And That's A Wrap!

We captured this gorgeous sunset as we left Maui, our last port of call, and essentially the last stop before getting off the ship in Seattle. As we head home, I have many many thoughts. While I've put a lot of them down in this blog, there are many more that will stay with me for a life time.

Zoom in on Bruce's t-shirt and you'll see it says "Life is full of difficult decisions". What you can't see on is all the beer bottles/cans below that statement! The t-shirt is tongue in cheek, but the sentiment means more. Yes, so many decisions, but our time spent in Australia and New Zealand was one of our better ones. 

We met so many people, not only our AirBnB hosts but on the ship as well. We kept ourselves open to the different culture (remember, I TRIED the Vegemite!) and ways of life. 

Life is a journey and a series of adventures along the way. While Our Aussie Adventure is ending, I remind myself that there are a whole lot of other places out there that we haven't seen yet!

Until our next adventure!

Aussie This & That

It's coming to a close. Only 4 more days left of our Aussie Adventure! Thought I better get down on paper some of my thoughts on Australia.

Just like the Kiwis, Aussies are just the nicest people! When I have mentioned that to an Australian, they kind of get a smirk on their face like "hmmmm not ALL are nice". However, I guess we've been lucky then because everyone we have encountered has just been lovely.

Speaking of which, lovely is their word of the day. People are lovely. Things are lovely. Food is lovely. It's just kind of a lovely word, don't ya think?

I know I mentioned the NICE driving in relation to New Zealand, but it's like that in Australia too. (Again, I got that smirk from more than one Aussie when talking about nice driving.) Once you get past the "I'm driving on the wrong side of the road" thing, driving's not nearly as stressful! Maybe because they aren't in such a daggone hurry as we Americans always seem to be. They'll actually LET YOU INTO THEIR LANE! Wow! Isn't that refreshing? Even their road signs are nice. Instead of our Yield sign (which is just kind of a demand), theirs says Give Way. Just sounds nicer. They have lots and lots of "Stopping Bays" or "Resting Bays". These are just little pullouts on the highways, or motorways, where you could rest. They have many signs reminding you not to get tired while driving and then provide these Bays. Instead of passing lanes, they have Overtaking Lanes. I read signs that said Take Care as we entered a motorway which made me smile. 

We met an Australian couple, Karrie and Kaj, who enjoyed teaching me the Aussie way of saying things. I could never say any of it with their delicious accent, but I was getting the hang of "speaking Aussie". 

You should have seen the looks of horror on their face when we discussed biscuits! To them, biscuits are cookies (like my beloved Tim Tams). When we tried to explain biscuits and gravy, wow, I thought they would gag. The very next day we saw them at breakfast, took them up to the biscuits and gravy and they said, "Oh, scones!" Well, not really, but close........

Interesting use of the letters c, s and z. For example, we spell it "cozy". They spell it "cosy". I found that throughout every word that had those letters in them. I asked and was told theirs was based on the British. Same for colour and harbour. Guess we got rid of all things British in America!

Aussies call things by different names. For example, tomato sauce for ketchup; sunnies for sunglasses; bathers or togs for swimsuit; thongs for flip flops. We met an Australian who was moving to Nevada. She had never even been to the U.S., so we jokingly had American language lessons when we would see her. We did tell her what thongs are to us so that she didn't announce she was going to get her thongs in public! 

There are not so nice things in Australia, like Mozzies, aka known as mosquitoes. Oh, yea, those........

Basically they will tell you that they are lazy and just shorten every word possible. Like Macca's for McDonalds (which BTW are on every. single. street corner. Right along with Subway! We never ate at either!). Lollis for candy, not just suckers. Bundi for the city of Bundaberg, or Rocky for Rockhampton. 

We did a lot of walking on footpaths. Now that absolutely makes sense, doesn't it? 

Everything is "have a.....". Our friends would have a spa (go in the hot tub). Or have a game of cards, have a read. Our friends said once that they were going to have a nap. We were joking once and an Aussie said we were having a go (teasing). 

One of the funniest misunderstandings we had was at one of our AirBnBs. I learned that the host was a hairdresser. We were about halfway into our adventure, so I said, "Oh, maybe you could trim my bangs!"  She gave me the weirdest look, so I quickly said, "I would pay you, of course!" thinking she thought that I meant she should just do it, being our host and all. Still with the weird look......Hmmmmmm What's up with this? Then I must have gestured towards my bangs and she said, "Oooooooh, you mean your fringe!" Fringe was trimmed and we had a good laugh. 

Aloha, America!

We love visiting other countries, learning their culture, learning (some) of the language, seeing how locals do things, checking out their food  (Vegemite aside; I'll NEVER get over that experience!), but there's just something about hitting your country's soil that is special. And that's how I felt when we hit Hawaii. You're in MY country now! (Aussies make up the majority of the ship's population.) However, Hawaii still feels a bit foreign with their Hang Loose attitudes. Guess it's a good way to ease us back into America!

Three days ago we pulled into Honolulu. Nice of them to light the Aloha Tower up all pretty for us.

The ship was overnight there and then moved on to Maui for one day. We've been to both islands several times, so there wasn't a need to go see Pearl Harbor or Diamond Head or the like. Nope, this time we could just Hang Loose!

The first day was beautiful with lots of sunshine as we headed to Waikiki Beach. We rode the public bus for $2.00/all day pass. A LOT cheaper than taking any excursion off the ship! Beautiful beach. Beautiful water. Aaahhhh Oh, hello, Diamond Head!

The water was a bit too cold for me though. Dora, too, I guess.

Unfortunately, the next two days weren't quite as nice. We did a little shopping at the Ala Moana Center and then just went back to hang out (ahem, sleep) at the pool. (Sidenote: I never wanted to be THAT person asleep at the pool, mouth hanging open, drooling, but I'm afraid I was that day. LOL) 

Same cloudy conditions in Maui, so shopping it was! They have a lot of art galleries along their shopping row and I did fall in love with some very unusual pieces, but I resisted. We had intended to go snorkeling, but I need it to be warm and sunny! Besides, I want to keep the South Pacific snorkeling experience alive in my mind as long as possible!

Next stop - Seattle!

Fiji

There were 2 cruises to choose from to be our ride from Australia back to America. The other one was already sold out over a year ago when we booked, so this one that had 2 stops in Fiji was it. Fiji is an archipelago of more than 300 islands. Our first stop was in the capital, Suva. We took a tour bus to where we climbed in to these kind of rickety long boats

45 minutes of wood seats and where at one point we had to get out and walk part on land because the 30 hp motor couldn't make it across the rapids with us in it. 

The boats took us to a waterfall where we climbed steps up to take a swim in it.

Next up was a Fijian village 

The villagers welcomed us by holding a kava ceremony. During the travels, Bruce volunteered to be chief of our bus. Well, actually, they asked for volunteers and I bumped his arm up. After they chose him, I said, "I just wanted to be queen!" Ha! However, I then learn that during the ceremony all the men sit up front and all the women have to sit in the back. Say what??!! Yea, not happy about that........ The good news was that since Bruce was chief, they did "allow" me up front so I could take pics. So there! 

Now about that kava. Bruce had done some research on it before we went on the trip. It is a mildly narcotic drink that leaves your lips, mouth and tongue numb. So we did know what we were in for!

The ceremony has them making the kava

......bringing it over to Bruce and the chief of the other bus

where the two of them drank the kava to accept the welcoming on behalf of all the rest of us.

However, even though ceremoniously we were all part of their tribe now, we were all invited to try the kava if we wished. Not to be outdone, of course I did!

Frankly, it tasted like dishwater and I didn't have any aftereffects. Whomp Whomp

The next day found us in Lautoka, just the opposite side of the island. We rode a catamaran to South Sea Island, about 30 minute ride. Again, the very nice Fijian people welcomed us to this very tiny island which was basically set up for us to play on!

We almost immediately got on their boat that took us out to snorkel because, well, because that's what we like to do!

We saw sooooo many bright blue starfish here! I cracked up at this picture because it looks like a little blue gumby to me.

The Fijians performed for us, singing and dancing. Note the guy on the far left. He scared the crap out of me during their ceremonial spear dance when he came right at me!

They served us lunch and, oh, did I mention that it was free wine and beer all day long? Yep! A good time was had by all!

Mystery Island,Vanuatu

We were a bit excited to hear that we would be stopping in Vanuatu. If you're a Survivor fan, you might remember that they were on Vanuatu one season. Of course, once you learn more about all these South Pacific Islands, you realize that they are all made up of a LOT of islands. Vanuatu, 80 islands. Sooooooo I'm guessing we weren't on the "Survivor" island at all when we docked at Mystery Island.

(Side note: This actually happened before we hit the Int'l Dateline and the Equator but I didn't want to wait to post about those momentous happenings. LOL)

As you might imagine, when there are 80 islands making up an entity, they are all very small. We walked about 3/4 of the way around the island before deciding to make the snorkeling plunge. 

While on our walk, we saw about a zillion sea cucumbers!

And this beautiful blue starfish!

Never seen such a brilliantly colored starfish!

We explored the underwater world:

So while we didn't get to see the settings of Survivor, we did get to see all the beauty that Mystery Island had to offer. 

Crossing the International Dateline....and Equator

Again, I'm so confused. Remember how when we flew to Australia we lost a day due to crossing the International Dateline? I never did quite wrap my mind around it, but would either ask Bruce what day it was or my phone did a pretty good job of not only telling me what time and day it was where I was located, but also what time and day it was at home. We were always about a day ahead of you all. However, we're going in the opposite direction and I can't just go to sleep on an airplane and wake up to a new day........two days later. I'm on a ship. So how in the world does this work?!

Today is May 2nd. Yesterday was May 1st. AND the day before that was May 1st. Say what?! Really. We had a sort of Groundhog Day and had two May 1st. The one person I can think of that was probably really happy about that is the guy who changes the day sign in the elevator floor every night (if you've cruised, you know what I'm talking about!). He got the day off! OK, I get that. However, when we crossed the Date Line, my phone kind of went berserk. I have restarted it three times thinking it will reset itself, but it has been showing opposite AM and PM. I'm writing this in the afternoon, but it says it's 1:00 AM. Way to let me down phone! I was counting on you! Maybe it will come to its senses in Hawaii.

To make it even more confusing, every couple of days we move ahead an hour on the ship. Today, we had a game at 11, at noon we moved forward an hour and then a ceremony at 1:15. That meant that at noon when we came out of our game, it was 1:00 and we had 15 minutes to get to the ceremony. The issue was when to eat. Bruce says, "Maybe we just skip lunch today." "What?!!!!" I squeak out. Yea, that didn't happen......

The ceremony. We just crossed the equator! I didn't realize it was a big deal, but apparently we will all get certificates saying that we survived it, er, crossed it, er, oh, whatever. You can see how many people came out to the pool to witness this ceremony.

This is when they lost me. There was a queen and a King Neptune. They brought forth people who had done "bad stuff" (mostly jokey), who needed to be cleansed in order to be allowed to cross the equator. As far as I could tell, they just made a big big mess

by throwing spaghetti sauce and gravy all over them. And that is cleansing someone? Hmmmmmmmmm

Then they made people kiss this big fish

And now that all that nonsense has been completed, we can all cross the equator and get the t-shirt, I mean, get the certificate to prove it!

South Pacific Snorkeling

I thought our second stop at Lifou, Loyalty Island (a French territory of New Caledonia) was going to kind of be a bust also. All three of these ports were pretty much nothing compared to those of stopping in Cozumel, the Bahamas or other usual Caribbean ports with their shops galore and people trying to grab you as you come off the ship to take part in their tour. Getting off in Lifou, you encounter village people selling their wares from huts and open air markets. You don't even need transportation because you can pretty much walk the whole island, or at least the parts where there was anything to see. So first we walked to one end of the island....

OK. Quaint.

BUT THEN we went to the other side of the island, a mere 10 minute walk to a place where everybody said to snorkel. Let me tell you that in a time where we have just about given up snorkeling in the Caribbean because we feel it has deteriorated (you know, global warming, coral destruction, etc etc), we snorkeled here in the South Pacific and were in total awe. It was beautiful! As I look through our pics to decide which ones to post, I see that none capture the true beauty of what we saw. It's one of those.....ya had to be there. I'll give you a few of the highlights though.

I was amazed to see the state fish of Hawaii, the humahumanukunukuapua, (try saying that 3 times fast!) because I'm not sure we'd ever seen one while in the water. They're so interesting!

I watched two of these clown fish playing in the coral for a while.

See the giant clam below the fish?

Let's just say that it was better than anything we'd seen in the Caribbean for a very long time. Enjoy!