We were over the ocean the whole time

One hour left!

Views of Sydney from the air

Sunset from our room

Sydney opera house at sunset

Sydney bridge

Susan and Mark were \240staying at The Marriott nearby, so we walked over and met them at a restaurant. \240We enjoyed some great Spanish Tapas.

On the walk back to our hotel we enjoyed Sydney’s beautiful views at night.

Our home for the next 15 days

We noticed people on top of the Sydney Harbor bridge, so thought it would be fun to do before getting on the ship. Looking into it, we found out it cost $250 each to do, so decided against it.

We set sail at 6:45pm, just in time for the sunset and beautiful views of Sydney Harbor.

Feeding the kangaroos

\240 \240 \240 \240 \240 \240 \240Other Australian wildlife

Tree kangaroo

Emu

Platapus

Kookaburra

On the way to and from the Koala sanctuary, we took a bus tour of Brisbane. It is difficult to see things from a motor coach unless you’re in the front or on the correct side. Brisbane seems like a great city, but we didn’t have time to explore, and I’m not sure we’ll be back anytime soon.

Kangaroo Point

The pontoon we snorkeled from

Once docked, we had 3 hours to enjoy snorkeling, a mini submarine to view coral, have lunch and just relax.

We had to wear a stinger suit to protect us from stinging jellyfish. We were glad they were provided after we heard they are extremely small, can be very painful, and even deadly. 😳

Inside the submarine

Coral

Hardy Reef at low tide

We were able to get off at a few places to walk around the rainforest.

Approaching Darwin

Views of Darwin from the ship

We did a tour of Darwin’s military and cultural history. February 19, \2401942 the \240Japanese who attacked Pearl Harbor bombed Darwin. During the next few days, over 60 bombs destroyed 70% of Darwin. Many ships were destroyed and sunk.

We also went to the old Quantus airplane hangar that was built in 1934 and used during the war. It is now used by a car club who collect cars and other old transportation and machinery.

1974 MG

We went to the aviation museum which had a B-52 bomber, the only one in the southern hemisphere.

Besides learning about the military, we also went \240to a cultural museum.

There were a variety of exhibits about Darwin and the Northern Territory of Australia.

Sweetheart, a 17 foot crocodile that attacked boats. \240She was captured in 1979 and had an accidental death when they tranquilized her and she drowned.

Australia is home to more venomous snakes than any other continent

Besides being mostly destroyed by the bombings in 1942, Darwin had a major hurricane on Christmas Day 1974 which devastated the city with over 130 mph winds. Today most houses and buildings are built of steel and concrete.

Sunset over Darwin

Sunrise

Approaching Bali

View from our balcony

Land Rover we took on the tour

Today we took a day trip through authentic Balinese villages. It was a small group tour and the 4 of us had our own Land Rover and met the other groups at each stop. Our tour guide was Leo. He told us that 90% of the people on Bali are Hindu, but he is a Christian. Unlike some other countries, they are tolerant of Christians and other religions.

Bali has 3 million people, and I think they were all on the roads today! (It makes Asheville traffic look good!) We drove about an hour through unbelievable traffic. You need nerves of steel to drive here! \240Most people are on mopeds and zip in and out of traffic. I saw one moped \240that had a father driving with a toddler sitting in front of him and the mother behind him holding an infant.

Driving through the towns we saw many temples. There are over 30,000 temples in Bali, mostly because each family home has one.

Some views driving through towns that I was able to take out the window because we were stopped in traffic so much. You can see the variety of family temples.

Bananas for sale

Our first stop was an agricultural village where we visited a traditional home. They welcomed us with snacks and coffee, showed us their temple, and gave us a tour of the grounds and kitchen. Hindus make offerings to the gods and leave them in front of temples and other places twice a day to keep away evil spirits.

Welcoming us to their home

Making the offerings

Showing us the family temple

Their family tree. Very important in Hindu culture

Our snacks

A cake made with rice

The kitchen where the cake was cooked. It was very HOT

Kitchen

Kitchen

Next we stopped at Lihue Batukaru Temple which was built in the 16th century. Each person entering had to put on a sarong and sash and was given a small offering to leave up at the temple.

A family coming down from the temple after praying

The offering we gave. \240It is made with a variety of food and objects with incense added.

Next we drove to lunch.

We had to walk .02 miles through a bamboo forest to get there

We had to walk about .02 miles to get there

After lunch, we stopped at the Jatiluwih rice terraces. The fields are owned by all the farmers. The rice is all planted and harvested by hand. There are 2 types of rice, Bali rice and International rice.

It looks like rain, but it only sprinkled a little.

Leo showed us 11 stalks of rice that came from a single seed

Cows are kept in small structures and only use for plowing.

It took almost 2 hours to get back to the ship. When we got back hundreds of people were in line waiting to get on the ship. Apparently, the tide had come up and we couldn’t use the lowers level gangways. The longer one on the upper level seemed to have a problem. Some people had been waiting 45 mins before we arrived and were not happy.

We’re spending the night in Bali and will have another full day tomorrow.

Bridge we drove across

Bali Day2

Today’s tour started with a visit to the Uluwatu Temple. Instead of driving through the town we did yesterday, we drove across a 7.5 mile bridge to the southern part of the island. We drove through a nice section of Bali with many hotels and resorts. If we ever came back this would be the area to stay. The area opened in 1995, and many of the poor \240people who lived here became millionaires when they sold their land for the resorts.

Before we arrived at the temple our tour guide, Suardika, told us about the Macaque monkeys, who could be very aggressive. We were warned to leave as much as possible on the bus because the sometimes took glasses, hats, cellphones and purses. After the tour we were told someone on another bus dropped their glasses and they were taken by a monkey and thrown in the ocean!

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil

Our ranger getting rid of monkeys

We had to put on a sarong if we had on shorts. We couldn’t go in the temple, but the views from the top were beautiful. We had a ranger with us who carried a slingshot. I thought he was shooting something at the monkeys but it was just the sound and act of shooting that scattered them. Our guide said they don’t want to hurt or kill them because of reincarnation.

I don’t think they had to worry about any of the women on this cruise!

Walk to the top

Man who had temple built

Main part of temple

After Uluwstu Temple we drove to the Garuda Wisnu Kencana statue. (GWK) According to our guide, this is the 5th largest statue in the world at 121 meters. ( the Statue is Liberty is 5th at 93 meters) It is the largest made totallly of bronze. They began building it in 1993 and it was opened in 2018

A big statue

The GWK statue

Giant bird

GWK

The traffic was much better today driving across the bridge. We did get stopped for about 30 minutes because Indonesia’s president was in Bali. We had to wait for his motorcade to pass.

GWK from ship

Sunset from our balcony

We watched from our balcony as a big crane lifted the gangway before the ship sailed away

Working with a view

Tom worked a few hours each day, but was still able to relax and enjoy the cruise. It’s nice to be able to work from anywhere. Three weeks is the longest we’ve ever been gone.

Sailing along the Great Barrier Reef

We ate at Muranos Specialty Restaurant on 2 different nights and had great food.

Elaine’s smoked Salmon and crab parfait

Tom’s Lobster Bisque

Filleting Elaine’s Dover Sole

Dover Sole

Tom’s venison

Preparing Elaine’s desert

Elaine’s strawberry crepe

Tom’s desert

Our 2nd dinner at Muranos

Elaine’s scallop appetizer

Tom’s risotto with truffle foam

Preparing Elaine and Susan’s lobster

Lobster

Cutting Mark and Tom’s Chateaubriand

Chateaubriand

Elaine and Susan’s dessert sampler

Another beautiful sunset

We had an equator crossing ceremony on the day and time when we crossed the equator. It is a tradition that was originally created as a test for seasoned sailors to ensure their new shipmates were capable of handling long, rough times at sea. \240Sailors who have already crossed the equator are nicknamed Shellbacks. Those who have not crossed the equator are nicknamed Pollywogs. King Neptune bestows his blessing for smooth seas upon the Pollywogs, transforming them to Shellbacks.

Neptune blesses our captain

We received certificates to mark the occasion

The tv showing our position at 0

Our last \240night at sea

The \240first views of Singapore from our balcony

Marina Bay Sands hotel where we will be staying for a few days

Once we got to the hotel, we checked in but our room wasn’t ready. We walked a short distance to Gardens by the Bay. There were beautiful gardens to walk through and we also did 2 attractions, Avitar: The Experience at Cloud Forest and Flower Dome.

The Cloud Forest had one of the tallest indoor waterfalls and a big mountain. There was also a special exhibit of Avitar throughout.

We Avatarized ourselves. \240Pretty scary!

The Flower Dome is home to plants and flowers from five continents, from thousand-year old olive trees to magnolias and orchids. In 2015 it \240broke the Guinness World Record as the World’s Largest Glass Greenhouse. They also had a special exhibit of mums.

Our room is on the 37th floor with a view of the gardens we walked through.

The flower dome and Cloud forest from our room

After all that walking, we went up to the 57th floor to enjoy the infinity pool. It was beautiful and so cool! \240The pool went across the entire building. They used the top of the hotel and this pool in Crazy Rich Asians.

Tom made dinner reservations at an Italian Restaurant on the 57th floor. We had a table outside and it was beautiful.

View from 57th floor

Nightly light show

View from our room

Merlion. The symbol of Singapore

Tom arranged a Tours by Local today to see Singapore. Our tour guide, Michelle, met us at the hotel at 10:30. It started with a Singapore version of Uber driving us to the Civic district where we walked around.

Our hotel from across the Bay

Victoria Theater and Victoria Memorial Hall in Memory of Queen Victoria

The old Supreme Court

Elephant statue given by King of Siam

Oldest Hindu temple

Inside temple

Preparing for fire walking ceremony the next day

We walked through Chinatown. There were many street vendors and a big market with vendors and a food court.

Many streets used to have homes above the shops. The homes are no longer used

3D mural in Chinatown showing traditional Chinese life

Chinatown mural

Durian. A fruit with a pungent smell

Taking fruit out of skin

Inside of fruit for sale

Hairy fruit

Food court in Chinese market

This place earned a Michelin Star

Korean Temple

Inside temple

Michelle took us to a Malay area for lunch. We ordered traditional Malay food.

After lunch we went to Little India. It was extremely crowded because November 12 is the Hindu holiday of Diwali. The market was jammed with people.

Indian market

Flowers

Our last stop was the Singapore Botanical Gardens to see the National Orchids. There are over 1,000 varieties of orchids growing in Singapore.

This is their national orchid

There were 2 different light shows each night. We had a great view of one from our room on the 37th floor.

The other light show was on the water

We decided to visit Fort Siloso. It was built in 1880s to protect Singapore from attacks.

Singapore was occupied by the Japanese for 3 years during WW2. They defeated the Japanese in 1942 from this fort.

Model of Japanese surrender to Brittish in 1942

View of cool buildings

Our flight to San Francisco was at 11:45pm on Sunday night. The Singapore airport had many different exhibits. There was a Monet through the seasons and a giant digital waterfall which was pretty cool.it was difficult to get a good picture with so many people taking selfies!

Ready for our 14 hour flight to San Francisco