desperately looking for her, still nothing. Determined to figure out where she was, I left the terminal and started to walk into the city where I hoped to find an internet café, of which I had no idea whether or not there would be one. After a lot of walking and a few directions, I found what I was looking for, went online for 30 seconds, ran outside to the first pay phone and made the phone call, which by this point, she was at the pier…all for nothing. So that confusing beginning of my day was over at about 10:30 when we met back on the ship and walked back into the city of Fremantle, a lovely little town with a good deal of shopping. We ended up walking back to the internet place to look up possibilities for what to do that day, none of which worked out. I think Australians just don’t like to work on Fridays, because between paint balling, laser tag, go carts, and anything else we could think of, every phone call came back negative.
We left the internet café with no plans, and having nothing better to do, walked into the large didgeridoo store immediately to our right. For those of you who don’t know, a didgeridoo is an aboriginal instrument native to Australia, goes back 40,000 years, and is little more than a termite-hollowed wooden pole with a beeswax mouthpiece you blow into. The sound is unmistakable and I’m fairly confident you’d recognize it if you heard it. The store gives a free lesson to anyone who walks in, so upon meeting the owner, he took us aside and showed us how to get a sound out of a didge. Matt (my brother) actually has a crummy didge at home that works enough for us to get a sound out of, so I went into this lesson with some prior experience. And after a little instruction from both employees, I was actually doing surprising well with the didges and impressing my new friends at the store. I explained that I work on the ship and play sax, at which point they asked me to bring my sax in to jam before I left the port. So with that and me hyped up about the didgeridoos, Shannon and I left to pick up my horn and go for a quick drive through town.
The drive was nice and I got to see the residential areas of the city. We also stopped on the river where I could see Perth in the distance. The drive wasn’t anything too exciting, but I always like hopping in a car and going more places than I’d otherwise be able to walking.
We returned to Didgeridoo Breath (the store) at 3:30, 30 minutes before I had to get back on the ship. In those 30 minutes I had a couple quick jams which are probably going to be put up on youtube, tried out 10 other didges, and bought one to take home with me! Yep, I bought a didge, a real one from Australia, and though I’m not totally sure how I’ll get it home, I’m really excited that I have a new instrument to learn.
I barely made it back to the ship on time, showed all my friends the new toy, and the rest of the day went as usual. I probably played the didge a couple more hours that day when I had time, really enjoying the new challenge. Can’t wait to play it for you!
Perth
Technically, I guess I was in Fremantle, the port just outside of Perth, but we’ll title this Perth just the same. Anyways, I’ve been excited for this port for quite a long time now because I have a friend who lives in the area. Shannon, a friend from the first 4 months aboard the Navigator, and I have been talking back and forth somewhat frequently about my visit into Perth, but in usual fashion, we waited till the last minute to try to actually plan something. She’s an army girl so I was hoping for something extreme, preferably gun related. Unfortunately, all those plans fell through and I ended up leaving the ship that morning not having a clue what I’d be doing that day.
We were meant to meet up at the terminal at 9:30 the morning and I got off the ship right around that time to go look for her. I got outside, didn’t see her, and began to wait. I waited for 25 minutes, confused both because she wasn’t there and I hadn’t received an email back from her that morning. At that point I decided to run back on the ship to look up her phone number online – something I should have written down when she first sent it to me. The ship, however, shuts down the internet at embarkation ports, so I ran on to find out I couldn’t get online…foiled. So I grabbed some change from my room and ran back off the ship desperately looking for her, still nothing. Determined to figure out where she was, I left the terminal and started to walk into the city where I hoped to find an internet café, of which I had no idea whether or not there would be one. After a lot of walking and a few directions, I found what I was looking for, went online for 30 seconds, ran outside to the first pay phone and made the phone call, which by this point, she was at the pier…all for nothing. So that confusing beginning of my day was over at about 10:30 when we met back on the ship and walked back into the city of Fremantle, a lovely little town with a good deal of shopping. We ended up walking back to the internet place to look up possibilities for what to do that day, none of which worked out. I think Australians just don’t like to work on Fridays, because between paint balling, laser tag, go carts, and anything else we could think of, every phone call came back negative.
We left the internet café with no plans, and having nothing better to do, walked into the large didgeridoo store immediately to our right. For those of you who don’t know, a didgeridoo is an aboriginal instrument native to Australia, goes back 40,000 years, and is little more than a termite-hollowed wooden pole with a beeswax mouthpiece you blow into. The sound is unmistakable and I’m fairly confident you’d recognize it if you heard it. The store gives a free lesson to anyone who walks in, so upon meeting the owner, he took us aside and showed us how to get a sound out of a didge. Matt (my brother) actually has a crummy didge at home that works enough for us to get a sound out of, so I went into this lesson with some prior experience. And after a little instruction from both employees, I was actually doing surprising well with the didges and impressing my new friends at the store. I explained that I work on the ship and play sax, at which point they asked me to bring my sax in to jam before I left the port. So with that and me hyped up about the didgeridoos, Shannon and I left to pick up my horn and go for a quick drive through town.
The drive was nice and I got to see the residential areas of the city. We also stopped on the river where I could see Perth in the distance. The drive wasn’t anything too exciting, but I always like hopping in a car and going more places than I’d otherwise be able to walking.
We returned to Didgeridoo Breath (the store) at 3:30, 30 minutes before I had to get back on the ship. In those 30 minutes I had a couple quick jams which are probably going to be put up on youtube, tried out 10 other didges, and bought one to take home with me! Yep, I bought a didge, a real one from Australia, and though I’m not totally sure how I’ll get it home, I’m really excited that I have a new instrument to learn.
I barely made it back to the ship on time, showed all my friends the new toy, and the rest of the day went as usual. I probably played the didge a couple more hours that day when I had time, really enjoying the new challenge. Can’t wait to play it for you!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
At Sea/Exmouth/At Sea
March 10-12
At Sea, Exmouth, At Sea
Not much to write here, the sea days were nothing out of the ordinary, and our day in Exmouth was rather uneventful as well. Exmouth, a port I was hoping to either scuba dive at or at least go swimming, was taken up by a three hour rehearsal for Supremes show. After a boat drill in the morning and our rehearsal at 11:15, it wasn’t 2:15 till I was actually able to do anything, but with us tendering and a crew all aboard time at 3:15, it wasn’t even possible to get off the ship and return in that amount of time. Unfortunately I was therefore only able to see Exmouth from a distance. Instead, I decided to go up to the sun deck with a book and get my fair share of sun for the day. Well, apparently my fair share equals about 45 minutes, as that’s how long I was able to stay up there reading before I just couldn’t take the heat any more. It was nice and all, but I haven’t sweat like that for a long time.
The second sea day, the day I’m actually writing this, is like I said, the usual. The show tonight though is a circus family, or something along those lines. It’s a nice show, but it’s a mother and father with a 10 and 12 year old, both of who are in the show. The 12 year old boy actually does his own juggling act mid way through, which is certainly impressive, but kind of sad at the same time when you think about what a normal 12 year old should be doing. I kind of wonder what he thinks about growing up in the way that he is and what kind of relationship he has with his family. I think it’s an interesting situation, something to think about at least.
Anyways, I have to get back on stage for the second show, tomorrow is Perth and the end of the first half of this circumnavigation of Australia. Seeya!
At Sea, Exmouth, At Sea
Not much to write here, the sea days were nothing out of the ordinary, and our day in Exmouth was rather uneventful as well. Exmouth, a port I was hoping to either scuba dive at or at least go swimming, was taken up by a three hour rehearsal for Supremes show. After a boat drill in the morning and our rehearsal at 11:15, it wasn’t 2:15 till I was actually able to do anything, but with us tendering and a crew all aboard time at 3:15, it wasn’t even possible to get off the ship and return in that amount of time. Unfortunately I was therefore only able to see Exmouth from a distance. Instead, I decided to go up to the sun deck with a book and get my fair share of sun for the day. Well, apparently my fair share equals about 45 minutes, as that’s how long I was able to stay up there reading before I just couldn’t take the heat any more. It was nice and all, but I haven’t sweat like that for a long time.
The second sea day, the day I’m actually writing this, is like I said, the usual. The show tonight though is a circus family, or something along those lines. It’s a nice show, but it’s a mother and father with a 10 and 12 year old, both of who are in the show. The 12 year old boy actually does his own juggling act mid way through, which is certainly impressive, but kind of sad at the same time when you think about what a normal 12 year old should be doing. I kind of wonder what he thinks about growing up in the way that he is and what kind of relationship he has with his family. I think it’s an interesting situation, something to think about at least.
Anyways, I have to get back on stage for the second show, tomorrow is Perth and the end of the first half of this circumnavigation of Australia. Seeya!
Broome
March 9
Broome
We were in Broome today, a small town in northwestern Australia…small and freaking hot! After some rehearsal scheduling confusion, I ended up getting off the ship with Aaron to help him get video footage of one of the tours – Highlights of Broome. Aaron was the guy who got me on that rafting trip for free and again needed someone to go with today. The deal was simply that I carry around a large tripod for his video camera, not such a bad gig in exchange for a tour of the city and surrounding area. So we set out around 2:45, me with the tripod playing camera man, and heading into the scorching hot Australian afternoon.
The first thing I learned was that this area sees extremely large tidal movements. On a single day, the tides can change the depth from just over 10 meters to less than 1 meter! That’s over 30 feet of tidal movement a couple times a day, something I never would have thought possible.
Our first stop on our amply air-conditioned bus was at a lighthouse and the point of the peninsula the city was built on. It was a beautiful area with some nice rock structures and a great view of world famous Cable Beach. There was also a replica dinosaur footprint that was found way out at sea, one that is only revealed at the most extreme low tides. It was probably way more interesting in person, but for the sake of telling a better story, we’ll pretend the dinosaur swam out there and left his foot print especially for my air-conditioned bus load of old people.
The next stop was at Cable Beach, a beach that is certainly in my top three of all time awesome beaches. This was the largest white sand beach I’ve ever seen! Not only did it stretch as far as you could see, but from the tide being fairly low when we arrived, the beach was unbelievably wide. It literally took minutes to get from the grass to the water, all the while walking over pristine white sand. And…this beach had tons of tiny little crabs that had this wonderful compulsion to make tiny little sand balls. And I don’t mean a couple, I mean this was the goal of every crab’s life, and they made as many tiny sand balls as their tiny crab arms would allow. The entire beach (which I think I’ve explained already as huge) was overrun, not sprinkled, not dusted, not even covered, but overrun with tiny sand balls the size of peas, all made by tiny little crabs you couldn’t see unless you really looked down amongst the sand balls. Anyway, the water was warm when I put my hand in it (Indian Ocean – sweet), the scenery was perfect, and I had to return to the bus…
Next was a stop in the city. The town itself was tiny, really nothing more than a small outpost where people sell local pearls and other jewelry. Aaron and I broke off from the group thinking we’d get back to the ship sooner for other plans (my 6:00 rehearsal), took some videos of the city, and hopped on a shuttle back to the ship.
And that’s about it for the day. Seeya
Broome
We were in Broome today, a small town in northwestern Australia…small and freaking hot! After some rehearsal scheduling confusion, I ended up getting off the ship with Aaron to help him get video footage of one of the tours – Highlights of Broome. Aaron was the guy who got me on that rafting trip for free and again needed someone to go with today. The deal was simply that I carry around a large tripod for his video camera, not such a bad gig in exchange for a tour of the city and surrounding area. So we set out around 2:45, me with the tripod playing camera man, and heading into the scorching hot Australian afternoon.
The first thing I learned was that this area sees extremely large tidal movements. On a single day, the tides can change the depth from just over 10 meters to less than 1 meter! That’s over 30 feet of tidal movement a couple times a day, something I never would have thought possible.
Our first stop on our amply air-conditioned bus was at a lighthouse and the point of the peninsula the city was built on. It was a beautiful area with some nice rock structures and a great view of world famous Cable Beach. There was also a replica dinosaur footprint that was found way out at sea, one that is only revealed at the most extreme low tides. It was probably way more interesting in person, but for the sake of telling a better story, we’ll pretend the dinosaur swam out there and left his foot print especially for my air-conditioned bus load of old people.
The next stop was at Cable Beach, a beach that is certainly in my top three of all time awesome beaches. This was the largest white sand beach I’ve ever seen! Not only did it stretch as far as you could see, but from the tide being fairly low when we arrived, the beach was unbelievably wide. It literally took minutes to get from the grass to the water, all the while walking over pristine white sand. And…this beach had tons of tiny little crabs that had this wonderful compulsion to make tiny little sand balls. And I don’t mean a couple, I mean this was the goal of every crab’s life, and they made as many tiny sand balls as their tiny crab arms would allow. The entire beach (which I think I’ve explained already as huge) was overrun, not sprinkled, not dusted, not even covered, but overrun with tiny sand balls the size of peas, all made by tiny little crabs you couldn’t see unless you really looked down amongst the sand balls. Anyway, the water was warm when I put my hand in it (Indian Ocean – sweet), the scenery was perfect, and I had to return to the bus…
Next was a stop in the city. The town itself was tiny, really nothing more than a small outpost where people sell local pearls and other jewelry. Aaron and I broke off from the group thinking we’d get back to the ship sooner for other plans (my 6:00 rehearsal), took some videos of the city, and hopped on a shuttle back to the ship.
And that’s about it for the day. Seeya
At Sea
March 7-8
At Sea
Nothing too exciting these past couple days, just sea days. We did have two decent entertainers though, a pianist who had some nice charts, and a singer that did a lot of old jazz standards. They both had nice shows to play, so that’s always a welcome change from the usual brainless charts we’re given.
The singer, Gregg, was really happy with my sax playing and couldn’t say enough about my tone and my solo in general. I was feeling pretty good about all that, till I kind of started to figure out that he was complimenting me just slightly too aggressively, meaning he didn’t just like my playing, but liked me…yeah – wasn’t feeling so good any more. He ended up going to our big band set that night and sang a few tunes with us, which was cool, till he again started complimenting me a little too much and looking over a little too often. Luckily, he left the ship the next day, so after a night of fighting off awkward advances, I can now sleep better knowing he’s no longer in this country. (Who remembers the December 5th story from back in 2007? I don’t know how these situations seem to find me…don’t jump to any conclusions – ha)
And I’ll just leave it at that – thanks!
At Sea
Nothing too exciting these past couple days, just sea days. We did have two decent entertainers though, a pianist who had some nice charts, and a singer that did a lot of old jazz standards. They both had nice shows to play, so that’s always a welcome change from the usual brainless charts we’re given.
The singer, Gregg, was really happy with my sax playing and couldn’t say enough about my tone and my solo in general. I was feeling pretty good about all that, till I kind of started to figure out that he was complimenting me just slightly too aggressively, meaning he didn’t just like my playing, but liked me…yeah – wasn’t feeling so good any more. He ended up going to our big band set that night and sang a few tunes with us, which was cool, till he again started complimenting me a little too much and looking over a little too often. Luckily, he left the ship the next day, so after a night of fighting off awkward advances, I can now sleep better knowing he’s no longer in this country. (Who remembers the December 5th story from back in 2007? I don’t know how these situations seem to find me…don’t jump to any conclusions – ha)
And I’ll just leave it at that – thanks!
Darwin
March 6
Darwin
First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! Yeah, technically it’s on the 5th, but when I called home today it was the 5th there, so it’s going in this blog entry.
I was in Darwin today, a city known for its crocodiles (among other things I’m sure). There really aren’t many beaches in this area because of the salt-water crocs roaming the shores. I didn’t have too much in mind today, and after an 11:00 rehearsal, I didn’t have a ton of time. I was hoping to meet up with another local via Couch Surfing but was unable to elicit a response from anyone, so instead I got of the ship with Terry (who was doing his show tonight) and we just started walking through the city.
The shuttle dropped us off near the main pedestrian area, or The Mall, where the majority of the shopping was located. We walked through there for a bit, walked a good deal past it, figured out we hadn’t had lunch yet, and turned around to find something. We ran into some guys in the band who are notorious for getting off the ship at each port and finding fish and chips (by chips, they mean fries), and after a quick stop to talk, they pointed us in the direction of a fish and ships place that they decided was in the top 3 of all time fish and chips they’ve ever had. Now even me, not being a fan of fish, couldn’t pass up a recommendation like that, so we found the fish and chips place, a small outdoor place, aptly named “Chips & Fish” (those Australians are a creative bunch).
So we went up to the counter and ordered our lunch. The recommended fish that our friends spoke so highly of was barramundi, apparently some freshwater fish native to that area and not really anywhere else. Anyways, it was just as good as promised, and me not being a fish fan, ate absolutely everything on my plate. We also ordered ginger beer, a non-alcoholic beverage that tastes strongly of…ginger. It was pretty good I guess, carbonated ginger drink, but another one of those things you don’t really see in the states. But all in all, it was a successful lunch!
We left, Terry headed back to the ship, and I tried to walk down to the water. I made it to the shore only to find everything fenced off due to the crocodiles, which was kind of a drag seeing as I had my bathing suit on and it was 100 degrees outside. After a quick stroll through the park, I returned to the Mall to get internet access, made the “Happy Birthday” phone call home, and then meandered my way back to the ship.
I guess it wasn’t as exciting as 4 paragraphs might necessitate, but whatever, there’s my day. Darwin was nice, hot, had great fish and chips, and beach use was subject to crocodile attacks. And there you have it – Darwin Australia – Seeya!
Darwin
First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! Yeah, technically it’s on the 5th, but when I called home today it was the 5th there, so it’s going in this blog entry.
I was in Darwin today, a city known for its crocodiles (among other things I’m sure). There really aren’t many beaches in this area because of the salt-water crocs roaming the shores. I didn’t have too much in mind today, and after an 11:00 rehearsal, I didn’t have a ton of time. I was hoping to meet up with another local via Couch Surfing but was unable to elicit a response from anyone, so instead I got of the ship with Terry (who was doing his show tonight) and we just started walking through the city.
The shuttle dropped us off near the main pedestrian area, or The Mall, where the majority of the shopping was located. We walked through there for a bit, walked a good deal past it, figured out we hadn’t had lunch yet, and turned around to find something. We ran into some guys in the band who are notorious for getting off the ship at each port and finding fish and chips (by chips, they mean fries), and after a quick stop to talk, they pointed us in the direction of a fish and ships place that they decided was in the top 3 of all time fish and chips they’ve ever had. Now even me, not being a fan of fish, couldn’t pass up a recommendation like that, so we found the fish and chips place, a small outdoor place, aptly named “Chips & Fish” (those Australians are a creative bunch).
So we went up to the counter and ordered our lunch. The recommended fish that our friends spoke so highly of was barramundi, apparently some freshwater fish native to that area and not really anywhere else. Anyways, it was just as good as promised, and me not being a fish fan, ate absolutely everything on my plate. We also ordered ginger beer, a non-alcoholic beverage that tastes strongly of…ginger. It was pretty good I guess, carbonated ginger drink, but another one of those things you don’t really see in the states. But all in all, it was a successful lunch!
We left, Terry headed back to the ship, and I tried to walk down to the water. I made it to the shore only to find everything fenced off due to the crocodiles, which was kind of a drag seeing as I had my bathing suit on and it was 100 degrees outside. After a quick stroll through the park, I returned to the Mall to get internet access, made the “Happy Birthday” phone call home, and then meandered my way back to the ship.
I guess it wasn’t as exciting as 4 paragraphs might necessitate, but whatever, there’s my day. Darwin was nice, hot, had great fish and chips, and beach use was subject to crocodile attacks. And there you have it – Darwin Australia – Seeya!
At Sea
March 4-5
At Sea
Both days were spent at sea, and both offered fairly light work days. Really, most of the day was spent online or trying to amuse myself other ways. I’m working on reformatting my website though, which is about as much excitement as I’ve had these past two days. However, the 5th was met with some of the nicest seas I’ve seen. The water literally looked smooth, completely without texture. I’ve seen computerized oceans that look more real than what I saw on the 5th. This was followed by seeing a sunset, something I really don’t see enough of on ships. The 5th is also Mom’s Birthday, but I’ll include that in with the 6th seeing as the 6th where I am is much closer to the 5th back at home. Thanks!
At Sea
Both days were spent at sea, and both offered fairly light work days. Really, most of the day was spent online or trying to amuse myself other ways. I’m working on reformatting my website though, which is about as much excitement as I’ve had these past two days. However, the 5th was met with some of the nicest seas I’ve seen. The water literally looked smooth, completely without texture. I’ve seen computerized oceans that look more real than what I saw on the 5th. This was followed by seeing a sunset, something I really don’t see enough of on ships. The 5th is also Mom’s Birthday, but I’ll include that in with the 6th seeing as the 6th where I am is much closer to the 5th back at home. Thanks!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
March 3rd
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Today was an exciting day for a number of reasons. First, it was a new country that I’ve never been to, always a good thing. Second, when you look up the city on Wikipedia it has been deemed the “least livable capital city in the world”, and boasts and murder rate 3 times that of Moscow and 20-something times that of London – wow. Third, I had decided to meet up with some locals I’ve never met before! Before you get too upset by what seems to be poor decision making, let me explain how this all worked out…
Thanks to the rafting trip with Aaron, he let me know about a website named couchsurfing.com, one in which the members host travelers by letting them sleep on their couch or meeting for lunch and showing them the city. The premise is that travelers help out other travelers, and when you aren’t somewhere in the world you put up your couch, though there is no obligation to do so. Anyways, I registered on the site, instantly looked up Port Moresby, and contacted one of the two people I saw listed. After a few emails back and forth we’d worked out a meeting time and place.
I’m sure you’re asking “how can you trust the people”, and there’s really no sure fire way of being totally sure what’s going to happen, but from looking at my hosts profile and our conversations, I had a decent feeling everything would be fine. Also, she was to meet me at the pier with one of her friends, and had I not liked the look of her or her friend I’d have turned around right there and gone back to the ship – so don’t get too worried about me, I’m doing my best to minimize risk :)
So I get out to the pier at noon and find my host, Musy and her friend Shannon (a large Australian guy) waiting for me at the pier. Musy approached smiling, introduced herself and Shannon, and feeling pretty confident in the situation I hopped in the back of their Nissan and we set off for lunch. I was planning on bringing a friend with me just for the sake of not being alone, but due to a late rehearsal for a production show, I couldn’t find anyone to go with, so I just went myself.
Anyways, Musy is from Malaysia, studied law in the UK, and now works in Port Moresby. Shannon was from Brisbane and also had a job that had him working in the city. We talked during lunch about the city and their lives there, along with what I do on the ship. Both Musy and Shannon were extremely friendly and were great to talk with, I couldn’t have had two nicer hosts. We finished up lunch, they picked up my bill (thanks!) and we went out for a driving tour of the city.
It was really quite a place and did justice to what’s written on the always trustworthy Wikipedia (ha). The roads of the city weren’t in the best shape, the residential communities looked like they were straight out of one of those “help the children” commercials, and there were dogs everywhere. There was an entire residential area of metal siding huts up on stilts out in the water, just waiting for a large storm to come by and knock them down. It was really amazing to drive through the area and see how unfortunate it was, especially considering that I’m sure I didn’t even see the worst of it.
This “least livable city” is also plagued by gangs, or what they call Rascals. Shannon said his business was held at gun point on New Years by four Rascals, certainly not something you hear about all the time in the states. The ship had been warned against traveling alone through the city for just that reason, and there was even a BBQ thrown for the crew to try to keep us on the ship. But it’s because of the desperation and low employment that these Rascals exist. Meanwhile, housing costs are extremely expensive. A house around the city would rent for over $2000 per week…yeah, per week. Considering you can get a decent place in Chicago for half that per month, this was really amazing to hear.
My hosts had to return to work though and I was soon dropped off at the pier, more than excited about the day I’d just spent. I thanked my new friends as much as possible, tried offering some money for lunch (which was promptly refused), and headed back to the ship with a huge smile.
I then ran into some friends on the ship (the dancers) and I joined up with their group to head out again into the city, this time for a walking tour, We didn’t get very far, everyone was a little nervous about doing too much exploring, and first the girls returned to the ship, followed by me and two other dancers 30 minutes later. It was funny walking through the city with the dancers though because with the temperature being as hot as it was (must have been 100+), they had their shirts off. Well, nothing sticks out more than three white guys walking around, two with their shirts off. But the locals were all very nice and welcoming, they’d wave or even come up and shake our hands, and though I was initially concerned that they were looking to sell something, it seemed as if they were legitimately welcoming us, which was nice. Also, walking through their having everyone looking and waving kind of makes you feel like a movie star, so that was fun.
And now I’m back on the ship writing this blog while I wait to go watch the production show tonight. I’m looking forward to up coming ports when I try to do this again with other hosts, and I’d be more than happy if they turn out to be half as great as Musy and Shannon. One more big public thanks to them as I wish them all the best in their jobs and life in Port Moresby. I’ll be looking forward to more such adventures and as always, thanks for reading!
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Today was an exciting day for a number of reasons. First, it was a new country that I’ve never been to, always a good thing. Second, when you look up the city on Wikipedia it has been deemed the “least livable capital city in the world”, and boasts and murder rate 3 times that of Moscow and 20-something times that of London – wow. Third, I had decided to meet up with some locals I’ve never met before! Before you get too upset by what seems to be poor decision making, let me explain how this all worked out…
Thanks to the rafting trip with Aaron, he let me know about a website named couchsurfing.com, one in which the members host travelers by letting them sleep on their couch or meeting for lunch and showing them the city. The premise is that travelers help out other travelers, and when you aren’t somewhere in the world you put up your couch, though there is no obligation to do so. Anyways, I registered on the site, instantly looked up Port Moresby, and contacted one of the two people I saw listed. After a few emails back and forth we’d worked out a meeting time and place.
I’m sure you’re asking “how can you trust the people”, and there’s really no sure fire way of being totally sure what’s going to happen, but from looking at my hosts profile and our conversations, I had a decent feeling everything would be fine. Also, she was to meet me at the pier with one of her friends, and had I not liked the look of her or her friend I’d have turned around right there and gone back to the ship – so don’t get too worried about me, I’m doing my best to minimize risk :)
So I get out to the pier at noon and find my host, Musy and her friend Shannon (a large Australian guy) waiting for me at the pier. Musy approached smiling, introduced herself and Shannon, and feeling pretty confident in the situation I hopped in the back of their Nissan and we set off for lunch. I was planning on bringing a friend with me just for the sake of not being alone, but due to a late rehearsal for a production show, I couldn’t find anyone to go with, so I just went myself.
Anyways, Musy is from Malaysia, studied law in the UK, and now works in Port Moresby. Shannon was from Brisbane and also had a job that had him working in the city. We talked during lunch about the city and their lives there, along with what I do on the ship. Both Musy and Shannon were extremely friendly and were great to talk with, I couldn’t have had two nicer hosts. We finished up lunch, they picked up my bill (thanks!) and we went out for a driving tour of the city.
It was really quite a place and did justice to what’s written on the always trustworthy Wikipedia (ha). The roads of the city weren’t in the best shape, the residential communities looked like they were straight out of one of those “help the children” commercials, and there were dogs everywhere. There was an entire residential area of metal siding huts up on stilts out in the water, just waiting for a large storm to come by and knock them down. It was really amazing to drive through the area and see how unfortunate it was, especially considering that I’m sure I didn’t even see the worst of it.
This “least livable city” is also plagued by gangs, or what they call Rascals. Shannon said his business was held at gun point on New Years by four Rascals, certainly not something you hear about all the time in the states. The ship had been warned against traveling alone through the city for just that reason, and there was even a BBQ thrown for the crew to try to keep us on the ship. But it’s because of the desperation and low employment that these Rascals exist. Meanwhile, housing costs are extremely expensive. A house around the city would rent for over $2000 per week…yeah, per week. Considering you can get a decent place in Chicago for half that per month, this was really amazing to hear.
My hosts had to return to work though and I was soon dropped off at the pier, more than excited about the day I’d just spent. I thanked my new friends as much as possible, tried offering some money for lunch (which was promptly refused), and headed back to the ship with a huge smile.
I then ran into some friends on the ship (the dancers) and I joined up with their group to head out again into the city, this time for a walking tour, We didn’t get very far, everyone was a little nervous about doing too much exploring, and first the girls returned to the ship, followed by me and two other dancers 30 minutes later. It was funny walking through the city with the dancers though because with the temperature being as hot as it was (must have been 100+), they had their shirts off. Well, nothing sticks out more than three white guys walking around, two with their shirts off. But the locals were all very nice and welcoming, they’d wave or even come up and shake our hands, and though I was initially concerned that they were looking to sell something, it seemed as if they were legitimately welcoming us, which was nice. Also, walking through their having everyone looking and waving kind of makes you feel like a movie star, so that was fun.
And now I’m back on the ship writing this blog while I wait to go watch the production show tonight. I’m looking forward to up coming ports when I try to do this again with other hosts, and I’d be more than happy if they turn out to be half as great as Musy and Shannon. One more big public thanks to them as I wish them all the best in their jobs and life in Port Moresby. I’ll be looking forward to more such adventures and as always, thanks for reading!
Cairns/At Sea
March 1-2
Cairns/At Sea
The ship tendered outside of Cairns on March 1st, the port in which my original plan was to try to get off the ship and go diving at the Great Barrier Reef. Well, after a few emails to dive companies and after finding out that we were both a tender ride and a bus ride outside of the city, the diving thing just didn’t look like it was going to work out. All the dive trips leave before 9am, which doesn’t do me any good when we don’t start the tendering process till 10:30. So I needed a new plan…
My search quickly came to an end when my friend Aaron told me he had an extra ticket to go on a rafting tour – lucky me! Aaron is a Broadcast Technician, meaning he often gets free tour tickets for him and a friend so that they can shoot video for the company. Today I was that friend.
It worked out where he didn’t even bring his video equipment and we simply loaded onto a bus like any other passenger heading out for an afternoon of rafting. There were about a dozen of us in total from the ship, kind of low for 2000 total passengers. Anyways, we drove up the mountain, were given the safety speech and an overview of the grade 3 river, helmets and life jackets were distributed and we set out.
My raft consisted of my friend and me, a couple from Addison IL, and another couple from California…the raft was promptly named “Team America”. Our guide was some Japanese dude with sketchy English, but he did a great job none the less. The river (Barron River) itself didn’t have any 7 meter water falls, but was much more technical than the NZ river, meaning more work navigating through the rocks, and as I see it, more dangerous. The entire trip lasted about 90 minutes traveling down a picture perfect river cradled in some valley running down the mountain. The water was the perfect temperature, meaning some of the time was spent off the raft swimming around till the next bunch of rapids approached, meanwhile we were assured that the salt-water Crocodiles never venture as far up the river as we were rafting…luckily that was true during this trip. I got some more photos from a photographer that traveled with the rafts, along with the picture Aaron took with his waterproof camera.
We landed the raft at a pub where we were given some drinks and potato wedges, which were great. We could also buy ice cream or drinks. The coolest thing about the outdoors pub, however, was this huge golden orb spider that had set a gigantic between the roof and a crossbeam. The web was the largest I’ve seen in the wild, and the spider was by far larger than anything I’ve ever seen roaming around. The best part was that the guy selling snacks said it was only average sized, as if it needed to get any bigger than the size of my hand. Anyways, I thought it was awesome, the women who saw him usually screamed.
We took the bus back to the ship, and not having any more time to get into Cairns, we just hopped on the tender. All in all, I’d have liked to see Cairns and would have loved to go diving, but would I trade that option for a free day of rafting, you betcha!
March 2nd was a sea day sailing to Papua New Guinea, and that’s all I have to say about that.
Cairns/At Sea
The ship tendered outside of Cairns on March 1st, the port in which my original plan was to try to get off the ship and go diving at the Great Barrier Reef. Well, after a few emails to dive companies and after finding out that we were both a tender ride and a bus ride outside of the city, the diving thing just didn’t look like it was going to work out. All the dive trips leave before 9am, which doesn’t do me any good when we don’t start the tendering process till 10:30. So I needed a new plan…
My search quickly came to an end when my friend Aaron told me he had an extra ticket to go on a rafting tour – lucky me! Aaron is a Broadcast Technician, meaning he often gets free tour tickets for him and a friend so that they can shoot video for the company. Today I was that friend.
It worked out where he didn’t even bring his video equipment and we simply loaded onto a bus like any other passenger heading out for an afternoon of rafting. There were about a dozen of us in total from the ship, kind of low for 2000 total passengers. Anyways, we drove up the mountain, were given the safety speech and an overview of the grade 3 river, helmets and life jackets were distributed and we set out.
My raft consisted of my friend and me, a couple from Addison IL, and another couple from California…the raft was promptly named “Team America”. Our guide was some Japanese dude with sketchy English, but he did a great job none the less. The river (Barron River) itself didn’t have any 7 meter water falls, but was much more technical than the NZ river, meaning more work navigating through the rocks, and as I see it, more dangerous. The entire trip lasted about 90 minutes traveling down a picture perfect river cradled in some valley running down the mountain. The water was the perfect temperature, meaning some of the time was spent off the raft swimming around till the next bunch of rapids approached, meanwhile we were assured that the salt-water Crocodiles never venture as far up the river as we were rafting…luckily that was true during this trip. I got some more photos from a photographer that traveled with the rafts, along with the picture Aaron took with his waterproof camera.
We landed the raft at a pub where we were given some drinks and potato wedges, which were great. We could also buy ice cream or drinks. The coolest thing about the outdoors pub, however, was this huge golden orb spider that had set a gigantic between the roof and a crossbeam. The web was the largest I’ve seen in the wild, and the spider was by far larger than anything I’ve ever seen roaming around. The best part was that the guy selling snacks said it was only average sized, as if it needed to get any bigger than the size of my hand. Anyways, I thought it was awesome, the women who saw him usually screamed.
We took the bus back to the ship, and not having any more time to get into Cairns, we just hopped on the tender. All in all, I’d have liked to see Cairns and would have loved to go diving, but would I trade that option for a free day of rafting, you betcha!
March 2nd was a sea day sailing to Papua New Guinea, and that’s all I have to say about that.
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