The roughest day in five months

Leaving the smoky skies of Hobart, we sailed west past the rugged coastline on Tasmania, our last stretch of the Tasman Sea.  Within a couple of hours , we entered the Indian Ocean where sea conditions deteriorated rapidly.

Winds picked up to 40-50 miles per hour, and swells increased to about 20 feet.  The result was an extremely rough night and following day.  In sddition to rolling side to side, the ship would shutter as it slammed into the towering waves ... just like an earthquake.   Our wine steward said it was the roughest 24 hour period the ship had experienced in five months.    Outside decks were closed, and it was difficult walking inside.  We stayed in the stateroom most of the day watching movies.  We didn't get sick, but the dining room  was pretty empty, indicating lots of people probably were.  

The conditions forced the ship to lower its speed, so we arrived in Adelaide at 10:30 AM, three and a half hours late, and an hour after a group of 12 of us had made a private reservation for a tour of the Barossa Valley wine region.  When we finally got off the ship and onto the mini van, we had missed the lunch we were suppose to have at one of the six wineries we were visiting.  And we missed three of the wineries.  All part of the adventure.

We did not have time to stop and explore Adelaide, but driving through, it appeared to be like several of the other Australia cities we've visited.   Very clean, modern, and livable.  It is also expensive.  The driver took us through a nice residential neighborhood where modest homes were going for $3 million.  Comparable homes in similar cities in California would probably be around $1 million.

Leaving the urban area, we soon entered rolling brown foothills, and about 45 minutes from downtown Adeleaide, the Australian wine country.  If you didn't know better, you'd swear you were in California's Napa Valley.  Amid the mile after mile of lush vineyards, there are 3000 wineries, from large international vintners (like Jacob's Creek) to tiny mom and pop operations.  I've never been a big fan of Australian wines, but those that we tried here were truly phenomenal.  We were told by the vintners that the best Australian wines stay in Australia, and only the cheaper varietals are exported for sale in the US.   If, by chance, however, you do come across a bottle of Wolf Blass Shiraz from the Barossa Valley, check it out.  It is amazing.

Arriving late, we also departed late from Adelaide, 9:00PM, and began the two day trek westward to Esperence, which reportedly has some of the most beautiful white sand beaches and coastline in the world.

Adelaide factoid:  While we have gone through five time zone changes since arriving in Auckland, we are only four hours behind Auckland.   That's because Adelaide is one of those few places on the earth where the time zone is 30 minutes, not one hour, from the adjacent time zones.   So, while it is 4PM in Sydney,  9PM in San Francisco, 11PM in Puerto Vallarta, it is 2:30PM in Adelaide.

Shipboard factoid:  For much if the past couple of decades, the majority of workers (waiters, room attendants, bar staff) have been from the Philippines.  That is changing, at least on this ship.  Most of the staff here is from India.