An overcast morning heading to Melbourne in Port Phillip bay
If Sydney was bright and clear then Melbourne on arrival was clearly not. In fact when we arrived it looked positively gloomy. It was not to last. By midday the sun had burned its way through all the murk and bright blue skies were the order of the day. We had an overnight stay here again and most of the guests and crew took advantage of that.
Looking bit better.
The Australian Open tennis championship is being played at the moment in Melbourne and many people took advantage of that to get a ticket and watch a game. Not my game so I was content to remain onboard and hold the fort.
It is a busy time for us here. We take on fuel oil from a large tanker barge that berths alongside us. We also use a gizmo called a cherry picker to get to those spots on the ship to paint that are simply impossible to get too otherwise. A cherry picker is a large extendable arm on wheels with a basket at the end in which our people can stand. It is then manoeuvred into position hydraulically to paint. This is a sight not often seen.
Paining the bridge wings.
One of our boys painting outside the bridge windows about 30 metres above the quay.
As I write we have left Melbourne and are heading for the land of the long white cloud, Aotearoa, New Zealand. The weather out here is so much better than our last crossing. We have a wind from the southwest about 20 knots and a swell also from the southwest about 2 metres high.It is a bright day but a little cool as the wind coming up from the southerly latitudes keeps the warmth away for now. Out of the breeze in the sun is still warm enough to sit and read a book and snooze.
I am looking forward to getting back into the fjord land region of New Zealand. It is comparable to Norwegian and Patagonian scenery. Simply awesome.
Finally, my crew member of the day is one of our Third Officers. He is one of our navigation team that keeps a watch on the bridge. He is on the 4-8 watch with a First Officer and his other duties include in assisting with the maintenance of the Life Saving appliances such as lifeboats, liferafts, lifebuoys and so on.
Third Officer Martijn Richters
Here is what he said about himself.
Hello everyone, my name is Martijn. I am a Third Officer on board the Seabourn Odyssey. This is my first contract as an officer as I graduated from nautical college last September. My final graduation internship for nautical college I did at Holland America Line. However due to change in manning on board the Seabourn Odyssey, Holland America granted me the opportunity to work here for this contract. I really enjoy this experience because I have been given quite a lot of responsibilities and I also was allowed to navigate the ship away from anchorage. My country of birth is the Netherlands and this is also where I have enjoyed my nautical college. The college is located on a small island, called Terschelling, in the northern part of the Netherlands. The island is connected to both the North Sea and the Waddenzee. The Waddenzee is a sea which is a nature reserve listed on the UNESCO world heritage list. Because of the low water depths in this sea it is an ideal location for kitesurfing. This is also where I picked up this sport and where it grew out to one of my favorite hobbies. Other hobbies that I have are: riding a motorbike, reading about history and philosophy, visiting festivals and travelling around the world, which I can do now even while I am at work.