DAY 66 - DAY 60 CRYSTAL SERENITY

WELCOME TO BUSSELTON, AUSTRALIA

Patty, thank you for sharing the pronunciation for Albany, Georgia.

​Mike, the difference between the Viennese Buffet and the Grand Gala Buffet is the number of Austrian items found the Viennese Buffet.  What they have in common is lots of delicious food and of course the delicious desserts. 

We had a wonderful time on Crystal Serenity last evening.

Before leaving port Captain Giske spoke with the bridge and said to expect some movement of the ship as we would make our way out of port.  He was correct.

We began our evening with a pre-dinner drink at the Avenue Saloon.  There was a full crowd as there was Name That Tune which was hosted by World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston and with Pianist Richard Pucci.  It was a lot of fun and we got a few answers right although we were not officially playing.

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These are the dinner menus for Waterside.

We enjoyed a wonderful meal at Prego.

Our Waiter was Ernest and the Sommelier was Lubo.  

Prego was fairly full with many people dining early to catch the early show.  

Even though we were not at a window table from our table we could see outside the windows the beauty of the sea and land as Serenity made our way to our next port of call.

Our meal included:

Appetizers of Seared Tuna Crudo for Keith  and Insalata Caprese for Anne Marie, Caesar Salad for both of us and Pan Fried Fresh Barramundi for Keith and a half portion of an additional entree of Ravioli with Lobster for Anne Marie as our entrees.  

The Barramundi is one of the new additions to the menu and the way it was prepared was different than the first time Keith had it and he liked this one better.  It came as a larger fillet and the items which accompanied it were tasty.

The food was delicious.  The service superb and we love the dining venue.

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This is the menu from Prego.

We slept well as we headed to our next port of call.  Keith was up to the Fitness Center early for another long workout on the Elliptical Machine.  He took care of the laundry.  We had received a note to our room last evening indicating that the laundry rooms would be closed for maintenance starting late this evening until late tomorrow evening.

We enjoyed coffee and breakfast in our room.

Serenity called on the port-of-call of Busselon, Australia which is a maiden port of call stop for Crystal Cruises.  Busselton has a population of 38,000 people.  It is a tender port and the distance from the tender drop-off to the town center is one mile.

It is one of the earliest settlements in Western Australia.  It is named for the Bussell family who founded the town in 1832.  The family made a name for themselves by establishing one of the most successful cattle stations in the colony.  

Major attractions include:

Busselton Jetty which is the second longest wooden jetty (pier) in the world.  It takes 25 minutes to walk it.

Busselton Museum which provides a selection of artifacts from the early days of settlement.

Tuart Forest National Park which is home to Tuart trees which only grow o coastal limestone and include populations of vegetation that are unique to this area.

Historic Moreton Bay Fig Trees which was planed in 1896 and which are unique to Western Australia.

We took the first tender over to Busselton.  The ride took twenty-five minutes as the distance is three miles; one of which is the one mile Jetty.

From the pier we walked towards the town.  We stopped by the area where you could purchase touring tickets including the train.

Once in the town we began by walking down a residential area containing a variety of homes.  One one side of the street in between homes were camping sites all filled with campers.  We saw many people outside the campers.

We came to Churchill Park, then the cemetery on our way to the Historic Moreton Bay Fig Tree.  The fig tree was planted in 1896 by Mr. Backhouse and currently is 121 years old.  These fig trees are not native to Wwesern Australia and it is illegal to grow them in South Australia.  There life expectancy is between 120 to 130 years.  There was a hotel at the site and we spoke to the manager.  As we walked further we came across a pay telephone which has become less common with cell phone technology.  It was not many years ago when we would make use of a telephone booth and our calling card to call home and back to work.  

From there we walked to Queens Street which was lined with hotels, restaurants, cafes, stores and other businesses.  We walked along the street.  We proceeded to an area that had an outdoor market selling a range of local hand-made products.  It is always nice to walk these markets and to speak with the locals.

The temperature became warmer as our walk continued and when it became hot we decided we would take the tender back to Serenity.

​It was nice to visit this town.

After returning to Serenity we enjoyed lunch at Marketplace.

We enjoyed the rest of the day on-board Serenity.  Keith played more Paddle Tennis, and Anne Marie took a nice walk along the outside of the Promenade Deck.  Keith also plans to meet up with dear friend Bob.  Bob and Glo will be departing Serenity tomorrow and make their way home.  We will miss them both.  We also read and wrote and spoke with other guests and members of team Serenity.

Unfortunately today's daily Reflections is not available on-line so we cannot post it.

Cheers to everyone from Down Under,

​Anne Marie & Keith