Turned Upside Down in Geraldton

 Here we are.  I'll explain later.

Today, New Year's Eve, we are in Geraldton, WA.  It was mostly uneventful 2 days of cruising to get here.  After taking the shuttle bus into town, we went for a nice walk along the foreshore.  The weather today was thankfully much cooler and drier than we had up north.  It made for good walking.  We found Geraldton to have plenty of beaches and, of course, the ubiquitous Aussie water park.

After about a 3K walk we arrived at our destination - The BIG MARBLE.  It created an interesting illusion as we walked around it.

Once we got ourselves right side up, we walked up to the HMAS Sydney II Memorial.  The HMAS Sydney II, which had connections to Geraldton, was sunk in a battle with a German ship on November 19, 1941 and all 645 men on board perished.  We were given a tour of the monument by a volunteer who explained the incident and the various elements of the memorial.

After returning to Regatta for lunch, I had just enough energy to go back into Geraldton to take a walk along the Esplanade and to sit by the beach and begin to compose this blog entry.  This was supposed to be the spot to see sea lions, but none were there.

Linda stayed behind to rest up for the big New Year's Eve festivities tonight.  We actually will stay up til midnight!

One thing that we have noticed is that there have been signs and placards in every town respecting the indigenous people of the land.  I don't know how that translates into compensating them or improving their lives.  We'll just have to investigate that.

Geraldton was the first of five days in port - next is 2 days in Fremantle, then a day in Busselton and a day in Albany.  The 2 sea days after that will be welcome!

Peace and blessings and Happy New Year,

Linda and Larry

Swept Up in Broome

 Or should I say sweated up in Broome?  We arrived in Broome, WA late in the morning.

Broome is in the Kimberly region of Western Australia which was appropriate since today was our daughter-in-law Kimberly's birthday, at least in the US.  Since we had been to Broome in 2017 and done the highlights of Cable Beach and Gantheaume Point (and the dinosaur footprints) then,we decided to make it a simple day.  Did I mention that it was hot, humid, and sweaty in Broome?  After clearing Australian immigration on the ship, we were able to take the shuttle bus into town at about noon.  Just in time for lunch.  After a quick look around, we headed for our target lunch spot.

It was a hot walk which made the hard lemon at Matso's quite refreshing.  And the food was good as well.

After lunch, we trekked back to town to check out more aboriginal art.  I had to climb the red sand dune along the way.

We saw some nice art and bought a little wedding present for Bryn and Bella, 2 of the entertainers on board who are getting married next month.  And we bought earrings and a pendant for Linda! 

So, it was a hot but simple and successful few hours in Broome.  Sometimes, simple is simply the best.  Tonight we head off for 2 sea days before arriving in Geraldton.

One other note - they picked up quite a load of fresh fish in Bali which we have been enjoying the past 2 nights, particularly last night when it was grilled to order out on the rear deck of the Terrace restaurant.  Fresh barramundi and tuna - yeah baby!

Tonight, we'll do it again.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry

Bali High

Sunday, Christmas Day, we sailed into Benoa, Bali in the early afternoon.  As we sailed in, the view was very reminiscent of the scene from the last time we came there.  Here is a pic from March, 2017:

And here it is on Sunday:

 We would be overnighting in Bali and we had plans for both days.  

First up, was a cooking class at Cafe Wayan in Ubud.  When our kids in Georgia were on their world travels in 2016, they stayed in Ubud and did the cooking class at Cafe Wayan so it was well recommended.  The experience lived up to our expectations.  We were joined by Linda's brother, Michael, and his wife, Jackie.  We had arranged for a guide, Made, to transport us to the restaurant which worked out well.  I sure would not want to drive in the insane traffic of Bali!

The traffic caused us to be a bit late to the class but I was able to message the restaurant and keep them informed so they were waiting for us when we finally arrived.  Cafe Wayan is in a beautiful setting.

We opted for the vegetarian menu for our cooking class:

Simply put, the cooking class was terrific.  Chef Wayan was a fun and interesting instructor.  And the food we cooked was tasty indeed.

 

After the class we were treated to a table spread with the food we had cooked which, I must say, made for a delicious dinner.

For day 2 in Bali, we were again guided by Made.  He turned out to be an excellent guide (we have his contact information).  We joined our friends Pam and Bob for the day.  The first stop was at a temple:

The temple was built in the 900's and restored after earthquake damage.  After donning sarongs, Made led us through the temple, explaining the various aspects of it.

There are many statues around the temple and these are a couple of my favorites.

While we were there, we were treated to a beautiful percussion concert by some young girls.  Their talent and ability to play in sync was impressive.

While the girls played, a group of boys seemed to be waiting for their turn.  It was a sign of the times that most of them were on their cell phones while waiting!

The next stop was the much anticipated Monkey Forest.  There, I, of course, took way too many photos and I missed the shot of a monkey climbing on Linda's arm.  But here's a good sampling including the monkeys picking my pocket and attempting to steal my watch.

After we had our fill of monkeys, it was lunch time.  Made took us to a restaurant bordering rice fields, Bebek Joni.  Linda had Gado-Gado, which she declared had a better peanut sauce than we had made the day before.  I had this wonderful fish dish, Gurami Goreng.

                                                    

Our last stop before heading back to the ship was at Kebune Bali, an agrotourism farm.  They grow many spices in addition to coffee and tea.  There we sampled 6 different coffees, including the famous Luwak coffee.  The Luwak is a an Asian Palm Civet.  The civets eat the coffee berries which ferment as they pass through their digestive tracts.  The pooped out beans are then sanitized and roasted which makes for a superbly smooth coffee.  Of course, we bought some.  We also bought some avocado coffee - coffee beans ground with avocado which we found to be quite good.

The civet and the roasting:

The tasting:

All in all, it was a great 2 days in Bali - a real Bali High!

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry