DAY ONE

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We’re cruising in the Arafura Sea, between Northern Australia and Papua New Guinea, as we transit from the Torres Strait Islands to Darwin, which sits on the Timor Sea.

I started the day with Dr. Bryan Babcock’s lecture about Australia’s role (in fact, all of ANZAC) in the two World Wars and how that shaped modern Australia. I’d always thought that Canada’s WWI military casualty rate of 39% was horrific, but Australia’s stood at an appalling 64%. The lecture was a really quick overview of the Aussie fighting spirit; Bryan called it “a semester in 45 minutes”.

As I headed down to the atrium for my latté, about 25 uniformed deck and engineering crew were hustling double-time down the aft stairs. It’s raining, and the seas are not 100% calm, but hopefully they were all just returning to duty from a meeting, right? Nothing was disturbing the deck 1 sea day Baggo game at any rate!

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Other than persevering through my latest book, the only planned activity today was meeting with Viking’s onboard Future Cruise Consultant, Elena. Ted and I pretty much knew which river cruise we wanted to book, so it was just a matter of confirming availability, checking out promo codes, choosing our stateroom and flights, and putting down our deposit. We’ll be doing the “Capitals of Eastern Europe” from Bucharest to Vienna in September, and preceding it with a couple of days visiting son #1 in Toronto.

We enjoyed sharing a dinner table with friends, and followed that with the theatre show and a set with the band.

The Australian operatic duo Innamorati performed again tonight, ending their show with “Australia’s second national anthem” Waltzing Mathilda. It seems like a good time to translate the lyrics for non-Aussies.

The song sounds cheerful, but really is not. “Waltzing Mathilda” has nothing to do with music in 3/4 time or a woman named Mathilda. “Waltzing” is wandering, and a “Mathilda” is a nickname for a pack or portable tent, so the title actually refers to camping rough in the outback.

The song – like most good folk songs – is based in real events. In this case, it was a sheep-shearers strike in the late 19th century that turned violent. You can find the full story here .

DAY TWO

It was Sunday here, and Saturday in Canada, so we took the opportunity to have a quick video chat with our middle grandson in B.C.

The balance of the morning was spent just drinking coffee, chatting with folks, and reading. I did make time for the 11:00 a.m. lecture by Resident Astronomer Dr. Charles Lineweaver, called “Are We Alone?”

He had LOTS for us to think about.

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From the point of view of our chemical composition, “we are the ashes of long dead stars”. Given the number of stars, it’s no wonder that Greek philosophers as far back as 500 BC posited that we could not possibly be the only planet with living organisms on it. Dr. Lineweaver put it as, “we know the ingredients [for life], but we don’t know the recipe”. It’s the Fermi Paradox; essentially “where is everyone?”

His bigger question was “how is life defined?” Even scientists do not always agree on well-defined boundaries between what defines living and non-living, especially when organisms become very, very small like viruses.

It sounds as if his lecture was all dry science, but it was actually quite hilarious, with lots and lots of science fiction references.

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His next lecture is on the Origin of the Universe. I’ll be doing my best to be there.

Lunch today was a special Soup Station. Since soups are something the Viking chefs do really well, we expected – and found – a line-up. There generally aren’t lines for anything on the ship (except occasionally gelato, and the theatre doors), so a line for lunch generally indicates something special.

There are five primary types of soups: broth, bisque, chowder, cream, and purée. Today’s mushroom was a cross between a cream soup and a purée, so technically every type was represented.

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I stayed and chatted with new friend Paul for a while after lunch, until he needed to go to choir practice (that’s not a euphemism – there is a passenger choir that performs at the end of each leg of this journey), and then headed to the quiet of the Explorers Lounge where Martin brought me 2 perfect little fruit tarts from Mamsen’s, and bartender/barista Mayun made me a delicious latté. The continuing plan was to finish reading my time-travel book.

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At 3:15 p.m. there was another lecture, this time with Nitza Lowenstein, called “Exciting Voyage Through the Tasman, Coral, Arafura & Timor Seas.” Since we’ve never sailed these waters before, I was interested in learning about the area’s the diverse ecosystems, geography and history.

Australia is surrounded by the Indian Ocean on the northwest, west, and south and by the Pacific on the east and northeast. The waters are further subdivided into the Tasman Sea on the southeast; the Coral Sea on the northeast; the Arafura Sea on the north; and the Timor Sea on the northwest. Those “seas” are part of their respective oceans.

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“Seas” are marginal areas of the oceans, separated from the main ocean by archipelagos or reefs into bodies of water with different levels of salinity and unique sea life. As we’ve experienced on our cruise, each sea also has a unique reputation for the roughness of its waters, influenced by geography (land masses), winds, and currents. For instance, the Tasman Sea is known to be especially unpredictable and rough, because of the confluence of warm subtropical and cold Antarctic circumpolar currents.

We had dinner in Manfredi’s with their new menu.

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I chose the Caprese salad, gnocchi, and veal scallopini al limone, while Ted had the gorgonzola timbale and the Gambo di Vitello (a deboned osso bucco wrapped in prosciutto). Ted’s dessert was a light lemon sponge with a basil-infused gelato.

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Our after-dinner entertainment was Daniel Thompson’s second guitar/vocal show featuring songs by make country artists, after which we enjoyed a set by the band in Torshavn.

Tomorrow we’re in Darwin, where the highlight will be crocodiles!!