December 28, 2025
RAIATEA, FRENCH POLYNESIA was our Port for Christmas & Boxing Days. Our ship pulled right into the town center. We love these kind of Ports, where we can walk right off into the center of things. I have to admit I only went out on my balcony on the 25th, as we were quite busy and it was a bit rainy. But I went for a nice walk through the town center and outlying area today.
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The buzz around town was that the Mayor got married this morning in town under a big white tent, I only saw a black police SUV decorated with white tulle and flowers. The windows were tinted, so not sure if bride and groom were inside. I was just admiring the art murals, tropical flowers, rooster crowing and general peace and serenity along my walk. I had to check out the local catholic church of St. Andrew ( Sadly, we got into Port too late for there one Christmas mass at 8am yesterday).
Monday April 6th is another travel day for us on our destination to remote Raja Ampat . We started the day at 5am to make our 7am flight from Denpasar, Bali to Sultan Hasanuddin Airport in South Sulawesi for our brief layover to connect with our flight onto Sorong, Indonesia.
Easter turned out to be a travel day for Bosco and I as we were extremely limited in when we could be seen by the Australian Border Control to disembark from the Ship, for a scuba diving adventure in Raja Ampat that I have had reserved, for over 18 months! We flew from Perth to Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on Easter afternoon.
I have been really excited to get to Fremantle / Perth for my first time. I have had a few friends live here over the years and I have a second cousin, James Murphy, who I have only ever spoken too briefly, over the last 35 years and that I would love to meet in person. Jim is the older brother of Paul who I met up with in Melbourne a few weeks ago.