Regatta Circumnavigation of Australia 2018-19

[Perash]

We are crossing the Great Australian Bight - over southern parts of the Indian Ocean I believe (but not the Southern Ocean as I had previously thought, which apparently comes into play at 60S latitude...but I’m not sure if that’s been settled by the International Hydrographic Organisation yet...so I don’t know where I am exactly).

Anyhow, I believe if we suddenly turned due south and kept sailing, our next stop would be Antarctica. The calm, chilly waters look like this...splendidly grand and terrifying:

Edited January 6, 2019 by Perash

[palakika]

Perash..  thanks for posting the interesting  pic of Great Australian Bight.  I've read about it and wondered what the sea actually looked like from a passenger's perspective. Thanks for taking the time to post your interesting travel adventures!

Palakika

[Perash]

Day 2 sea day.

We had a safety drill this morning at 10.15am. The drill plus the fact that we’ve ‘lost’ 2 hours on the clock over the past 2 days has left folks in a bit of a spin it seems. Post drill, there was a mad stampede to Baristas for coffee...the line was about 30 long when I walked past. People who didn’t want to join the queue at Baristas dashed up the stairs to Horizons on level 10, to make use of the coffee machine there. The coffee machine line got longer and longer. Then panic hit as the large mugs ran out AND the coffee machine ground to a halt and said ‘clean me’, and the final insult, the milk jugs ran out of milk!! The staff could not work fast enough to replenish, clean and refill before passengers could chew off their own fingers from coffee-deprivation disorder.

But I think peace and order has now been restored.

We are still sailing the vast silver-grey expanse of the Great Australian Bight. I can see no land but there are many birds flying alongside, skimming the water for fish. Sea birds are quite extraordinary - I believe some can fly hundreds of kilometres over seas and oceans before returning to land.

Edited January 7, 2019 by Perash

[ABoatNerd]

On 12/31/2018 at 8:40 AM, Perash said:

Happy New Year to all.

We had a wonderful evening over a special New Year’s Eve dinner.

There was some excitement at around 7.30pm when Regatta blew out two big black puffs of smoke, the lights flickered, the engines stopped humming and the ship stopped moving. The captain came on the PA system quite promptly to advise us the ship’s propulsion system was down and the engineers were working to restore power. The ship’s generator had kicked in to keep some lights and essential power on. Everyone seemed to take it in their stride and carried on eating, drinking, socialising....leaving the hard work to the experts. 

Within half an hour the lights were back and a few minutes later the engines started humming again and we started moving. Captain returned on PA to advise that we were back to normal and engineers would keep working and testing to ensure things continued working as expected. 

I think we’re in pretty safe hands and I expect they will be working hard to keep things running as smoothly as possible...and writing up an incident report, amongst other things. I hope they can have a glass of champagne soon to celebrate the new year! 🍾🥂💥

_____________________________________

Seems Regatta's mechanical issues remain.

 

Fortunate for you that you did not miss a port or were delayed getting to a port, due to yet more of this ship's propulsion issues.

 

Wonder if her dry dock will include mechanical changes.

 

 

 

[Perash]

10 hours ago, ABoatNerd said:

_____________________________________

 

Fortunate for you that you did not miss a port or were delayed getting to a port, due to yet more of this ship's propulsion issues.

 

Wonder if her dry dock will include mechanical changes.

 

 

 

Completely agree - we have been quite fortunate to date. May it continue!

I imagine they will look at all mechanical issues at dry dock. Reading some of the CC boards about other ships, I realised that propulsion issues are more common in ships than I previously imagined. I also read British, Canadian and Australian Navy ships have had problems with propulsion in very new ships over the past year, both in the generators — which caused near-total power failures — and the engines themselves. Fascinating topic.

Edited January 8, 2019 by Perash

[Perash]

It looks like we’ve been lucky with the weather as we’ve cruised around Australia, so far. Weather is of course out of our control, but Summer is usually a time of fires and floods around Australia - sometimes called “disaster season” by the local emergency management agencies. However it looks like the weather on Australia’s east coast may get interesting over the coming week....I’d really appreciate it if the heatwave could hold off for the next 8 days (at least). News.com.au is reporting:

 

“Tropical Cyclone Penny is set to crash into the Queensland coast bringing torrential rain and potential flash flooding. 

And further south, “big thunderstorms” and possible supercells are likely as the east seesaws between cooler temperatures and a possible heatwave early next week.

Wild winds and heavy rain are on their way to Far North Queensland as a tropical low heads for the coast....

STORMS FOR NEW SOUTH WALES

“We’ve got big thunderstorms through NSW today, particularly through the central and southern ranges and parts of the Illawarra and into eastern Victoria,” he said.

The BOM has warned storms, some severe, are possible today from Sydney down to Albury via Wagga Wagga, Wollongong and Canberra.

“There is a threat across southern NSW and parts of Victoria of a supercell storm or two today so heavy rain, large hail and maybe even destructive winds if we see those supercells develop.”

SCORCHING HEATWAVE APPROACHING

But blisteringly hot weather is on its way for major centres.

“The heat is really focused on the far north, particularly around the Pilbara, but by the time we get to Friday that heat will transfer down into South Australia and then will keep on intensifying over the weekend,” Mr Sharpe said.

“It will linger there and by the time we get to early next week we could be in a very significant heatwave for southern parts of the country.”

 

From: https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/extropical-cyclone-penny-set-to-slam-queensland-coast-as-storms-brew-in-nsw/news-story/13cac339973407948bf778630a507456

[Perash]

We enjoyed a beautiful, bright sunny day in Adelaide yesterday. We had a long day there: 8am arrival and 11pm departure, so plenty of time to enjoy the city. 

It was a ~40 minute train ride into Adelaide city. The train station was located very conveniently, almost directly across the road from our port. 

Adelaide is a very pleasant city - a bit like Perth - with some historical sand stone buildings to admire (for those like me who enjoy looking at interesting buildings!) The city had all the usual attractions like State Parliament buildings, State Library, State Art Gallery and Museum and Botanical Gardens (with succulent plants...my favourite plants in the world.) Some churches were very beautiful and historically significant as well. The University of Adelaide was fabulous. Rundle Mall, Adelaide’s main shopping strip was worth strolling through. And when in Adelaide, a visit to a Haig’s Chocolates shop is a must! Haigs are handmade chocolates - Adelaide born and bred - decadent and delicious! 

We caught a tram from Adelaide to Glenelg - a beautiful seaside location. It took about 30 minutes and provided a good overview of typical Adelaide suburbs as we rode past many backyards. In Glenelg we enjoyed an ice cream on Glenelg Beach, and spent plenty of time just walking the shoreline, enjoying the sunshine. I love Glenelg - it has a charm similar to Fremantle. All in all, it was a very pleasant day.

 

Today we had a day on Kangaroo Island (Australia’s 3rd largest island...photo below). We were very lucky to have calm seas which allowed the ship to anchor, and tender boats to ferry us ashore. It was a real bonus because I’ve wanted to visit for a long time and I know that sea conditions can make it difficult at times. We enjoyed our usual wanderings around for a few hours. There was some lovely scenery: rocky cliffs, eucalyptus trees and a beautiful beach. The waters around us were a gorgeous turquoise  blue. There were a number of holiday facilities on the island, including caravan parks and rental holiday homes. These marred the natural beauty somewhat. We also watched the Adelaide-Kangaroo Island Sealink Ferry load up with cars, trucks, vans, humans and even dogs before departing for Adelaide.

I enjoyed Kangaroo Island and was left with the distinct impression that you would need to spend 5-7 days here, away from the main tourism areas, to really appreciate the natural beauty of the place, including the native birds and animals. 

On a separate matter, another passenger became very unwell today and had to be transported by ambulance at Kangaroo Island. I wish them a fast and straight forward recovery.

Edited January 9, 2019 by Perash
Photo

[cbb]

I envy you! 

 

Last year on our circumnav of Au, we were unable to get to Kangaroo Island due to sea conditions.  Captain tried repeatedly to anchor but due to rough seas...we sailed on.  I think we missed at least 4 ports.

 

Have a great cruise--you're almost back to Sydney!!

[Perash]

On 1/9/2019 at 10:20 PM, cbb said:

I envy you! 

 

Last year on our circumnav of Au, we were unable to get to Kangaroo Island due to sea conditions.  Captain tried repeatedly to anchor but due to rough seas...we sailed on.  I think we missed at least 4 ports.

 

Have a great cruise--you're almost back to Sydney!!

I’m sorry cbb. It doesn’t seem fair that you missed Kangaroo Island + 3 other ports.

Here’s a brand new photo of a sunset over Port Melbourne just for you! ☺️

[Perash]

It’s Saturday evening and we are sailing away from Melbourne after two days and one night. We really enjoyed our time in Melbourne.

On the first day we caught a tram into Melbourne city. It was an easy 15 minute ride. In the city we hopped on the city circle tram - a free service that does a circuit of the city all day long. Trams come every 12 minutes. They travel the rectangle created by Flinders Street, Spring Street, La Trobe Street and Harbour Esplanade. What’s more, trams travelling within this perimeter are all free as well. So you can hop on and off all day long to your hearts content in the city! Anyhow, we did one full circuit on the city circle tram. It took approx 1 hour. The downside was that it was super crowded - possibly because the Australian Open tennis competition started in Melbourne a few days earlier - and the tram was not air conditioned, which was unpleasant on a 32 degree C day. But then, it was free and readily available so we’re not complaining! 

We left the tram at Elizabeth Street to walk over to Melbourne’s famous Queen Victoria Market. This area is right next to RMIT University and I think as a result it had a number of really interesting eateries - some really authentic looking, well priced Japanese, Chinese and Thai (and other) restaurants - that uni students probably frequent. We could not go past an Indonesian restaurant called Pondok Rempah because the food smelled so good, and it was clearly a favourite with local diners who packed the place. The service was very efficient and the food, to die for. Seriously some of the best Rendang Beef and Sate Chicken I’ve had. I would be a regular there if I lived in Melbourne!

After satisfying our tastebuds and stomachs, we proceeded to the market.

Queen Victoria Market is a fabulous place - one of our travelling companions, who appears to have travelled far and wide, thought it was one of the best markets in the world! That’s amazing. You can buy anything and everything, from exotic deli goods to freshly made pasta; seafoods; meats; fruit and vegetables (my great regret: they were selling mangos for $5 per box (10-12 mangos), and I didn’t buy them because I did not want to carry around a box of fruit!); bread....everything! And then across the road, the market continued into all sort of retail good - you could buy everything from suitcases to kangaroo pelts to freshwater pearls to ‘top quality’ opals. It was huge and we had such fun, just wandering through row by row, marvelling at everything. After a few hours we felt pretty tired - the heat was more tiring than anything else - so we hopped on a tram and then another tram and made our way back to Station Pier - our cruise ship terminal. The tram system in Melbourne is marvellous- really well organised, easy to navigate and relatively inexpensive - the cost to travel from the ship terminal to city centre (and return) was a few dollars, and then free in the city circle.

We had dinner on the ship on the terrace outside Terrace Cafe - it provided a perfect panorama of Melbourne Port and Melbourne City (photo below). We also enjoyed watching the Spirit of Tasmania ferry unload and reload it cargo of passengers, their vehicles, and several trucks and vans transporting goods between Tasmania and Victoria. Such a great day.

On our second day in Melbourne, we contemplated riding the trams again since we were in dock till 5pm (we really enjoy riding local trains, trams and buses to explore cities and ‘people watch’ the locals). But then we looked at the Port of Melbourne area from the ship and decided to explore that by foot instead because the miles of beaches looked so lovely. It was a cooler day and pleasant out. We walked from Station Pier, along Port Melbourne Beach, Middle Park Beach and West Beach, to the edge of St Kilda Beach. It was very pleasant to walk and chat, admiring all the diverse architecture (old and new) along the very busy road (Beaconsfield Parade) and of course the beaches themselves. It was a good 4-5km walk one way so we enjoyed a cool drink on the beach before turning around and walking back. The port appears to be an area of Melbourne which is gentrifying and modernising very quickly. I imagine property prices rising quickly here.

Regatta departed Melbourne at 5pm as scheduled. Port Phillip Bay (on which Melbourne is located) is very large and it was around 8pm (ie 3 hours later) before we passed through its mouth and out into Bass Strait area. The harbour pilot stayed with us the entire way. The pilot also joined our ship on Friday morning at 4.30am when we first arrived in the bay.

 

Before we arrived in Melbourne, we spent a day in Portland on 10 January. Portland is a gorgeous little seaside town. It was the site of the first permanent European settlement in the state of Victoria. It’s main (and top) attraction is it’s cable tram that runs along the length of Portland foreshore and Botanical Gardens (approx 7.5km round trip). But it was such an easy and welcoming town that we felt comfortable just ambling along the tram tracks (the tram only goes by once an hour so it was unlikely to run us over) and admiring the best parts of town. We tried to spot whales (unsuccessfully) from the Whale Viewing Platform - it was apparently feeding season for blue whales; took scenic photos at the red and white striped lighthouse and the WWII Water Tower; checked out the markets and arts centre. It was all lovely and the local community had gone to a lot of trouble to welcome the cruise ship to town, including having shuttle buses from the ship and volunteers everywhere to provide directions. One of my favourite things about Portland was the roses. There were rose bushes and roses everywhere - in backyards, on nature strips, even rambling wildly down hills, like weeds. I think what made them so special was that they were a normal part of the town - not just a tourist thing.

[Perash]

Today we are on our final full sea day before Eden tomorrow, and then Sydney where we will complete our cruise vacation. Eden is an anchor port so weather and sea conditions will determine whether we can visit or not.

 

Yesterday we were in Burnie, Tasmania for the day. Perhaps because we’re near the end of our cruise, I felt no great desire to leave the ship. The big draw card for most visitors to Burnie was the excursion to Cradle Mountain - approx 2 hours drive away. 

Anyhow, we did venture off the ship and were greeted by some lovely local volunteers who provided a map, a pin of Burnie, and a big smile. The town mayor also appeared, looking splendid in his ceremonial robes, happy to pose for a photo. We boarded a shuttle to town - Burnie is an industrial port with heavy security so we were not allowed to wander around on our own. There was a cargo ship being loaded with woodchip when we arrived. We were told that Burnie used to be a major producer of paper, but it became too uneconomical and they shut down production in 2010. Now they ship woodchip from Burnie to Asian countries. The Asian countries use the woodchip to produce paper. Then Australia imports it back. And it all works out cheaper than when the paper was made in Tasmania (ie within Australia). That’s the way of the world.

Anyhow, our first shuttle stop in Burnie was the Makers Workshop and shop. There were some interesting pieces of art and jewellery on display and available for purchase, but nothing that caught my eye. Second stop was the town centre but as it was Sunday, most places were shut. Third stop was the local museum and art gallery. I returned to the ship happily and enjoyed a quiet afternoon with needlepoint and some red wine.

We are now making our way across Bass Strait, back to the mainland. There is a certain feeling of nostalgia on board as most passengers will disembark in Sydney in about 36 hours - only 25 will continue onto the next leg of Regatta’s journey to New Zealand. Even the captain will disembark in Sydney with his family.

So we had a special Cheesecake Afternoon Tea to eat our sorrow away. 

Photos: I) cheesecake afternoon tea; II)fellow traveller crossing Bass Strait.

 

 

[Classiccruiser777]

Perish - Thanks for the great posts. This is a cruise that is on our bucket list so, most importantly, do you recommend to others including the ports visited?

 

Thanks!

[Perash]

Eden...bit overcast but very beautiful. Can’t wait to go ashore.

 

[Perash]

And we’re back! Good morning Sydney.

 

[DeanoNorthPerth]

Thanks for your efforts Perash. It has been great being able to follow this wonderful cruise.

[palakika]

Really enjoyed your posts and pics Perash.  Thanks for taking the time to take us along on the journey!!

[cbb]

Perash,

 

Thanks so much for the excellent journal of your circumnav of Au.  I know it takes so much time to write it but ....well done!!! 

 

Question:  could you live in AU for an extended length of time?  I'm ready to move to Manly myself!!!  Customs agent told me Americans can live in Au for 3 mos!

 

So now are you ready to go on an even longer cruise?  ATW19 has just started so follow along and look at their pictures and see if that is something you could do--180 days does go by very quickly!  Again, great job!!!

[wally_bushy]

Enjoyed your travel writing 👍😊

[Perash]

On 1/15/2019 at 5:35 AM, Classiccruiser777 said:

Perish - Thanks for the great posts. This is a cruise that is on our bucket list so, most importantly, do you recommend to others including the ports visited?

 

Thanks!

Hi Classiccruiser. Thanks for following my posts.

 

I thought about it this way: would I take this cruise, knowing everything I learned over the past five weeks? And the answer is a definite yes - from both my husband and me - for the following reasons...

 

1. The itinerary. I wanted to travel all the way around Australia for some time, and this cruise provided the perfect opportunity to do so in great comfort. I am very interested in geography, oceanography, and urbanisation. And on this cruise we had the chance to see some of Australia’s vast natural beauty, experience first hand the diversity of landscapes and climates in such a large country, experience the majesty of vast bodies of water (oceans, seas, rivers), and visit major Australian cities as well as some lovely coastal towns. The PNG and Indonesian parts were bonuses because they weren’t on our wish list for the time being (esp PNG)...but Bali was a very lovely surprise and now I am thinking about a longer holiday there!

I have to admit I could take or leave some of the Australian ports we visited - many of the small coastal towns have melded into one in my memory...there was nothing very memorable about them, and at the risk of sounding ungrateful (please know, I am not at all ungrateful for this trip) it sometimes felt like, ‘another sweet, quaint, coastal town....ho hum....’ So it’s probably smart that Oceania is going to drop a couple of the smaller towns off it’s itinerary next year, although that’s probably not good for the economies of those towns, so I feel bad for them.

Having said that, my favourite ports were: Darwin, Bali, Fremantle (Perth), Busselton, Adelaide, Melbourne, Eden, and of course Sydney is always such a beautiful city to sail into and explore.

Darwin, Fremantle and Adelaide have something fun, bohemian and alternate about them - although Darwin is probably more pleasant to visit in June-Sept, weather wise.

I loved the pristine beaches in Busselton and Eden, and the lovely local volunteers who worked so hard to make our visits better.

Melbourne and Sydney have so many places of interest - old and new, natural and man made - and they are both ‘world class’ cities in terms of their urbanisation and facilities for travellers. Busy and congested, yes, but so interesting!

Bali was just unexpectedly delightful for me, and as I mentioned, I am looking forward to spending more time there on a future vacation.

We did not do Oceania shore excursions because I like to explore wherever I happen to be, and I am unlikely to travel a couple of hours by bus for an excursion, unless it’s the Egyptian Pyramids or Stone Henge or something similar. Furthermore, most major Australian cities have excellent public transport, and we enjoyed riding the city trains, trams, ferries and buses and discovering the cities that way...and we were amazed at how many of the services were free / very inexpensive hop-on, hop-off type services. And we love walking as well.

 

2. The Regatta. We loved the ship. Yes, she is getting older and needs a refresher (coming in September 2019), but we found the overall facilities and atmosphere to be so charming. I got the feeling that Oceania management have been reading some of the previous reviews about the Regatta, and actually made an effort to rectify some issues the best they could for now. For example, we got a couple of whiffs of the mildewy, damp smell around the laundry room, described by others previously, but we also observed staff wiping walls and doorways around the laundry room regularly - perhaps to deal with whatever causes the smell. We did succumb to the annoying illness on board - starting with a cold, followed by a horrible hacking cough and then an annoying ear infection - which lasted around 3 weeks, but I wondered if that was more to do with bad infection control by individuals, than anything specific to do with the ship. For example we observed one fellow traveller visit a clothing rack at the boutique, cough openly around the clothes without covering her mouth, touch many items and then walk out...what chance does the next person touching / trying on the clothes have, of not catching the infection? And then of course it gets into the air conditioning and everyone shares the joy.

Anyway, I loved spending time in most of the public spaces on the ship, including Horizons, Martini’s and Baristas - they were great for a drink and for people watching! And the library was a favourite of mine, with comfy leather chairs to sink into to savour a good book.

 

3. The crew. The crew really are Oceania’s greatest assets. The majority of them went out of their way to make our journey a happy and memorable one. The Master, Captain Luksa Kristovic was amazing! He was someone you feel safe with - capable, smart and very ‘can do’, and highly visible around the ship - including taking several of his meals in Terrace Cafe, and lining up with everyone else to be served! We loved seeing him and his wife and son around the ship. We were also very impressed with the crews’ personal touch - it seemed like all the crew knew us by name within 24 hours of boarding the ship! It made us feel very welcome and special.

 

So yes Classiccruiser, based on my overall experience I recommend this cruise to you and others, but with the caveat that when dealing with humans and machines, things can and do go wrong and then I guess it’s about making the most of the circumstances and enjoying whatever comes! I hope you enjoy! 😊

Edited January 16, 2019 by Perash
spelling

[Perash]

2 hours ago, cbb said:

Perash,

 

Thanks so much for the excellent journal of your circumnav of Au.  I know it takes so much time to write it but ....well done!!! 

 

Question:  could you live in AU for an extended length of time?  I'm ready to move to Manly myself!!!  Customs agent told me Americans can live in Au for 3 mos!

 

So now are you ready to go on an even longer cruise?  ATW19 has just started so follow along and look at their pictures and see if that is something you could do--180 days does go by very quickly!  Again, great job!!!

Thank you cbb. 

Yes I could absolutely live in Australia for an extended period of time. It would have to be on a lovely beach and by a big city at the same time. Manly is delightful and I love how it has a gentle harbour beach and a more exciting ocean beach on the other side. Anywhere on Sydney’s northern beaches would be fantastic - Avalon, Whale Beach, Bilgola Beach, and if I had lots of extra cash, Palm Beach. Watson’s Bay and Camp Cove (beach) are also stunning. Similarly, I could live happily in north Fremantle by a beach on the Indian Ocean. As long as I have air conditioning and fast wifi!

I would love to go on a longer cruise and I will follow ATW19 with interest. Are you planning ATW20? You are right on how quickly time passes on a cruise. While I have never done anything like 180 days, I found the last 35 days just melted by as though I was in a dream. So lovely.

[happycruiser3]

Safe travels home after your cruise, so pleased you enjoyed our vast country.

 

Thank you for taking the time to post and for the delightful holiday snaps.

 

Please come back for another visit, so much more for you to explore outside the cities and towns.

🖐️

[Perash]

I know it’s a little late for this, but I thought this Traveller article was interesting: “Oversold Australia: Ten major attractions that don't live up to the hype”. Had to laugh at the last one: Haigh’s Chocolates, Adelaide...I don’t believe shops should be in “top attractions” for any destination...even those which sell heavenly chocolate!

http://www.traveller.com.au/oversold-australia-ten-major-attractions-that-dont-live-up-to-the-hype-h1a6ge

[roothy123]

On 12/29/2018 at 8:19 AM, cbb said:

Perash--I think our friend Ray Carr is your CD.  Tell him a bunch of ATW16 people say "HI" and hope he's going to be on ATW 19 & 20 with us.

We love Ray Carr. Tell him that I (quiet half) and my husband (Howard) say hello and that we're considering booking an Australia cruise late Dec. or early 2020.  It would be great if he ended up being our CD again.  Howard is the person who told him about our friend and record store owner Barry (Birdland Records) in the Virginia Beach VA area. 

[roothy123]

On 1/1/2019 at 1:07 PM, Suncitygaltx said:

We, too, will do this itin in Dec., 2019...can't wait!  Thanks for all of the great info.  We'll be onboard after the renovations, so I'm anxious to see the new look.  We got a peek on the Nautica in July when they had converted one penthouse suite, just to tantalize the passengers.  It worked!  We found it very attractive.  Keep the reviews coming, please!

Would you happen to know when the renovations will be complete on Regatta?  I'm not into the old look; would love to see the new, should we choose to book a cruise on Regatta mid December 2019.

[LHT28]

1 minute ago, roothy123 said:

Would you happen to know when the renovations will be complete on Regatta?  I'm not into the old look; would love to see the new, should we choose to book a cruise on Regatta mid December 2019.

she is  going for  refurb in Sept 2019