Tasmania to Tokyo – Albany – Day 26 can be found here.
Today’s Chronicles can be found here.
After the breakneck pace at which we raced to our previous port, it now feels like we’re stuck in molasses – the extra-zippy 17 knots when we were Albany-bound has dropped to a pokey 7 knots on our way to Busselton. Should even a handful of passengers to stand on deck holding their bedsheets as sails, it would make an appreciable distance in terms of our speed. Waves are passing us.
No matter. We’ll put the time to good use. Starting with breakfast at La Terrazza, where everyone but me has now switched entirely to the buffet. I am the lone holdout, as I much prefer eggs made to order compared to eggs from a bin. There are times when I am sorely tempted, but not today.
Back to the rooms for some reading / writing / homework, which is interrupted when we discover the spa is hosting a ‘Spin to Win’ event at 10 am – except they aren’t, because this is when they are hosting the couple’s massage seminar instead. We’re asked to come back later.
My wife then heads off for an acupuncture appointment at 11 am. I did my own acupuncture appointment a few days earlier, but completely forgot to write about it because it doesn’t appear in either my photo stream or the Chronicles. But it was pretty good, as was my wife’s appointment – it seemed to really help deal with my stiff shoulder, and I’ve been sleeping better since then.
That said, I’m not sure it’s entirely worth the US$259 list price, but between the spa certificate I won on embarkation day and some other assorted coupons, it came down to $159 instead. And future appointments will apparently be eligible for a 25% discount. So we’ll both likely go back once more before the trip is out.
Homework wraps up, and it’s time to head to lunch – stopping in at the spa again to see if the ‘Spin to Win’ event is now set to run. And it is!
It’s a bit of a strange contest as there’s actually no way to lose, except if you draw a ‘free tongue and pulse analysis’ card from the win pile – as I did. But both the kids draw a free hour in the thermal suite, and my wife draws a $60 off a signature treatment card. So we might actually get some use out of those. Especially since the children aren’t allowed in the thermal suite so it’s a definite win for the adults.
Off to Spaccanapoli for lunch – where the only part that’s new and unique is the fact that I managed to spell the restaurant’s name on the first attempt. Otherwise we get our favourites and we’re in and out in under half an hour, which is pretty great.
Especially as we are now off for our Australian baking cooking class:
We’ll be making Lambingtons this morning. We start by combining instant coffee, sugar, egg, and flour to the milk and then stir it over medium heat until it’s the consistency of peanut butter. Meanwhile, we’ve combined the cream and the sweetened condensed milk.
It’s then a process of layering the ingredients – the sweetened cream, the thick coffee cream, the crumbled cake, more cream, and chocolate chips. Then repeat for a second layer.
This is all held together by a mould:
Time for the moment of truth:
Huzzah! Victory!
The smiley face represents our feelings on the end result
This is a tough one due to all the whisking, but we manage to not scorch the cream so we’re happy with the end result.
The full recipe, for those so inclined:
Our daughter then heads to painting class, where she does a beautiful watercolour of a diving dolphin – sadly not photographed as it’s already been purloined for the end-of-cruise art show. But we’ll get pictures of it later on.
Meanwhile, my son and Guest Lecturer Coen head up to the Observation Lounge to play chess, and I head up to ‘Deck 12’ Observation Deck to try out my new teleconverter.
A teleconverter is a lens attachment which essentially magnifies any existing zoom by either 40% to 100% (depending on whether it’s a 1.4 or 2x teleconverter), but at the expense of requiring extra light to work effectively. So my 600 mm lens effectively becomes an 840 mm lens – roughly 35 times the zoom of a 24 mm lens.
But to help illustrate just how powerful these lenses are, here is an image taken with my iPhone from atop the Observation Deck:
Atop the front mast is a small black electronic sensor, as marked in the green box.
ENHANCE. Here is that green box when seen from my telephoto lens:
ENHANCE.
And here’s how far I can zoom if I crop the image so that it’s screen or web resolution (as opposed to printing resolution, which requires a higher resolution photo).
ENHANCE!
So there you have it – for those of you who desperately need to know the operating voltage of a 6″ tall sensor around 50 metres away, you clearly need a 600 mm telephoto lens with a teleconverter.
It’s then time to try it out on some birds:
And – it’s pretty good. There’s not much wildlife around out today, so I’m taking photos of birds that are somewhere between 600 and 800 metres away. I’m just pleased that they’re visible at all.
They are, however, over-exposed – which means that they’re brighter than they should be. So I’ll have to make some adjustments in my camera next time around to see if I can make them look truer to life.
Off to trivia! It’s name that tune today, so I’m all-but-certain that we’re about to lose our streak of podium finishes. However, we manage to identify Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley & His Comets, as well as Final Countdown by Europe, though we learn that Hit the Road Jack was performed by Ray Charles and that the Macarena was performed by Los del Río.
This is sufficient to get us to third place, though I am unilaterally awarding us honorary second place titles as the opening few seconds of Super Freak by Rick James and MC Hammer’s Can’t Touch This are identical.
Off to the Venetian Society Cocktail Party tonight where we are awarded the most expensive free laundry in the world!
As 100 Day Venetian Society members, we will also be eligible for 5% off future cruises – which can be combined with 5% off for Venetian Society cruises and 5% off for onboard booking discounts for up to 15% off list price
The kids are great sports, and put on their best bib and tucker for the evening. Glad that we got some use out of the tuxedos and dresses we’ve hauled halfway around the world.
Off to dinner at La Terrazza this evening. My wife has the gnocchi:
While I have the chicken parmigiana:
It’s good, but the mozzarella isn’t quite heated through.
The kids order the lava cake for dessert, which is back to the circular design. I have the tiramisu, which is more like a mousse in a jar with powdered coffee. It sticks in your mouth, but it doesn’t quite stick the landing.
I bring back a few more drinks from SALT Bar this evening, including another Technicolour, and the Capricorn Australian rum – one of the specialty spirits available here:
Carlos the bartender puts ice in my rum glass, which he stirs both clockwise and counter-clockwise before discarding it, pouring the rum, and then adding fresh ice. This lovely showmanship is a big part of why we keep coming back to SALT Bar – not to mention the speciality beverages that seem to only be available at this venue.
Another early start tomorrow, so we are soon off to bed – perchance to turtle our way into Busselton early tomorrow morning.