Dry Dock

Uncle Todd requested photos of the dry dock, and I’m not one to disappoint. Not that I’m that great of a thing photographer, but a big old ship out of water is a cool looking thing. They were working on the props when I took these so that’s why you can’t see any propellers in the back. If I get the chance, I’m going to go out again and shoot the back end with the propellers on.

Only a few days to go and we’ll be out to sea again. I’ve been working like crazy trying to get everything ready, I have no assistant at the moment and I just found out he won’t be joining until five days into the Christmas Cruise. It’s terrible to have to work alone on a ship at all, let alone over a Christmas cruise (they’re the worst.) You have a ship full of people who want the perfect family holiday served to them on a platter, and I don’t care how shiny the silver platter is, nothing is perfect.

Luckily I can stay out of the lime light for the most part. I’ll be busy, but I’m still going to make time to do the international choir, and I’m sure there will be a great dinner Christmas night. I’m going to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Years now because I probably won’t be able to in the middle of the holidays. Have a good time, eat, drink and be merry and I’ll talk to you again in the new year.

Katie

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Brisbane, Australia, where we are in dry dock, is North of Sydney. I have had the chance to get off a couple of times. One night I went out to get some supplies and have a few drinks in an Irish pub with some of the crew. Another time I went out for the day to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. I got to hold a Koala Bear and I got up close and personal with wild lorikeets. The bird picture hasn’t been color enhanced, that’s how vibrant the lorikeets were.

The sanctuary has 130 koalas that are all kept in open enclosures with fresh eucalyptus leaves for them to munch on. Koalas are nocturnal so most of them were sleeping or looked very sleepy. They are a little freaky looking when they’re awake cuz their eyes are all red, but when they’re sleeping they’re sooo cute. They just sit on a branch and ball themselves up. They kind of remind me of Muppets. The sanctuary had lots of other animals including kangaroos you could feed.

Katie