Sunday, October 16th, 2011: Noumea, New Caledonia Sometimes its fun being #2… Though the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is without a doubt the largest reef in the world (it can be seen from space), until our arrival in the South Pacific, we were unaware that New Caledonia is actually home to the 2nd largest reef on the planet. So today, we...
Friday, October 14th, 2011: Dravuni Island, Fiji Imagine a place of absolute quiet… The only sounds are the stir of a light breeze and the quiet drawing in and out of tiny ocean waves from crystal clear turquoise water. You are standing on a nearly endless stretch of white sand. A brilliant blue sky with puffy white clouds hangs overhead and coconut palm...
Thursday, October 13th, 2011: Savusavu, Fiji Savusavu is located on another island to the northeast of Viti Levu, where things began to slow down and we really begin to grasp the concept of “Fiji Time”. Our third stop of four within Fiji, this tender port with a picturesque harbor has a population of only 5,000 people, and a small main street that runs...
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011: Suva, Fiji Suva, the capital of Fiji, is the largest city by far in all of the 330+ islands that make up the archipelago. Although there is much to see and do here, we had a wonderful opportunity to get outside of all of the hustle and bustle of the port and make our way west to the town of Navua. Here, the Navua River meets the...
Tuesday, October 11th, 2011: Port Denarau, Fiji Port Denarau, Fiji, is the gateway to the western part of the main Fijian island of Viti Levu, and to the city of Nadi. Unfortunately, if you travel to Port Denarau and no where else, you will spend all of your time in Fiji in an artifical resort town, away from the Fijian people, their warmth, hospitality, villages...
Sunday, October 9th, 2011: Port Vila, Vanuatu The island nation of Vanuatu got its independence in 1980, making it one of the newest countries on the planet. It was our privledge to have a port day in Port Vila, the largest city and the capital of this country. As we disembarked our cruise ship, though, we came to realize that this new country is still very young...
Saturday, October 8th, 2011: Lifou, New Caledonia After two sea days working our way northeast from Sydney through the Coral Sea, we arrived shortly before 10am to the island of Lifou in New Caledonia. The largest of the Loyalty Islands, this island paradise is truly unspoiled, untouched, and quite amazing. Nearly the entire island is covered in thick tropical...
Monday, October 3rd, 2011: Hobart, Australia We awoke very early on this Monday morning, as we wanted to get a jump on rush hour traffic in the Hobart city center, in addition to trying to beat out the cruise buses to arrive at today’s destination, Port Arthur. Located about 100 kms away from Hobart by car, the single lane twisting, turning roads allowed us...
Sunday, October 2nd, 2011: Hobart, Australia Though it seemed so far away when we first boarded the Dawn Princess, we have arrived at the final port of our 28 day circumnavigation of Australia cruise. It has been an amazing introduction to the country (and continent) of Australia and even before we close out the first of these cruise itineraries, we can highly...
Saturday, October 1st, 2011: Burnie, Australia We’ve arrived in Tasmania for 3 days in our two ports of call, Burnie, on the northern coast of the island, and Hobart, the capital, in the southeast. In addition, we get to enjoy a wonderful day with family as we will spend our day in Burnie with Steve, Beth, and the Hill family at our first stop. Upon arrival...
Friday, September 30th, 2011: Melbourne, Australia Melbourne, the capital of the state of Victoria, was our next stop on the 28 day circumnavigation of Australia. As this too will be a stop later in the journey, we elected to see the city center and to “get our bearings” for the return journey in November. Upon exiting the ship, we hoped onto Tram 109...
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011: Adelaide, Australia As the capital of South Australia and with more than 1 million living in and around the city, we decided to spend the day right in the city and take advantage of a number of different sights and things to do right in downtown! As we exited the ship, we headed to the free shuttle bus into town and made the 40...