Bart Bear's Blog

In early November we did a short cruise to complete our year celebrating Dad's 80th birthday. Mum and I took him on a cruise up the Queensland coast from Brisbane to Cairns. Since we have visited all of the places the ship called at we didn't need to go ashore at all. The ship was "Quantum of the Seas", the largest ship we have sailed on. The usual crew of Scruffy, Milkshake and Blue tagged along. The weather did not do the right thing, it was cloudy, windy and wet the whole cruise. However, I had the big ship to explore and the ocean to scan from the balcony, searching for whales and flying fish. First stop was at Shute Harbour in the Whitsunday Island group. Transport from ship to shore was by the ship's boats and some local fast catamarans. The Whitsundays are mostly uninhabited except for campers but there are a few resort islands. The one in image 6 is Daydream Island. We visited it a few times some decades ago. In the meantime it has been destroyed by a cyclone, rebuilt and is now owned by a Chinese company. On the way back from Cairns we went past Willis Island, the only inhabited island in the Coral Sea. It's a low coral cay with a weather station on it. Plus a gannet colony; gannets followed the ship most of the day. Inside the ship was very like all other Royal Caribbean ships we have been on. One of things that I liked was a restaurant called Wonderland. It had a huge finger pointing to the entrance and a huge chair outside. The food is spectacular; try it if you get the chance. There was another huge chair near the Pub and a huge red bear near the walking/running track. Outside another great restaurant, Jamie's, is a huge crystal artwork. And there are lots of small statues just the right size for a small bear to ride. The shows are spectacular, the image shows a wall of drummers/acrobats. One fun thing is a robot bar - dial in your mix and the robots make your drink. Mum made a good one, Dad made an almost drinkable experiment... The great thing is now that I am over 21, I can legally drink alcohol even on American ships, no need to sneak some of the Oldies' booze. A good cruise, but I have to admit that I prefer the smaller ships.
 

Labels: boats, cruising, Queensland

Yikes! It is 3 months since my last post and some of my readers have asked if I am still here.... Well, what with the cold, foggy, wet Canberra winter weather it has not been a good time to do much exploring outside, so the Oldies and I have been busy in our craft rooms. Craft rooms are strange places, usually with a large desk and lots of shelves. The actual useful space on a craft desk is usually just a couple of square metres/feet and most of the desk is covered by tools, plans and materials needed for the current project. The top row shows you some of Mum's craft room. It is fall of stamps, dies, card stock and paper. Finding the item that you actually need can be a major exercise. The bottom row is part of Dad's craft room. The shelves here are full of plastic and paper models of planes, ships, trains, lighthouses and special buildings. Today I am supervising the painting of a Spitfire in Dad's room and water colours in Mum's. I like water colours as I can usually manage to get a bit wet; long-time readers will know that Mum will not let me get wet, so I enjoy this game. So, lots of crafting going on but no travel. This is due to change in early November, we are all paid up and ready to go, watch this space.

Labels: aircraft, boats, card making, card models, models, train

I have been helping Dad with his hobby/craft as well.We have added another aircraft carrier to our fleet of 1/700 scale ships. This is the third Royal Navy ship to be named "Ark Royal". The Ark was the first carrier to have steam catapults to launch aircraft and the first to have the hangars and flight deck as integral parts of the hull (earlier carriers of all navies had them as "add-ons"). She had a fairly short life, launched in 1938 and torpedoed in November 1941, but she served in actions off Norway, the hunt for Bismarck and in the vital Malta convoys. Her aircraft made some of the first aerial U-boat kills. Our model shows her on her last trip,about to launch Sea Hurricanes for Malta and with Fulmars and Swordfish on deck. Another thing we have been working on is our card lighthouse collection. These are 1/250 scale and mostly UK lights. And of course we had to do another dragon. The big green one we made in November left us at Christmas to live with an Asian family, so we made a smaller version to keep our red one company. It is amazing what you can make from sheets of card and a good template.
 

Labels: boats, buildings, card models, lighthouse, models

Well, Canberra is slowly coming out of COVID restrictions. We are able to travel around the ACT and NSW, but not other states yet. So the output of craft stuff is still our main way of filling in time. Mum and I have been making 2 sorts of cards. There are some pretty arty cards like the flowers one, and some crazy ones like the one with the snarky cat. I really like the snarky cat series and am bothering Mum to do more of them. Dad and I are building more ships, all 1/700 scale. The first photo has 3 ships that are important in the history of Pearl Harbour. The small one is the destroyer USS Ward, which sunk a Japanese midget submarine just outside the harbour on the morning of the attack. The middle-sized ship is USS Arizona, the battleship whose wreck is the centrepiece of the Arizona Memorial (see my post of Jan 11, 2014 for images of the site). The largest is USS Missouri the battleship that Dad and I were able to clamber over when we were at Pearl (see the post from Jan 15, 2014 for images of her). And for those who thought that RMS Titanic was the largest ship ever built, just compare it with the Queen Mary 2. The QM2 is not even the largest ship today as many tankers, container ships and aircraft carriers are longer and heavier. However, it is the largest ship that this small bear has ever been on (there are lots of images of that trip, just type Queen Mary in the search box at the top of the page).

Labels: boats, cards, models

Gosh, it has been a month since the last post and what a month it has been. Here in Australia we are in self-isolation due to the virus which is causing disaster all over the world. So far our extended family is safe and staying home as much as possible. We are keeping "cabin fever" at bay thanks to our hobbies, DVD library and "wine cellar". Mum and I have been creating cards and learning new techniques. Backgrounds like the one for the butterfly have been spectacular and Dad has taken one that he classes as art and he won't let me add anything else to it. The book cover with all the added things on it is our first attempt at mixed-media journals. I think it is a great first attempt and so do Mum's craft club ladies who have seen it on FB. Meanwhile Dad has been busy with card and plastic kits making castles and ships. This is one of the castles he makes and gives to neighbour kids. The ships are what he calls "isolation jobs" completed since home isolation was imposed. The paint jobs are his first attempts at painting the camouflage patterns the ships wore at particular dates, rather than the various shades of grey they were at some stages of their service.
I hope that all of my readers are coping with this horrible time and have hobbies to help them cope with "cabin fever".

Labels: boats, Canberra, cards, castle, craft

What a long break. I have been away from the keyboard for 9 weeks!! I was overseas for 5 of those weeks, 16 days in Hawaii and 19 cruising back home; reports and images of happenings during that time to come (Dad has just finished archiving the images and videos of the trip). However, fun things have been happening since we got home. Last weekend we went down to Sydney to see Bro Trent and Unka Nathan off on their first cruise, on the biggest ship operating out of Australia, "Ovation of the Seas". This is twice the size of the ship we cruised back from Hawaii on, "Radiance of the Seas". I was really impressed with the size of their ship, and would like to see it alongside the largest one I have sailed on, "Queen Mary 2"; it would be an interesting comparison between a giant cruise ship and a giant ocean liner. While we were waiting for the ship to leave, we went on a cruise around the harbour. This is something we do every Sydney trip so that we can keep up with the new buildings and parks around the foreshore. Sydney harbour is the prettiest one I have sailed into/out of.
Yesterday was my 17th birthday. I don't think the Saturday night fireworks near our hotel at Darling Harbour was in my honour, but it could have been...

Labels: boats, buildings, Sydney

What a Christmas - New Year break I have had. The Oldies took Scruffy, Milkshake and I on a cruise to the islands. The ship was my favourite, Radiance of the Seas. We left Sydney 3 days before Christmas and returned the day after New Year, so it was a party trip. The ship had a Christmas tree of course, but what it had extra was hundreds of balloons decorating the Centrum and public areas. Stars, Santas and snowmen for Christmas and for New Year they had PINK KOALAS and champagne bottles. If you click the photo you can see lots of balloons on the stair and balcony railings. At the end of the parties artificial snow (shaped confetti) and white balloons rained down from the roof. I really liked the idea of the Oldies having to see pink koalas in the bars, it is a great change from pink elephants in my opinion. We visited 6 islands, some of them new to us, and I will put up images later (when Dad gets everything uploaded and sorted). Of course Scruff, Milky and I celebrated appropriately and we wish all my readers all the best for 2019, and following years as well.

Labels: boats, cruising, South Pacific

Every morning during our stay at Prince Waikiki, I could hardly wait for the Oldies to wake up and open the curtains and window. There was always lots to see, particularly on the water. Surfers were out there even before there was enough light to get pictures. They would not do that in Australia because sharks are usually feeding at dawn and dusk; I guess they (the sharks) are not as hungry at Waikiki. Also getting an early start were the outrigger canoe crews. I really liked watching them because occasionally they would get the timing wrong and the wave would win and leave them upside down and terribly embarrassed. The waves at Waikiki are usually small and fun to tackle. The canal near the marina is a training ground (maybe that should be training pool) for sailing beginners. There was usually a few of these brightly coloured sails there and occasional gentle collisions and accidents. Further out to sea there were usually a few ships waiting their turn to enter Honolulu harbour. This strange looking one came through every couple of days. I guess it is a container ship with a solid cover over the cargo, but it is a new type for me. I gladly stayed at the window while the Oldies were out exploring the shops, the view was always interesting.

Labels: beach, boats, Hawaii

Labels: beach, boats, Canberra, Hawaii

No matter where we travel and how much fun the trip has been it is always good to be back in Australia. The prettiest homecoming is sailing into Sydney harbour at the end of a cruise. The ships usually enter the Heads just before Sunrise and the view is one of the few things that will get the Oldies out of bed early. The first things that you see are the blinking lighthouses at Hornby and Macquarie (search earlier posts for photos of them). The first photo is South Head and if you look carefully you can see the light from Hornby. Near the city the first ferries are starting out past the Opera House. The ship passes Fort Dennison just as its small lighthouse turns off. Smaller ships like Sun Princess pass under the Harbour Bridge to White Island Terminal, and by the time disembarkation begins the Sun is risen. A great way to return to Aus.

Labels: boats, cruising, Sydney

First port of call on our Tasmania cruise was Burnie, on the Bass Strait coast. Burnie was founded in1827 and by 2011 it was the fourth largest city in Tassie. It once was the site of Australia's largest paper mill and also several smaller industries including a paint pigment factory. Pollution of the city and the harbour became a huge problem and most of the manufacturing industries have closed. Today, forestry and farming are the major industries and the port is the largest cargo port in Tasmania. One of the chief exports is wood chip, and there was a large pile right next to where the Sun Princess docked. I watched the conveyors dumping chip into a pile and a bulldozer spreading it out to make room for more. The Oldies hired a car and we zoomed off to Bev's Cross Craft, the largest and best craft shop that I have ever seen (photos in posts from Feb), and then on to Anvers Chocolate Factory for lunch. There was another "target" for us in Burnie, the Round Hill lighthouse. We failed to find it in February, and only caught a quick glimpse as we drove past it this time. Fortunately, lighthouses have to be visible from the sea and we managed to get a look at it in the distance as we left port. It is a tiny one built in 1923, never manned, and automated in 1980.

Labels: boats, cruising, lighthouse, Tasmania

Since the last post, I have been on a short cruise to some ports in Tasmania.  Our ship this time was "Sun Princess". The Oldies wanted to check out Princess Cruises and compare it with the other cruise lines we have travelled on. The ports of call were Burnie, Port Arthur and Hobart. We drove to all of these during our Tassie road trip earlier this year (check the posts from February) but it is always interesting and exciting to come into the same place by sea. Instead of leaving from the International Cruise Terminal at Circular Quay, this time we left from the new White Bay cruise terminal. This is on the western side of the Harbour Bridge, so the larger ships can't use it. We didn't have much clearance between the top of our funnels and the underside of the bridge on our way out. Before going under the bridge we passed the new developments at Barangaroo. This used to be a run-down area of old wharves and sheds, but is now parkland, walkways and high-rise apartment blocks. Like most cruises, this one had interesting things happening right from the start.

Labels: boats, cruising, Tasmania

During our stay in Perth we took a cruise up the Swan River to Sandalford winery. Our boat was Captain Cook Cruises' "River Lady". Like nearly all the vessels that go upriver from Perth, she is built low to fit under some of the bridges. In fact, at a really high tide there is one bridge that she has to wait at for the river level to drop. The weather on the day of our cruise was terrible - heavy rain and gusty strong winds. The map tells the story, Perth is right under the densest part. The weather system stayed pretty much the same all day. Anyhow, I had fun. The captain was a lady named Catherine. I called her Cap'n Cat and she let he help drive. I worked the throttles while we were clearing the dock, and did a lot of the steering when we were on our way upriver. How does a small bear steer when the wheel is so big that I can't reach all the handles? I just jump on the appropriate handle of the wheel until the boat is aimed in the right direction. As this was a winery cruise, we had wine tasting on the way. I managed to get a small taste of Mum's samples; 4 whites and 4 reds. I think whites are much nicer, but reckon that the ones from Marlborough in New Zealand are the best. Mind you, we tasted some really good wines later during our road trip in the Margaret River region south of Perth. We met some wonderful cheeses as well. One was so good that the Oldies bought a Kilogram back with them; it didn't last long. If you have a free day in Perth, this winery cruise is well worth doing, regardless of the weather.

Labels: boats, cruising, Perth, Western Australia

Labels: boats, Tasmania

One of the largest harbours in the world, Macquarie Harbour, is on the west coast of Tasmania. It is nearly 250 square kilometers in area, but unfortunately it is not very deep so larger ships can't use it, most of the traffic being small cargo and timber ships. The first European settlement here was a penal colony which operated on Sarah Island from 1822 to 1833 (more on this in a later post). The entrance to the harbour is narrow and has very dangerous tidal currents and rips. It is known as Hell's Gate and has been the site of many shipwrecks. As there are 3 lighthouses marking the safe passage, we just had to make the trip through Hell's Gate. As luck had it, we had absolutely perfect weather, unusual for this part of Tassie, and our catamaran was able to take us outside the entrance for a look at Cape Sorrell lighthouse. This is the second-highest lighthouse in Australia. It has been operating since 1899 and is heritage-listed. There used to be three keepers' cottages and an engine shed here as well, but they have become ruins since the light was automated. Two small lighthouses on Entrance Island and Bonnet Island mark the safe channel through the "gate". Several tour boats operating out of the town of Strahan cruise the harbour. We went with one operated by World Heritage Cruises and it was excellent, taking us to the lighthouses, the old penal settlement and the Gordon River wilderness - more photos are on the way.

Labels: boats, lighthouse, Tasmania

One of the places we stayed at during our Tasmania trip was the Grand Chancellor Hotel. This is just across the road from the docks and the marina where small boats  moor, and the terminal where cruise ships moor. The large cargo port is some way around the harbour. Just about every day we stayed there I could see cruise ships there for the day, sometimes one getting ready to depart while another was arriving for its turn at the cruise terminal. I saw 8 different cruise ships during the 6 days we were in Hobart. The area around the docks is very interesting to walk around (or be carried around if you are a small bear). There are lots of boats, great fish 'n' chip shops, and some very good restaurants (hey, I spelled it right!!). More photos of the dock areas coming soon.

Labels: boats, Tasmania

Every year the week-long Canberra festival ends with a fireworks display sponsored by local radio station FM104.7. This year over 110,000 people crowded along the lake shore, some of them spending most of the afternoon there to be sure of a good viewing spot. Dad fixed that for us, he bought tickets for a lake cruise that took us to THE best location. There were other boats on the lake, you can see one that is much closer to the pontoons where the fireworks were being fired, but I reckon they were too close to see the full show. There were also some drones flying around and above the fireworks. I wanted to see one get wiped out by a rocket but the operators were too careful. Maybe next year.

Labels: boats, Canberra

Vehicles traveling from mainland Australia to Tasmania usually cross Bass Strait from Melbourne to Devonport on the ferry "Spirit of Tasmania". The first photo shows this ship docked at Devonport. If you  look carefully, you can see the loading ramps ready for the next load of motor vehicles and passengers to board. Devonport is on the Mersey River, which is rather narrow and has a difficult channel through the mouth. Many shipwrecks occurred here until the Mersey Bluff lighthouse (photo 2) was completed in 1889. This is a pretty lighthouse with three vertical red stripes to make it more visible during daytime. The weather was a bit wild when we were there, so Dad wasn't allowed to clamber out on the seaward side to get a photo showing all the stripes. It is easy to get to the lighthouse, just follow the road out of town along the west side of the river. Following the river road back into Devonport you will see some channel markers. We found two. The third photo shows one that is a small lighthouse and the last photo is an obelisk containing a strip light. These markers indicate the safe channel to ships using the port. Tasmania has many lighthouses that are easy to get to, and some that are impossible for my fragile Oldies.

Labels: boats, lighthouse, Tasmania

Did anyone guess where I have been since the last post? A country with 4 letters in its name, only 3 of them different? It was, of course, Fiji and there will be a batch of Fiji photos following over the next weeks. Let's finish this series of New Zealand photos with these taken on the way out of Auckland harbour. The channel to the north is fairly narrow and marked with many lighthouses. Here are a few that I managed to see on our way out. The top left one is the Bean Rock light. This is off North Head of the  Hauraki Gulf at the entrance/exit of the inner harbour. It has been there since 1871. The next photo is of Rangitoto Island and its red and white striped tower. This tower was built in 1905, but it has never had a lantern room on top, just an open light. Rangitoto is a dormant volcano; it will make a real mess of the harbour when it decides to go active again.The third photo shows some ships waiting at the end of the channel for "Voyager of the Seas" to exit. The smaller ship fitted in with us, but the big car carrier decided to anchor and wait. In the background you can see Tiritiri island. On the south-eastern end of the island is Tiritiri Matangi lighthouse. Built in 1865, this is NZ's oldest active lighthouse and it and the keepers' cottages are being actively preserved. You can take a day trip to the island by ferry from Auckland. The photo was taken at extreme magnification on Dad's camera; sometimes the old guy can keep pretty still.

Labels: boats, cruising, lighthouse, New Zealand

Here's "Voyager of the Seas" at two very different harbours. The top photo is at Mt Manganui, the port for Tauranga. Where cruise ships dock here is away from the main port area, which is much more busy. You have to take the shuttle bus to get into Tauranga. The bottom one is at Auckland. Here the ships dock right in town. You can (if you are feeling fit) walk from the ship to the CBD. The other photos? Well, while most of the passengers are ashore is a great time for small bears to go exploring. The crane thingy in the top photo is the gadget that lowers life rafts into the water. The rafts are in those white canisters and when they hit the water they pop open and become a raft holding around 100 passengers. I would love to see this happen, but although I climbed up to the base of the crane I just couldn't reach the handles. Mum says that's just as well because if I had managed to drop one overboard I would have been in big trouble. Actually, Mum kind of limits what I can do. Just look at her reaction when I was trying to see what this cable did. I work on the basis that signs written for people don't apply to small bears.

Labels: boats, climbing, cruising, New Zealand