Iluvcruising2

We went through the inside exhibit quite quickly (only about 10 minutes!) and headed outside.

It was a beautiful day.

The building you see above is what remains of their main cell block.

This is a good reminder for all. Sorry, if I sound like preaching, but isn't this verse very true?

Anyway, the King Jame's Version of the Bible states this verse as follows:

"Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured."

What was most fascinating were the stories of the real people who were interned at this place.

These were just kids!

Makes you think hard, doesn't it? Look at the type of 'crimes' they committed and the punishments they were given. No doubt, this is rather extreme, but we should also ask ourselves whether we have swung too far on the other side.

Look at the food menu of the convicts.

A very far cry from what we were having on the ship!

By the time we finished our light lunch, went to the loo, it was about 12:50pm.

Since we wanted to catch the ferry ride at 1:40pm, the plan was to walk through the inside exhibition quickly and then walk the grounds in a quick manner before taking the ferry.

According to Google Maps, the distance from the Thrifty Car Rental to Port Arthur Historic Site is 95.4km. All the accounts I have read said to budget 1.5 hours for the scenic drive. That is about right.

In our case, I got there in about 1hr 20minutes or so.

Upon arrival, we bought the Bronze Pass for the family. As the earlier available ferry ride was 1:40pm, we took a quick bite at the cafe before heading out to the grounds.

This was after Sorell.

The roads are fairly easy to drive. As Singapore, Australia and New Zealand drive on the same side of the road, I was pretty confident in handling the car.

I found the roads to be extremely well sign-posted.

But of course, it was still important to have a good sense of the directions of where we wanted to go, the names of the major roads or highways we were taking and the towns/cities that we may have to pass through.

In our case, I knew we had to pass through the town (or city?) of Sorell.

This was taken about 25 minutes into the drive, as we drive up Gordon Street (A3) with a right turn into Cole Stree (A9 - Arthur Highway). Without Google maps, I wouldn't have known all this!

By the time we completed the paperwork, got the car seats (for my 2 kids) installed and set off, it was 11am.

We had no time to waste as our intention was to go to Port Arthur.

Thrifty closed at 5:30pm. So, even though all aboard time was 6:30pm, we had to target to return the car by 5pm thereabouts, to be safe.

Driving out of Hobart was a breeze and the scenery was beautiful.

Thankfully I ran ahead. When I got there, there was a line with at least 3 groups in front of me. Shortly after I got there, at least another 5 groups formed behind me. Thrifty only had 2 counter staff and the process was painfully slow.

The bad news for us was that they ran out of GPS! We had pre-booked one, only to be told that they had issued all their GPSes for the day. This looked to be an extremely serious setback. However, thanks to our diligent trip planning and the fact that I had looked closely at google maps (street view) quite a number of times and even drove 'virtually' from Hobart to Port Arthur, we decided to just proceed!

Carpe Diem!

On the plus side, they upgraded our car. This was a rather new Ford Territory SUV, Diesel engine (thankfully I asked, otherwise I would have filled her up wrongly).

Coming from Singapore, I had never driven such a large car. It was a real treat!

It was a 5 to 7 minute brisk walk to the main road, Davey Street.

The picture above and below were taken back-to-back. In the above picture, I was facing the ship that we had just gotten off. In the below picture, I turned 180 deg to face the path that we had to take. This gives you a good idea of the distance.

I also found Google Maps to be very useful as part of our planning, to look at the route to walk as well as how to drive to our destinations. The driver needs to have a good sense of the directions and places of interest that you want to go.

We made a beeline for Thrifty Car Rental, which was at Argyle Street. We had to walk to the main street (Davey), turn left and keep walking till we reach the cross-junction of Arglyle and Davey. From the cross junction, I could see the Thrifty sign already. Closer to the car rental, I ran ahead while my wife brought the kids up in the rear.

Hobart would be quite a rush because we only arrive at 10am, with an all aboard time at 6:30pm.

For Australian and NZ ports, my view is that the ideal arrival time should be 7:30am or 8am, with a 6:30 or 7pm departure time. There is no need to depart late because many shops are closed by 5pm anyway.

We were just pulling into port. This is the view from our balcony.

Day 3 - Hobart, Tasmania. Our first port of call. This was going to be a very interesting day for us.

This was from Cafe Promenade, later that evening, about 1030pm.

In my opinion, the best food from Cafe Promenade at the pizzas. They are almost always piping hot. There is high demand for the pizzas so the turnover is very high and the pizzas are freshly made.

The cheese pizza became my kids' staple for supper as well as afternoon snack.

And what's this?

Isn't this just awesome?

Not forgetting the sweets!

Some more food.

There is a small section of the WJ where they prepare food with a different theme every night. This must have been Indian night or something. I remember there was Thai, Indian, Italian, Australian etc.

After a walk, felt hungry again! Well not really. Then again, you don't need to feel hungry to visit the Windjammer!

So, to the WJ we went.

Sushi - I believe they have this every night.

After dinner, we had to take a walk!

Deck 12 was a lovely place. Sun was setting. The view was beautiful.

It is wonderful to cruise in summer. The days are so long!

This was the dessert menu for Day 2.

Same with the entrees, we typically order 4 desserts every night for the both of us to share. My kids usually have the cookie of the day plus ice-cream.

We cannot be finishing all 4 desserts. It would way too much in terms of calorie intake!!

The Prawn Ravioli. This was a miss.

By now, some of you may be thinking, how do we finish all this food?

The short answer, is we don't.

We eat family-style, we order more than we can finish, and we just pick on what we like to eat!

That, to me, is one HUGE reason why we cruise. It is as if we are having a chef sampler gastronomical delight every evening.

Like it or not, not every dish would be a hit. And, some parts of the dishes may be better than others. So we just eat what we like.

Typically, we finish at most 50% of the food before us.

Sounds wasteful, I know. But our waitress was very happy with us. We were easy to please. Just give us the food, whatever we like we eat, whatever we didn't like we left it alone. :):)

The Duck. Not bad, but not great.

Grilled Seafood Brochette. Rather good.

Bay Scallop Gratin.

Slow Roasted Prime Rib. It was delicious!! Maybe it is just me, I found almost all their beef dishes absolutely delightful. Even in the Windjammer, their Prime cut of beef (where the server slices a piece or two for you), was almost heavenly!

I noticed the portofino lobster on the dining room menu, can you order this in the dining room on any night and I assume there is an extra charge?

I assume you can order, as long as it is available on the menu!

The charge is listed. You can see the fine print - 34.00.

What's formal dinner without a nice glass of wine?

In reality, this was my first cruise that I ordered wine at MDR. We don't have a culture of drinking during meals, but then again, it is nice!

I decided against ordering bottles since my wife didn't want to drink. So I went for glasses instead. C&A Platinum and above booklets have this nifty buy one get one free offer (for beer, and wine by glass). Useful. Some nights I had two glasses.