Australia and New Zealand Bound

 
Between Christmas 2018 and the New Year 2019 I applied to be a cruise director and expected some contact to be interviewed for the position at the North American Bridge Championships (NABC) in Memphis in March of 2019 and then get word weather I would be a bridge director on cruises. Instead I received an email on January 18 notifying me of a cancellation  on not one but two cruises in Australia. They needed an emergency fill in. Bonnie and talked it over and after getting a little more information we told them we would be there.

We were planning on visiting those two countries some time later but I guess the Lord works in mysterious ways and we are now off to Sydney on the 16th of February. The funny thing is we have never been on a cruise before and we will be doing two in the span of 19 days. This was just an opportunity that we could not pass up. We were able to get mileage tickets on Alaska Airlines and the agent we talked with was so patient with our questions and changes. I do love Alaska Airlines. We will be flying Alaska, American, and Quantas on the trip. I upgraded our seats to exit rows to and from LAX so we should be more comfortable than in the regular coach class seats.

Queen Elizabeth

We are still working on the papers we need for the trip. We have the tourists visas for Australia. Don't need a visa for New Zealand. I also have also applied for a Maritime Crew Visa for Australia. That should be ready by the end of the week with a little luck. We are still in contact almost daily with the cruise agents in Florida. There are just so many questions to be answered and still don't know some that will need to be asked.

Both voyages will be on the Cunard Cruise Lines, Queen Elizabeth. 2000+ passengers and 1000+ crew will make for a lot of people to meet. Both Bonnie and I will have to buy a bunch of new clothes because we can't wear jeans, t-shirts, or shorts on the cruise except in very special cases. Slacks, collared shirts, skirts, and dresses will be the daily attire. We will also have to dress for dinner. Should be an interesting trip.

More later as more information becomes available.

On our way home

Day 30 - February 9

Early morning rise today, 3 AM is really early. We gave Finanda and Rizcky a call because they wanted to join us on our trip to the airport. We were on the shuttle by 4 and off we went. Got to the airport about 4:15. We said our farewells and left Finanda in tears. We got all checked in and looked for someplace to get something to eat. We had breakfast and boarded the aircraft for the journey home. The trip to Tokyo was uneventful and that's just the way we like them. We arrived in Tokyo a little early. That gave us more time to get to the gate for our trip to LA. JAL is really a nice airline to fly. There is lots of legroom compared to US carriers and the flight attendants are very pleasant.

The trip from Tokyo to LA is about an hour and a half shorter than the trip west because of the prevailing winds. We really liked that. But the entertainment system on American is paltry compared to other international carriers. Had already seen most of the movies and one that I hadn't seen I quit in the middle because it wasn't worth watching. Oh well, nothing to be done about that. We did arrive in LA a little early. We jumped on the shuttle and were off to the hotel. They did have a room ready and let us check in late in the morning, very nice of them.

We immediately laid down for a couple of hours, all right, 'til 4 PM. We arose and decided to go get something to eat. Talked with the desk clerk and decided to go to the Fairfield Mall in Culver City. We took the number 6 bus. The fare was $.35. Rode for 20 minutes to get to the mall. We had dinner at Five Guys. Did some shopping and back to the hotel for the night.

This will probably be the end of our foreign travels for the year. So will see you next time. Love and peace to all.
  

Prepping for the Trip Home

Day 29 - February 8

Pretty quiet day today as with the last three. We got things mostly ready to go for the morning. There are a few things that have to wait until the last minute but most is ready. We will have one more bag going home than we had coming. All of the fabric Bonnie bought plus a few trinkets take up more room than you would think. I hope the bags are not over weight. If they are oh well.

Finanda and Rizcky arrived at about 6:30 this evening. We will have dinner with them and spend some time together. Finanda said she has something for us so we will have to find a place to put that as well. In about 12 hours we will be leaving Indonesia. It's sad in a way but also exciting to  be on our way home.

Dinner with Finanda and Rizcky was fun. We had laugh a couple of tears and great fellowship. When we were finished they came to our room with some gifts for us. There were a couple of pictures from the wedding. One was in a frame and the other was not. Both we lovely and we thanked them for their kindness and help on our journey. We went to our separate rooms and turned in for the short night ahead.

Another Restful Day

Finanda and Rizcky

Day 28 - February 7

We nearly stayed in the hotel the whole day today. We were supposed to meet with Finanda and Rizcky but plans changed. We will meet up with Finanda tomorrow afternoon and she will stay at the hotel tomorrow evening with us. The girt just will not take no for an answer. She wants to cry at the airport when we leave.

We left the hotel for only a short while today to get water and some snacks at the Minimart around the corner. The other things we did was write, read, watch TV, and play bridge online. It was really exciting. We are so ready to go home. Monday is Chinese New Year , the year of the monkey, so there re fireworks going off around the hotel this evening. Don’t know if we will get much sleep tonight or not. The hotel did give us a New Year’s gift this afternoon. It was a packet with two oranges and an Indonesian delicacy that does’t have much taste. The oranges are great though.
  

Shopping at the Mall

Day 27 - February 6

This is another laid back day. We went to a Daan Mogot Mall nearby for about three hours and mostly walked around. We talked with a car salesman and asked how much the Toyota Avanza would cost here. We don’t have that model in the US. He asked, stick or automatic, and the discounted price came to about 180,000,000 rupiah, $12,300. This is a cheap model here actually for that price they would probably be sell a billion of the in the States. A Prius here was cost about twice that much. A Camry would be around $20,000. He said only rich people and the government buy  the Camry. I'm quite sure none of the vehicles would meet US emissions standards.

We bought some little spoons at the hardware store, had an ice cream at Baskin & Robbins, bought water, soda, and some snacks at the Hypermart. That was our exciting day.

Of course I wrote and updated the blog. You guessed it Bonnie read. Dinner at the hotel, a little TV and then off to bed.
  

Goodbye Sumatra

Day 26 - February 5 Jakarta

After breakfast we said goodbye to the Marriott. The drive to the airport was much quicker than we thought it would be. That’s fine. I didn’t want to be in a car very long anyway. The flight left on time and we arrived in Jakarta on schedule as well.

There was a little difficulty getting the shuttle to the hotel but we got that straightened out as well and we were back at the J Hotel where we stayed the first night we were in Indonesia. Not much to report about today. We stayed closed to the hotel. I wrote and Bonnie read. That pretty much sums up the day.

Bat Cave

Ribbons

 Day 25 - February 4

So breakfast didn’t have to be as early today. I wasn’t leaving for the bat cave until 8:30. Bonnie had tripped on a root yesterday on our trek and she was hurting quite a bit the morning so she would not be coming along to the cave. Breakfast was good this morning. There are not as many choices as we have had most days since we’ve been here but it was still a nice tasty breakfast. We went back to the room and I got ready for the hike to the bat cave.

The hike was pretty easy. We went through palms that are raised to extracting palm oil. Part of the way was through rubber trees. I had read about harvesting the sap from the trees but had never seen it first hand. It’s done just the way the pictures show. The sign said the cave was a 3 kilometer walk but it seemed shorter than that. We got to the gate for the cave in about 15 minutes. The bank down to the creek we had to cross was very steep and slippery but we negotiated it well.

Small Bat

 The climb to the first chamber was a little tricky and if you weren’t careful you could hurt yourself very easily. I mean seriously hurt yourself as in broken bones. Fortunately my guide, Anuar, had two flash lights with him so we were able to see just fine. This chamber has small species of bat roosting in it. There were probably a couple of hundred dotting the ceiling. They weren’t very active. In the second and third chambers there were larger bats. The ceiling of the cave were not quite as high making the bats easier to see. The small bats and the larger ones did not seem to roost together. There were probably more than a thousand bats here in all. Some were quite close together but most were probably 2 to 3 feet apart. Might just be that the places to grasp were that far apart. Some of these were actually flying from place to place in the cave. It’s interesting to have them flying just over your head. Bats are such misunderstood creatures.

Large Bat

While the bats were very interesting this cave must have been beautiful when it was still “alive”. The old formations have certainly lost their luster over the centuries. The mites and tites, the ribbons, the flowstone, all are here just not in the glory that most people think of when you think of a cave. I can only imagine how lovely it must have been.

 We were in the cave for probably an hour, maybe a little longer. It was most enjoyable and I would be happy to do it again. The way out was the same as the way in so you have to be very careful going out as well. The walk back to the hotel was pretty easy and uneventful.

Large Bat Cluster

Bonnie was sitting on the porch reading when we arrived. Anuar invited us up to his house for some coffee or tee while we waited for our driver to arrive. We chatted and enjoyed the company while we waited. Anuar had been in business here for about 10 years and constructed or supervised the construction of all of the building. They are in the process of building a new dining room or maybe better said a dining shelter. Most of the facilities are quite open to the air. When our driver arrived he came and joined us at the house. He and Anuar are good friends. Seems too soon we had to return to the city.

Flow Stone

The drive was again three hours. I and Bonnie both dozed off and on during the trip. We had to stop at an ATM along the way so we would have enough money to pay the driver. I will never get used to playing people with 100,000 denomination notes. When we arrived back at the Marriott we were  quickly escorted to our room.

Large Bat Cluster

 The room was huge. Seems they gave us a free upgrade to a deluxe room. It was a corner room with a great view of the city. The bathroom had a separate shower and tub. There was a huge window in here that looked out over the city as well. The bathroom even had a TV so you could watch while you soaked in the tub.

Our flight back to Jakarta was at 10:10 in the morning. Our trip was quickly winding down.