"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report #52 Fremantle, Australia February 21, 2018 Wednesday Sunny & 78 degrees 74 Pictures-Sail in

Today was really a half and half day. The first part was a day at sea. Then, later in the afternoon, we sailed into the harbor of Freemantle.

So our day at sea began with sunny skies, and the promise of a good day. After breakfast, we took our normal walk outside to find that it was still chilly. The seas were choppy, and the wind was blowing strongly. We did not mind, since just seeing sun was uplifting.

Last night we got two invitations. One was a tour of the ship’s laundry facilities with our hosts Steve and Wendy. The date will be determined by the number of folks they get to sign up. Then we got another invite from Captain Mercer and Henk M to do a heart of the house tour on decks A and B. This will be followed by an Indonesian Lunch, probably in the dining room. This will occur on Friday, the 23^rd. So needless to say, we shall do the one and only tour that will take all of it in. When it rains, it pours.

It was a lazy day for us, but we did have a chance to catch up on computer work. Lunchtime found us in the dining room, meeting Barb. Susie and Woody were already seated across from us, and starting their first course. It has been fun spending so much time with them and Barb too. Sure brings back many fond memories. After lunch, Barb was thinking ahead and invited them to dinner at our table tonight. They said yes.

It was an afternoon movie for us, Red 2, we think. Probably saw it before, but like with most movies, we forgot half of it. Around 2pm, we went up to deck nine to watch the ship sail into the port of Freemantle. The closer we got, the skyline revealed the nearby city of Perth, with her few skyscrapers. Actually, this stop is a duel port, with two very different cities to explore.

The winds were still pretty strong on deck nine, making it difficult to hold the camera. But we did get some good shots passing by Rottnest Island and the many other landmarks on the way. Barbara H, the port lecturer, came outside and joined us in the sail in. Nice, because she pointed out all of the landmarks she spoke about recently. We have all done this more than a few times.

Entering the harbor by the Maritime Museum, we noticed that an animal carrier vessel was docked across the harbor. This is an unusual ship that transports livestock from one area to another. On previous trips, we have seen this ship full of cattle or sheep. Before you see it, you could smell it.

The ship was docked well before 4pm. It sure was interesting watching the dock workers ready their portable gangway. Using a huge crane, they positioned the gangway that looked like a train car. It tied over to deck three, the lower promenade deck. Most times we miss this action, because it is happening while we are still asleep.

We had toyed with the idea of doing internet work in the terminal. But once a lot of folks left the ship to do the same thing, we found the speed picked up in our room on the ship’s wifi. Job done, we stayed onboard. We’ll have a day tomorrow to explore the city.

The Ocean Bar was about empty of dancers this evening. One couple had the floor almost to themselves. We could see many guests leaving with small rolled suitcases, then coming back on a bit later. Wonder if they were shopping at Coles across the street from the terminal building? We plan to stop there ourselves tomorrow.

At dinnertime, we had our guests Susie and Woody join us once again. Two were missing, having gone either ashore or to the Lido Aussie Outback Cook-In. In the “old days”, these cookouts were really outside BBQ’s, with the Seaview pool deck transformed into a real buffet treat. Not allowed anymore for many reasons, we miss those fun affairs.

Entertainment this evening was a big screen movie: Suburbicon, starring Matt Damon and Julianne Moore. Must be a good movie, since we watched people filing into the show lounge one hour before the start of the film. Or maybe they were there for the bag of popcorn?

Bill & Mary Ann

Perth is located 12 miles inland