Day 55: Crossing the Tasman Sea to Australia … Day 2

Thursday, 2 March 2017
At Sea — Tasman Sea … En Route to Eden

Stats @ Ship’s Time 10:00p (AEDT) … UTC 11:00a (2 March)
Temp: 72.5F (22.5C)
Position: 37.53.88S / 151.49.35E

Travel makes one modest.  You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.
~ Scott Cameron ~

A smooth crossing of the Tasman Sea to Australia is what everyone wishes for, but most don’t get.  We’ve been fortunate.  King Neptune has been kind to us … yesterday as well as today.  And, as night fell on this second day of our crossing from New Zealand to Australia, we were graced with a brilliant sunset.

After that summary and colorful end to our day, let me return to this morning and tell the story of today.

I was up at 5:30a.  Fresh air and no fumes … so I sat on the veranda before and after breakfast at the Terrace Café.  Even at that early hour the internet was very, very slow.  No use fighting it anymore.  I’m throwing in the towel!  More than one photo per post will be the exception rather than the rule going forward.

Shortly before 9:00a, we went to the Insignia Lounge for the RTW Coffee.  It was rather poorly attended.  Perhaps moving it by even one hour would have encouraged more to attend.  In any event, the senior officers were in attendance this time for a Q&A — the captain, staff captain, chief engineer, staff engineer, environmental officer, and HR manager were all standing by to answer questions.  It was a panel format, with CD Leslie asking questions that he collected in advance while we were socializing.  Language difficulties notwithstanding, it was good to hear from these men … and one woman.  Some of their answers were personal … and hilarious.  But most were informative and we left with a better understanding of what it takes to operate the ship.

Shortly after lunch we had our second face-to-face immigration meeting with the Australian Border Forces agents.  The first meeting was on the previous segment … prior to Norfolk Island, which is closer to New Zealand than to Australia, but belongs to the latter.  Then we started this segment with lots of new faces joining us in Auckland … and visited a series of ports in New Zealand.  Hence having to go through the process again today.  Passengers were called by deck — from 8 down — and the whole thing worked efficiently.  In no time at all we had our faces matched to our passports and were back on our way to the cabin.  Nice gig for the ABF agents … a short cruise in return for a couple of hours of work.  Works for us — we won’t have to waste time when we make our first port in Australia.

The rest of the day was a quiet one.  We wrapped it up with dinner in the Grand Dining Room with the Holloways and the Gelmans.  The wait staff was a bit off their game and service was lackluster.  But the camaraderie at the table made up for it.

Tomorrow Mui and I officially set foot on our seventh continent — Australia … I don’t count our airport transit through Sydney in 2015 ;-)  Mui was going to go snorkeling with the Gelmans, but the tour operator has canceled due to weather.  There are other things we can do instead, but most involve outdoor activities.  There’s rain in the forecast — how much is a question yet to be answered.  So we will wait and see … and make a decision after we arrive in Eden.

© 2015-2017 — All rights reserved by Erin Erkun.