Getting there is half the fun

Having been on two cruises in two months, I feel like I can offer some opinions. At the moment I have none except I like to go on cruises. We went with friends to Alaska and had a great time. Also, we found a good hotel at an extremely good price. The price scared me so I thought we may be in a not-so-good part of town. We were very near the airport and only about a block from the city railroad. We found a Southwest Air flight with only one stop (anything over 10 miles on S W and you have one stop) and the second flight let us see some of the beauty of our country.


We went directly from the airport to the hotel which was a very short ride. After getting settled in we got brave and rode the rail into downtown. Seattle is a very nice town and great for walking. It got dark shortly after we got there and many of the stores were closed, which did not bother the other guy and me. Seattle has a different feel from other large cities where I have been. I think it must be partly their proximity to Canada and the fact that the citizens actually care about this planet.

The Space needle is as magnificent structure as one would imagine it was.  It doesn't dominate the sky as does the Eiffel Tower but it is there proudly pointing toward the heavens and letting you know all is well with the world.
But the next day was the fun day. We left the hotel after breakfast, which was excellent, and took the train to the end of the line. After much map reading and discussion we determined the end of the train line was only a few blocks from the cruise dock. PLUS- the famous market was on the docks just "up" from our cruise ship. So we rode the train and did not take a shuttle from the airport. The shuttle was quite expensive and was very iffy on getting us to the ship on time. I would have hated flying all the way to Seattle and then watching the ship as it cruised away from me standing on a hill overlooking the bay. So, we rode the train and walked down to the market.

Now that is a fun place IF you like odd markets. We all really liked it and spent a long time there.  There were several street buskers, but I guess one would have to call them "market buskers." This is my favorite one. His screeching (to western ears) reminded me of the dozens of older people fiddling away in a park in China. The whole park was set aside for elderly people and the place was very well used. This busker seemed to be garnering a good pay for his daily efforts.

From the back of the markets one can get a very good view of the cruise ship. That is exciting as you know that any minute you will start to walk down there and then enter a whole different world.          

Once on the cruise ship your life changes from one of stress and possible nail biting to one where your hardest decision of the day may be where to eat dinner and/or whether to see the early or late show.
The very first day of this cruise was a day at sea. That gave us the freedom to relax, explore the ship, find interesting things and relax.
We got to unpack without being in a hurry and get our cabin organized. Later that day there was a brief reception for those who had sailed with NCL previously. We attended that and after several glasses, I decided that NCL didn't bring out its best wine for those of us who were drinking for free. Did I mention we had a day to relax?

Silverton and the desert

Yesterday was a beautiful day so I went for a drive out to Silverton. That is a community about 20K (=/- ) from Broken Hill. For you movie fans, this whole area is where the original Mad Max movies were filmed.

There was another movie scheduled for this year but it had to be postponed to 2012 because the area is too green. This area has had more rain than usual and the desert has lots of plants and even some of them are green. One has to look close other than the creek beds to discern the green from the silver-gray of the scrub. Silverton was established in 1881 although it didn’t get its official designation of a town until 1885. No, I don’t really know but knowing a little bit about the area I can guess. I believe the people were too busy trying to grub out a living to worry much about bureaucratic niceties. They did finally get organized and become a town. Ouch, that didn’t last long at all as the silver played out or Broken Hill got too big or something.

Right now the village (new designation) seems to be undergoing a renaissance as there seem to be more people living there and less empty houses on the way to there. There are art galleries in several of the buildings and that does and does not amaze me. Artists have forever found places to live that nobody else wanted and made those places into “the place to be.”

Actually, saying galleries in several of the places is an overstatement. There are barely enough places to be called “several” if you grouped them all together. This place was deserted except for the hardy few who braved a shortage of civilized amenities so they could live there. Somehow it caught on that this would be a good place for artistic types and some started moving here. If they really sell their work for the prices they have posted, there does not seem to be any “starving” artists here.

The day I was here there was brisk tourist traffic. It is very possible that this is now one of the places one has to visit if one is to see the outback. As it is the original site of the silver strike and was started before anything else out here, it has history going for it. Then the Mad Max movies draw visitors as I saw couples taking many photos of the cars used in the Mad Max movie(s).

But the desert is what people should come to see. I am not sure what the definition of a desert would encompass but a dry, lonely, empty place would seem to suffice for me. There is a lookout point called Muga Muga where you can stop and see for miles – or kilometers over here. I stood and tried to decide which view I could show you that ‘told’ the story of how empty this part of Australia is. Yes, I ended up taking several pictures because there was nothing in any direction. Wait, I do have to slightly amend that as there was a windmill far off to the east. If it was there to water sheep or cattle it didn’t have any customers. No animal of any kind was spotted until just before getting into Silverton.
The wind wasn’t kind on Muga Muga point either. It almost literally blew me off as it was powerful enough to rock my pickup truck as it was sitting still.

An interesting thing occurred. Two cars pulled in and three men and one young lady got out and started deciding something. Then one man took a small power mower and walked a few feet into the grayish grass and stood behind the mower. A photog started posing him and snapping pictures. I asked the young lady what was happening as I thought it would be an advertisement shoot for a local business.

Not quite. The mower was the mayor of Broken Hill and I never really understood why he would come 15 K out of town to shoot a fake picture of him not mowing to put in the newspaper. The closest I could come to what the lady said was the picture would show the difference between out there and in town. I left at that as I didn’t want to bother them but I could have offered some technical advice.

A man just standing there with his hands on the handle looks fake. There are ways to make it look real but, being a visiting Yank, what do I know.

This flock of birds was feeding along the road so I stopped and got some shots. They are very pretty and I think they are galahs – pronounced gall-uhs.

If I find out different I’ll post a correction. But being a lifelong Okie I found it totally amazing that an entire flock of exotic birds would be flying around just so I could take their picture. I know, they are not exotic to the people around here.

But they were to me. I loved it.

Looking Around Broken Hill

                                  

                                   Royal Exchange Hotel Broken Hill

After arriving and having a day or two of rest, it was time to look over this very historic town. The Broken Hill area was started by pastoral farmers in the 1850s. The actual town was founded as a mining town in the 1880s. Of course, native people had inhabited the area for tens of thousands of years, but who is counting. They never made permanent camps because of the lack of water so the Europeans knew the land belonged to them because they wanted it.


The town itself is not very large; the 2011 estimate is just over 20,000 people here with no mention of the number of wallabies or feral goats. Feral goats seem to be the most populous of animals in the area. They seem to thrive on the scrub brush and multiply like rabbits, or even better. The people, not so much. Less than 300 babies were born last year in the entire western ranges of New South Wales.

The town is clean and the streets are very well taken care of by whoever does that. Most streets are four lanes wide as they had much room when the town was laid out. However, the earliest houses are very small, by our standards, and crowded close together. It would remind you of Britain or continental Europe which shouldn't be a surprise as the working class people are the ones who lived in these houses. As we are coming back to the late 1800 mindset toward workers in our country, the "ruling class" of those days thought of workers as just another tool for them to use to gain wealth.
                                   
                                             Trades Hall - 1921   

There is a monument in the middle of town which is to the women of Broken Hill who "stood by their man.”

Too long of a story to tell here but the women of Broken hill organized, more than once, to support their men and gain enough to be able to actually live and support a family. Conditions back at the turn of the 19th century into the 20th were worse than grim.
                                                 
                                                  Monument to Women's Brigade

Other than being cold all the time it is pleasant to walk around Broken Hill. There is a mall out west of town but their main shopping area seems to be thriving. It is almost like stepping back in time; a busy Main Street, people nodding and speaking to you and friendly merchants.

The common greeting is “ ‘Ow yer goin’?” Not many use the “G’day” greeting here to me as I am a stranger, I guess, but it is still alive even if this isn’t Sydney. Aussies have a very fast speech pattern and out here more speak “Stryne” than don’t, so I have difficulty figuring out what they said. After making a small purchase I was asked by a teenage clerk, “Izthettheluot?” in a high pitched voice up in the soprano range. She had her pretty head ducked, as I am not at all good looking, and had to repeat it twice. On her next try she asked, “Iz theah ennytheeng aelse?” By that time her first question had filtered through and I understood it and bravely said, “No, thanks.” She smiled at the retarded old man and gave me change. Similar scenes have been played out several times. When they get excited and start talking they talk as fast as an America teenager.

They do love their sports here. I love Aussie rules footie (football) and watch as often as I can. It is a strange sport to an American and I don’t think our footie players could stand a chance against a good Aussie Rules team. It has to be seen to be believed but imagine a player running as hard as he can and being tackled by 3 or 4 opponents as hard as they can. None of them are wearing anything but game shorts and sleeveless shirts. They can also kick the ball 50 – 80 meters while running full tilt.

It is faster than soccer, rougher than gridiron, more complex than Rugby and makes no sense to anyone other than an Aussie. The team I was barracking for lost one match by 103 points.

The coach quit during the next game.

       
                         

The joys of travel

      Getting from there to here is sometimes not too delightful. I do enjoy traveling, as you probably know, but this last trip left my nerves in  a state of exhaustion. Realizing that different cultures do things differently, I am prepared for some "bumps" in the road, as it were. However, unnecessary bumps leave me with a bad taste in my travel-mouth.
      I am in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia and, "yes, I have been here before." This trip was somewhat better than the other trips to Australia as I did not have to go to nor spend even a minute in Los Angeles International. I believe its name is Tom Brady airport,  but who is counting. I flew from Dallas which was great for me. The people at customs were friendlier and I know the Dallas airport a lot  better.
      I must say, parenthetically, that Tulsa is still a pain. There is no place for us old guys (or boot guys or anyone) to sit to take off our shoes which makes it pretty difficult if one is not a retired acrobat. I have mentioned this to them before so you can see the influence I have had. Perhaps a letter to the editor is in order. Hmm, wonder if it would be printed?
      If one isn't too busily wrapped up in one's self there are many interesting things and people to react with whilst traveling. I saw a large group of smallish children all in purple T-shirts in the Dallas airport. As I walked past I approached the man with them and asked if they were middle school kids. He replied they were and we struck up a conversation. I  had just purchased a sandwich as my lunch was very light and I wouldn't eat again until midnight, some hours away. I should have kept walking after the initial contact as I barely got to finish my sandwich before boarding. The man was traveling with 39 seventh graders and four women, he needed somone to talk to.
      This part will be hard for some to believe, the part where I actually left a chance to talk to a stranger and an adult at that. He had lots to say and kept getting between me and the sitting area. Finally I said that we could sit "over there" and talk. We did and I found that the Japanese, and most oriental people, were rude and thoughtless. Wow! I was glad to know that as I assumed people are pretty much as you meet them. Most of the time they mirror what they see in you.
      Then he acted like I was delaying him and he signed off and went back to his group. I was able to go get some water then. Wheew. Oh, his group was headed to Sydney on a people to people program.
      Sometimes luck is with you. My seat companion was a very cute young lady heading home to Melbourne. She was almost cute enough to be one of my granddaughters and also very bright. She and I talked and laughed and joked for a long while . Then after eating she zonked out and slept the rest of the night. As we talked, the next morning, she told me her father told her to take two Advil P M and she could sleep. It worked for her so all of you take note. I hope to try them on the way home as I did not sleep at all.
      We landed in Brisbane which is not pronounced BrisBAINE as most Americans call it. It is pronounced like mountain, i.e. mountun, or fountun. Not mounTAINE or founTAINE. (Glad I could straighten you out on that. It will be important the next time you are on a quiz show.)
      We went through  strict security at Brisbane and the middle schoolers lost their freshly purchased Dr. peppers. I lost my water bottle from the flight. Then at Sydney we all went through security again and then through customs. It was not a fun experience given the fact that we had landed 35 minutes late, had to get luggage which took two forevers, make our way through customs.......
      I'll conclude this part later. It was the stressful part and may have some good information for you.
        Until next time.


    

Sailing the smooth seas of summer

            Ah, winter. The time of year for reflections and soul searching. I have searched my soul and it tells me I want to go sailing again this summer. For the long time reader, you remember that Herself and I have gone on the sailing schooner “Heritage” a few times. Actually, whatever that number is it isn’t enough. Going on a week sailing on the Heritage is an experience that every intelligent vacationer should experience. For those who want to be relaxed at the end of a week’s vacation, then this is for you.
    That is not to say you will be totally sedentary. There are enough activities and experiences that you will also feel as if you had done enough. Most people bring a book or two to read. Now with the ereaders, they can bring 10,000 books but very few actually finish reading the first book. There is just too much to do and see and hear to get engrossed in some bodice ripper novel. Even a gripping spy novel cannot compare to an island light house or an osprey nest that has been in continual use for 200 years.
    I have heard some people squeal, “Eww, but I might get sea sick.” Wellsir, you might not. You are never on “the sea” and the waves in Pennobscot Bay are never as you sea waves on TV. When you watch Captain Jack Sparrow on TV, he is a fictional character on a fictional ship on a fictional ocean. Captain Doug and Captain Linda, of the schooner heritage, are real captains on a real boat on the real Penobscot Bay. Their one job is to see that you are safe and entertained in a Maine sea faring tradition.
    Speaking of Capt. Doug, it would be worth the price of a voyage just to hear his stories. He is a master story teller and has a wealth of Maine stories that guests request over and over. His knowledge of Maine sailing and sailing in general is amazing. He gets asked to be a speaker in many of the “intellectual circles” and he, along with Linda, have authored books about Maine sailing. We are not talking amateurs here.
    The schooner Heritage was designed and build by Doug and linda. I believe it is the only one there that was built as a passenger vessel. The others were converted from another purpose, so, this one is real. It has been upgraded several times and ha most of the amenities one finds in a hotel room, only with less space.
    The schooner is 95 feet long with a boom extending on out past 100 feet. No one knows for sure, but it is thought the Mayflower, of Pilgrim fame, was only 113 feet long. The Mayflower had probably over 150 people on board for 66 days. Privacy was unheard of then. Now, you will have a private cabin with running water. A couple of cabins even have a private head. I personally think that is unnecessary.
    Now for the best part. A trip to Tahiti would be ruined if the food was bad. Captain Linda oversees the galley and it is great. Don’t tell Doug I said this but I think her food is better than his stories. Now, get this, it is all cooked on a wood fired stove. Seriously! And furthermore, the food is abundant enough that sometimes you almost feel guilty have another blueberry dessert or maybe several more of... everything. And just so you want feel too peckish, there is a snack every midmorning and mid-afternoon. That snack is good enough to make most restaurant meals blush.
    But to this old landlubber, the best of the best is the constant changing scenery. Seeing the coast of Maine and the huge variety of historic and beautiful things is mind boggling. Of course, when the mind gets too boggled, you can always talk for hours to your new friends or listen to Doug tell wonderful stories of ships, sailing and the historical places of where you are passing. Every evening you will stop in a different cove or harbour. There will always be some activity if you need something besides beauty to occupy your mind.
    I could go on and on but I think you can discover for yourself what a wonderful experience this is by going to: http://www.schoonerheritage.com/index.html. Be sure to watch the Youtube showing, you will not regret it. But the greatest thing about our last two trips aboard the schooner?
    Captain Doug let me man the wheel (steer) for about an hour and toward a definite destination!