Japanese Immersion Program - March 31

This is a day at sea and I am hitting the ground running. First up is a meeting of the Knitters and Natters. We had about 12 people show up. I haven't worked on my cross-stitch project for a few months. It felt good to be picking it up again.

I went to see what book they were handing out for the Princess Book Club. I was pleasantly surprised to find there were three. I picked The Valley of Amazement, by Amy Tan. It's over 500 pages. Why, oh why do they pick such long books for the book club? I think I am going to have to trade blogging time for reading time.

I went to find out what the Bon Odori dance class is all about. I found out that Bon Odori is a style of Japanese folk dancing that is popular during a festival that occurs in August. The instructor is a young Japanese assistant cruise director named Ken. He is a wonderful teacher. I learned two dances. One is called the Coal Miner Dance. The second one is called Tokyo Sounds Dance and is about "enjoyment" and the beauty of the moon.

Following the dance class I attended a Japanese language class. Politeness seems to be an important aspect of the language. 

Next up: an origami class. Here is what we made:

I don't think it's odd that some Japanese people came to the dance class and the origami class. I was a little surprised that there were a few Japanese people in the language class. Maybe they were hoping to improve their English through some type of reverse osmosis. Now that I think about it, that is probably something I would do if they had an English class. I would want to see what they were teaching and who came to the class, and snag some good handouts, and so on.

Oyasumi!

How to Be an Ozzie

1. Be tall

2. Know the rules for rugby and cricket

3. Hat

Who cares what it looks like? It can't look worse than a backwards baseball cap. And it sure as hell can't look worse than skin cancer.

4. 

5. Work these into your conversation:

• Fair enough
• Good on ya
• No worries

6. You don't have to go barefoot, but wear sandals as much as possible

7. Have a smartphone and use it at all times

8. Travel much and be gone for extended periods

9. Sunblock - every day

The Hunt for the Opal - March 27

This is starting to sound like a broken record. We were in Adelaide today and it was Easter, so everything was closed. (See March 14 and March 25.) We decided we did not want to spend a lot of money to ride around on a big bus all day visiting wineries and oliveries. We thought we'd just go into town and have a look around. 

Adelaide, the capital of the state of South Australia, has a population of around 1.4 million. It has a very nice website and there are lots of self-guided walking tours that can be downloaded. I downloaded a couple onto my iPad and planned on stopping at the Tourist Information (TI) office to get brochures for some of the others.

Of course I left my iPad in our stateroom, as I am not in the habit of bringing it with me when we are out for the day. The first TI was in the cruise terminal, but there were dozens of people crowded around it grabbing at maps and shouting questions to frazzled people (probably volunteers giving up their Easter) stationed inside a protective barrier. We decided we would just catch the train a and go to a TI in town.

The train was close to the pier, it was easy to buy tickets, and we were lucky to get an express. It was a 30-minute ride to the central railway station in Adelaide. The climate is different here. It is drier and very hot in the summer, frequently exceeding 100 degrees F. There is a slightly frontierish feeling about the place.

We passed through a lot of suburbs. The architecture here is quite different from that in the east (Sydney and Melbourne). The houses are small, mostly single-story. They look like something you would expect to see on a sheep station in the Outback. They mostly have corrugated metal roofs with verandas or covered porches. They are made out of stone or brick. There are some that remind me of the Craftsman style and a few that are Victorian. Fancy ironwork is common. The lots are small. It's almost impossible to take photos from a moving train.

Greeters in the train station answered questions such as "What is open today?" Our greeter suggested walking along North Terrace, the main cultural street. We passed the Old Parliament House and the newer Parliament House. They were both closed and didn't seem too interesting. 

On the next block we passed Government House, which we couldn't see because it was behind a wall. It is where the state Governor lives. I did like some of the statues along the sidewalk here.

The Honourable Dame Roma Mitchell

Judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia 1965-1983

Chancellor of the University of Adelaide 1983-1990

Governor of South Australia 1991-1996

In case you were wondering.

Next came the obligatory war memorial, an Art Deco treasure.

The third block was home to the State Library, the South Australian Museum, and the Art Gallery of South  Australia. In addition, there were portions of Flinders University and the University of Adelaide. The Migration Museum (closed) was behind these buildings. That's a lot for one block, isn't it?

The State Library

Fountains in front of the South Australian Museum

I had read somewhere that the museum had a good opal collection so we decided to wait about 15 minutes until it opened. It was a nice museum, and it was free (!), but the opal exhibit was disappointing. I did learn one interesting thing - seashells and bones can somehow turn into opals. I guess you could say I learned part of an interesting thing, because I did not gain a clear understanding of how this happens. 

The museum also had a two-story exhibit on Aboriginal cultures. This was primarily the type of exhibit where you see a bunch of artifacts inside glass display cases. I believe most of these artifacts have been in the museum for a century and it is no longer possible to obtain them. There were a few television screens with interviews of contemporary Aborigines and some early films of Aborigines dancing and doing other activities. All in all, I had the impression of looking at a long-dead culture that consisted entirely of artifacts. I would have liked to see dioramas or model villages, or something interactive that would bring it to life. I would like to know more about the non-material elements of Aboriginal cultures.

I did like the Aboriginal art. My favorite was the Yuendumu School Doors.

I hope I can find some fabric with Aboriginal themes. I would like to make a quilt using these doors as inspiration.

If we had continued we would have arrived at the Botanic Gardens but we walked towards a shopping area instead, to see if we could find the TI. Rundle Mall is a pedestrianized street with lots of stores and lots of small shopping malls. There were a few pieces of public art here, too.

Do you see us?

We found the TI in an alley off of Rundle Mall. It was about the size of a broom closet. There were already 12 tourists and a large baby carriage inside. Not worth the effort.

Chocolate!

One store in particular was a jewelry store specializing in opals. They had some in the window and I wanted to see more, so we went in. They really didn't have much, and it was very expensive. But they did have an opal mine! In the basement! The mine was so cheesy it was good.

That's quite a beard

There was supposed to be an Art Deco synagogue off Rundle Mall. We finally found it. The photo in the Art Deco guide showed a natural stone facade. The facade had been painted grey, and the building was now used as some kind of nightclub.

We would be sailing at 4 pm, so we allowed ourselves plenty of time to get back to the ship. The train we caught was a local, and it took about 42 minutes. When we got to the ship we had to wait a lot before we could get back on. It's always fun to watch the Sailaway from your balcony or from the top deck.

Here is one of the security guys on the wharf. My guess is he is the supervisor. Do you think he's Australian?

The atmosphere in Adelaide is so different from sophisticated Sydney and livable Melbourne. I'm not sure if I can put my finger on it. Adelaide seems a little tired, less vibrant. It doesn't seem forward-looking like Sydney and Melbourne. The sidewalks are dirty. There is a lot of graffiti. I don't know that I would want to live here. But it's pretty hard to judge based on a short visit on Easter.

Sailaway

Here is the contribution to Easter from the ship's pastry chefs

We went to another show starring Kaitlyn Carr. Different songs, same show. Celtic flutes do not lend themselves to different genres and you can only say "wee" so many times.

A Good Friday - March 25

We have returned to Melbourne (Mel'-bn, not Mel-born'). Last time we were here, about 10 days ago, it was Labour Day. Today is Good Friday. It's a public holiday here and almost everything is closed. There are many things that are ONLY closed on two days - Christmas and Good Friday. 

I don't think Australians, as a group, are particularly religious.  You don't see a lot of churches here. But once a holiday, always a holiday, I suppose.

It started out cool and cloudy. We arrived around 7:30 am and could see hot air balloons across the bay. By the time we were ready to go ashore the sun was out and things were looking up.

We didn't have much interest in any of the ship's tours, and almost everything in town was closed, but we figured we'd take a nice walk through the Royal Botanic Gardens. That turned out to be a really good choice.

The shuttle bus from the port dropped us off across the street from the Queen Victoria Gardens, which we thought was the RBG. We strolled through the QVG and were delighted with how beautiful and pleasant it was. The obligatory statue of Queen Victoria dominated a tiny island. I think the style of this garden is called Romantic. The look is a planned natural look, just a little bit wild. It was very relaxing - shady, surprisingly quiet, with a pleasant, woodsy odor.

A play sculpture for children

I wonder if this was installed during the 1958(?) Olympics in Melbourne 

We came to the end of QVG and the beginning of the King's Domain. This was a park full of scattered war memorials.

Here is a memorial to Australian-Turkish friendship. Think Gallipoli.

A prominent statue showed Edward VII in military dress on a horse. They even had one statue of a woman. She was a nurse who was killed during WW I.

Finally, at the far end of the KD we came to the Shrine of Remembrance. A little over the top, but then ANZAC suffered more casualties as a percentage of total population than any other country that fought in WW I.

Can you find the face? We didn't notice it until looking at the photo. You can't see it from close up.

A hop, skip, and a jump away from the Shrine of Remembrance we came to one of the gates to Royal Botanic Garden.

The RBG was extremely well done, presenting different types of landscapes representing different parts of Australia. Everything from desert to forest.

How to be a topiary

The original main office

The large meandering paths were interspersed with inviting small paths where you could experience the various ecosystems.

Hardwood forest - one of 700 species (varieties?) of Eucalyptus

 If a tree falls in the forest, you should leave it be - to illustrate how the gap allows extra sunlight to reach the forest floor where the light stimulates new growth. an you tell that I am in the middle of a city of 4.2 million?

Who are you?

Well, I don't think I like their tone of voice

We arrived at another gate and ducked out of the RBG to purchase life-saving snacks at a little convenience store before returning to explore the RBG. A gorgeous cactus garden was located along the sides of a simulated volcano. This reminded us very much of a cactus garden we saw in the Canary Islands inside a real caldera.

We continued past some other nice areas. A pond, and estuarine ecosystem, 

Connecting back to the other side of the QVG, we followed the shoreline of the Yarra River.

This is part of a large sports complex.

Our self-guided excursion was extremely enjoyable. We both thought that Melbourne's Botanic Garden was far superior to those we had seen in Sydney and Auckland.

As we sailed away, I thought about the differences between Sydney and Melbourne. I will try to write a little about that tomorrow.

For our evening entertainment Kaitlyn Carr brought us the Spirit of the Glen's with Celtic flutes and singing. She is good, but she overdoes the Scottish schtick and says "wee" all the time.