A sunny afternoon on day one in ‘Oz’ , as the locals call it, and Sarah and I walked about a mile to the Art Museum of New South Wales. About 70 degrees and calm as we experience ‘down under’ autumn. This quite large spider commands attention outside the entrance.
But where to?
Our journey began in the morning with a short ferry ride to a waiting taxi to the airport. We asked the manager at the marina where Rhapsody is staying to book a taxi for us. I overheard the woman describing us to the taxi driver, "An old couple, with 2 suitcases". I think this is the first time I have heard myself described this way, and this sparked a conversation between Bob and me (and Google). What is considered old? When do we cross into elderly? Apparently there are accepted guidelines for this, and Google says old begins in your 50's and "officially" you are elderly beginning at 65. Sigh... really not ready for someone to describe me as an elderly lady!
" So, how long are you planning on cruising?"
"As long as it is fun."
"Is it still fun?"
"Depends. What day is it?"
Tonga is known for its annual migration of humpback whales coming to mate and calve. Every July to October, they migrate from the Antarctic to Tonga. In July and August new babies are born and if you can time it right and get lucky, you may have an opportunity to swim near a mother and her calf.
Not having a fixed work schedule it is often hard to keep track of the days of the week. That has now been exasperated by crossing the dateline. Most of my contacts are still on the other side of the dateline so I have to keep track of what day it is in North America as well as what day it is here. What days are business days? When are the weekends? My family has a weekly zoom call on Fridays, but now I have to remember to join in on Saturday mornings, Fiji time.
"Malo, Malo 'Aupito!" he said with a smile, adjusting his new glasses and looking around, taking in the details of things he had previously been missing.
We interrupt your not-so-regularly scheduled blog post to take a few moments to reflect as we celebrate our 7 year splashiversary (the day Rhapsody was splashed into the water as our home). We bought Rhapsody in 2014, but officially moved aboard in November of 2016. As I look back over my pictures to try to decide what to include it is very daunting to try to cull it down to a reasonable number. So much has happened in 7 years, so many adventures, so many friends, so many changes.
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| November 2016 Nanny Cay, BVI |
