Cruising with Kath

You may not think anything exciting happens on sea days, and you would be SO WRONG.  Exhibit 1: Food Carving Demonstration I am currently mastering several line dances. It’s a challenge keeping my balance while the ship rocks, so it’s a good core workout. We go through the steps first, then add the music. I seem to be okay with the steps at first, but when the music comes on, I get so into the groove that I’m constantly missing steps. But no one cares – we encourage each other, and with repetition I eventually get it. I’ve got a few weddings coming up next year where I may break out my moves. There’s a fun young Serbian girl named Angela who’s teaching us, full of boundless energy – oh to be that young again! I’ve been writing down the steps, but it sounds like a secret code in an eight-count: double heel, double toe, heel, toe, heel, toe, rock step front, rock step back, John Travolta, John Travolta, grapevine to the right, and pivot. It’s going to take all the rest of the sea day...

What are you doing here? Moreton Island : We navigated our way north from Sydney on Australia’s east coast. Our next stop was Moreton Island, just off the coast of southeastern Queensland. Moreton Island is a sand island, 98% sand, and the rest is volcanic rock. The sand blowing from the mainland started to accumulate around the rocks to form the island. There are five sand islands in the area. Kind of like big sandbars. They have created a great dive site by sinking boats called the Tangalooma Wrecks. We water-shuttled to the resort – they don’t call them “tenders” anymore. Tangalooma is a big resort with lots of water sports where you could spend a relaxing beach day or sign up for an outdoor adventure.  I signed up for a “Desert Safari”. A creaky, fat-tired bus and our Aussie guide took us about 20 minutes inland to an actual desert (the bus was able to inflate and deflate the tires as needed to drive in the sand). The road going inland was sandy and full of potholes, so we boun...

This is going to be a long one, so grab a drink and settle in.  It's been an exciting few days! With our unplanned diversion to Melbourne, there were only a few excursions set up, and those sold out very quickly. I had resigned myself to aimless wandering when I saw that someone on the ship had set up a day tour with some open spots. I signed up without even asking where we were going, and as it turned out two of my friends joined the small group as well and it made for a fun day. Sailing into Melbourne sunrise We went to Moonlit Sanct uary, about an hour and a half outside of Melbourne, where we got to meet so many indigenous species. Koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, dingoes, Tasmanian devils, birds, reptiles – they were everywhere. We were able to buy food which we used to feed the birds and the kangaroos and wallabies. They were free to roam all around the sanctuary, so they would come up to you if they were hungry. Some of the braver ones would eat out of your hand, even ...