drron29

Next an legend to the local peoples. Gained fame as a dancer and in an indigenous troupe had several overseas tours. He became a choreographer. Came back to his small island and has become an artist, photographer and excels at craft. He designed and put together the stage decorations for today. As well he produces coconut oil. He has a large garden and the produce is distributed free to all the seniors on his island. So here is his small island on the map. Moa island. After the show I took Rojaan back to the tender whilst I explored the town. Too hot to go climbing the mountain though. Opposite the dock is an old hotel. And at the dock one of the favourite species of wildlife here. And the views of the bay. You can just make out a tender.

Next up was the Mother's Union choir from the Quetta Church. The church got it's name from a shipwreck here in 1890. After the sinking the church was named the Quetta Memorial cathedral. These women com from several different islands to stay at the church. If you like a retirement home The woman in the middle who led the singing and introduced the songs admits to being 80 but one of the others thought she was much closer to 90. They took a while to set up. After the performance. Then a local Historian gave a brief history of the Islands. He was very kind when talking about the Queensland and Australian Governments treatment of the islands and it's peoples. However he did talk a fair bit about land rights and multiculturalism. Apparently a few Australians felt insulted and walked out. They obviously knew little of our history. Native title is a major talking point here as the successful challenge to establish native title in the High Court was led by a Torres Strait Islander Eddie Mabo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Mabo What's more the majority of Torres Strait Islanders I had met in the past was when working in Mackay Queensland where their ancestors had been brought to work the cane fields. Naturally the australian aboriginal population and the Torres straight Islanders rebelled against this which led to the infamous blackbirders. As America abolished slavery Australia started it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbirding

Just 50 metres from the Cultural centre was this craft shop and Art gallery. You would think on a Monday morning with at least 200 tourists arriving virtually next door you would open your business. But No. Monday to Wednesday are by appointment only so it remained closed, Now there were a lot of us in the Cultural centre with quite a few locals but the air conditioning and several fans weren't enough to keep the place cool. It obviously was not designed for such a ground. First here are the Musicians. And the woman from the tourist organisation who had travelled ove 20Km by dinghy to be here. and of course back home this afternoon. Then traditional dancers. this group was comprised of people from the northern, western and central Torres Strait Islands. And off they go.

That evening was the last formal night of the cruise and the Venetian Society Cocktail party. For the first tme since being on the Explorer to Cuba when there were only about 50 passengers and most were first timers we made the top 5 list of most nights on Silversea. First segment - 5th place. Second Segment - 2nd place and 3rd segment 5th place. By rights our trivia team should have taken the team prize as 1st, 3rd and 5th places taken by the team. Though that day we had come first and the next day a perfect score and equal first. But the next morning steaming through the islands to Thursday Island. Now originally we were booked on a Green hill fort tour but that was cancelled and everyone went on a cultural excursion. I am sure by talking to the boss of the local tourist organiasation it was the suggestion of the locals, People came from many of the Torres Strait islands to appear in the show. But first we had to walk from the dock where the tenders arrived to the Cultural Centre in the main street of Thursday Island.

Dinner was back in Kaiseki as we had a little OBC left. before we left for our pre dinner drinks the sun began to set. The menu. You start with a small plate of edamame. Just as well Rojaan left me a few to photograph. Next the entrees served like this. Then opened up. Tonight 1 beef and one seafood. Sauces for the mains.

Lunch on the first sea day to Thursday Island was Kaiseki again. And dinner in Atlantide - again most pictures disappeared. Rojaan had the king prawns from the main menu. I'm sure I had the Dover sole but no evidence. So on to lunch at Atlantide for the second sea day when all we saw was the sea. The wine. Rojaan had the coconut prawns without the salsa whilst i started with the pappardelle. We both had the short ribs for our main. yummy. For desserts Rojaan had the rice tarlet and I the cherry Clafoutis.

That evening we started in the Panorama lounge with a couple from dallas that we have cruised with before. New orchids there. And the last of the sunset. As the lights of Darwin disappeared. Then to Atlantide. Got 2 tables put together so the 4 of us could dine with Pablo. Rojaan had the laced prawn and the NZ lamb again. I went with the curried cauliflower and steak Rossini Both very nice. We both had the eclair for dessert.

Back to the ship and a few shots of the Port area. Firsthe old wharf with the building now a restaurant. The area between the 2 wharves has been turned into an entertainment area with restaurants and bars with upscale residential buildings and the Convention centre. Easy to get to from the ship as just outside the terminal building is a walkway across the water to the district. You can see it in this photo. And the terminal building. At least the commercial port is a long way from the Passenger terminal. Now for sail away.

We decided to have lunch in the CBD and looking at Trip Advisor I came up with 3 possibilities. As luck would happen we turned a corner and on the other side of the road was one of the three so we decided to try it. walked in and they asked if we had a reservation and we were told you can sit outside or one of the 3 tables at the back of the restaurant. We went for a back table as inside was air conditioned. I thought it was a good sign that they were nearly fully booked for lunch and it turned out to be an excellent sign. It is a Spanish/ North African restaurant with a good tapas menu plus lunch specials. They had a large and interesting wine list but we didn't think we wanted a bottle so Rojaan had a glass of Sav Blanc and I had a very nice local drop. I'll post the wine list at the end of the lunch pictures. We shared 3 dishes and I tried their Kangaroo dish by myself as Rojaan doesn't like Kangaroo. It was very nice though. The first dish we shared was the gin and juniper cured salmon with dill aioli and pickled cucumber. Fantastic. We were blown away by this. Then the cauliflower with goats with goats cheese and pomegranate. Excellent. Then the seared scallop with pomegranate and coriander dressing. Another excellent dish. We had enjoyed this so much we decided to have desserts.The menu Rojaan had the turkish delight ice cream. Wouldn't give me a taste. I had the simple crema Catalana. wow. Here are pictures of the restaurant interior. This was at midday. By the time we left it was full. We have 3 days in Darwin next year on our way to Singapore. We have decided to have lunch here at least twice. Here is the wine list. So a definite recommendation if you visit Darwin.

The next morning it was Darwin. We just got the shuttle into the CBD and walked around. We have had a few Northern territory holidays so didn't want to do an excursion. Christmas tree up in the Mall. Rojaan does like her pearls. Older aussies will know what this celebrates at Wave Hill. https://www.commonground.org.au/article/wave-hill-walk-off

I am sure Mr. Luxury will be gutted to know that there is not another photo until the evening before our arrival into Darwin. The sunset. Then Dinner. Rojaan made a mistake and ordered the veal chop. it was nice but way too big for her. I had the sea bream. For desserts Rojaan had the mango trilogy. And I had the lemon meringue pie.

Unlike @portpower whose phone disappears posts mine decides to post extras. The last few photos in the last post are from dinner that night. They definitely were not in the ones I chose but had been put into a folder for the next post. Oh well there you go. So that was dinner after leaving Komodo. once again I had my steak fix and we both had the apple crumble. So after leaving Komodo there were 2 sea days. Some of you will be happy to know that my photo editing program had a fail so some photos have disappeared. unfortunately for some of you only a small proportion. Lunch on the first sea day. I had the drowned lasagne and the mushroom stroganoff which was really good. Rojaan had the roast lamb. However she had cheesecake for dessert. But I stuck with the strudel. And for a change we both went with a white wine.

Despite the exertion I hadn't done enough steps for the day so after a cold shower I did a few inside laps. they had changed a few orchids since our Bali stop. And lunch time comes around again. Rojaan had the pork loin. I began with the cauliflower bites and then the bouillabasse. the bites were lovely the soup not classical. At the Trivia the couples in our team who were going on to Auckland showed us the flyer they got for the in transit tour in Cairns. Someone needs a Geography lesson.

And there was 1 large dragon lying there. It did move about a metre to show us it was alive there was an old dragon's nest there where the female had laid it's eggs. It had been monitored. Just after this you came to a fork in the track. To the right a loop up the Mountai or to the left back to the beach. 3 people waited there for us to return. It would have been a better idea to head straight back to the beach there and then. We saw no more dragons. just a view of the interior. I really didn't need to see that. one older woman slipped about a 100 metres from the turning point and injured her knee. She was escorted back to the meeting point. For the rest of us it was a struggle in the 35C heat with high humidity and most of us were exhausted when we got back to the meeting point. So back to the beach. Where the track meets the beach there was a few locals handing out complimentary bottles of cold water or cans of coke. my water disappeared pretty quickly on top of the 2 bottles I had consumed on the mountain. And we saw more large Komodo dragons as we walked through the souvenir "shop" to get to the pier. Before going through the shop the guides suggested a tip. Most of us passed on that suggestion. And great to see the Muse waiting for our return.

The next morning we were approaching Komodo Island. Really a bit of a rip off. You are only allowed ashore if you are with a local guide and do the walk to see the dragons. but when you get to the meeting point if you leave the group an walk to the left you will see more larger dragons than on the walk. I noticed a few that did that. Turns out they had been before. On landing a dragon statue. Near the start point were 2 small dragons. At the "main" dragon viewing point there was a collection of dragon meals.

Dinner that night. Rojaan had the crab salad. And I had the tuna salad. I had the Mushroom soup and Rojaan had her NZ lamb. I once again had the fillet steak. just the way I like it. Rojaan had the pavlova and I the blueberry chocolate crumble.

But to us Aussies the Pacific is the world.

We stayed on board for the second day in Bali. Some views from outside the Panorama lounge. Today the planes were taking off over us so were a bit higher. Then I witnessed an absolutely insane moment. The fellow on the red jet ski had stood on the very rear of the jet ski and took a lot of photos of the woman in various poses. I hadn't realised what he was doing but then he handed the phone to the woman who proceeded to take about 30 selfies of herself in different poses. Truly idiotic to me. Then it was time for sail away.

Finally dinner in Atlantide. Rojaan had the watermelon and tomato salad which was nice. I had potato Laksies which tasted nice but weren't the way they normally would be made. She had the an appetiser as a main. Whilst I had the duo of scallop and halibut which was good. Rojaan had the pavlova and I the lemon meringue pie for dessert . They have been shown before. Lunch was at the grill just a salad for Rojaan and a burger for me. Quality has slipped from previous cruises.

The baddie. They now invited audience participation. though I'm sure that those that volunteered had been selected prior. they had the rest of us ROFL. The Shaman appears. And all ends well. It went way overtime so everyone was late to dinner.

Before dinner a village group boarded and per formed the Kecak dance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kecak They find the Queen.

Since retiring we have been doing longer cruises. We did 54 days on the Moon earlier this year. We have found it very good as you do get to know the crew better. As well anywhere from Australia is basically a long flight so better to get value out of it.

All are open as usual. La Dame, Silver note and Indochine are only open for dinner.