We are in the Tasman Sea and feeling its wrath. Our ship is being buffeted, huge waves and spray coming all the way up to our level, right under the navigation deck. I am truly hoping they captain and his helpers are able to see. So far nothing is falling off the shelves, but we have been careful to tie stuff down. Carter got called in to do a clinic that he normally does not run because the other doctor and one of the nurses are sea-sick. This all started early this morning and has continued to grow in intensity. We are supposed to go to a cocktail party this evening, but the thought of alcohol and the rough seas sound deadly. I have found that having a non-empty stomach is the best. I just keep drinking tea – as well as an occasional cookie, of course – and so far have been ok.
We had a great time in Dunedin, peaceful, a little windy, and a perfect temperature of around 58F. We took the long bus ride into town from the dock and then managed to contact a grad student at the university in Dunedin. She explained where she was studying and told us it was close to downtown, so we walked (ran) to her study house. She thought we had a car and was more than impressed that we had been able to walk to her place, find her, and do it in such a short time. That morning, when she went to her “desk” she said that the house next to her was standing. Everything was normal. By the time we reached her, the house was rubble and they were using a big backhoe to dig up the cement slab it used to stand on. Pretty impressive. She took us on a tour of the campus and went to a little café. I was very thirsty at that point, so we had tea, coffee and a passion fruit cake.
We were in Dunedin years ago, visiting with another student, so the memories were sweet. I know I would have loved to go to this school. The buildings look like those at Duke University – grey stones with off white lattice work. We have some photos of the buildings on the flickr site. Then we ran back to the bus and got to the ship before our deadline. I am so worried about missing the ship – so we get back earlier than we need to.
Yesterday was spent peacefully cruising Milford Sound. When we were here last time it was the middle of their winter, so the peaks were covered with snow. It was definitely different, but the regal feeling of these huge peaks is overwhelming. Truly a fjord-land. I thought of Kit and his experience living right on the fjord in Norway.
My greatest regret is that I didn’t get a chance to buy any Cadbury chocolate while we were in New Zealand. I wonder if Carter didn’t have that as an ulterior motive as he ran me from one place to the next. Oh, well. I know there is chocolate in Australia and I won’t miss this opportunity. Still haven’t found a decent brownie.
The denizens of the gym are thinning out. It seems that the commitment to working out can last about 1 month, but then it fades. Carter and his lady friends who work out in the early morning are no longer having to fight for the elliptical machines because the younger couple has stopped coming. I am finding little competition in the later afternoon, as well. There are several of us regulars and the camaraderie is emerging. It’s funny that many of the people are the same ones who exercised with me on the 2006 cruise. The big “gym story” right now is the concern that the scale is too heavy. Everyone thinks it is WAY too heavy. So several of the passengers got the weights (100 pounds) and were thrilled to show that they weighed 106. There was a ship-wide sigh of relief!! I’m not sure that is totally correct, but I’m not venturing an opinion. It would put a damper on the day….
Labels: Personal
posted by Hills @ 5:55 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home