Pinky and Perky World Cruise #2 on the Arcadia Blog

[Pinky and Perky]

Fremantle (for Perth) 16th March 2012.

We had a bit of a rough crossing of The Great Australian Bight so it was welcoming to arrive in Fremantle with brilliant clear blue skies.
I have so many photos to share with you of this wonderful port of call.
Not only Fremantle but Perth, so l will pull out the best or most interesting and post over the coming days.

Our little helper standing by.

Fremantle port entrance, we were heading directly into the sun, plus The Maritime Museum and a submarine which l believe was a museum piece and called HMAS OVEN. Have to read the notes again and confirm later.

 

Better photo of The Maritime Museum.

A special for Frank, no need to tell you the name! I have more a little later to show and will send you the full size if you like Frank.

Arcadia's berth at the Port of Fremantle.

A view down towards the Maritime Museum.

A view towards to city of Fremantle.

More to follow.

[Pinky and Perky]

 Specials for Frank and all tall ship fans.
Leeuwin 11 in Fremantle 16th March 2012.

[Pinky and Perky]

Fremantle/ Perth 16th March 2012- continued.

We booked a tour called "Twin cities and river cruise'.
The coach passed various parts of the city of Fremantle giving us a look at the different styles of architecture.
Most of these were taken from the coach so some reflection possible, no Frank we had not had a drink yet!!, pity though!!
Examples.

Next Western Australia's oldest public building built in 1830/31 by the first settlers.
A striking octagonal building constructed from local limestone.

Fremantle and Perth believe in preserving the "green" areas of their cities and we could see many green parks for the locals to enjoy at weekends or at holiday times.

The old "Market", looks small but was very large and lovingly restored and maintained.

Just down from the market this lovely old building.

More to follow.

[Pinky and Perky]

Fremantle / Perth 16th March 2012 continued.

We then stopped at Kings Park in Fremantle which overlooks the city of Perth, the Swan river which run between the two cities and South Perth.
Kings Park is situated a few minutes from the city centre at the top of Mount Eliza and embraces 400 hectares of delightful parklands and natural bush showcasing Western Australia's wildflowers and colourful birdlife.
History is evident in the park's many memorials and monuments dominated by the magnificently sited State War Memorial.

The State War Memorial.

Hope you can see on this reduced photo the "Eternal flame".

Looking towards Perth city.

Looking towards South Perth.

 

Hope you can read this plaque.

The park had some truly magnificent grounds.

Really strange plants too, here are some that have the flowers hanging upside down in the shade.

 

Now this was really touching, every tree had a name plaque planted (no one was buried) under it and it was the name of an Australian fallen service man or woman.
Here is one example, what was most striking was the young age of most, 18years,20 years, so young to go.

Still more to come.

[Pinky and Perky]

Fremantle / Perth 16th March 2012 continued.

Our tour now took us into Perth city.
We passed the Western Australia Government House.
Built in 1864 and described as a Victorian Mansion Revival incorporating Gothic and Jacobean styles.

This is Perth's Mint Old Melting House.

The Swan Bells.
Perth's latest icon/attraction, the Swan Bells, is one of the world's largest musical instruments. It consists of 18 change ringing bells, which are the largest set in the world. In 1988, 12 bells from St Martins in The Field church in London were presented to Western Australia as an Australian Bicentennial project.
A further 6 bells were cast to add to the collection.

We then transferred to a boat for a cruise down the Swan River back to Fremantle.
The Swan River is salt water.
Perth city from the Swan River.

Some of the million dollar properties lining the bank.
Most are owned by CEO's and major shareholders of local gold or mineral mining companies, life's tough yes?

The one in the middle (a mansion) was said to cost around $50 million Australian dollars!!

To my surprise as we approached Fremantle we passed Arcadia.
The drop off point was about 200 yards from our ship.

As Frank posted, 2 Australian warships berthed just ahead of us.
06 is HMAS Newcastle but l could not see the name of the other one.

Well what a terrific visit to a port l have viewed many, many times from its web cam.
We loved and enjoyed Perth and Fremantle very much.

A wonderful sun set as we enjoyed a great sail away party around the pool with our G& T's.

Next stop Bali.

[Pinky and Perky]

P & O video of our next sector Fremantle (Perth) to Walvis Bay – Namibia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWE9joUaDrk

Bali 20th March 2012.

Our port for Bali had to be changed due to the normal port at Padang Bai (Bay) having its pontoon washed away in a recent typhoon; it was last seen floating away in the direction of Darwin!
We anchored off the small port of Benoa south of Denpasar and tendered in.
Weather was not kind for the start or the finish of the tours.
We booked Scenic Bali and it was very good.
Bali forms part of the Indonesian archipelago which lies between Singapore and Australia.
Bali is one of the smallest of a string of Islands stretching east from Java, measuring 93 miles east to west and 57 miles from north to south.
The main religion in Bali is Hindu.


Our arrival at Benoa Port.

We visited a small village called Tenganan on the east coast.
It specializes in art works and wood carvings.
The streets we stone and very uneven but the locals found it no problem to walk around even with things on their heads.

In the village we could see animals were part of the family and home.
Not just dogs but "orange chickens"!!

And even theses water buffalo's, one even managed a smile for me!

Local lady weaving.

Off now to Klungkung which was the Capital of Bali from 1710 until Denpasar took over.
This is the 200-year-old Hall of Justice, its ceiling and walls are painted in a traditional style to show the horrors a criminal could expect to experience in hell.

Now off to have a Balinese lunch at a most superb location over looking terraced rice fields and coconut plantations.

We had another visit to a Balinese temple called the Temple of Death and time for some shopping of local crafts and batiks.

Our final stop was for a Balinese breakfast (now sorry, l could not understand why a stop for breakfast was at 15.30, must be Balinese!!), strange but it was rather good.
Coffee, locally grown beans and rice style cakes and puddings.
Balinese music and dancing.

An excellent day, tour and delicious lunch despite the horrible weather particularly on the way back to the ship.

[Pinky and Perky]

Singapore 23rd March 2012.

[Pinky and Perky]

Singapore is one of our favourite Asian cities and we have visited many times.
No tour, we just headed to our favourite shopping street and watering hole.
Arcadia was berthed at "Gateway" which is a container area in the port of Singapore.
Sun rise in this busy container port.

A photo of 2 car carriers berthed adjacent to Arcadia.
The NYK Line ship Asteria Leader was just about empty of cars/trucks while the ship on the right, Mercury Ace, arrived shortly after Arcadia.
Just look at all those vehicles; Singapore is not big enough to have all of those on the roads!

A complimentary coach transfer to the main Singapore Cruise Terminal took around 20 minutes.
Costa Classica was in port.

We headed down to our favourite shopping/watering hole area (a pub with its own micro brewery on site) called Clarke Quay.
Clarke Quay is a colourful and vibrant area both at lunch time and evenings with fantastic food restaurants and great bars with wonderful beers.

When we returned to the Cruise terminal, SuperStar Virgo was berthed behind Costa Classica which made a photo difficult, but l did manage to photo "A".

I understand a Costa ship will join us in Port Klang, must be Classica again.

[Pinky and Perky]

Set sail from Singapore around 20.30pm.

Some of the night lights of this wonderful city.

 

[Pinky and Perky]

Port Klang (Kelang) 24th March 2012.

The Cruise Terminal building.

Arcadia arrived first and was soon followed by Costa Classica.

[Pinky and Perky]

Langkawi, Malaysia 25th March 2012.

We are looking forward to this call as it has been on our radar to visit for a long time.
It is very close to Thailand and many friends have commented on how beautiful it is.
Have a tour booked to give us a flavour of this holiday destination, more when we get back.

[Pinky and Perky]

One photo from Port Klang.
Arcadia had just cleared her berth and turned around to face north, Costa Classica was about ready to depart as well with her little helpers getting into position.

Langkawi.
WOW what a wonderful place.
I took so many photos but can only show a few.
I was well chuffed with this photo as l managed to get the rising sun's reflection on the water as we approached the berth.

Langkawi is a regular stop for Star Cruise ships (as was Port Klang) so no surprise to see the name Star Cruise on the jetty.

Avery nice welcome from some young Malaysian dressed ladies.

Our tour took us to Oriental village which is at the base of Gunung Machinchang, the second highest mountain on the Island.

While walking to the cable car station we passed a local man with his pet "python" snake!
He did say it had already had a good hearty breakfast!

More to follow.

[Pinky and Perky]

The very steep and exhilarating one and three quarters miles ride over the rain forest and some interesting geological formations takes around 20 minutes.
On the way up there are magnificent views of the Seven Wells Waterfall, some of the neighbouring Islands and even southern Thailand on a very clear day.

This is us trying not to look down!

A single metal supported Walk Bridge.

A view from the top.

The Seven Wells Waterfall rather short of water as it was the dry season.

Few more to come

[Pinky and Perky]

The tour then took us to a rice museum and one of many sailing harbours for a nice cold beer and a little shopping, then back to the ship.

Arcadia at berth in Langkawi.

Some photos of this stunning Island.

 

The view down towards the port offices and terminal buildings.

Shortly after Arcadia had berthed another cruise ship anchored just ahead of us.
It was Norwegian Dream.
Phil maybe able to confirm more, but our Captain told us it had been sold to Star Cruise (l think transferred more likely) and will be operated as a Star Cruise ship later this year.
Here she is as we departed.

 

We will sure be back to this wonderful Island.

In the mean time we have 3000 nautical miles to steam to our next port of call, Mauritius on 2nd April.
Bye till then.

[Pinky and Perky]

We have enjoyed some wonderful weather and sun sets since leaving Langkawi.

We crossed the Equator yesterday at 09.57 am for the third time and we are now in the Southern Hemisphere again.

I would like to dedicate these sun set photos to Phyllis, who l know would have loved them.
The first two from 26th March and the third from 27th March.

Due to pirate activity we are steaming on a more south, south easterly course keeping clear of the Seychelles area.
This has added additional nautical miles to our passage to Mauritius, which is now 3142 nautical miles from Langkawi.