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The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-five

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November 2 (Sunday, Day 47, Melbourne, Australia) -

Arriving at Melbourne

Filbert woke up around 6 AM to watch the docking process which turned out to be quite boring. We were behind schedule and were supposed to dock at 8 AM. We ended up being all done around 9:15 AM. In the meantime, the ship sailed through the bay which was wide open and "boring". We got off the ship as soon as it cleared customs and immigration and bought an all-day Sunday public transportation ticket for around $1.65.

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-four

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October 29 (Wednesday, Day 43, Fremantle, Australia - Continued) -

Last post, we were in the kangaroo feeding areat--but weren't quite done feeding kangaroos:

The adventurers attract a mob

Look out below!

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-three

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October 29 (Wednesday, Day 43, Fremantle, Australia - Continued) -

We were half-way through our walk through Perth, Australia's Caversham Wildlife Park when we hit our blog system's 10-picture -per-post limit. So, we had just visited a cockatoo and a rather sickly looking Tasmanian Devil, working out way towards the kangaroo feeding area. On the way, there were more animals out and about:

Peacock in full display

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-two

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October 28 (Tuesday, Day 42, At sea) -

We lost another hour last night and Filbert decided to wake up for the 5:23 sunrise. Unfortunately, the ship had forgotten about the lost hour and the sun didn't really come up until 6:23. He was up anyway and took photos during the rainstorm. By the time Snookums woke up at 7:30, it was bright and sunny.

Morning showers

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-one

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October 26 (Sunday, Day 40, At sea) -

Snookums woke up and decided to work out and then went to the mandatory Australian passport check by 10:30 AM while she was still all sweaty. Filbert had woken up and showered in the meantime and also went to the passport check. Since we skipped breakfast, we were ready for lunch around noon and decided to enjoy the poolside special “Around the World” feast. Filbert enjoyed some Chinese, German and Indian foods while Snookums stuck to the Indian curries.

At sea again

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty

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October 25 (Saturday, Day 39, Padang Bai, Bali, Indonesia - Continued)

Filbert bought a terribly overpriced 600 ml Bintang beer for $4 (it would have cost $1 if we would have had rupiah but by now we decided that U.S. dollars would work just fine and didn’t bother using the one ATM that we eventually found) so that was the tip. We ate lunch at the restaurant across from the Wayan’s store.

We ordered beer, pork/chicken/fish with Balinese spicy sauce and rice, nasi goreng (stir fried noodles, shrimp, chicken and vegetables – kind of like fried rice with a fried egg on top) and chicken satay. While waiting for the food a lady selling Balinese fabrics came by. Snookums started touching the fabric and Filbert decided he wanted shirts made out of them so we ended up buying three pieces of fabric for $40. She wanted $70 and we later found out we probably could have gotten them for $10 total! As our tablemate, Gary, says "It’s foreign aid".

Foreign aid

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-nine

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October 25 (Saturday, Day 39, Padang Bai, Bali, Indonesia - Continued)

While returning to the Padang Bai beach in the canoe, Snookums noticed that one of the passengers in the tender looked like Charlotte so she yelled. Sure enough, Charlotte and Gary were on the tender that was getting ready to unload at the pier right when we were ready to "dock" on the beach. Filbert took Gary's picture and Gary leaned out of the tender and took our picture in the dugout canoe.

Gary's photo of the adventurers

More after the jump . . .

Here in Noumea, New Calidonia, we're sitting on the veranda (on the side of the ship facing the dock) and can get somebody's "Linksys" wireless network, so what the heck? We'll steal some bandwidth. Arr, maties! We be pirates of the cyber-seas! Avast ye! And again, Arr!!!!

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-eight

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October 25 (Saturday, Day 39, Padang Bai, Bali, Indonesia - Continued)

We rode for about 20 minutes to the snorkel site, Tanjung Jepun. Snookums put on her wetsuit even though the water was probably 85 degrees and we jumped in. The water was crystal clear and there were colorful fish and coral everywhere. Our “captain” also played snorkel guide and took us to see two submerged buddha statues and pointed out trumpet fish and other fish to us. Too soon it was time to get back in the canoe and return to the pier. The Amsterdam was anchored between the snorkel site and the pier so we got to see it, too, from a different vantage.

Snorkeling pictures 1-10

The first one's a tease . . . more after the jump!

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-seven

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October 24 (Friday, Day 38, At sea) -

We woke up and saw a bird sitting on the partition separating the verandahs. It was there at least 15 minutes before it decided to fly off. It was overcast but the seas were calm. Many of the days at sea have been overcast and drizzly but the days at port have all been wonderful so no one is complaining.

Special guest bird, on the divider between verandas

More after the jump . . .