at Sea - traveling to Melbourne, Australia

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!

While we were sleeping - very comfortably - the ship was heading toward Melbourne.....385 nautical miles (441 ground miles) south-by-southwest, at 20 knots (23 miles per hour).

"The Australian Coast"
In 1770, English explorer James Cook was among the first Europeans to lay eyes on Australia's "Sunshine Coast" from the deck of the HM Endeavor.  As Australia was settled in the early 1800s as a penal colony, the continent's East Coast became a highway for all manner of vessels.  Simple fishing boats constructed by local Kabi Kabi Aborigines had been plying the waves for centuries; they were joined by the crafts carved by runaway convicts who settled the area, and later by the barges of the "timbergetters" who floated cedar logs downriver to begin their long journey to Europe.  Today, resident Aussies here embrace a mountain landscape, picturesque shores and lively culture.

Today was a leisurely day at sea.....relaxing and reading, listening to music, and Tom following the Illini basketball team.....who beat Michigan 64 to 62!  GO Illini.
We had High Tea this afternoon, followed by a light dinner, and then a unique experience with the latest 3D planetarium technology in the onboard planetarium, the Dome.

The presentation in the Dome was titled "Life Under the Arctic Sky".
The Sami are some of Europe's last indigenous people, reindeer herders who for thousands of years have lived a nomadic lifestyle in the Arctic wilderness.  In their homeland, spread across northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, the notion of time is untethered from the cycles of the sun and is tied instead to something far more important:  the movement of the reindeer.
We viewed the traditions and practices of the Sami people, following them 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle on what they call boazovazzi, the reindeer walk they undertake year after year during the midsummer months.  We witnessed spectacular displays of the awe-inspiring aurora borealis, or the northern lights.  This was a "teaser" to our upcoming trip to Whitehorse in the Yukon in December 2020 to view the northern lights.  Another upcoming "trip of a lifetime"!