May 30, 2024
Ship Update
When we arrived in Belfast the night of the 28th, there was a residents meeting with owners. That afternoon they had just had the DCN inspection on board and we did not pass the inspection in the water processing system of the ship, due to corrosion beyond the limits in a small, but tough area to gain access. This repair is going to cost us 4 days more in dry dock to get cut out and reinstalled. The hope is that work will be completed and we with have our occupancy certificate for a June 4th boarding. Then they hope to set sail somewhere between the 5 to 7th once everything and one is aboard and approved. We will then join the itinerary wherever it falls, most likely Paris first. Sadly, for Edel this means no sailing vacation! She has been a great sport enjoying our day trips around Ireland and it has been great having the time to catch up with her. She will definitely be picking a future port to get on.
Photo above show shipyard of Harland & Wolff and you can see our ship to left of high rise in the back - all white - she is a beauty!
So new plan in this adventure has us driving out of Belfast this morning and we are headed to Bray in Wicklow County, below Dublin, to explore the area and try some new thrills! Stay tuned.
VICTOR HARBOR , is a popular coastal town in South Australia, known for it's beaches, wildlife and heritage attractions like the horse drawn tram to Granite Island and their whaling history. It is about 80 km south of Adelaide, and was our third stop on the Viator tour, where we also had a yummy fish & chips lunch included. Below shows the bridge walkway over to Granite Island, it was lovely soaking up the sunshine .
The quaint german village of Hahndorf in the hills outside Adelaide is charming. Back in the 1830's Lutheran families were being pursecuted in Germany, by Catholics, so a wealthy Minister in Australia reached out to them and paid the passage for a family, that had specific trade expertise to move over. He gave them a piece of land to cultivate and after 15 years of service, it was there's to own. Thus the area of Hahndorf and serveral other villages were established.
ADELAIDE the capital of South Australia is known as the " City of Churches " and is a hub for festivals, food and wine, situated between the Gulf of St. Vincent and the Mount Lofty Ranges . It was founded in 1836 and named for Queen Adelaide. They used excellent city master planning, that still holds today, and makes it so welcoming. The City is completely surrounded by protected park lands and contains four large parks within it's boundaries. The City streets form a perfect grid, running from the mountains to the sea and extend out through the park lands, to allow easy flow inand out of the suburbs.