Day at sea - in to Bass Strait

Another relaxing day at sea.  Another uneventful morning walk in the gym.  I probably should explain why we are walking in the gym when there is a walking track around the top deck of the ship which takes about 5 minutes a lap.  We started on the first day walking around the track clockwise.  There must be some sort of unwritten law which dictates the correct method is to walk anti-clockwise.  We were forever moving over, or getting in peoples way when we came towards them.  So we eventually relented and walked the anti-clockwise way.  This also has its’ hazards mainly because most people are walking at a different pace.  Between the 90 year olds, the 60 year olds, the fit and the unfit we have people pass us and we are trying to pass other people.  Chaos.  Some of these walkers are pretty big too, some should have signs ‘warning: Wide load ahead’ attached to their bums!!  Good on them for walking though....unless they're lost looking for their 6th plate of ice cream?  Because the track is at best two persons wide, we thought it more practical to go in to the gym and try our luck there.

This is not a bad spot, right at the top, front of the ship, we can watch the sun rise/set (depending on which way the ship is going of course) and we get none of the people interference experienced on the track.  It would be better walking out in the open air but the dangers were too high. 

As we have two days at sea, the day usually revolves around meal times so it is probably convenient to mention the food.  We have breakfast and lunch in the Windjammer Dining Room.  This is a buffet, for breakfast it has the usual fruits and fried fare.  Also includes pastries, pancakes, some noodle/fried rice combinations.  All very delicious and plenty of it.  Lunch includes all the salads/cold meats along with some Chinese/Indian foods with curries, hot dogs, burgers and back to fruits and desserts.  We usually have breakfast and lunch in the fresh air out on the back deck, yesterday we watched a couple of albatross following us for a couple of hours, we think they may also have been looking for lunch.

We have dinner in the Cascades Restaurant.  This is a silver service restaurant with a different menu every night with a choice of about 8 entrées, mains and desserts.  Each one top quality.  There was one dessert last night – ‘Warm low-fat spiced zucchini-yogurt cake’.  Sounds quite disgusting and we passed on that and had something with no calories!!

It was formal night last night, everyone gets dressed up with dress pants, ties, formal dresses.  It’s all very civilised, seeing all the distinguished guest arriving looking a million dollars.  Then the next day you see them sitting by the pool in their bikinis and speedos with their day old moustaches, beer bellies and hairy backs (and the men look even worse!!) phew…you can’t unsee that sort of thing!!!

Came in to Bass Strait this afternoon, got to see the north eastern tip of Tassie and a couple of the islands along with lighthouses and wind farms.  We’ll be in Melbourne in the morning.

Back to the afternoon coffee (with NO scones).  Maybe an extended walk this evening is in order?

The little blue dot was our position at 2.39 this afternoon.  I think the captain has had a few drinks....we nearly bumped into Tasmania!!!!

Looking back to New Zealand from Bass Strait.  Knew the captain was drunk...just look at him weaving along the water!!!