Greetings dear friends,

We at last have internet–free no less and I’m going to give a quick update before our plane takes off to Cairns (pronounced “Cans”). We understand it will be beautiful and we know we’ll enjoy our stay near the Great Barrier Reef.

I’d like to share a few photos from our cruise. Later I’ll write about our Aussie experience.

We enjoyed lovely sunsets:

Sunrises too:

We were delighted to worship with people of many denominations. We had a daily Bible study when we were at sea. Two Sundays we had a worship service. Father Maxwell preached, we sang and Captain Rick read Scripture.

Each day, the Captain announced our location–longitude and latitude. What impressed me the most was the depth of the ocean. Most of the time more than 10,000 feet deep. The passage above meant so much more when read at sea!We had scrumptious food. One day, we had lunch in a specialty restaurant–Giovanni’s–and toured the ship’s galley. What a sight and enormous task to feed with total ship count at 4700 (staff included).

Cannelloni–every delicious bite.

We sang in a choir and when at sea, had rehearsals. Our choir director was lead singer for the ship performance staff–Keldon Price, a talented American from Indiana.

Choir director, Keldon with Jim and me

We enjoyed our visits at meals and the many Aussie expressions. Here’s another one: “nanny nap” I’d say it compares to our “cat naps”.

I’m including a few more photos in case you didn’t see them before:

Whenever I come to a place I’ve only seen in photos and see it for real, I’m astounded. Sydney is so very, very beautiful. More on that when we return on Saturday.

We’ll wish you goodbye for now. G’day!</