Blogging from Sea....The Summary!!!

As promised I have finally found a computer to upload some pictures of the cruise leg of the trip.....

So here goes......

Shanghai at night

Us on the Great Wall of China

The 'opening ceremony' stadium for the Beijing Olympic Games 2008

Hand painted ceramics in Arita, Japan

The Peace Park (Ground Zero) in Nagasaki, Japan

Avacha volcano in Petropavlovsk, Russia

Our first of many Bald Eagles

The Hubbard Glacier and ice filled bay!!

And, finally, for now...... the happy Sea Otters

There are obviously way too many to upload....but you get the drift....and it's only half over

Blogging at sea....Part 6

Well we've just left Sitka, Alaska and I need to upload the photo's.........the problem being the very slow and congested internet bandwidth from this ship

So....let's just say it was unbelievable and the photo's will follow in the next episode.......

Blogging at sea.....Part 5

We have moved on to Alaska now and the scenery is getting more spectacular by the hour.....I think I could live here although I admit I haven't experienced a winter.....

We have seen all kinds of wildlife....bald eagles, puffins, whales....(well sort of!) and way too many stuffed and mounted Kodiak bears. Why does man feel the need to hunt and kill animals that are just trying to live life.......I don't care what people say it's not sport and it's completely unnecessary...if you want to prove you're a man try killing a grizzly bear with a penknife......even the odds a bit you gutless creatures.

Enough venting!!

We should be at Hubbard Glacier in the morning so there should be many photo's taken.........which I will upload if the nanna's on board stop choking the satellite feed with emails to their pension fund managers, stock brokers and the 'folks back home'....geez!

We still have moderate to rough seas of 2.5 to 4 metres and the temperature is a balmy 5.7 degrees celcius.........waaaarrrrrmm! We still love this cruising.......it beats flying in all aspects.....forget about time taken:-)

Blogging at sea.....Part 4

Well we're back at sea today after visiting Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsular.....that's Russia kiddies!!!

We spent yesterday afternoon in the city after waiting for 4 hours to be cleared from the ship by the 'local authorities'.......even China was quicker than that.....and than we discover what a DISMAL AND SOULLESS HOLE this place is....the only cultural buildings in town were closed for renovation/demolition....you couldn't tell which! This is the base for the Russian Pacific Fishing Fleet and there is supposed to be money flooding into the city but we couldn't see it.....unless it all goes on vodka, beer and cigarettes. Even the nicer cars were all coated with the local commodity.....coal grit.....hmmmm pretty. We went into several local businesses and the staff all ignored us completely....served everyone around us. We walked out with 'eL' saying:- "Remember ...you have to live here!" and headed back to our 6 square meals a day.

It sounds like a typical cultural cringe but we always try to enjoy whatever experiences our travels bring.......but not in this town....we should have liked the fact that they have volcanos and fossils...our two favourite things but you can't see them without visas and special escorts...which the 'local authorities' weren't about to supply. This is the volcano...as seen from the ship in harbour......

Happy birthday to Mouthful of Pancakes for soon.......reply to my emails you lazy girl!!!

Off to Alaska next...to be continued............

Blogging at sea....Part 3

Well now it's getting interesting.......we're travelling north east along the Kurile Islands in the North Pacific Ocean......yes 'mouthful of pancakes' its volcano country!!!! Well it is but we can't see them because we've had two days solid of low pressure......which means cloud, fog and high seas!!!!

At the moment we have 4 metre swells, 0 degrees celcius and some snow!!!!

Lots of cabins are occupied and have the 'do not disturb' signs out........feeling a little green are we???? Well we sure as hell aren't...we've just been to afternoon tea and it's a formal dinner tonight........it looks like the sailing in the Whitsundays a many years ago may have attuned us to the 'motion of the ocean' as our teutonic captain calls it.....from the "beautiful and elegant...Staten...dam!!!"

Blogging at sea....Part 2

Well we've finished with China and South Korea and moved onto Japan. Nagasaki came as a very clean and orderly surprise after CHina. Everything was very organised and efficient. We went to a smaller village called Arita to see how these guys make porcelain....and they're really good at it too!! Osaka was next and an awesome day...we went shopping and did the aquarium which was just huge....it even has a whale shark like the ones off Western Australia....bloody huge!!!

We then moved onto Tokyo.......OMG.........we landed in Ginza and then took the subway to Asakusa to see the Sensoji Temple and markets....yes we shopped!! It is truely an amazing city

Today we're at sea and relaxing.......tomorrow is a smaller city (yeah right!!!...this is Japan!) called Hakodate....time to absorb some more culture.

We love this cruising!!!!!!!!!