At last! It's RADIANCE cruise day!

[Pushka]

The Jacarandahs are red in the Northern part of Australia and blue in the South. Currently Adelaide is awash with blue - very visible when flying into Adelaide.

[gaechann]

This time we can tell what our towel animals represent. One sea day there was a demonstration in the Centrum. Some of the crew are very talented indeed!

 

[MicCanberra]

Nice pics agian. Keep them coming.:D

[gaechann]

Two more sea days before we reach Bali.

 

Day 10 - we go to the Cinema to watch "Rabbit Proof Fence" (an Australian film based on a true story of 3 aboriginal girls who escaped from a children's home back in the 1930's). As mentioned before, there's limited seating in the theatre - they have 4 separate viewings during the day - 10am, 1pm, 4pm & 7pm. Go early to get a seat!

 

The show at the Theatre tonight featured a very talented singer by the name of Jonathan Clark. He could change his voice and looks (via a few props) to sound like many well-known male singers. Along with the talented Radiance Band, it was a great night!

 

DAY 11 - Today it was the Captain's turn to inform and entertain us! As someone behind me commented "If he ever decides to give up his day job he could make it as a comedian". I've been to the Captain's Corner sessions on other ships but usually the heads of 4 or 5 departments accompany the Captain to assist him, especially with the Q&A section.

 

Our Captain held the floor on his own and did an admirable job too! He showed some videos of the engine room and other working parts of the ship including the crews' facilities below the waterline. Very interesting!

 

[MicCanberra]

I am loving the review as well.:D

[gaechann]

The Jacarandahs are red in the Northern part of Australia and blue in the South. Currently Adelaide is awash with blue - very visible when flying into Adelaide.

 

Well, I can't say that I've ever encountered RED jacarandas! The poincianas that I've shown a photo of have similar leaves but the trees' branches are more spreading giving shade to everything below them.

 

Jacaranda trees are more straight up in their growth pattern. We have both growing in our home town. The jacarandas usually flower in October and their blue-purple flower put on a great show!

 

Just about as they finish, the poincianas begin to show off their brilliant red-orange blooms so our town is awash with colour from the 2 different trees for about 3 months from late Spring to early Summer.

 

Burke's Backyard website mentions that there are WHITE flowering jacarandas but no mention of any RED ones! :)

Edited November 26, 2013 by gaechann

[Aus Traveller]

The Jacarandahs are red in the Northern part of Australia and blue in the South. Currently Adelaide is awash with blue - very visible when flying into Adelaide.

Jacarandas are blue or purple/blue and have a distinctive 'spicy' fragrance. In Brisbane they are in full bloom in mid October. Whenever I see jacarandas in other parts of the world they remind me of Brisbane.:)

 

Our red trees are poincianas and they are not related to the jacarandas. Poincianas are blooming in Brisbane now and are bright orange/red (as in Gae's photo).

[gaechann]

The Centrum area soared up from Deck 4 to Deck 11. As our cabin was on Deck 4 it was a very convenient place for us to sit and watch the entertainment.

 

Here's a photo of Mum waiting for our favourite musical duo to begin their session.

 

[gaechann]

This photo shows the height of the Centrum area.

 

[gaechann]

Here's a photo of another favourite spot of ours on Deck 4 near the Centrum elevators.

 

[joejoe 59]

Loving the photos & review, looks beautiful:) Thank you

 

Oh im with you, have never seen or heard of Jacaranda's being red anywhere, definitely blue in QLD, & Perth. Poinciana are the red ones.

[Pushka]

They have identical leaves and flowers then.

[gaechann]

They have identical leaves and flowers then.

 

I agree that the leaves are similar but the flowers are completely different.

 

The jacaranda flowers up close are bell-shaped whereas the poincianas flowers as shown earlier as much different.

 

If I manage to find a photo of a jacaranda flower I'll attach it here later. In the meantime, I'm sure anyone whose interested can just google it. :)

 

Gae

[gaechann]

Today we are visiting Bali. We manage to get tickets on the first tender which again is a large catamaran.

 

Here is a photo of the "welcoming committee".

 

[MicCanberra]

Nice, have a great day in Bali.:D

[gaechann]

Through these forums I was given the details of a private tour guide in Bali.

 

He used to work for Carnival Cruiselines until he was married but since then has bought a large vehicle which he hires out with himself as driver for the day.

 

His charge was about $50 for the day so with 2 of us that amounted to $25 each. He was so great with Mum that I tipped him another $25.

 

We didn't have enough Indonesian money from my last trip to Bali but our driver took us to a Government-sponored money exchange where we changed $90 becoming instant millionaires in Indonesian currency!

 

Here's a photo of him with Mum at the temple he took us to.

 

[gaechann]

Our first visit was to a typical temple. The majority of the population is Buddhist so there are temples dotted around everywhere and each house has a little shrine at the front.

 

The steps into all places are very high and quite steep. Apparantly this has something to do with keeping the gods in and the devils out - or else I got the translation all wrong! :eek:

 

Here's a photo of a beautiful frangipani tree in the temple grounds. A beautiful colour! There were the usual white/yellow ones, pink ones, apricot ones and this deep pink/almost red one.

 

[gaechann]

The temples were all intrically carved. Here is an example.

 

[gaechann]

We next drove up towards the town of Ubud where the Bali temple scene from the movie "Live, Pray, Love" was filmed.

 

Here's a photo of a typical rice terrace in the area.

 

[Aus Traveller]

I agree that the leaves are similar but the flowers are completely different.

 

The jacaranda flowers up close are bell-shaped whereas the poincianas flowers as shown earlier as much different.

 

If I manage to find a photo of a jacaranda flower I'll attach it here later. In the meantime, I'm sure anyone whose interested can just google it. :)

 

Gae

Jacarandas and poinciana trees are totally different species. (As you say) the flowers are quite different: the trees are also quite a different shape. Jacaranda trees are 'rounded' while poincianas are spreading, rather like a flattish umbrella. With jacarandas, all the leaves drop before the flowers appear. With poincianas, the leaves stay on the tree when the flowers come out.

 

Lovely photos of Bali. Your driver sounds great.

Edited November 27, 2013 by Aus Traveller

[gaechann]

Here's a photo of the village homes & shops near the edge of the rice terraces.

 

Most shops have the extended families living at the back of them. The family members build an additional small structure onto the family home when they marry. All family members eat and relax together in separate structures. Often there is a well in the centre of the family compound.

 

[gaechann]

Here's a photo of our drivers car parked outside a typical pathside shop in the village.

 

[gaechann]

We had told our driver that we didn't want to see monkeys nor were we too interested in shopping though we did want to see where all the silversmiths & stone-masons etc. worked.

 

He showed us streets and streets where different artists worked and lived. This village would specialise in one art-form, the next in another. Very interesting.

 

Here's the first photo of the amazing restaurant that our driver recommended in Ubud. We were early but by the time we left lots of locals were eating there too so we knew it was good!

 

I think it cost us about $8 each for a lovely fresh fruit drink followed by their specials of the day.

 

Check out the carved furniture and the grounds.

 

[The_Big_M]

Many passengers were disappointed that they'd paid for a tour that promised crocodiles in the wild but they didn't get to see any though the Tour Desk on-board had apparantly assured them that they would!

 

It's sad but the tour desk/staff are often some of the least reliable for info around.

[The_Big_M]

Jacarandas and poinciana trees are totally different species. (As you say) the flowers are quite different: the trees are also quite a different shape. Jacaranda trees are 'rounded' while poincianas are spreading, rather like a flattish umbrella. With jacarandas, all the leaves drop before the flowers appear. With poincianas, the leaves stay on the tree when the flowers come out.

 

That's been my understanding too. I've also seen much larger jacarandas than poincianas.

Edited November 27, 2013 by The_Big_M