hi Betty K! - we will be moving slowly when we disembark in Sydney. melbourne, as I relate below, was an interesting and busy stop.

Don't get on your horse high .. or your high horse

It's been an interesting two day stop in Melbourne. We spent the first day preparing for the Aussie Open. We have a few unused bottles of wine for the tennis tournament; how to get them (and possibly a suitcase) over to the hotel? We learn there is mega red tape in this request. Understandable ..except we've been cleared for Australian entry since Hobart, Tasmania. 24 hours is needed to clear suitcase; this will not work as we are on full day excursion on day 2. We finally decide to head to hotel, verify they will accept a parcel drop off for our arrival on Monday, and then retrieve a smaller bag following lunch. Melbourne prides itself as, among other things, the sports and tram capital of Australia. We board Tram 109 into Melbourne. Good enough .. hotel is happy to accept parcel.

We have about an hour to spend in town before return to ship for lunch & retrieving parcel. There's a free city tram that includes a recording of the history of the area. This is great .. except the tram is jam packed and it's a virtual tower of babel. The audio track goes something like this:

We are approaching ..
Bitte, un klein cafe und Starbucks?
Dah! Ni hau ..
in 1847.

We decide a free tram introduction is lovely, except it is costing us a lot of time with little benefit.

Following the tram, we head back to the ship. As has been true in each port, Silversea has hosted the local travel agent population. They are dressed somewhere between informal and formal wear. We are dressed for vacation. We head back to our suite, only to realize the traveling herd of agents is in front of us. Ah .. that's why the suite just past ours has been open since the morning. It's the open suite for travel agent inspection. I am thinking of trivia: How many Aussie travel agents can you fit in a Silversea verandah suite? 38!

After we finish lunch & deliver the parcel to our hotel, we get our Aussie Open gear and work out the walkway to the Melbourne Park venue. It's lovely along the river frontage.

Our planned pool grill under the stars has been shelved for cold temps and a building wind. We have a galley dinner with friends and then head to the show. Time for bed .. busy day tomorrow.

We get up at 7 today for the horse ride and wine tasting tour. As in all adventurous things, there is adventure. I am assigned to Toby, the 18 year old gelding who lives for grass. There is no end to Toby's appetite. OK .. we walk for a while, and I'll see to it you get lots of grass. We understood one another perfectly. After we dismounted at the T'Gallant winery, we all suffered from horse legs. Our tasting featured 10 wines. Great … except we now have to get back on the horses with an alcohol fueled high.

We were separated into those who knew something about riding horses and those who thought it would be lovely. Well .. there are branches .. and dust .. and the national bird, flies. Toby and I, though, move out off the way of most of these obstacles. The advanced team is not so lucky. Some horse fights and frights ensue, resulting in a minor (we hope) injury and a close call with cars in the street for one steed and rider. We enjoy an authentic Aussie barbeque at the owners' home. This means making friends (but not feeding) the family dogs and passing the salt, pepper and salad dressing to and fro down the communal table. Alas, we are running late. We reboard the coach, for a 20 minute stop at the next winery. Afterwards, we have the 80 minute nap time back to the ship. Our driver plays the Aussie folk tales tape. The first features “ It's the national institution .. the Aussie barbeque .. the snails are tough and the flies are in your face”. An incredibly accurate observation, but lacks the conviviality of the occasion, the excellent quality of the food and the setting, and the wonderful ambiance of a small group and a great adventure. My take is 60% loved the trip and 40% were either so-so or didn't enjoy it very much. We are enthusiastically in the 'loved it' category.

We jumped in the shower, then headed to trivia. Once again, we held our own with the aussie battlers. On this cruise, we've taken up residence in the Grappa bar off the casino on Deck 5. Dinner ensued, then another run at Liar's Club. I think the point total is approaching 85.

Sea day tomorrow, then arrival in Sydney at 9 am local.

suzanne - natalia sends her best; she's pleased to hear her god cat is doing so well in your care. She sends a special hello to all of us on CAMEL.

Lee, I'm loving the tennis reports. Wish we were getting the coverage you are.

Cheers Anne