Day 38 - Saturday Feb 4 At Sea

Day 38 photos

position at 7:00 am: S38:37:12 latitude E148:22:36 longitude
temperature: 64F, 84% humidity, cloudy, headwinds of 30-40 mph
distance since FLL: 13,613 miles

We have a strong headwind, but are still moving at more than 18 knots. In the Pacific, with these types of headwinds, we were only making 16 knots and there was more ship motion. The Tasman Sea was a bit rougher yesterday afternoon and evening than before, but the Bass Straits have been a little calmer. The seas are a little rougher this afternoon. We should be in Melbourne by 11pm tonight. They have altered our schedule and now we bypass Phillip Island today and go directly to Melbourne and then there is an excursion tomorrow night by bus to Phillip Island for the Penguin Parade. That will push our departure back a couple of hours. Think we may have covered this in an earlier entry.
Some exchange rate information for New Zealand and Australia for those who are interested. In New Zealand, we used ATM's and an Amex card. The ATM gave us 1.433NZD for 1USD. Amex gave us 1.420NZD per 1USD. We did not use the ships service to convert USD to NZD, but did have 25 NZD left over, for which we got USDs on the ship. They gave us 16USD for our 25NZD which comes out to be 1.560 NZD for each USD when we were buying USDs.

In Australia, we used the ship's service to convert USD to AUD and got a rate of 1.235AUD per 1USD. We have not used any ATMs in Australia yet, but we have used Amex and a Chase MC so far. Amex gave us 1.294AUD to 1USD and Chase gave us 1.287AUD to 1USD when buying AUD.
So, it looks like ATM's give you the best exchange rate (at least through our bank, BB&T) when compared to currency exchanges, Amex and Chase. But if you have to sell excess currency when you leave the country, you take a bath on that transaction making Amex the way to go if possible. Chase has a 2% load on foreign transactions and most other cards have a 1% or more load on them for foreign transactions. We think our strategy will be to use ATMs to get a minimal amount of local currency, and then use credit cards for what we can. This assumes we are in counry where USD are not generally accepted. And even if they are, most times it is cheaper to use the local currency or credit card (if it is not too much of a hassle to get the currency or use the card).

Slept in some today, though we did get the sunrise on our balcony. Debbie went to the one aerobics class this morning and then did 2 loads of laundry before lunch. Clay is keeping his foot elevated all the time that he does not have to have it down, to get around, eat meals, tour cities, etc. So, today is a horizontal day for him. The ankle is still very swollen and sore. We have had a lot of port days since he fell and hurt it, but the main reason he has not been back to playing blackjack is because he cannot elevate the foot and it swells so badly if he sits with it dangling. Since it is Saturday, we had breakfast late (8am) in Compass Rose. Clay had baby lamb chops, 2 eggs over easy and wheat toast. Debbie had raspberries, cappuchino, swedish pancakes and bacon. From the pastry tray to start, Clay had a croissant and since there were no chocolate croissants, Debbie chose a triangular pastry the waiter told her had cheese in it. She said it was weird. Finally she came up with a golden raisin. They were in the cheese inside, that was ok but it may have been what made the thing weird.

Lunch today at the Pool Grill was Aussie Game BBQ. Clay had kangaroo, crocodile, wild boar, crawfish and something else. Kangaroo was red meat. Wild boar was white meat. It was alright. Debbie grazed from the buffet in LaVeranda. We both sat in LaVeranda to eat because it has gotten quite chilly now out in the wind on deck. The afternoon temperature is 64F with the strong wind. Even though it is quite sunny, it is chilly to be outside.

We passed islands on both the port and starboard sides this afternoon heading through the Bass Straits. There were also oil rigs on the starboard side.

Debbie has 3 exercise class this afternoon. Tonight is Country Club Casual. Well, Debbie was back after only 45 minutes. We have run into some big sideways swells as we sail along the coast of Australia. All afternoon we have had something to see out both sides! Anyway, Debbie got up off the floor after Pilates Mat and the motion got to her. She came back and put on a Relief Band, laid down in bed and went to sleep. About 6pm we stopped to pick up the pilot. That woke her. We entered a more protected area and she got up for dinner and the sail into the Port of Melbourne. We have lucked out again. As we neared the Station Pier, Voyager did another of her famous 360 degree spins and we back in to dock on the port side with the city of Melbourne in the background. Originally, it looked like our view of Melbourne would be blocked by a great big cruise ship-looking ship, but it was the Spirit of Tasmania ferry and it sailed away just as we were being secured.

The weather here is much cooler and breezier than it was in Sydney. We are looking forward to a long day of sightseeing tomorrow. Because the Phillip Island Penguin Parade is now tomorrow night, we will have a very loooong day! Fortunately, the next day is a sea day so we will have a chance to catch up on our rest.

We had dinner in Compass Rose at 7:30pm. There was a cooking demo today on Modern Dutch Cuisine with Laurens Hazelebach, F&B Manager and Outlet Chef Marinus Mulder. Tonight in CR they served 3 courses of Dutch cuisine. Debbie tried the Dutch Pea Soup and liked it. Clay tried the Hutspot met Klapstuk, which was beef brisket braised in dark beer served on potato and carrot mash with truffle jus, and he liked it. We were looking forward to our 2nd chocolate souffle in 40 days, but were disappointed. It was not very tasty. We did not finish one together. As Clay said, when did you ever have too much chocolate souffle and it was this small a serving. (He ordered the ice coupe.) Oh well, we probably really didn't need it anyway. But, that isn't the point of something like chocolate souffle anyway, is it?

Off to watch the dock activity before bedtime. One of the waiters asked us if we were going ashore this evening and we answered that we hadn't thought about it. As we were returning to the cabin from dinner, we saw that they already had the metal detector and hand sanitizer and check-in/check-out station set up and were ready for passengers. We were still probably a half-mile from the dock. We went up top and watched the final approach. Better ready sooner than later.

We are docked on the port side and have a partial view of the Melbourne skyline. The bottom half is obstructed by the terminal building.

Day 38 photos