At Sea enroute Melbourne, Australia Feb. 24-25



Tasman Sea

The ship is crossing the Tasman Sea commonly referred to as the Ditch.  We can now say that we have “Crossed the Ditch.”  The seas are quite rough – 12-14 foot waves and rainy the first day.  The second day, the seas have calmed down to 6-8 foot waves and the sun is shining brightly.  The temperatures are still quite cool – in the 50’s yesterday and today the 60’s.  We are told by the time we arrive in Melbourne it will be in the 80’s. 



It’s hard to go to the gym and exercise when the seas are so rough.  We spend our time at lectures, reading and blogging.  The lecture yesterday and today was presented by Dr. Gary Darby and provided an illustrated history of Aboriginal Desert Art and Bark Art.  He also brought some original art with him to purchase.  Amazing art.

Running on the Deck



Deck instructions

This morning, the Tasman Sea was calm enough to allow us to walk around the deck.  Three times around equals 0.9 miles and we work towards 6 times around just as the sun comes up and before it gets too busy.  It’s nice to be out in the fresh air.

Sunrise February 25

The entertainment last night was a group called ‘The Aussie Boys.’  Their show included popular music written or performed by Australians, such as the Bee Gees, The Seekers and that song called “I come from a land down under.”  Quite good.  Tonight is Dixie Land Jazz by the ship’s band.  Also, the movie Australia is playing in the theatre.  Later in the evening is going to be a Star Gazing session on the open deck with two of the ship’s officers.  Right now the sky is clear so we hope it stays that way so we can see the Southern Cross!

Tomorrow the ship arrives in Melbourne.  The Queen Elizabeth sails in through Port Philip Bay around 5 AM (1 PM EST, Saturday) which takes 4 hours from the Point Lonsdale entrance to the dock.  The passengers cleared customs for Australia yesterday.  It’s an interesting process.  The customs agents come on board and then the guests and crew report with passport and custom cards at a certain time during the day for clearing of customs.  This way when the ship arrives in Melbourne, everyone will be ready to just disembark the ship and go on their tours or wander around without standing in line at immigration.  Very efficient.  At each port there is still a lot of security getting off and on the ship; no problem for us!

For personal use!

Cruise musing:  Right near to the elevators we see the commonly known as ‘barf bags’ for those passengers still being bothered by the rough seas.  We haven’t seen anyone use one but there were a lot of people missing at dinner last night………..