Sea day on the Tasman Sea

It is amazing how fast a sea day goes by and the pleasant surprises that can occur that you do not expect.  Today was a blustery cool day which made the walk around the decks even more trying but before you know it you have spent two hours doing physical activity and that includes pathetic attempts at ping pong.  This level of physical activity will be difficult to continue at home due to the numerous distractions that seem to be present at home but missing on the ship (like work for example).  Yesterday was also a blustery day; you could see your breath and I would have sworn for a moment I saw snow.   Today I had no time for lunch because I wanted to do the free betting at horse racing (at which I won nothing), followed by a port talk on Sydney (where we learned that we could get to the Blue Mountains by taking a train for $20 versus the $279 ship tour), followed by a wine tasting of New Zealand and Australian wines, followed by a wonderful piano recital featuring classical music and the music of Gershwin.  The music reminds me of the evenings I spend with my mom at the symphony.  The music director's talent is absolutely amazing and his recitals are a delightful surprise on this cruise.  The celebrity on this portion of the cruise is 80-year-old Gavin McLeod, who appeared on the Mary Tyler Moore show and portrayed the captain of the Love Boat, a role which won him the honor of being the spokesperson for Princess Cruises. He seems to pop up at every event.  But the Cel and I are both more interested in listening to the astronaut.  With so much to do and enjoy, it doesn't much matter that the weather is cool and windy.  We had another surprise yesterday when the Cel won a lithograph at the art auction.  After making our choice from the lithographs, we got a phone call later to say that the piece we had chosen was no longer available.  So we had to go back to the gallery and make another choice and, as it happens, the only available item we liked was by an artist with the coincidental name of Carol Bergman ( yes, we chose the picture before we learned the name, but the name cinched the deal).  

Cruise tip: If possible travel on a ship that has an independent port lecturer.  As you can see they can save you hundreds of dollars on your independent excursions.