You don't want to fall in the water

 This morning,

interesting rocks

interesting river

interesting mangroves

I woke up below par. It was the excitement of last night. I was having dinner with the manager of the spa in the Restuarant. This is Seabourn's way of wearing you down. Except I was the only guest, and she was gorgeous. I'm sure I saw people muttering "What's that lovely lady doing with that old fart". It was delicious.

She was a lovely host. I learnt about her family, she learnt about my aliments. Which was appropriate as her father is a doctor, and her mother was a nurse. All the family was encouraged to be medics but she's a free spirit and doesn't want to settle down to the "same old, same old". She was at university, was into computing, but wanted to see the world.

Worryingly she said she didn't read, and we had an argument about why watching a YouTube video wasn't the same as reading Charles Dickens. I banged on about reading and she said she'd give it a go. 

Today it was the Hunter River. The previous night's briefing talked about crocs, birds and rock wallabies, with lots of hi vis photos. This afternoon we set off to see said animals, The place is stunning (see photos below) but not a sausage. Loads of mangroves and stunning rock formations - but no bloody wildlife unless you count a long-distance view of some sort of raptor on its nest.

We sent 2 hours hammering up and down the river in a zodiac to see mangroves. This is not what I'd been expecting. I suggest Sebourn dial down on the expectations.  

This evening, I was up graded. I thought I was dining with the Third Engineer in the Collonade, but this morning I was told I was to dine with the Chief Engineer in the Restaurant. He was Bulgarian - all senior cruise ship staff are Bulgarian!   Anyway, we had a fascinating talk about the laundry facilities and Walk in Wardrobes - apparently senior staff have them but others don't.

Tomorrow it's to the reef and we have to close our windows and put out the lights 'cause otherwise we risk attracting birds who'll pummel themselves on our decks.

river

could there be pirates and crocs?

desperate explorers

By the way Choo Choo went to the vet yesterday. Infected ear as a result of fight. The little bugger has no teeth! He's grounded. 

Also, I saw my spa manager. She was reading a book...