Australia part 2

Hello Everyone,

I hope that everyone has had a great couple of weeks since the last blog….I know that I have been enjoying my time on the ship. 

Lets not waste any time:

Thursday, March 3rd was the first of MANY MANY sea days that we have had during this cruise. This is the longest cruise that I've had since I've been on the ship and thats nuts….21 day cruise. The normal things happened on the sea day….just the normal duties. Kinda bummed that the weather has been kinda crap lately…I hope that its better throughout this cruise.

Friday, March 4th we were in Brisbane, Australia and had a very good day in the city and then off on tour. I woke up in the morning and wanted to see the city of Brisbane (also, to get a good meal as well…haha). The city of Brisbane, is just like every other city in the world….streets, buildings…the works. I walked around their city mall and just enjoyed my time alone in the city. If you remember the last blog, I talked about Hungry Jack's (the wannabe Burger King)…well, I decided this day to have a meal there….just to see what it was like. I have to say, they are a lot fresher and nicer there….which is hard for me to say…I am a Burger King fan…but I have to give it to Hungry Jack's…they impressed me…HAHA!!! After my satisfying meal (haha), I made my way back to the ship for my afternoon tour that I was escorting to the Australian Zoo (Steve Irwin's Zoo). Got on the bus and had a great drive into Australia to make my way there. It was POURING down rain…like REALLY hard, but I was so excited to make it to the Zoo. On the drive there, I kept thinking about my Dad and when I was younger…we would watch the Crocodile Hunter on Animal Planet together all the time…so going to the Australian Zoo…where I would see it all the time on the TV…finally being there, brought back a lot of great memories with my Dad….it was nice. Yeah, I know that it was a little random but meant something to me. When I got to the zoo, it was absolutely POURING down rain…I have never experienced this kind of rain before. I didn't have an umbrella this day (BIG MISTAKE) so needless to say, I got wet. We went on the trolley to the Elephant feeding on the far side of the park. I got to feed an Elephant named Siam and it was so strange….someone made a great point to me…its like feeding the fruit to a person's nose….needless to say, I needed to wash my hands afterwards..haha. We headed off to the Tiger cage next but they wanted NOTHING to do with the people there…had their backs to us the entire time…made me laugh. We then took the trolley over to the crocodile area where we thought we were going to witness a croc feeding…just like Steve Irwin did when he first began everything, but when we got there…they told us that the feeding wouldn't be happening because the crocs get very excited in the rain…so it wasn't safe for the croc handlers….so that was a little upsetting but I understood. Next, we went over to the main area…where the Crocoseum was (this is the place where Steve Irwin's funeral was on TV…if you can remember that) and it was just strange to be somewhere I saw on TV and now, I'm there. After that, I found out that one of the guests had bought an opportunity for me to get a picture with a Koala…which was so nice of them. I was so strange to hold them…the Koala, not the guests haha…they are A LOT heavier than I thought but nice and soft….what a cool experience and I got a 8 x 10 picture with it…possible new headshot??? (Haha) After a great time at the zoo, we had to make it back to the bus to get us back to the ship for our departure from Brisbane. What a wonderful day…rainy…but wonderful. 

Saturday, March 5th we were, AGAIN, at sea. This cruise is going to be SO long with all these sea days…I can't believe that we have so many…ehhh. Again, we had another day full of duties and RAIN. I'm REALLY get sick of the rain and I don't understand why it is raining ALL the time. The people on the ship so far have not really been so much fun because on the sea day…we like to do water volleyball with the guests but no one on the ship seems to be interested….this is going to be a LONG cruise…haha. 

Sunday, March 6th we were suppose to go to Hardy Reef, Australia but again, due to the storms / tide…we couldn't do there…so you guessed it…ANOTHER sea day. EHHHHHHHHHHHHHH….SEA DAYS are SOOOOO boring. At least I'm getting my rest….haha.

Monday, March 7th we were in Cairns, Australia but I was ever so lucky to be on IPM so again…I couldn't get off the ship. I had the normal day of duties and then I decided to go upstairs and enjoy the fresh air…sometimes you need that…haha. It has been so humid lately (98% humidity) and it was so cool to see this storm coming towards the ship so since it was SO humid, you could see the rain in the distance. I thought that it was so cool…eventually when it got closer, you could see the rain but at the same time…hear the rain…kinda soothing. THIS was the highlight of my day….rain….has it really come to this Silver Spirit…really? (haha).

Tuesday, March 8th….sea day….SO sick of them…haha.

Wednesday, March 9th we were in Thursday Island, Australia and marking our 200th day on the ship (wow). We got off the ship early since we were leaving quite early from the port. There wasn't anything too exciting happening in this town but we walked around just trying to find somewhere to eat. We made our way to a pub that looked promising and walked in. We asked the lady there (which she was the only one there) if they had a menu and she said, "We don't serve food until 12:00 noon"…strange…so we walked off to this place that said, "THE BEST RESTAURANT IN AUSTRALIA" and guess what…they didn't serve food until 12:00 noon either….good job Thursday Island. Eventually we made it back to this little side restaurant and had a really good chicken and cheese sandwich. Afterwards, Lesley and I walked around and just enjoyed our time off the ship before we had back to the tender. Strange day here in Thursday Island….haha.

Thursday, March 10th is ANOTHER SEA DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You know…it doesn't seem like its a huge deal probably that we are at sea for the day but you have to understand that there is NOTHING else to do on the ship…so you sit in your room, watching TV or taking a nap…all day LONG…24 hours…whoosh. I can't wait to get done with this cruise…don't like having so many sea days.

Friday, March 11th we were in Darwin, Australia our last day in Australia and marks my 3 months till I come home. This day we had a half embarkation day so I had to work the terminal in the morning…only welcoming 2 guests in the 2 hours I stood there….boring. I will say though that there was this cute older lady that reminded me of my Grandma (Nene) that I found out is a world cruiser…so she is on for quite some time. She sat there with me for about 40 mins and we just talked and it was a good time…let the time fly by. She is a very sweet woman and I hope to have dinner with her during the world cruise sometime. Afterwards, the cast got off and we got a great meal in town…we needed it. Had a great time sitting there talking with each other and reflecting on great but very rainy time in Australia. Afterwards, we took our computers over to an internet cafe and spent the rest of the day talking online and uploading pictures…something that I needed to do…which was nice. I stayed a little longer than the rest of the cast and eventually looked at my clock and saw that I had 10 mins to be back on board the ship. Mom, don't worry…we have to be back on board an hour before sail away….haha. I defiantly had my work out this day…because I ran back the whole way…it was quite the run…whoosh and I was only 5 mins late…I was very proud of myself because I was quite far away. After we had sailed away, we found out about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and that the entire Pacific ocean was on a Tsunami alert. It was strange that the Captain was talking about the fact that we were safe and that we wouldn't be in danger…especially out a sea. I say that it was strange because you don't think that you will see something so horrible on the news like this and actually be in the danger zone…that it could possibly reach us. It was crazy to see all of this stuff on the news and know that I'm not that far away from where it actually was….just crazy. We had been in Christchurch a week before the horrible earthquake there and now having been so close to this next natural disaster…so crazy. Hopefully, we wont have to experience anything more.

The rest of the cruise's itinerary is: At Sea on March 12 and 13th / Benoa, Bali, Indonesia on March 14th (Lesley's Birthday) / At Sea on March 15th and 16th / Sandakan, Malaysia on March 17th / At Sea on March 18th / Manila, Philippines on March 19th / At Sea on March 20th and ending our longest cruise with an overnight in Hong Kong, China on March 21st and March 22nd. 

I hope that everyone has had a great March so far and make sure that you keep those people in Japan in your thoughts….they need all the support that they can get.

Until Next Time,

Jason