From Oban through Fjordland National Park and crossing the Tasman Sea

So during my time in the room, we left Oban, which appeared to be a very small but nature-driven stop and then headed to Australia near or through the Fjordland National Park.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiordland_National_Park

We traveled close to the steep sides of canyons and it was reminiscent of the Grand Canyon. There were lots of waterfalls. Sorry but I have no pictures that we took as they just would not have come out through our window so I pulled a representative FNP waterfall off the internet to provide an idea of the things we saw. While spectacular, I must comment in general that NZ and Australia have beautiful countryside, but frankly, I think it is no better than being on a par with the US. Our country is absolutely breathtaking and there are times that I think that there are so many beautiful sites we have not seen in the US that we should stop travelling internationally until we see things like the Smokey Mountains, North and South Dakota, Oregon and so much more.

The next three days were totally at sea. Nothing to see and nothing to do except eat, drink and lounge by the pool, except that for me the first couple of these days were in our stateroom. Stateroom, a fancy word for cabin, but candidly, the size of the stateroom was pretty impressive. Starting with the bathroom that had a separate shower and a large bathtub, as well as two sinks so there was no fighting between us brushing teeth.

Note that the separate stall shower is not in the picture. There was also ample storage space for all of our toiletries. Speaking of ample storage space, there was a walk-in closet that had a generous amount of space for hanging as well as a chest of drawers for folded clothes.

There was also a safe for our valuables including electronics. The bedroom had a king size bed with two night tables and a large dresser.

We easily stowed our 4 pieces of luggage under the bed. In the entertainment area of the cabin, there was a unit that had plates and glasses, as well as a refrigerator. There was a full size couch and a table with two chairs for meals. There was a tv that could be seen from the bed or the entertainment area and we had our own atlas in the cabinet. You would not feel claustrophobic in this room for sure. While we had no balcony, the picture window was pretty good size and there were lots of mirrors in the room.

Speaking of tv and cruises, it is clear to me that like the internet, cruise companies know that they must provide live tv, but since they really make their money with return cruisers and selling excursions and memories, they don't want the tv to be too good. So we were "treated to" CNBC, Fox News, MSNBC and BBC as well as a sports station and one station that had some dated versions of US shows. Note that they had an extensive catalog of movies and tv shows on demand which was good to watch during my convalescence. The sports station covered primarily Cricket, Rugby and Soccer (football to some of you) and was not affiliated with ESPN or Fox. Hence, no UofA basketball for me on the cruise (and frankly for the entirety of the 4 weeks we were gone). 

I was not a happy camper and even less happy when early on in the cruise, during an excursion, our Seattle friends informed me that ASU had beaten my Wildcats by 3 at ASU. Not a good day for me, but since then the Cats have run off 8 straight wins and I have a big smile on my face.