Well they talk about the hanging gardens of Babylon!

well this is my hanging garden from the arches!!

I have put some garden arches from Bunnings into my veggie garden, which has been very successful, I am in the process of introducing an other 4 arches (between heavy showers) for any thing climbing, like Beans,Peas etc as well as the cucumbers, I am very pleased with the result.

The garden is looking good and just about all the seeds i planted has germinated except the Parsley, I think we have had to much rain the last week for the parsley seeds, between 1 and 3 inches in the old scale every 24 hours, every thing is soaked.

Nothing to report from the kitchen

Gemini in her art studio putting the finishing touch to yet an other master piece.

Apricot Jam.

Place 500 gr quartet ripe Apricots in preserving pot, place 375 gr Sugar over the fruit, and 1/2 sachet of Jam setter mixed into the sugar then the zest of a lemon and the juice of one lemon pored over the sugar, gently mix then cover and let the juice happen while you have your Sundowner approx 1/2 hour.

Then start over low heat stir gently occasional til boiling, simmer for a few minutes, test the Jam on a frozen saucer, when setting sufficiently bottle and seal at once.

the flavour is excellent on a Sunday croissant for breakfast.

the short cooking allowed for a much lighter apricot color of Jam

Seeding Garlic, compliment of GB on the Farm

ready for planting to morrow, when I have planed a big day in the garden getting the autum and winter crops planted.

I also got a Horsradis plant from Linda on the Farm, as I lost mine while aeay midt year for

3 1/2 months

My first ever pineapple that I have grown successfully

My Pineapple after the first fruit, very sweet and tasty, but I left it on the plant for ripening a little to long, Gemini told me not to pick it to green!!! that eas a mistake, it wasen't suitable for preserving.

Second lot of miniature Cantaloupe (Rock Melon) for the season. the vine is small and only coves an arear 3 square feet, produces very sweet and tasty fruit the size of a cricket ball.

Garden beds mulched and ready for planting

Well it is time to starting to feeding the log again, it has taken a long tome getting back to normal after 3 1/2 month at the high sea, the Carouse was great,once in a life time, it is to long to bee away from home, Christmas came and went so fast that it felt like we had missed a few months,
having had the northern summer season and straight in to the southern summer, quit daunting.
11 days of planting according to the Moon calender, this weekend will be the great planting time for most of the autumn and winter crops.
the garden has been prepared
treh garden is looking good.

Singapore

Monday 5th October
We decided to have a fairly leisurely day today. Singapore has a very modern cruise port, much like an airport terminal which take you directly to a couple of very large shopping centres. We decided to give the city centre a miss as we have been to Singapore a few times in the past. Another couple joined us to take a taxi to the Jurong Bird Park which has a spectacular array of birdlife. We took the little overhead train around the park and instead of walking for hours we saw most of what there is to see in about ½ an hour. We’d had our Taxi wait for us and then took it back to the port. The GD and I treated ourselves to a delicious Thai lunch on the rooftop garden of one of the shopping centres at the port. After a nana nap we went back to the shopping centre where I had a hair cut and blow dry for 35 singapore dollars. Apart from the hair cut the only thing I bought was a 25 singapore dollar watch which only went for the length of time it took me to get back on the ship. Hopefully it only needs a battery but I guess the old saying “you get what you pay for” applies. We set sail about 7pm on a beautiful barmy evening sipping a good wine up on top deck. It felt a little sad to us in a way, as it is the last foreign port on this long voyage, before we disembark in Darwin in a few days time. We are going to spend a few days there before flying home on Tuesday 13th October. It’s been quite an adventure but now we have to start thinking about home and the real world

Sunday 4th October
Shopping shoes – sorry those were the first two words which came to mind as I sat down to write this entry. The GD earned a few brownie points today as he patiently waited for Gemini to explore the shoe shops at Klang. Since we have been to KL a couple of times and as it’s a long way from the port of Klang we opted to take the shuttle bus into the relatively new shopping centre at Klang instead of going all the way to KL. It met all my expectations and after a nice lunch (randang for the GD and ginger chicken for me) we returned to the ship – carrying 3 pairs of new shoes, mine of course. It appears that sometime in the not too distant past, a lot of money was invested in Klang which is still waiting for a return. There are a lot of relatively new buildings standing empty between the port and the town. The weather has been kind to us again and although it was cloudy it didn’t rain. We cruise through the straits of Malaca tonight and should arrive in Singapore at about 7am tomorrow

Saturday 26th September - Saturday 3rd October.
Goodness me, a whole week has gone by and I haven’t written a thing. We survived house arrest throughout India with a few insignificant shots from the deck of the ship. We didn’t get off scott free as we were summonsed to the dining room on the third Indian port at 7.45am with about 130 other passengers without visas. They (Indian Immigration) still wanted to compare our faces with our passports and put a stamp on the (the passports that is). A bit of a joke if it wasn’t so annoying and inconvenient. The ship left India on 28th September and then we were at sea from 29th September until our arrival in Phuket on the 2nd of October. We did an easy tour of Phuket, which took in some of the scenic places and of course temples and places to spend your money (not ours). They are mostly Buddhist, nice people and nice surroundings. Our tour didn’t take in the beaches that would have been nice.
Today, Langkowi, Malaysia. We took a tour visiting various places of interest, including museums etc.. It seemed it was a busy weekend for weddings, passing no less than 4 villages where a marriage was taking place and according to our guide, everyone from the village is a guest. The monkeys were very visible along the road in some places. We were unsure if our bus was going to make the journey as the first hill almost saw us rolling backwards. It was a little tired and not long for buss world, we think but it got there and back again with great difficulty on relatively small hills. We both thought the most interesting place we visited was the rice museum, a small working rice paddy and processing museum. The scenery is very pretty here with the coastline dotted with small islands. We left Langkowi at about 4.30 this afternoon and now cruising towards Klang, the port for Kuala Lumpur. Since we have spent some time in KL (about 60kg from port of Klang) before and have seen the places on the list of tours, we plan to spend a part of the day in Klang after a restful morning on the ship. We’ve seen the usual good quality entertainment in the past week but taking a night off tonight to recoup. These shore days are quite tiring for an old couple like us.

Tuesday 22nd – Friday 25th September

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, all sea days much the same as any other sea day. I know that sounds boring but there is always something different to try. The GD and I checked out the gym – for real, yesterday – and it’s free. We both tried out the walking machines. The GD burned off 100 calories and I burned off 60. With the air-conditioning it’s much cooler than walking on the promenade deck. You’re also looking out to sea at the aft end of the ship. We’ll give it another go today and most likely each day till we return to OZ. We also went to a photography lecture.

Friday: We have arrived in Bombay this morning and as we suspected, we are not allowed ashore because we don’t have a visa, thanks to incorrect advise given to us by a representative of Princess line before we left home. Actually, quite a few of their staff could do with a lot more training before being let loose on the public. That said, most of them are very obliging and courteous. The better staff are exceptionally good at what they do. Most of what we can see of Bombay, looks tired and polluted. The water in the harbour is full of floating rubbish. From on board lectures I’m sure there is some places of interest here but I think most people going ashore are doing so to shop and India obviously doesn’t want our tourist dollar. Though we didn’t have to go through any of the immigration processes to go ashore, we did observe the most stringent processes and paper trails that has been the case in any other port, including USA or Egypt. Well back to the laundry – no queues today to use the washing machines. We will also be under house arrest (I suppose you could call it that) for the next 2 ports in India so the next port the GD and I will be getting off at is Phuket on the 2nd October

Monday 21st September
We berthed about 7.30am in Dubai. As the passengers were allowed ashore, there was an Arabian dressed brass band and also a red carpet laid out to walk along. The terminal that we landed at is not quite finished so there were only a couple of stalls trading, inside. The GD and I took a shuttle bus in the city in the morning. We were disappointed when it took us the ‘the biggest shopping mall’ in the world with all designer labels and excessive prices and we had thought we were going to a market. Even though it was a relief from the 40 degree heat, we didn’t stay there long. Back to the ship for lunch and a short nap. I decided to take a tour in the afternoon and left the GD sleeping. Apart from having to put up with the heat, the tour was great. The tour took in the beach – all men except for tourists of both sexes, A view of the hotel which looks like a ship, past the zoo, past the artificial ski run, to a mosque (outside only), then to an interesting museum in an old fort. After that, we had to take the local open wooden boats, like dugouts along and across the creek to the Gold Market. There are no rules on the water with each boat jostling for position. It was rather fun. I didn’t find any gold bargains and I thought most of it was rather grouse. It’s the end of Ramadan and a holiday, so everywhere was crowded – yes – mostly with men, Indians, Philipinos, Arabs and various other nationalities. As for religions in this part of the world, most of them are practiced here except for Jewish. They are not even allowed to enter the country. It’s a very modern city and even the bus stops are air-conditioned. It’s very clean and no sign of graffiti anywhere but even though smoking is said to be prohibited in public, the beach was littered with butts. Those darn seagulls! I arrived back to the ship after the start of dinner. I showered, put on my nice shirt I had bought (and a skirt) and joined the GD for desert. We turned in fairly early after a show. We will now be at sea until we arrive in Mumbai early on Friday the 25th September, that’s unless there is a change of plans because of the student protests going on there at the moment. We may not be allowed on shore anyway has be don’t have a visa for India.

Wednesday 16th – Sunday 20th September
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday we spent at sea and quite uneventful except for the usual on board activities and shows. A couple of the shows were quite good but we haven’t been going to all of them. During this time, we have decided to disembark in Darwin on the 10th of October and spend a few days there before flying home. This gets us home a couple of days earlier as well. From Darwin to Sydney there are no stops so we won’t be missing anything except the crowds at Sydney airport, which is a plus. It will also give us a chance to sort out what to post home, which will be cheaper than paying excess again, as we had to on our flight from Brisbane to Sydney in the beginning of the cruise.
Today we are in Mina Qaboos Oman until about 1.30pm. It’s something of a surprise and quite different to anywhere else we have been. The landscape is rocky, mountainous and barren. The town is clean, white and has lots of fountains and green grass, which is quite a contrast with the surroundings. We have spent a couple of hours in the Souk (market) this morning and the GD has outfitted himself as one of the locals. It has been one of the better markets, which we have visited – big enough to have a good browse but not big enough to get totally lost in even though it’s like a rabbit warren. The locals are about as strict Muslim as it gets so we had to try to get close to the dress code to go ashore (though some passengers were a bit slack) or run the risk of having to return quickly to the ship. The locals all shop at this souk and there was no hard sell like some of the other markets we’ve been to. We felt quite safe with no fear of pickpockets. Very few cruise ships visit as it is a major commercial / industrial shipping port. We weren’t even allowed to wander on the port but had to be shuttled at least to the gates of the port. Tomorrow it’s a full day in Dubai, 9am to 10 pm. It could also be the end of Ramadan depending of the first spark of the crescent moon, when they get into celebrations and feasting. This could mean many shops are shut but I’m sure they will be out for our dollars one way or another. We are about to set of so I will try and get a few departing shots on the camera. Bye for now.

Sunday 13th – Tuesday 15th September
Sunday was spent cruising through the Suez. Just like sailing through the desert with an occasional village or oasis along the south bank and desolate sand and rock to the north along with some vacated (or appeared to be) military posts. We sailed through the Red Sea and arrived in Safaga on Monday Morning. There were tours to the Valley of the Kings from this port but after Cairo I didn’t take the tour. The GD had already been there many years ago. There is little – nothing to see in Safaga so we spent the day on board watching the comings and goings of the port activities. There was big line ups of the locals coming back from Aman with trolleys laden with their purchases, including air conditioners, lounges, bikes, carpets, enclosed bundles etc., etc., going through customs in ordered chaos. They then proceed to old trucks and busses and loaded them up to head for Cairo with the owners clinging to the top or on the back of the trucks. To our amazement, they didn’t have any stalls set up to sell their merchandise here. Cruise ships do not use this port too often. It is still Ramadan so after sunset the town was full of glitter and feasting. We headed for the Princess Theatre at 6.30pm to see some of the locals doing some folk dancing. One of their performers did a twirling dance which was rather spectacular. It went on for about 5 minutes and he did not get giddy. Tuesday – Today is a full sea day so it’s back to normal, except we will be having a Piracy drill in about 10 minutes. Bare in mind we are now approaching the area where the Somali pirates have been a problem of recent times. We will now be at sea till the 20th when we arrive in Mina Qaboos in Oman.

Saturday 12th September
We have now reached the land of the Pharos, Egypt. The thing that became most obvious was the lack of pride the Egyptians have in their environment and how lucky we are to live in the country that we do. Since the GD has seen the Pyramids and the Sphinks before, he didn’t join me on my tour to Ciaro and the Pyramids. It was a three hour bus ride to the site. There was about 1300 people from our cruise ship who went on the tour. That was about 16 buses in convoy – the safest way to travel in this part of the world. Many of the houses and buildings along the way have never been completed. The reason for this is that up till now they haven’t had to pay taxes (land taxes I presume) until the building is completed. We were told that that is about to change. You can imagine how unsightly that looks added to the fact that almost all of the buildings are either a grayish red brick or concrete with twisted metal reinforcement sticking out everywhere. The parts of the building that are occupied then have all their washing hanging from their balconies. At least it adds a bit of colour to the scenery. The people seem to be clearly divided into the very rich and the very poor. Litter is everywhere and some of the canals running off the Nile have garbage banked up against small bridges including dead animals. Only one way to describe it – filthy. Add that to the dust, both on the ground, the buildings and the air and you get the picture. However, all that said the pyramids are truly a site worth seeing. I don’t need to describe them I’m sure, as there is plenty written on them, but to see them puts them in a much grander dimension. It’s rather interesting to see how green the desert can become in places where there has been water added. On one side of the road there can be desert and on the other side lush vegetation and crops. It’s Ramadan here at the moment and one has to be prepared for a scarcity of food outlets during the day. Our tour included a huge snack, supposedly for the morning but we didn’t get it until 1.30 and also lunch, which we didn’t get till 4pm. The lunch (dinner) was at the Merriot Hotel in the middle of nowhere. It was quite lavish by any standards. As you would expect, everywhere you go, you are bombarded by street hawkers. A tour of the Museum was also included. It amazed me that in this day and age it is not air conditioned. It was very hot and crowded with people so I didn’t spend as much time in there as I could have. Weighing it all up the tour was a very memorable experience. We got back to the ship at about 7.45pm and set sail into the Suez canal about 1am today, Sunday and at the moment we are anchored in the great lake just waiting our turn to head into the last part of the canal, hopefully to arrive in the city of Suez and the Red Sea at about 1.00pm. The GD spent his day doing the laundry and shopping on the dock.