Clear water and beautiful white sand beach

A SUPER FUN EVENING

A couple of days ago the ship had a White Elephant Auction. Only seen one of these in the past. They auction off items and all proceeds go to the ship crew fund and people can use their shipboard credit. These are a ton of fun. We bought a couple of things the best being dinner for two crew members. We bought a dinner at the new pool grill that is open at night now as it was a venue we thought the two people we invite might be more comfortable.

We took Dennis our waiter and our stewardess, Liberty. We found out she is the niece of the ever famous ARNOLD who dates back to our first group cruise on the Song of Flower where everything that could go wrong went wrong. Anyone who sailed with him will remember him,

We had an amazing time. Was not sure how it would go but we laughed a lot and it was so nice to “host” them for a change. They became very relaxed and we talked about all kinds of things. Really a fun evening we were both on a high by the end of the night. The Captain came up and talked to us and our stewardess was awe struck with the Captain talking to her.

I wish they would do these more often but I guess if they did the novelty would wear off.

Joan saw emus from the bus in a field. She “air dropped” me the picture and I cropped it to make it closer but it is a bit blurry. Just really neat she saw these in the wild.

We also supported the crew welfare fund by bidding for a dinner with Dr Alan Stern and his wife Carol. He is the Principal Investigator for the New Horizons probe. We had a fantastic dinner talking about all sorts of things such as Texas, the future of New Horizons, Brian May, and JHU APL. It was a fantastic dinner in Prime 7. We thoroughly enjoyed the dinner.

Sea day tomorrow and then Kangaroo Island; weather is looking good for tendering.

Marc

Good for both of you! Such a worthy cause!

Our "dinner with the crew" evening 3 years ago was one of our fondest cruise memories of all time.

{Ngaire - FYI - I sent you a PM. Nothing that important - I just noticed before that sometimes with the new webpage format it is hard to tell when you have a PM, so thought I would let you know. Thanks!)

Pictures from Ken S alias Nikon Ken










Ken doing something unique taking a picture

Anchored at Kangaroo Island. Stunning day, high of 70, sunshine and seas we can tender. Off for a tour shortly wanted to come here for many years.

Update - at noon the weather changed. Strong wind created white caps and swell. We managed to get ashore but it was a rough ride. Extremely windy. The island was not what i expected. Large areas of cleared land with tree wind breaks, rolling hills and cattle and sheep. It looked like New Zealand but not green grass but brown grass. Still very scenic.

We saw group of Kangaroos. They were BIG a little shorter than the Red Kangaroo but much stockier. These Kangaroos are a new species and are not on the mainland. The isolation has created a whole new genetic kangaroo. There was a little joey also. We also had a wine tasting and saw yet another beautiful beach.

Then a pretty rough tender ride back BUT so glad we got ashore. All worked out well in the end.

We spent 3 days on Kangaroo Island with Ker & Downy package a couple of years ago. It was truly magical! Had a great tour of the island. Seals, kangaroo, wallabies, koalas - all in the wild!! Totally awesone!!

This continues to be a fantastic cruise. Lots of sea days together with great ports. The company has been terrific too. Very much enjoying the ship and Australia. The weather has been fantastic. Marc and I are sitting on the pool deck finalizing our plans for our New Zeal and post cruise. Life is great!

🐨

In Adelaide today! Sun is shining and totally calm. Still amazed at our overall weather at this time of the year in this area. Beautiful day. I am not going out today (probably a mistake) but the Cowboy game is on here at 9.15 am. I have found an Australian radio station where I can hear the game and then I can watch the play on play on another site. Ken is off with the others may regret this decision on such a beautiful day.

Our trivia team had dinner last night we had a lot of fun. There is an eight top table where you can hear each other and it worked really well.

When do you all go to the Open? It finally started on TV tonight,

Photos from Perth to Adelaide, Australia:


Perth.

Fremantle - an interesting wall sculpture on a old vacant building.

Esperance.


Marc taking a photo of Arlene with kangaroo.


Australian Christmas Tree.

Lighthouse at Kangaroo Island.


Overlook of the small town of Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island.

Adelaide - Cleland Animal Park:

I guess I missed a great excursion in Adelaide but I am sure I will be back. Kens pictures above.

Nice calm seas again all day today a light swell, just enough to rock you to sleep. Some bad stuff south of us so I expect the swell will increase a little but the sun shining brightly.

Tomorrow we are docking in Portland instead of tendering. Good thing as I expect the swell to be too high to tender. Looking forward to our excursion to "Port Fairy" sounds very nice and almost two hours free time that I always love. Then wine tasting.

We are all getting excited about the tennis and we are going on the 16th so only a few days away.

On the 16th Betty - really looking forward to this event. New Years was fantastic and hopefully this event will be just as a great.

Thanks, And these photos are wonderful. I would have loved to do this cruise. Well, maybe not in the heat but your ports have been fascinating. I really look forward to your Melbourne stop. Australia is absolutely a must see.

A lovely dinner last night Sette Mari with Katja (destination manager) and Aldwin (casino manager) super nice people.

We LOVED this beautiful picture which included two of our most favorite Regent staff members. Ngaire, please ensure you let Kadja and Aldwin know how much we enjoyed seeing them pictured on LCT, how they are often in our thoughts, and that we hope they continue to enjoy their jobs and each other. It was just GREAT to see that they are still together and thriving by the looks of things!!!! Please send them BIG bear hugs from us !!!

Tennis matches are all set.

First match will be women's second round:

Beatriz Haddad Maia from Brazil against second seed Angelique Kerber from Germany.

Second match from men's second round:

Matthew Ebden from Australia (I think local crowd might be for him) against second seed Rafael Nadal from Spain.

Spectacular! Kerber and NADAL!! Lucky!!!!

Enjoyed our tour today. Hour ride to Port Fairy then free time. Cup of coffee in town then we walked down to the dock. Beautiful spot with some lovely houses facing the inlet with lots of yachts and boats. Perfect day. No wind and nice temperature.

Then onto a winery where we had a fun time. Owner of the winery moved it along with no long drawn out speeches about each wine. Just a little history of the region.
He was MR PERSONALITY. It sure makes a difference to the experience. I would call him a “fair dinkum bloke”.




list of wordsworth poems

Evening Pool Deck BBQ at the end of the Adelaide visit.

Regent took those of us who are on the full Circle Australia Grand Cruise to see 2 second round matches of the Australian Open in Melbourne. First we had a sumptuous dinner in the Glass House Restaurant and then went to Rod Laver Arena (Centre Court) to first see Angelique Kerber (GER) defeat Beatriz Hadad Maia (BRA) and Rafael Nadal (ESP) defeat Matthew Ebden (AUS). Both Kerber & Nadal are #2 seeds. Both matches were exciting and we all had a blast.
https://ibb.co/HTF8bk2
https://ibb.co/nQgWPCN
https://ibb.co/WsJ3bdy
https://ibb.co/1LcPcMR
https://ibb.co/ZzXHcvS
https://ibb.co/L0GbFK8
https://ibb.co/XXJNFQz

I used ImgBB, but the photos didn't show. Click on the links to see them.

Hi Jim

There are some codes that do not show. I found that myself and then went down to the BBCode full linked then they worked. That may be the issue. These codes do not look long enough. I know the HTML codes do not work and some other code as well. The BBcode full linked usually comes up on the list first but if it does not show the BBcode FULL LINKED then just scroll down to that code.

The tennis “excursion” last night was absolutely spectacular. Such a well run evening. The dinner was great, being at the Australian Open was quite a treat and nothing we would have been able to do on our own. Some of you may remember Elsa who used to work in the cruisee directoctors offce several years ago. She was at the dinner and is now working in sales. It was great to see her. To top off a wonderful evening, when we got back to our suite at about midnight, there was a small plate of sandwiches and cookies wailing for us curtesy of the F&B manager and the chef. I know that this was one way of them not getting inundated in room service when we all came back late, but it was a nice touch and a wonderful surprise. A great midnight snack. The whole evening reminded me of the old Radisson days. Very happy cruisers here!

Not being a tennis fan I was surprised how much I enjoyed the whole experience. We were all in high priced seats with a super view. Really got into once I figured out the scoring.

This iPhone shot is blurry but the best I could do, this was a Nadal serve. I liked the ball in the air on this shot.




Trophies from the Australian Open. With a racket this big I may be able to actually hit a tennis ball

I really, really, really hope we get to go to the AO when we are down there in 2021 on the Explorer. (Really!)

Hi Jim -

Ngaire is correct. You need to use the BBCode. Thanks for sharing your photos. I copied the codes and entered them in this post:

Thanks for sharing your experiences at the Aussie Open. I am an absolute tennis tragic (still play but not very well) and have become a 'couch potato' for the last week. I am heading off to Melbourne on Monday for the week - just hope we have an Aussie or two left to watch. Would you believe my 'bucket list' consists of a circumnavigation of Australia - just thought the time of year could be a bit hot! Maybe the new Regent ship will do it, by which time I will be too old to travel to the other side of the world!! Enjoy the rest of your cruise! Lee

Wonderful tour today. Started with gardens owned by locals and maintained by volunteers. Plants from various areas of the world. When the bus pulled up I saw the sign “Devonshire teas”. That means scones with jam and cream that will be made fresh by a local. We did a golf cart tour of the plants from around the world with 30 minutes left for tea. The were FABULOUS melt in your mouth scones. Kate does not like scones but she tried them anyway and ate all of hers. She kept saying these are good. I had two orders and was in a state of bliss

Pictures from the gardens.

One of the volunteers has a sense of humor



A regular hydrangea bush along with three other unique species of hydrangeas.



Th friendly and well dressed emu

Pictures from the wildlife park

Baby Tasmanian Devil


Emu


Meerkat



Momart cute furry animal that is very active hard to get a picture. Not the best but better than nothing.


Tasmanian Devil

This young ROO was in the mother’s pouch just one week ago.


Dave and Jan


Dick and Kate


Bottle fed tiny Wallaby.
aroos.

Burnie, Tasmania - Gardens and Animals:







Momart.


Tasmanian Devils fighting over food. The one on the left won.

Wombat.

Its over. Possibly best Regent cruise ever. I used to think 17 nights was ideal; now 36 nights seems ideal. Early flight to Auckland tomorrow so we need to take our own luggage off ship and pray 😊

Still almost three weeks of touring for us.

Marc

Have so enjoyed following your cruise. Hope to do this itinerary one day! Safe journey home or onward travels to everyone!

We sailed past the Opera House and under the Harbour Bridge before 6am - still dark so no great photos. We're docked at the White Bay Cruise Terminal awaiting clearance. It's been a great cruise as Marc said. Farewell to all our LCT friends who will leave soon. We're among the 20 guests who are continuing on with the Mariner, so more excitement ahead.

Now in the lounge at the Sydney airport five hours to wait. That’s okay though better that than rushed.

The cruise exceeded our expectations. Better weather and ports than I had anticipated. Lots of really nice newbies on this trip as well. Plus of course spending time with old friends is priceless. I was not ready to get off felt so at home. Looking forward to returning in March for Samuri.

As Ngaire, Marc and Jim said, this has been a really great cruise, far exceeded our expectations and we were so lucky with the weather and seas. Now a short flight home. Sad to say goodbye as always but what a great time we’ve had.