Relaxing in Style Down Under

So I had an absolute blast in Australia! We had a 5 hour transit up the channel to the pier we were going to moore to. An Australian, who knows the channel well, came on board to drive our ship through it. I am part of the sea and anchor detail as a line handler, so I was on the flight deck the and helped him aboard. I was on the flight deck the whole time. Until we were actually needed at the pier, we were mostly just on standby enjoying our first glimpses of Australia. Then we were responsible for tossing lines and securing the ship to the pier. There were several of my ship mates who had their families meet them in Australia. They were all waiting on the pier for them. As we pulled in we passed the carrier we've been escorting, which was moored already. We all got into formation and rendered a salute as we passed them out of respect.

It took us several hours to prep for liberty call. Our spaces had to be cleaned, trash had to be off loaded (so much trash!!!). We formed an assembly line and passed like a hundred bags down to the dumpster. Some stuff we can discard over the side of the ship as we travel, but things like plastics and metal we can't so that’s what it mostly consisted of.

It was a mad scramble to throw stuff in back packs and get off the ship when they let us leave. Australia was a liberty port for us. Which means that we got the day off as long as we weren't on duty that day. Our duty days are 24 hours and we have them 1x every 4 days. It's essentially a skeletal crew to keep the ship afloat while in port. I only had one duty day so I got a hotel with another girl for two nights. They had buses that ran to and from Brisbane or Gold Coast pretty much all day, but the initial buses we so backed up that my group decided to take a cab. We were staying in Gold Coast which was like an hour from the ship. Our taxi tab was...surprising! It was $350 Australian dollars! Ugh! We split it between 4 people and because of the exchange rate it was about $280 US dollars, but still! We just wanted to get our liberty started, so it was worth it to us.

We pulled in with an aircraft carrier with about 4000 sailors on it. My ship has about 300 people so the city was popping with sailors! We had a news segment on the local channel because of the saturation of the city with us all. Night life was incredible! There were people everywhere! It was a Friday that we pulled in and there were the local Australians out as well as over 4000 sailors who have been cooped up for a month and itching to spend their money and relax. You couldn't go to a bar that wasn't crawling with people. There were a lot of live bands and fantastic food! I was able to try kangaroo and I had the best lamb I've ever had. There was plenty of shopping and souvenir shops as well.

We spent part of an afternoon at the beach. It was winter there so the average temperature was about 65 during the day and 50 or so at night. (they use Celsius so when the taxi thermometer read 18 degrees I freaked out a little). Needless to say, I didn't go in the water, but the beach backed right up to skyscrapers and the shopping district so it was relaxing to just sit around and walk the shore and enjoy the skyline.

We also, went to a wildlife sanctuary where I got to hold a koala bear! It was so fun! He hugged me and clung right on. He was really smelly though. During the days leading up to getting to Australia the hot topic on the ship was that most koalas have chlamydia...? I didn't believe it, but the second I got a whiff of him I thought of that! Ahhh!  There were Tasmanian devils, wombats, dingos, and of course kangaroos! We were able to enter the space where they kept the kangaroos. They were very friendly and let us pet and feed them.

I wish I was able to upload some photos. We were moving from one thing to the next so fast that I couldn't hook up to wifi to download what I wanted to...I we are Facebook friends I have a few postings of the photos I took with my phone, but nothing posted that I took with a real camera. I guess there will be a cascade of photos one of these days for you to enjoy.

Australians seemed very nice. They are an English speaking country, but have different words for things. They call elevators 'lifts', parking lots are 'carparks',garbage is 'rubbish', and restrooms are just 'toilets'. They drive on the left side of the road which I never got used to. Even as a pedestrian that changes how you walk on the sidewalk and the direction you look when crossing the street. 

They welcomed the US Military. We were able to exchange memorabilia with the Australian Navy and one of the local police department. There were no major incidents and I had a great time bonding and relaxing with my shipmates. It's a strange relationship to live and work and hang out with them. It's something I was told, but I am starting to feel it's truth. I haven't spent much time on board and already I feel like I have known them so much longer.

We pulled out this morning and I am trying to get back to the grind...I have watch at 0130 and will be up all day tomorrow working and then watch from 2200-0200. Yay to jumping right back into things!! Up for 24 hours, then 4 hours of sleep, and another full day of work....ugh! I should've slept more when we were in Australia...lol

Goodnight!