Last Leg Home

Norrdam

April 9th (Friday) was my last day in Sydney, and for matter; my last day in Australia. It was an overcast day (no sunshine). Also there was a sprinkling of rain. As the ship "Norrdam" would not be boarded until 1pm, it was decided an exploration tour of the commercial area of Sydney might be interesting. As one can expect, a city of 5 million has lots to offer in the way of shopping. Finding a large shopping centre with many floors, I decided to give it a go. Also, as part of this facility were a number of shops in a tunnel complex similar to the tunnel labyrinth found in Toronto. The tunnels were quite extensive. On exiting to surface, I decided to walk back to my hotel where my bags were stored after checking out of my hotel earlier. Alas, I walked the wrong way. (Blame it on the overcast as one could not see the sun in order to determine one's direction.) After walking some distance and not seeing any familiar landmarks, I did what we males reluctantly do and that is; "ask for directions". George Street (my street) was in the opposite direction to the street that I was walking. A subway station was nearby which gave me some hope. After spending my whole career working underground, I was back on familiar ground (underground) where a couple stops took me back to my hotel. After having lunch and picking up my bags, a taxi was caught to the "International Overseas Terminal" near the Sydney Opera House. Clearing customs and immigration was well organized considering that 2,000 passengers had to cleared for sailing. It was no big chore to find my cabin and get my belongings organized and stowed away for the next three weeks. (I love cruise traveling.)

The first day was getting organized and getting acquainted with the facilities aboard ship. The travel agent did stake me to a special dinner in the Caneletto Bistro (that costs extra) on the first night and to the Pinnocle Grill the second night. The second night was formal, so I wore my white dinner jacket, black tie, and cummerbund for the occasion. (I'm a big swell.) Incidentally there are four formal nights called "Gala Nights" on this cruise. All the others are "Smart Casual". After dinner on most nights, I take in a live show such as a Broadway musical and dance production on each night. In fact, these concerts are given every night but with various artists performing different acts like the impersonator, impersonating Johnnie Cash, Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond, then on another night was a stand-up comic plus many other various entertainers. They are all professionals and they are all very good. Because there are ever so many activities one can attend, it is impossible to grace them all. I did take in a lecture on the second afternoon on wine tasting where we sampled four different wines from various countries. As my nose is not what it used to be, it was impossible for me to smell aroma of the wine. I tried another tasting session the following week and to see if my nose could pick up an aroma. No such luck.

 Our first port of call was Nouméa, New Caledonia, a city with a population of 180,000. It is a French Territory or maybe a Department (I'm not sure). The clerical staff in the shops are bilingual but not so the natives (Melanesians) on the street as they all seem to speak French only. (It gave me a chance to practise my French.) Many of the shops display both English and French. Oh; another thing is they drive on the right hand side of the road like we do in North America.

On getting off the boat we were transported (for our own safety) away from the dock yard (which is working dock) by a shuttle bus which makes a tour to the city and back to the boat every ten minutes. When I say working dock, it is true; as it is very busy with many shipping containers stacked and being moved over quite an area. On approaching to dock, our vessel passed a nickel mine along with its concentrator and loading dock. It is nickel mining that is the main industry, followed by fishing and fish processing and finally by the hospitality industry making the Ville de Nouméa prosperous as there seems to be many automobiles here for the size of the city. One thing that was noticed was all the electrical services were underground which is a good indication that the city has money.  

In the afternoon a bus tour of the city and district was taken followed by a tour of their modern aquarium. (I had no idea that there were so many colourful fish of many shapes and sizes.) What impressed me was the very modern commercial and residential district. There is definitely money in this town with the properly maintained streets and very well kept commercial and residential buildings. There is a university which attracts students not only from Nouméa but also from other nearby islands.

On returning to the boat, I had dinner and then again attended the evening show which featured a very comical magician. On the following night, the featured artist was Kaitlyn Carr who sang Scottish and Irish songs. She also played the Irish penny whistle and a Celtic flute. Her performance was lively and got everyone's Irish and Scottish blood moving.

Tuesday (Apr 12) our ship stopped at Maré a small island as part of New Caledonia. In order to go onto the island, it was necessary to take a tender which is a small motorized boat that can carry about fifty passengers. There is no dock large enough for our ship and also there are many coral reefs preventing a large ship like the Norrdam to dock safely. (I did not go a shore.)  

The following day (Wednesday April 13) our vessel pulled into a bay off shore from Mystery Island (a coral island) which is part of the Republic of Vanuatu. The main islands of Vanuatu are all volcanic. Mystery Island is shaped like a fat fireman's gumboot; where it is perhaps two maybe three kilometres long on the leg, less than a kilometre from heal to toe, and maybe a kilometre wide on the leg with a grass air-strip running the full length the leg down the middle. The highest point might be about three metres or less in elevation. The air-strip was built during World War II. We again had to take a tender from our ship to reach the island (I went a shore to this island as it fascinated me some how.)

No one lives on Mystery Island. The natives live on an adjacent Island across the straight (about three kilometres) but travel to Mystery Island in their boats when there is a cruise ship arriving in order to sell various tourist items.

Thursday, April 14 was a day at sea where one just relaxes, reads or attends lectures. (I swim each morning before breakfast and then have my breakfast at poolside.) We will have many days at sea before and after we reach Hawaii. On board ship, the crew change the floor mats in all the elevators with the day of the week on them, so as to keep one informed which day it is. (A nice reminder!)

On Friday, April 15, we docked at Lautoka, Fiji. a very busy port town of 50,000. The principal industry besides the tourist industry is sugar cane growing and processing. The dock yard seemed to be quite busy with shipping containers being moved and stacked. I walked to the downtown section of Lautoka which was about two kilometres but took the shuttle bus back. I did a bit of shopping in the commercial area. There is a university on the island but I did not go too far out and about as it was sprinkling rain and it became quite humid.

The people of Fiji are very friendly and they greet you by saying "Boola Boola" so one should answer "Boola Boola" back. It has many meanings like: hello, welcome, yes or good. The population seems to be split 50% percent native Fijians and 50% Indian. It's not hard to tell which is which as the Fijians have darker skin (nearly black) while the Indians have brownish skin. The Indians were brought here from South East Asia as labourers for the sugar fields by the British. Yes, Fiji is (or was) a British Colony and the automobiles drive on the left-hand side of the road. It seems we keep switching from left to right and back again as we travel from one island to another. Those that were British of course drive on the left and those that are French or American choose to drive on the right.

On Saturday April 16, prior to us crossing the International Dateline, we were to go a shore via tender to Dravuni Island (one of the islands of Fiji), but because of storming weather, our captain did not wish to risk having his passengers chance a rough ride to shore on a tender. Instead, the activities director had to revise the daily activities so as to keep everyone busy.

On Saturday (B) (as they call it) again on April 16, as we had crossed the International Dateline, it was another day at sea. Early morning at 2am, we put our watches ahead one hour and our date back one day. We were all given a certificate showing we had crossed the International Date Line". We had two Saturdays: Saturday (A) and Saturday (B). This time the activities director had everything planned in advance so there were well scheduled activities planned thorough out the day. In the morning I attended the lecture, "Vanuatu & Mystery Island: An Archaeologist's Delight".  I should mention that another certificate was issued to everyone when we crossed the equator. There also was a King Neptune ceremony where new crew members who have not crossed the equator before must kiss the fish and are then thrown into the swimming pool. (A naval tradition)

The Norrdam, while repositioning from Sydney to Vancouver, is carrying mostly Canadians, then Americans and also many Australians and New Zealanders. There a few people from the UK. Its fun to meet the different people at meals (as one who is traveling solo) I get to be placed where there is a spare place-setting each time. There has been one exception where they seem to be placing me all the time at a table where a good looking 75-year old gal from Florida is seated. We seemed to have hit it off but I began to have my suspicions that she ass gay. Not that I am against gays, it seemed to me that stocking Diana Lopez (That's her name.) just didn't have any future.

 She was once married for a short time to a Cuban.  Well one night I thought I hit the jackpot, this gal was from Vancouver. She's blond, in her mid 60s, very nice looking, hell of a nice figure and she reminds me of my grand niece, Amanda. Anyway we (Gaye Long and I) were dinner partners on Gala Night and on another as well as two show dates. (Just because her name is Gaye, she is not gay.) Incidentally, I have taken a few years off my age. I am still 72. The next time I go on a cruise, I think I'll tint my hair. (Just kidding.) Anyhow, even though Gaye was nice company, we didn't have anything in common, so one must move on.  Last, but really the best, I met up with an 87 year old (Estelle Ingram, a widow) where we have more in common. She's really nice looking. She lives in Victoria. Her late husband was a mining engineer. I'm not looking for a wife (never) but a dinner partner is always nice. We have had a few dinners together; we even had lunch at the Royal Hawaiian when in Honolulu. On the last night on the Norrdam, we dressed up for Gala Night in formal wear. We seem to have hit it off well on board ship.

Sunday, April 17 our ship docked at the town of  "Pago Pago", pronounced " Pa on go  Pa on go" on the island of Tutuila which is part of American Samoa. Western Samoa used to be a British colony but gained independence in the 70s. It does belong to the Commonwealth however. Now there are two Samoa's, and to be different, American Samoa drives on the right while the Republic of Samoa drives on the left.  One plays American football while the other plays rugby.

Tutuila Island is the result of both volcanic activity and subduction (a type of earth-quake). The town of Pogo Pogo, which is small, is situated on a very sheltered harbour, a long inlet. The town's only street is built along both sides of this inlet. The American flag is displayed everywhere even painted on the sides of buildings so you know it is an American Territory. The Republic of Samoa would like to incorporate all Samoa into one republic as both people have the same culture but that might not happen as the Americans don't easily give up territory. Being Polynesian, the people in Samoa are light brown in complexion as compared to those in Fiji.

I took a walk along the only street following the inlet and came upon a number of churches as one can hear the choirs singing. It was Sunday. Curiosity got the best of me so, I went into a very large church (I think it was Baptist or Methodist) to listen to the singing. In this one church, it must have had over a 100-person choir. The ladies all wore long white dresses and white wide brim straw hats trimmed with white ribbon, while the men wore white shirts and white trousers. (Trousers for men seemed to be an exception as most of the men on the street wore colourful below the knee length skirts.) That choir could match anything that I have heard in North America. The singing was beautiful as they sang in their own native Polynesian language.

It lucky for us that our boat left Samoa when it did because there was a hurricane coming that hit the island five days after we left for Hawaii.

Our ship (with its passengers) were at sea for six days before arriving at Hawaii, so there was nothing to report in those six days except to say that I enjoyed the relaxing time: swimming in the early morning; listening to lectures about the Pacific Islands in the afternoons; dining with various travelers at mealtime; reading in the well stocked library and just relaxing in the many lounges. Once we docked in Honolulu, Hawaii; things started to happen again. The first day in Honolulu, I went out to Pearl Harbor (American Spelling) and did the usual tour seeing the Arizona Memorial and then touring the Battleship Missouri (Big Mo). It was quite a tour inside this ship seeing where the sailors worked, ate and slept. The Big Mo is the ship where the Japanese signed the documents of surrender ending World War II in the Pacific. Afterward, our bus driver gave us a very informative tour of the outskirts of Honolulu. It was getting on to about 3pm and we passengers were feeling hungry as we hadn't had lunch, so our driver stopped at a hotdog stand at $5 a dog. (I am sure the hotdog stand was run by his cousin or maybe a brother.)

I broke off from the tour and got to talking with three bus drivers about the Hawaiian Culture. Apparently in school they do study Hawaiian History and study the language as an elective. There are Hawaiian Immersion Schools but these are few. As an aside, it is my opinion (and others) that the Americans took control of Hawaii from the Hawaiian Queen Lilivokalani (1838-1917 the last Hawaiian Monarch) much in the same way that Texas was usurped from Mexico. I asked about the percentage of Hawaiian or Polynesian people in the Hawaiian Islands and the bus drivers said, "About 25%". They said really there were about 25% Japanese, 25% European, 25% of many other ethnic groups so that no one is a minority.

On my last day in Hawaii, I went out to Waikiki Beach and feasted my eyes on the young things in their "Itsy Bitsy bikinis". (Yes, I'm a dirty old man.) After feasting my eyes, I enjoyed lunch at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel with Estelle Ingram my latest dinner partner. (No, that's wrong; I met a grand mother by the name of Junine from White Rock BC who was stocking me for a time. It sure is good for the ego to be so popular.

Well that about sums up my travel rendition.

Boola Boola And Aloha!