Melbourne - April 6

Starlink internet on a ship is absolute garbage. Sorry for the limited pictures, when we dock on Thursday I will use my 5G on my phone to upload pictures.

On Sunday the crew did one of their big shows, basically a musical review and it was good. The Social Director who takes the Singles to dinner as a group is a dancer in the show.

Monday we arrived to overcast skies and sprinkles in Melbourne and after letting 84 people depart my excursion was next off the ship. At 7:45 AM. We took a bus through downtown and other areas including a drive by the Tennis Center home of the Australian Open and the sports complex from the 1956 Olympics. Like too many of the tour guides I have had she had a speech and felt compelled to complete it. While passing other buildings an sites not on her talking points, rather than narrate the voyage we heard her drone on about the animals we were going to see at Healesville Sanctuary.

We only had 70 minutes at the sanctuary enough to see Echidna (spiny things), Koalas, Kangaroos, Wallabies and a red tree kangaroo. I tried to see the Tasmanian Devils and the Platypus but they are normally dusk to dawn animals and chose not to be seen.

Back on the bus for a trip to the Rochford Estate winery for a tasting and lunch. Unfortunately for me, as I discovered back in June while in Europe, all their wine is aged in Oak Barrels. The tannins created from the Oak just kills all other tastes for me. Lunch was a HUGE piece of braised beef with a side of vegetables. It was the largest portion of food I had since starting the trip. I only finished half of my portion.

When we got back to the ship we sailed about a half-hour early because the winds were not favorable and we need almost 3 days of travel to the next port (Esperance).

My team tied for first in Trivia that afternoon, and had I not been stubborn we would have been in first alone. Did not matter, there is no tie breaker.

After dinner was an Australian Magician Tim Ellis. It was an enjoyable show, but, because of what I follow on the socials I knew some of the gimmicks, but was impressed anyway.