What a difference a day makes. No, an hour makes. Yesterday was so rough that I actually got a headache and queasy stomach.  Then at about 4 pm the seas calmed, just like that.  When we got up this morning, it was already 68 degrees.  This is wonderful. 

Well, lightning struck a second time.   Remember my first story about the couple that were sitting in our seats on the plane from Portland and how they ended up being fellow World Cruise passengers?

Well, there is a group of us that meets every day on deck 9 about 4 o’clock.  We have become quite good friends.  Part of that group is a couple from Tucson. one thing we usually talk about at some time is where everyone is going for dinner.  We were headed for sushi, that night.  The couple fron Tuscon said that they were too.  When we got to the club on deck 5, we took our usual seats at the bar and ordered our sushi.  A few minutes later they came in and grabbed a table. I asked Kim if I should see if they wanted company.  They did, so we joined them at their table. 

When we meet someone special like these guys, it’s normal to exchange cards that have our contact information on them.  We gave them one, they gave us theirs.  They looked at it and for the first time, they knew our last name.

We were having the normal get to know you chat when something came up about siblings, and I said I had an older brother.  Later in the conversation, I made a remark that my brother  tells me what to do instead of asking.  They looked questionably and Kim said he’s an admiral.  Well, they said wait,  what’s his name?  Mike Sharp, and with a look that could have been horror said and he’s married to Kathy DiMaggio?  Yes, how do you know that?   She’s my cousin, he replied. We just sat there looking at each other, words were never going to express our thoughts at that moment.  So, we spent the rest of the evening comparing stories. They have sailed on my brothers’ boat, just like us.  They knew all the grandchildren and children.  This was too weird to be true. So, just like the couple on the plane, the odds of this happening are less than those of being struck by lightning, twice.

This got uis thinking about the people that were in our seats on the plane and found them, we invited them to dinner on March 2^nd.  Hang in there for the rest of that story.

As I said, we feel like social butterflies in that we have met so many other cruises.  This is absolutely not our norm. We usually stay pretty much to ourselves on cruises.  Not this time, however.

Virtually all the passengers that are not on the World Cruise are leaving us in Sydney.  Over 300 passengers are leaving.  So, I will have a whole new batch of victims for my pool chronicles.  Yea.

Last night, Kim said she has always wanted to go to a show at the Sydney Opera House. I told her to get a ticket and go.  She said it was all sold out. So, I set out to find her a ticket on the secondary market.  I ended up on the Opera House website, and I found that there were a limited number of seats available on the 24^th and the 27^th   every other night was in fact sold out.  Well, we are overnighting in Sydney on the 24^th!   So, I looked at the seating chart and told Kim to come look at the chart.  We picked a seat in the front row of the balcony, and she is going to the opera. The ship will be docked right next to the Opera House, so getting there couldn’t be easier.  She is happy going alone.  Win win for both of us.

This sign is on deck 9, where we spend our afternoons.  A lady walking the track asked if anyone knew how many laps equaled a mile. I pointed at this sign, and she said she had never noticed it. The next lap by she asked how many laps cancel out a margarita?  I could make this sign have lots of information. Bloody Mary = 27 laps, pain killer = 34 laps, beer = 18 laps, soda = 12 laps, you get the idea.   They’re missing an opportunity.  

Sea birds are attracted to the ship at night because of the lights.  Sea birds cannot take off from dry land, so the environmental officer has to pick them up and give them a send off back to their regular flight life.  There were 42 Petrels that he had to save yesterday.

We found these “free range” chips in New Zealand.

One of many beautiful chapels on the island.

Yep, they really live here.

This is day 3 of our 4 day crossing from New Zealand to Australia.

More later……..