DAY 58 - DAY 52 CRYSTAL SERENITY

2/11/2019

WELCOME TO HOBART

Thank you Gilly. We had a great time with the family and we look forward to seeing them again. In the meantime we are enjoying being back home on Serenity.

Thank you Judy. We love our family.

We had posted a photo of the World Cruise gifts that were waiting for us when we arrived back home to Serenity from our visit with our family in Sydney. When we posted the photo we had not yet read the letter from World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston that included not only some information about the gifts but updates about upcoming events.

The jewelry was designed Hubert Gems who has a presence on both Symphony and Serenity including an entire Jewelry store on Serenity. The gents all received a yellow gold lapel pin. In addition to the stainless steel bracelet and the first thematic sterling silver charm, over the course of the remaining voyages the ladies will receive three additional charms to add to the bracelets. The charms can easily be added but the folks in the Facets Jewelry Store are available to place each of the additional charms on the bracelets. We think this is a wonderful keepsake.

We enjoyed a pre-dinner drink at the Crystal Cove. Bartender Afzal took excellent care of us. We spoke with fellow guest Carole and enjoyed a terrific conversation. She is a wonderful person and so glad to be sailing with Carole again.

Last evening we dined at Prego. This is the menu for Waterside.

We began with a pre-dinner drink

We dined with one guest on the full World Cruise who we met at the beginning of the World Cruise. Unfortunately his wife could not make it as she was feeling under the weather. We enjoyed drinks with them one evening and discussed getting together for dinner. We will organize another dinner so the four of us can dine together.

We enjoyed a wonderful meal with delicious food, outstanding service, a beautiful venue and we had non-stop conversation. This is all part of what makes cruising so special.

Keith tried the new Seafood Salad appetizer and Anne Marie had Insalada Caprese, Caesar salad for both of us and Anne Marie had a half portion of the Veal Scaolppine al Limone and Keith had the Roasted Rack of Baby Lamb for our entrees.

Keith enjoyed the new appetizer as he did the other new one from the other day which is Seared Tuna Crudo. This has a sampling of various seafood items including octopus.

While dining we had some movement of the ship where you felt a few intermittent bumps from one side of the ship and other times it felt like a bump on the road. About half-way through dinner the sea swells calmed down.

We didn't make it to the show last night. It featured Australian Comedian Simon Palomares.

We slept well last night.

Keith worked out early at the Fitness Center. With a tour planned for today, we had breakfast thirty minutes earlier than usual to provide more time to get ready for the tour. We arrived to Hobart at 8:00 AM.

Hobart's population is a quarter of one million residents. It is situated between Mount Wellington and the Derwent River. Major highlights include:

Salamanca Place which used to be warehouses that have been converted into restaurants and shops.

Battery Point which was established in 1818 as part of the defense of this city.

Tasmanian Museum and ArtGallery which was established in 1846. It showcases the history of the island.

Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens which is located on 35 acres of land and has a wide array of plants and trees.

Mt. Wellington which rises 4,170 feet above sea level and is located within Wellington Park.

The tour we took was a private tour that Keith arranged several months ago.

It was a tour of three locations; Mt Field National Park, Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary and the town of Richmond. On our first visit to Hobart in 2008 we visited the first two sites on a Crystal Cruises site. We enjoyed them so much that we decided to revisit them and added Richmond to the tour. Our tour guide was James who was outstanding. He was very knowledgeable a very good communicator, very easy going, a safe driver and very considerate.

We began with a drive to Mt Field National Park which is a World Heritage Site. The park features beautiful scenery and wildlife and has diversity in its vegetation ranging from tall swamp gum forests and massive tree ferns at the base of the mountain to its rainforest to its alpine vegetation.

Late morning and into the early afternoon visited the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary provides a wonderful opportunity to see all the Australian native animals closeup while enjoying views of Hobart from the summit of the majestic Mount Wellington.

Animals included kangaroo, Tasmanian devils, wombats, kolas, emus and echidnas.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the site which the owner of the touring company (Jane) prepared for us. Many of the items were home grown.

During our visit to the Sanctuary we ran into some Crystal Cruise guests who we know. We also ran into World Cruise Hostess Stacey and Jeff.

We ended with the tour of Richmond. It has the oldest bridge that is still in use in Australia and the oldest Catholic Church. It is a charming town. Today is a holiday and many families were out and about and eating outside. Although rain was in the forecast, we had a slight sprinkle as we arrived back to Serenity.

This was a wonderful tour.