drron29

I am sure Mr. Luxury will be gutted to know that there is not another photo until the evening before our arrival into Darwin. The sunset. Then Dinner. Rojaan made a mistake and ordered the veal chop. it was nice but way too big for her. I had the sea bream. For desserts Rojaan had the mango trilogy. And I had the lemon meringue pie.

Unlike @portpower whose phone disappears posts mine decides to post extras. The last few photos in the last post are from dinner that night. They definitely were not in the ones I chose but had been put into a folder for the next post. Oh well there you go. So that was dinner after leaving Komodo. once again I had my steak fix and we both had the apple crumble. So after leaving Komodo there were 2 sea days. Some of you will be happy to know that my photo editing program had a fail so some photos have disappeared. unfortunately for some of you only a small proportion. Lunch on the first sea day. I had the drowned lasagne and the mushroom stroganoff which was really good. Rojaan had the roast lamb. However she had cheesecake for dessert. But I stuck with the strudel. And for a change we both went with a white wine.

Despite the exertion I hadn't done enough steps for the day so after a cold shower I did a few inside laps. they had changed a few orchids since our Bali stop. And lunch time comes around again. Rojaan had the pork loin. I began with the cauliflower bites and then the bouillabasse. the bites were lovely the soup not classical. At the Trivia the couples in our team who were going on to Auckland showed us the flyer they got for the in transit tour in Cairns. Someone needs a Geography lesson.

And there was 1 large dragon lying there. It did move about a metre to show us it was alive there was an old dragon's nest there where the female had laid it's eggs. It had been monitored. Just after this you came to a fork in the track. To the right a loop up the Mountai or to the left back to the beach. 3 people waited there for us to return. It would have been a better idea to head straight back to the beach there and then. We saw no more dragons. just a view of the interior. I really didn't need to see that. one older woman slipped about a 100 metres from the turning point and injured her knee. She was escorted back to the meeting point. For the rest of us it was a struggle in the 35C heat with high humidity and most of us were exhausted when we got back to the meeting point. So back to the beach. Where the track meets the beach there was a few locals handing out complimentary bottles of cold water or cans of coke. my water disappeared pretty quickly on top of the 2 bottles I had consumed on the mountain. And we saw more large Komodo dragons as we walked through the souvenir "shop" to get to the pier. Before going through the shop the guides suggested a tip. Most of us passed on that suggestion. And great to see the Muse waiting for our return.

The next morning we were approaching Komodo Island. Really a bit of a rip off. You are only allowed ashore if you are with a local guide and do the walk to see the dragons. but when you get to the meeting point if you leave the group an walk to the left you will see more larger dragons than on the walk. I noticed a few that did that. Turns out they had been before. On landing a dragon statue. Near the start point were 2 small dragons. At the "main" dragon viewing point there was a collection of dragon meals.

Dinner that night. Rojaan had the crab salad. And I had the tuna salad. I had the Mushroom soup and Rojaan had her NZ lamb. I once again had the fillet steak. just the way I like it. Rojaan had the pavlova and I the blueberry chocolate crumble.

But to us Aussies the Pacific is the world.

We stayed on board for the second day in Bali. Some views from outside the Panorama lounge. Today the planes were taking off over us so were a bit higher. Then I witnessed an absolutely insane moment. The fellow on the red jet ski had stood on the very rear of the jet ski and took a lot of photos of the woman in various poses. I hadn't realised what he was doing but then he handed the phone to the woman who proceeded to take about 30 selfies of herself in different poses. Truly idiotic to me. Then it was time for sail away.

Finally dinner in Atlantide. Rojaan had the watermelon and tomato salad which was nice. I had potato Laksies which tasted nice but weren't the way they normally would be made. She had the an appetiser as a main. Whilst I had the duo of scallop and halibut which was good. Rojaan had the pavlova and I the lemon meringue pie for dessert . They have been shown before. Lunch was at the grill just a salad for Rojaan and a burger for me. Quality has slipped from previous cruises.

The baddie. They now invited audience participation. though I'm sure that those that volunteered had been selected prior. they had the rest of us ROFL. The Shaman appears. And all ends well. It went way overtime so everyone was late to dinner.

Before dinner a village group boarded and per formed the Kecak dance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kecak They find the Queen.

Since retiring we have been doing longer cruises. We did 54 days on the Moon earlier this year. We have found it very good as you do get to know the crew better. As well anywhere from Australia is basically a long flight so better to get value out of it.

All are open as usual. La Dame, Silver note and Indochine are only open for dinner.

Back to the ship and I went up to deck 12 above the observation lounge for a bit of planespotting and enjoying the surrounds. Qatar came in quite low. They came in at 10 -15 minute intervals The sun was starting to set. just to the left of centre over the bridge you can see the landing lights for DPS. A little later the sunset became better.

Note the petrol bowsers. The bus stops were raised.

Time then to get on the bus and head back to the port.

Time for lunch. We decided to have lunch at the restaurant right beside the bus parking are. Only 1 other couple there. Simple food but tasty and cheap. no wine so Rojaan had a sprite and I a Bintang. Rojaan had chicken satays which were OK and I had spicy pork ribs which were nice. Total cost just under 140000 rupiah. $A10/$US9. The restaurant and the views from the back of the restaurant. Then a bit of a stroll around the buildings around the parking lot. Then took my life in my hands and crossed the road to a little temple. The road wasn't that busy just then.

Then a building I recognised. Same design but modernised. 40 years ago it was the public market and open air with iron roof. Wouldn't want this fellows job. Tried to find where we stayed. out of town not far from the market and overlooking rice paddies and the river. all gone and heavily developed now.

So we started our perambulation around Ubud. First the surrounds of the parking area. The footpaths were narrow and uneven. Often with cars or motor bikes parked on them so walking the main street was at times rather daunting. so we decided to go down a side street. But it began to go uphill and the number of cars pushing through increased so back to the main road.

We have booked our first 2026 cruise. got to be an optimist . n the Muse again - Mahe to Capetown. Now need to find me a leopard.

Temples and stone works everywhere. Very little undeveloped road frontage all the way to Ubud. Very different to 40 years ago. We arrive at the bus parking lot.

We had 44 days and weren't worried by the choices. you svee a lot of raw meat and fish in my pictures because that is what i like. We didn't go to Indochine a lot because there is a large percentage of spicy dishes. Rojaan does not do spice. If you like spice there is an immediate increase in your choices. And my major yardstick is does it taste nice and by that standard the majority of dishes passed the test. In particular the beef in Atlantide was up there with the best I have had. I was very pleased with it. But yes I was totally disappointed with the cheeses on offer. However we have never cruised Oceania, I don't think I have seen any pictures of their food so I can't comment on that. As to limited menus the Atlantide menu has 4 pages every night of which the first page changes each night. It does repeat dishes but not for at least for a week and then not every dish. was more than enough choice for us. Plus there is a much more extensive everday/room service menu and we sometimes substituted a dish from there. So if I didn't like the desserts I would order the creme brulee or the Eton mess from that menu.

@RetiredandTravel we are definitely satisfied withe food with the exceptions of the Osso Buco and La terraza in general. We have lived in Italian suburbs of Sydney when young and more recently I have worked in griffith, NSW which has a very large Italian population. The hospital has it's signs in English and Italian. As well s that several visits to Griffith when one of our best friends was Headmaster of the High school there. So we have had many meals wiith italian families and love the Nonnas cooking. So La terraza has never been one of our favourites. The Grill meals we thought had less quality than before as well as basically being too hot to eat there. And the other complaint is the repetious nature of the veggie accompaniments to the main meals in Atlantide. saying you didn't want them didn't work. they still appeared. As to service in general we felt it better than usual. After a while we always ate in Pablo's section of Atlantide. An exceptional talent who we praised in the assessments. However that meant on the last night of our cruise he had been promoted to La Dame. We also found the sommeliers were very good. And they did have qualifications.