Way down upon the Swan River

Perth, Australia seems about as far away as one can get from Sydney. Sydney is over 1200 miles, due east, by car through the empty wilderness that is the interior of Australia. Yet Perth is a thoroughly modern metropolis situated on the banks of the Swan River. Its port, eponomously named Fremantle, is analogous to Piraeus, Greece in proximity and function. A train runs to Perth every 15 minutes or so. It’s about a 30 minute ride. There is a dock in Perth but bridges across the Swan River have made it inaccessible to large ocean-going craft. Perth is a business center for the mining and sheep-raising industries. I counted at least 8 large freighters off shore, waiting to load. We visited King’s Park, located on a high point above the river, from where one can see the high-rise office and apartment buildings of the city. It contains botanic gardens. The central focus of the park is a large stone monument to the fallen soldiers of World War I. I found another monument way off to the side, almost hidden by a large tree.

Land of Oz

Australia is a vast place, the size of the U.S. and can be viewed as a giant mine. Though it covers a big patch of latitude and longitude, the climate is not as hospitable as the U.S. climate because on the whole, it is much drier. The relatively small population of 25 million clings to the coasts and there are only a few major cities in this continental nation. The Australians are aware they have a lot of property to defend and not a whole lot of people to defend it. From the beginning there has been confusion about how to populate it and thus justify and defend their claim to this property…and legitimate fears that dilution of the basic Anglo-British stock would be ultimately overwhelmed by proximate Asian populations, converting English-speaking and Christian Australia into a nation of… what? Well, they seem to be muddling through rather successfully at this point. And as long as they can get their trading partners to pay for, rather than expropriate goods, Australia should prosper. They are a solid column in the house of the Anglophones. Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide are beautiful examples of what modern cities can be. Key to Pictures: The Obelisk in Macquarie Place, Sydney. Opera House, Sydney. Statue of Flinders-circumnavigator of Australia on the lawn of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne. Looking down on Adelaide from Mt. Lofty towards the Southern Ocean. Statue of Col. Light pointing out the city he’s laid out to our traveler.

New Caledonia

New Caledonia was named by Captain Cook, who gave it the Romans’ name for Scotland. Noumea is located on the island of Grand Terre, the largest in an island group claimed by France, and west of the Fiji group. These islands are volcanic and remind me of the Virgin Islands. The entire island containing Noumea, called Grand Terre, is surrounded by an atoll so the water in the lagoons form large, tranquil bays. We arrived on schedule in Noumea but it was drizzling, windy and rainy all day. We had a 2-hour tour of greater Noumea on a tram called the Bumble Bee Train, but the rain and fog reduced visibility to almost zero. I was very disappointed. We visited the Casino grocery and department store. This island was an outpost in the defense of Australia (see the picture of a big gun placed by the Australians)and a forward staging base for the Americans in their charge up to New Guinea during World War II. Guadalcanal, in the Solomon Islands is 1000 miles north. The Americans built the airfield. As the crow flies, it is about 750 miles to the NE Australian coast and over 1000 miles to Auckland. The island is definitely French but plebiscites scheduled for this decade will decide whether the territory will be completely independent. Currently they are using a Pacific Franc which runs about 93/US dollar. Nickel is mined and smelted here. About one third of the population is European(French), about 40 % are Melanesians/Polynesians, and the rest are mixed. There is not a tremendous amount of tourism here because your money doesn’t go very far and it is remote. It is not nearly as exotic as Bali or Thailand, and it doesn’t have a lot of touristic infrastructure.

Lahaina-Endangered Species?

We awoke and saw the southwest coast of Maui through the window. We also saw many whales surface just a kilometer or two off-shore. This is winter and the whales are here, and that is the reason Lahaina was founded. It is a small town and never participated in the great hotel development that is evident further north on the Ka’anapali coast. Today it survives as a small artists’ colony and whale-watching center. We took a stroll down the road facing the beach. Some of the early missionary homes have been preserved. Baldwin House is the same family which founded Alexander & Baldwin, the parent of the huge ocean-transport firm, Matson Navigation. The locals have preserved and refurbished a courthouse (yellow stucco)which is located right on the waterfront. It dates from the mid-19th century. I presume there was plenty of distributed justice in the days of the whalers. This was a busy place. No more. Some of the bricks from a Hawaiian fort have been dumped adjacent to the courthouse. I included a picture of a brilliant African tulip tree.

Oahu-unsinkable battleship or insatiable shopping trip?

Following five, relatively calm days at sea, we arrived off Oahu in mid-morning and spent the rest of the day slowly cruising into port. Hawaii really is the best of the islands for the visitor. You can have the exotic, tropical, volcanic experience but also there’s plenty of shopping(up-scale and down). Taxis are honest, there’s no physical danger, and the dollar is the currency. It’s not too hot, and there’s something of interest for everyone to do. Pearl Harbor is a great place to visit. In the days of the dreadnought, Hawaii was known as America’s unsinkable battleship and evolved during the cold war into a Nike missile base and nuclear sub base. The military’s presence is still extremely heavy on Oahu and will remain so indefinitely. Here are some off-shore pictures as we approach the Aloha Tower and piers. There was a Princess boat in town too, which left LA the day we did. The high rises continue to go up in central Honolulu and I think the town looks great. Notice how the moisture-laden, prevailing winds whip up the clouds as the rapidly-moving air crashes into the Koolau Mountains behind the city. The clouds are not discrete “cotton balls” but appear “scrambled”. This effect, observable from far at sea, must have been a navigational aid to the Polynesians. We went to Ala Moana so Eiko could peruse the used Japanese books in the Shirokiya Department store. We took a walk to visit the Walmart on Keeamoku St and then over to the old Holiday Mart, now known as Don Quixote, on Kaheka St. What a strange name for a store which serves almost exclusively the large Japanese contingent here. It is owned by a Japanese national and has, among just about everything else, a rather large selection of saki. Prices are very reasonable. Laden with goods, it was time to return to the ship.(See picture of tired shopper!) The following day, we walked through old Lahina.

World Cruise 2012 LA to Hawaii

This year’s journey begins in Los Angeles. LA is a busy place, crowded, and full of energy. I like it but it is very large. The room at the Beverly Hills Wilshire-Four Seasons was in the newer annex, facing north. The room was neat but not ornate. This hotel is well-run and there were plenty of people from Crystal at the hotel to keep the passengers organized. This mid-January day was beautiful; no clouds, with temps into the 60’s and even warmer in the sun. The picture is taken at the corner of Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard, looking north. I still think a walk up Madison Avenue in NYC is more interesting. Here’s a picture of our travelers, almost ready to go to the inaugural party. The dark picture shows the ship departing the dock in San Pedro. This is the busiest container port in the US and, despite the great recession of 2008-2009, it has never been busier. There will be 5 days at sea, followed by two days in the Hawaiian Islands. From there, it is straight to Noumea, New Caledonia. Next stop, Honolulu. Bon Voyage.

Africa to Europe by boat

We have traveled for 19 days from Capetown, South Africa to Lisbon, Portugal. The west coast of Africa is not much of a tourist destination. Lome, Togo(picture of low-rise apartments) and Takoradi, Ghana (picture of 2-storey market)remain mostly undeveloped. These are towns rather than cities and have gone almost nowhere since independence They are less than shabby. Dakar is a city with considerable development in the peninsula of the old French colony. High rises here are mostly drab(one under construction in picture!) and the downtown is shabby. It is as if most development ceased at some time 30 years ago. The port facilities are extensive though and the rail station at the port is very modern. It is over 1500 miles from Ghana to Senegal and another 1500 from Senegal to Lisbon. The entrance to Lisbon’s harbor, the Tagus River, seemed spectacular this morning. The clear skies and cool air were invigorating after months in the equatorial zones. Lisbon is rather charming and has enjoyed several fresh coats of paint and stucco in the past 10 years. There is a tremendous amount to see from the street level and quite a number of museums that seem worth exploring. Many of the public squares and monuments have been cleaned up too(pictures). The lower downtown is quaint and we spent a bit of time exploring the fabric and trim stores. The selection was good. Prices, though in Euros, seemed below what one would pay for goods of similar quality(if you could find them in a medium-sized city in the US). It appears the Spanish banks are here in force and there is even a new El Corte Ingles in the city. Portugal has recently accepted a bailout package from the European Union and the IMF, so it is unclear exactly what the near-term portends….but it will be painful. Portugal has spent a lot of money restoring its capital city. It needed to be done. But the bill has come due. We will arrive in London in 3 days and pick up the ship to America on 10 May.