Hawaii - on our last legs

Aloha Tower, Honolulu

Today we are in Kawaii and it is our last port before Vancouver.  Luckily it is not a tender stop, so I will be walking on land one last time before departing for 5 days at sea.  
Honolulu was fun but a bit disturbing as to how run down the port area around Aloha Tower has become...  The crew walked over to Wal-mart and Ross and came back with 2-4 huge bags of stuff - I wondered if there was anything left in the store...lol
Maui was pretty as always and we just got off for about an hour for a bite to eat.  The ship's food is ok, but the sameness of it is getting to us...  B had deep dish pizza and I had yummy chicken wings.
Today in Kawaii is a short stop, but I will get off in a bit and take a shuttle bus to K-Mart!  LOL!  Nothing I need, just walk about a bit...  This will be the last blog post for 6 days.  I will likely post again from Vancouver and/or Seattle...  thank you all for following along - I hope you enjoyed the journey

B eats pizza watching baseball and the cruise ship

amazing art show

Maui Park: 2nd largest Banyan tree in the world!

American Samoa & 5 sea days

Well it seems like we have been out of touch forever... American Samoa was our last stop 5 days ago but we were unable to get internet connected...

We have been to Samoa several times before but usually on a Sunday. In the past shops and cafes have been closed, however this time there was a tent market, a couple of shops open and a few small grocers open. This is a port where you walk right off and into the middle of town. About 80% of the ship headed to McDonald's to overload their WiFi...lol We bought B several t-shirts and I bought a great travel dress...

Our 5 days at sea have been relaxing and dare I say a bit boring? Still not many activities, so B and I play shuffleboard every afternoon, and I play trivia twice daily. My trivia team is quite good and we have won several times - the prizes are not great, but the honor of winning is terrific! My team is composed of 2 Aussies, 2 Brits and 1 Canadian. We probably won't play during the 3 days around Hawaii, but will have 8 more chances to win before reaching Vancouver.

We have introduced our dinner mates to LCR and have enjoyed fleecing them, I mean playing with them most afternoons. The first time Gordon and Lynn won 2 games, but both with double pots! The next couple of times either they have won or B and I have won. Poor Norm, he is discouraged and woebegone – says he won't play anymore...lol however he & Lynn are disembarking here in Hawaii anyways...lol We hope their replacements are just as interesting tablemates...

Unfortunately, B has the crud again! He says he just sounds terrible but feels ok. However his appetite is not the same – I am sure he is gonna have lost weight on this trip while I have gained it! URGH! I am trying to cut back however the cookies are sooo good...lol! Most days I have done a bit of workout in the gym and I try to walk laps around the promenade deck.

I hope this finds you all well and content. It is weird to think that we are in the states and will be home in 10 days. I can't wait to see my pups! Enjoy these few pics of Samoa and if I take any of Hawaii, I will post in a couple of days from Kwaii. Aloha!

Vanuatu

Hey guys – guess what? Vanuatu was a new nation for us! Yay!

We have added to our countries traveled list. Vanuatu is a nation island with over inhabitants. They speak English but seem to have an island language as primary. The natives were very friendly and only wanted us to exchange paper for their trinkets...lol

There was a Market Maze set up just off the ship. You had to meander through the maze in order to get outside the docking area. We just barely made it without any purchases (I knew we had to go back thru to the ship lol) and found the water taxis that took you across the bay to the city. The cost was $5 and the ride was quite pleasant. The difficulty was climbing in and out of the boat. B scored 8.5 due to his finesse, skill and degree of difficulty. Lol The boat was a small speedy one and the crossing lasted about 10 minutes. I enjoy that kind of ride because it is about 10 people and open air. The water colors ran from shimmering navies on one side of the ship to pale turquoises on the other and all the while the constant hum of the outboard engines as we traversed the harbor.

The town has a local crafters market and further up the road, the local farmers market. We explored both a bit until B spotted the grocery store. He headed that way for soda and I moseyed through the t-shirt market. Everything here was much higher priced that in Thailand: t-shirts were $20 and elephant pants were $15...almost 3x's as much... I wanted a piece of art work, being Vanuatu was new place for us, but didn't find any I liked. I did buy 1 $20 t-shirt because it was so unique for a gift – then got back to the ship and discovered it was the wrong size! Grrr! I am mad and sad...oh well... Jess, keep counting calories - maybe it will fit after all...lol! We did go to the post office and B bought a few stamps for postcards, so our basic missions were accomplished.

Vanuatu is a lovely island with some nice beaches, waterfalls and great people. We would not make an extra effort to get here, but if it was on the itinerary we would definitely enjoy....

on to Hawaii, so I will say Aloha for now.

water taxi

hmm coconuts - 

native braiding palm leaves

boys on a bench..LMAO!

thank goodness we did not have to unload more watermelon! lol

local fruit market

Katu, New Caledonia

Finally we are able to connect to internet.  I hope you have missed us as much as we have missed connecting...lol  We have two days in Fiji upcoming and then 4 days at sea.  I will update the past few days and tell you about Fiji and sea days from American Somoa...  

Well we have been incommunicado since we left Sydney. We had 2 sea days aboard the Noordam then 2 stops in New Caledonia. However these ports were gorgeous tropical beaches unmarred by technology. They were both tender ports, ugh! But I managed to go to one of them. It was truly beautiful and unspoiled. We walked along the beach in Kuto and I sampled the local dish, Bougna, made with chicken, sweet potatoes and banana. It was ok, I am not big on cooked bananas... We only bought a few post cards and a soda. There wasn't much for sale and what was, was pricey. Hell, even the Sprite cost $4....

As you can see in the photos, I was able to blue my hair once more in Australia. One lady yesterday suggested I had better stay out of the water, because no one would see me – my hair created a camouflage effect! lol Both of these ports are lovely and a bit like private beach stops. The weather is warm enough – in the 70's – but sort of cloudy and grey... I will be happy tomorrow to hit a more civilized port in Vanuatu with no tender. It is also a new country for us – yea, the trip hasn't been a total rerun...lol

The ship is fine, but configured differently that our previous one. The activities are still somewhat limited, but they are having pickle ball meet ups daily and 2 trivia's/day. I have hooked up with a brilliant Aussie couple who play pub trivia and internet trivia and another couple. We were joined by Phil, who is the guest lecturer and whose are of expertise is geology and history, so we are a powerhouse team now. We got all 17 correct the other day and won flashy drink glasses – they were empty but cute...

We have a pretty good dinner gang consisting of 2 other American couples and 1 Canadian couple. Marty and Lari are from Palos Verdes, California – an area I grew up in. Norm & Lynn are from Seattle and Gord & Lyn are out of Toronto. We have had a few laughs and decent meals so far....makes the evening enjoyable. Have a G'day mates and no worries...

boy on a bench with a "bitch" lol!

cow enjoying a picnic at the beach

ship from the tender boat

Katu from the tender

making bougna

what the hell is bougna?

especially for a friend of ours - ty JD

At Sea

We are cruising the South Pacific.  Having a great time, but no internet.  Posting this from my phone. 

Katoomba - Blue Mountains in Australia

Oh boy, one more train ride before sailing to North America.  B & I boarded a train in Sydney and rode 2 hours north to the Blue Mountain. 

After only a few hours there, we decided to stay another night.  The weather was gorgeous, and the scenery was amazing.  Our hotel was a block from the train station, downhill - but back uphill to the town and dinner.  We rode the Ho-Ho bus all 29 stops around several little towns and all the sights.  Think Grand Canyon-like but bigger and with a rain forest at the bottom.  The Blue Mountains are Australia's 14th UNESCO World Heritage sight and are over 4 million years old.  

The next day we went directly to the Scenic Railways and rode the 3 available rides in just over an hour.  Normally with huge crowds, it takes 1 hour to ride one.  They have 3 different rides: a skyway, a cable car and the world's steepest train.  They were all amazing, but the train was the best.  I am not really fond of cable cars as I don't like heights but they were very smooth rides.  I also took a short walk at the bottom of the gorge in the rain forest.  It was awesome!  (I will load photos now, and try to caption them later - so check back...) 

We ate pizza the first night and went to a pub the 2nd night. 

The trains in Australia are terrific and run so smoothly.  It is so easy to travel around Australia between the buses, ferries and trains - it's just a great country to explore... I am a bit sad to be leaving, as probably we won't make it back - but we will remember this trip fondly and a special thanks to Greg and Anna for their wonderful hospitality.
Friday the 13th we sail on the Noordam through parts of the South Pacific, Hawaii and end up in Vancouver, Canada in May.  G'days Mates and no worries... See you on the Seas