Day 38 At Sea

Now that we have left Adelaide we are sailing across the "Great Australian Bight" which basically covers most of the south coast of Australia. Bight meaning an "open bay". We are well north of what they refer to as "the roaring forties" which is that stretch of the Indian Ocean between 40 degrees and 50 degrees latitude known for its rough seas. We are actually between 32 degrees and 36 degrees latitude. The bight basically stretches from the state of South Australia on the east and the state of Western Australia on the west. One interesting side note, the on board casino is closed until we leave Australian waters even though we are out at sea. It seems that they have some law forbidding gambling near their coast.
This area was very popular with the whaling industry at one time due to the quantity of whales in the area. We have not seen any whales but the ocean has been pretty rough. We have not felt it too much as this ship is handling it very well. The most popular whale to hunt was the Right Whale appropriately named because when killed it would float to the surface and make the whalers job much easier.
We saw the news yesterday of the earthquake off the coast of Japan and today the monster quake in Chile. We just can't leave home and trust you guys to keep it together.
We understand that hard luck Olympian skier Lindsay Vonn has had her medal removed and awarded to Barack Obama. It seem that he is heading downhill faster than she did. Thanks Linda for the joke.
Tomorrow another sea day.

Chris - "A Yank in Aussieland" I wondered before I got to Australia what kind of influence the States have in Australia as it relates to things like movies, magazines, books and common items I usually use. When in Melbourne, Paul mentioned that we went to see "Valentine's Day" at the movie theater. All the movies showing (except for one I didn't recognize) were movies from the States. That was a pleasant surprise for me to be able to see one so close to it's American release.
They also had popcorn and coke! (I brought my own candy) We also have made a few trips to Borders Bookstores for Paul to try and find a book. (He only brought 4 shirts he CERTAINLY wasn't lugging books!) While there I was looking for some magazines from the States and I was happy to find they carried almost all our magazines! HOWEVER, they are extremely expensive. They run around $15-$25 for what we would normally pay about $4 for. They have their own celebrity or style or food magazines for about $5, but ours are air freighted here so the cost reflects the flight. The Books are even more outrageous as the books we would sell are about $25-$30 for paperbacks and the hardback Paul bought was listed as $56. The toothpastes, sunscreens, hair products etc. that are considered the most popular or the best in the States are here, but are very expensive. Of course they do have their own. SOOOOO you can get American but you have to pay a premium price for it. The Australian dollar is about $1.10 for our American dollar. Gotta go buy something.