A nice sleep in today as we begin our last sea day before returning to Sydney again. This will end our 4 day cruise to Tasmania. We went to the "back to back" cruise meeting in the theater this morning at 9:30 a.m. and it was basically a refresher of the procedure for us. They had a raffle for various prizes (wine & Effy gifts) but we didn't win.. oh well.
We met up with Avis & George and went up to the Oceanview Cafe for a bite to eat. We chatted about plans for tomorrow's day in Sydney... a plan of some sort is slowly emerging.
Showers then off to explore the ship for a bit. Before we left, Kelly spotted several dolphins jumping just outside our window. Very neat to see them in th eopen ocean.
A huge horse race that gripes Australia every year was going on today and all the bar screens as well as the big screen in the theater carried the races. The Melbourne Cup was a big deal as many of the guests onboard had dressed up with ladies sporting all sorts of hats & fascinators. They looked very posh I will say.
At 1 p.m. Kelly and I joined in the Blackjack Tournament in the casino. Lots of people joined in this time but sadly, things didn't go as well as last time as we both were knocked out. It was a fun and entertaining hour and 30 minutes.
I went off to my Macallens scotch tasting and learned a lot about the aging & barrel process that is unique to these single malt scotches. Learning that the "loss" or "angel's share" that evaporates for an 18 years old scotch is 80% of the original barrel! Hence the deeper colors compared to younger scotches of the same variety and of course, why the aged bottles are so much more expensive $$$
For happy hour we met up with Avis & George in our usual spot in the Eden lounge and enjoy another great conversation about cruising and family history. We all went to dinner in Normandie and afterwards enjoyed a conversation on in's and out's of running a 20 room hotel with zero experience! Hilarious!
We then stopped by the casino to see what was going on... some roulette and blackjack but no wins tonight, Oh well!
Back in the cabin, we finished up the blog and hit the rack.... exhausted again.
Steps today 4800
Back in Sydney again tomorrow.
