Evening Emus

Red and Tan Kangas

Parking Meter in William Creek: Population 20

Lake Eyrie Dry Bed - Filled On Average Every 50 years!!

Brown Kanga

Salt and Pepper: Mountains in the Breakaways Outside Coober Pety

Sturt Dessert Pea: Australia's National Flower

Hotel in Ghost Town of Farina

Emu Dad With Seven Babies

Opal Mining in Coober Pety: Largest Opal Mining Area in the World

My Favorite Dessert Photo

Curious Dingo

Kanga With Joey

Green Farmlands Out of Adelaide

Our Excellent Adventure in the Outback

Last Monday we took off on a five day four night adventure through the outback in South Australia. We drove over 1500 miles, about half of them on unpaved roads and about a fourth of those through rocky riverbeds. It was a most amazing adventure. Our fellow travelers were Val and her daughter Deb from a town near Sydney, and Paul Keen of Wallaby Tracks Adventure Tours, our fearless tour leader.

Carnival Spirit and the GPS of a Trajedy

On days when the ship was at sea with no land in sight, we would turn on the television to the channel with the GPS of the route. Usually it looked like a child's drawing of a single arrow and nothing else, except the wind and ship's speeds.
The morning after our visit to Mystery island was different. In the early morning we kept hearing an announcement for a crew member to please report in. At the same time you could feel the ship slowing down. During the course of the morning there were 2 separate all-hands drills for crew members to congregate. Also, there was a request for the same missing crew memeber to "please report in. you won't be in trouble. Please let us know you are okay." By this time the ship had stopped.
Finally there was an announcement that a crew member had disappeared overboard  and that we were going back to look for him. The ship turned around and picked up speed again. The next morning, this is the GPS we saw on the TV - a record of the squares within squares that the ship made on its all night search for the missing crew member. Later that morning we were released by the local officials and set out again on the cruise route.
Everyone was hit very hard by this sad situation, but I have to praise the entire crew of the Carnival Spirit for their prompt reaction and the way that it was handled, especially with the 2100 passengers aboard. There was genuine concern for their missing crew member and his parents in India. There was constant communication with the passengers at every step  and yes, we missed a stop at Port Denaray, Fiji, but everyone understood the importance of going back. After all, it could have been any one of us who went overboard.
After that morning it was difficult to look at the child's scrawl of a GPS arrow without thinking of the lost crewman.

Mystery Island, Vanuatu Farewell

It was good to get back to the ship and sadly, say farewell to Mystery Island, Vanuatu. As soon as all were on board the ship took off for Port Denarau in the Fiji Islands. It would take one full day at sea and then docking at the port the following morning.

Mystery Understood!

All stops at ports last about 8 hours before the rush back to the ship and then off to the next destination. A gorgeous morning on Mystery island turned into a windy rainy afternoon with 100s of people waiting for a lifeboat to take them back to the ship. Ferrying with lifeboats is called "tendering", but there was nothing tender about the rocking and rolling ride back to the ship. It was an E ticket (You have to be a very old American to understand that term). Let's just say it was exciting and a relief to be back on the ship.

How Can I Live Here?

Boating on Mystery island