Dirty Linen, rock painting and a cloth factory

 This morning, I took my dirty clothes down to the guests' laundry. The place was packed but luckily two of the washers was free. The machines look quite weird. There is a central panel for each washer and dryer with lots of knobs and flashing lights. To my mind it looked like something out of the set of the '60's "Stingray" or "Thunderbirds".

The washing machines are top loaders, with a central agitator - I thought they died out years ago. You had a choice of powder or liquid detergent - I chose liquid and poured it onto my clothes which I'd loaded into the machine. After choosing the various settings I pressed "Start" and the machine sparked into life.

A lady came in just after me and went through the same process and left to come back half an hour later. The machines chug away and after a while the machine's lid is locked as a safety measure. A man came in; his wife had sent him to check on the progress of the laundry. He went about trying to open the lids of each of the machines. Unfortunately, he opened the lid of the machine of the lady that had just left - the lid hadn't been locked. He looked inside the tub, didn't recognise the contents, grunted, put the lid down and left. 

At the same time a woman was ironing and we had a chat comparing each other's home washing machine - she has a Meile. Another woman came in with her washing, and then another with her husband. He held the lid of the machine open while she loaded up the washer. By now my machine had finished and I unloaded my washed clothes into the tumble dryer, and once it was in motion I left to come back later when it had finished. 

Half an hour later I returned to the laundry room, as did the lady whose machine had been inspected by the strange husband looking for his wife's washing. Her wash cycle had been cancelled by his actions - she was not happy. My clothes had been tumbled, and I commented on having to iron the shirts etc. Another women told me that her husband had shown her how to lay out and fold clothes, so they didn't need ironing. With that I left to go on the Zodiac trip to Vansittart Bay to see the Gwion Gwion cave paintings.

Morning has broken

grass and rock

ditto

some of us in the sweltering heat

ancient rock

more ancient rock

Cave painting 

ditto

It was a short Zodiac ride to the beach, where Seabourn had set a tent with water containers to ensure we were all well hydrated for the walk to the paintings. It wasn't far but by 10:30 the heat was massive. At the first site, the paintings were not that obvious, and we were told that because it was sacred site we couldn't take photos, but people did. Then there was a tricky walk to the second site - this was much more extensive, and the painting were reached through a passage between sandstone boulders. At both sites we were told not to get too close to the images as they were incredibly old, 12,000 years or so and extremely fragile - excessive moisture from our breath or sweat could damage them or cause the sandstone on which they were drawn to flake.

While admiring the artistic achievements of the first nation people, I happened to mention to the husband of the woman who told me his secret of folding shirts etc. He said "You know how I learnt, I'll show you." and with that he got out his phone and started looking at its photos. "Here, this is how." I was shown a video of women handling newly produced fabric and laying it out without any creases. "My clothes factory that's how" he said. 

This afternoon there's a zodiac trip to a beach to see the wreak of a C53 plane shot down in WWII - I'm giving that a miss, I've been invited to an "intimate cocktail party hosted by key members of the onboard Team" at 5:15 in the Constellation Lounge. So far, I've been invited to dine with the Entertainments Manager, the Purser and last night the Client Experience Officer. Tonight, I dine with the Spa Manager: yes, we have a spa onboard offering all sorts of treatments at exorbitant prices. I suspect the wife of the cloth manufacturer indulges herself there regularly.