Though we liked the idea of Viking’s “included tours” at each destination, meaning you don’t have to spring for the generally pricy optional excursions, it must be said that some were better than others.

#1 Hobart, Tasmania

Our Hobart tour started off abysmally with a young guide who was perhaps paralysed by nerves. Fortunately, driver Lindsay quickly picked up on the simmering discontent and took over the microphone from her after the first stop.

At Cascade Brewery, with no information given about the place and a mere 15 minutes to “take a few photos”, Roy and I managed to find a bar and to regain our sense of humour. Then we had an hour at the lovely Botanical Gardens, and finally traversed the Tasman Bridge to Mount Wellington to take in the views.

After lunch on board, I headed off on foot to the CBD, less than two kilometres away. Roy stayed behind, ostensibly to visit the ship’s business centre so as as to send vital communications concerning our worldwide assets. (I suspect, however, that he might have gone for a nap.)

On the way, I hooked up with fellow passenger Linda from Yorkshire and we did a bit of shopping together. Having visited Hobart once before, in 2017 (click here for that cruise blog), I was able to lead the way – a rare event.

#2 Geelong

For some, it was disappointing  that Melbourne, Victoria was not on our itinerary – instead, we stopped at the arguably less glorious Geelong, 75km from Melbourne.

[Until now,  I had only known of Geelong as the place where a Dagenham-born English teacher called Neil Humphries moved to after making a name for himself as a humorous columnist and book author during his first spell in Singapore, from 1996 to 2006. (I interviewed him once for Expat Living Singapore magazine.)]

Being too big for the wharf, we awoke to find the ship anchored a ten- or 15-minute tender ride from the pier just below the Royal Yacht Club.

Tour guide Diana gave a useful commentary throughout the city tour and subsequent drive to the Bellarine Peninsula. Tranquil seaside resort town Portarlington is named for its counterpart in Ireland – also spelt out weirdly in one word, confirmed our guide. There, a nice Vietnamese woman at the Bakehouse sold us welcome coffees and magnificent escargot pastries.

Possibly the best thing about Geelong is its waterfront, and the best thing about that is its magnificent bollard people, commissioned from local artist Jan Mitchell.

Dropped off back at the Yacht Club, there was plenty of time to explore the city centre, buy a pair of gym shoes in Westfield Mall, and catch a late lunch at the Sailor’s Rest: – local mussels in chilli tomato sauce for me; a salmon bowl for Roy.

 

#3 Adelaide

Today’s tour took us on a panoramic tour of the capital of South Australia, and then out to the charming seaside town of Glenelg – established in 1836 and described as the oldest settlement in mainland South Australia.

A single day is only enough to form a quick impression of a place like Adelaide – famous for wine, historical, sophisticated, cultural, a university town and more. We will be back!

Rundle Mall shopping in Adelaide CBD

Glenelg

Wandering, lonely as a cloud…

After lunch back on board ship, I went ashore again took a walk through the dunes and down to the beach.

So long for now, Adelaide!

#4 Albany

Here’s the link to my blog post on our first visit to Albany, part of a road trip from Perth in February 2017.

Having seen quite a lot of this amazingly beautiful area, Roy and weren’t too fussed when the 2.5-hour included tour of Albany fell apart – too many people, not enough buses, admitted the driver of the shuttle that had taken us from the ship to the Museum of Western Australia. (It was Viking Sun’s inaugural visit to Albany, by the way.)

Displeased by the long queue of fellow passengers waiting to enter the Old Gaol Museum, and not particularly excited about going on from there to see a wind farm, we gave up on the organised tour and had a look instead at the neighbouring Great Southern Museum.

Apart from some interesting insights into local history and geography, it also had a stupendous display of photographic artworks from 2017’s biennial Fremantle International Portrait Prize Exhibition – and only a handful of other visitors.

From there, it’s a gentle walk up into the town, where everything was open and ready for “Ship Day”. At Stirling Indoor Market I chatted to Libbie of Libbie’s Hats, Clothing and Homewares Made in Albany West Australia from New and Recycled Materials (libbieshatsandberets@iinet.net.au). Find her on facebook.com/libbieshandmade.

Having gone nearly three hours without eating a proper meal – a dangerous practice that is much frowned upon in the cruising fraternity – Roy and I were compelled to pop into one of the restaurants in the photo above for a life-preserving meat pie before returning to the ship.

#5 Fremantle

Interestingly, our fellow passengers were uniformly enthusiastic about Perth and its historic port of Fremantle, many of them voting it the best stop in their Australian journey.

Fremantle is a good 50km south of our home in Burns Beach, Joondalup. That’s further than you’d generally want to go for a night out, so it was nice to be arrive here by ship around 5pm, with the evening and the whole of the next day in port.

Some passengers went off to do a dinner cruise on the Swan River, which we heard was great. As for us, we took an Uber to Kidogo Arthouse at Bathers Beach: Resident ship entertainer Minky G, who lives in Fremantle and had been on board since the start of this world cruise in Miami, was coming ashore in her home town. And, as a thank you to her new fans, she’d arranged to play at Kidogo’s with her band.

The original sandstone building is a lovely venue with an atmospheric bar, but with diabolically uncomfortable chairs, it must be said.

Owner Joanna has been running this place for 21 years; it’s a Mecca for acoustic music, she says. They also do weddings and other events. (She was born in Tanzania; kidogo is Swahili for “small”.)

Next morning, Perth predictably delivered a beautiful day with blue skies that showed the city and its historic port, Fremantle, at their best. Son Carl pitched up as arranged to deliver our third (and heaviest) suitcase – it would have been a schlep to take it with us to Sydney – and then took us to Kaili’s for grilled barramundi and chips, followed by flat whites at a café nearby.

This being my last opportunity to do a bit of shopping in Australia – we’d be at sea for the next eight days, and I doubted that Zara would have a branch in Mauritius, Madagascar or Mozambique – Carl took us back into town with him. It’s only a 20-minute train ride from Perth Central back to Fremantle Station.

I’d been nagging a bit about visiting the Australia Hotel in Fremantle ever since glimpsing it from the motorway, so imagine my delight when I realised it was located directly opposite the cruise passenger terminal! Over a schooner of Swan Lager, we met John and Helga (from Cape Cod).

We met up with them back on board for drinks at the Explorer’s Bar, where we picked up North Sydney-siders John and Gay; and I must admit that things steadily deteriorated from there.

See you later, Australia – and now for eight days at sea en route to Mauritius!