1. Outline of Trip.

We are about to leave our wonderful sunburnt country of Australia to see some other marvels of the world.  Due to the expense of air travel from Australia, we have combined several holidays into one, making for our time away from home of 12 weeks.

Please note that in this introductory post, due to us not yet having travelled, all photos are courtesy of Dr Google.
This is perhaps the more economical way to see the world, however, misses out on the potential of lost luggage, sunburn and frozen bits of anatomy.

Please also note that our comments may not always be politically correct; or true in detail.
The intent is more to give a light hearted look at our world rather than to provide a factual travel documentary.
We will leave it up to you to determine the difference.  The photos will be as taken, the captions not necessarily a true reflection of the photos.

Our trip is divided into 4 parts:

Part 1. Land of the "Star Spangled Banner" for wondrous national parks, grand canyons and impressive cities.  We are taking the chance to tour the USA before the wall is built following reports that it is the place to visit! (Twenty million illegal immigrants can't be wrong.)

A wall may be built, however, the Golden Gate appears to always be open.
We plan to cycle across this mighty structure. 

Australia's overgrazing and drought seems to have had far reaching ramifications to some areas we will travel to.

We will have the opportunity of seeing the prototypes of the Newcastle trams.

Part 2. Paddle steamer for nine days down the mighty Mississippi.
(The upstream voyage would be the Ippississim.)

We voyage from Memphis where we hope to glimpse Elvis; down the Old Man River of Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe, reflecting on the good times of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn; as well as the hard times of so many others including Uncle Tom.  After having recently read these classic novels, it will be difficult to not dwell on some of the early hardships and injustices.

This cruise terminates on a high note in New Orleans, birthplace of Jazz and Louis Armstrong. Vicksburg, Natchez and Baton Rouge and Nottoway feature along the way.

Our American Queen, based on Lake Macquarie's Wangi Queen from the 1970s and 80s.
Hopefully the chicken drumsticks and salad will be as memorable.  

Our paddle boat is 3,700 tonnes in weight, with 436 passengers.

Part 3. The Caribbean, where we cruise for 21 days through a myriad of islands, cultures and colours, in perfect Caribbean aqua waters; provided hurricanes are not present at the time.  Much of this area has recently been severely damaged by the 295km/hr Hurricane Dorian.  Hopefully dollar injections by tourists will help bring normality and life back to the islands.

Our ship will be the Koningsdam weighing in at 100,000 tonnes and carrying between 2,700 and 3,200 passengers.  We see our greatest challenge will be remembering the names of all the passengers and 1,036 crew.

Our home for 21 days around the Caribbean.
We believe this image is of the ship entering Swansea Channel into Lake Macquarie. 

Part 4. Cruising to Antarctica via the tranquil waters of Cape Horn for a white Christmas; before white becomes unfashionable in Antarctica due to global warming.
We will be in Antarctica one month before the bicentennial of the first confirmed sighting of Antarctica on 27th January, 1820 by Russian tourists on a similar voyage to our voyage.

Antarctica is the world's coldest, windiest, highest, driest, least populated continent.  We hope during our time there not to suffer too much from cold or wind.

Antarctica is also the only continent not to have been invaded.  We have read that by 1914, 84% of countries on all inhabited continents had been conquered.  This lack of habitation and conquering possibly has something to do with the weather.  As we write this blog, Carrol's iPhone weather app shows the temperature in Antarctica to be -56c.  We are sure our Aldi ski and thermal gear will be up to the task, coupled with summer approaching for our trip.

We are taking the opportunity to see ice and experience sea ice when it still exists.
A migrating penguin can be seen in the top of this image. 

Not all expeditions south went as planned.
The story of Shackleton saving all 27 crew, taking almost 2 years to do so is extraordinary.
We look forward to learning more of the early explorers. 

The ship for our expedition is the Greg Mortimer, a purpose built expedition ship weighing in at only 7,400 tonnes and just 104 passengers. The hull design features a revolutionary X Bow; great in heavy weather, which pierces waves rather than traditional slamming into them, hopefully giving a quicker easier ride, along with greater fuel efficiency.
We will be on its second voyage, ensuring we do not make a Titanic mistake of travelling through ice territory on a maiden voyage.
Weather permitting, we will be able to go ashore 2 or 3 times a day in rubber ducks; plus possibly have a chance to test the insulation properties of the Speedos for a dip amidst the ice-flows.

The Greg Mortimer simulating a grounding on ice at the launching a few months ago.
We will be priding ourselves on the clarity of photos.  

An artist's impression of our ship showing typical mill pond conditions and fine weather.

We are hopeful of not hearing the playing of  "Nearer, My God, to Thee" as we leave the ship in rubber ducks. 

Our way home is via a stopover in Buenos Aires for a tango or two, then west via Auckland to Sydney.  We will be sharing the train home on New Year's Day with all the NYE revellers.

We note the biggest difference to our 2018 caravan tour of Australia last year was in the daily planning.  When we left home for our Anti-clockwise 8 months around Australia, we had one booking; Carrol's hair appointment at the end of the trip.
Contrasting, this trip is almost fully planned and booked regarding flights, tours, accommodation; along with an extensive range of clothing catering for tropical to polar climates.

Due to a reasonably full itinerary day and night, along with possible limited internet coverage, we are not sure how our blogging will proceed throughout our trip.
As Captain James Cook possibly once said, "We will do our best in every endeavour!" (Cook did log his trip, we will blog ours)

We look forward to sharing our adventures when we can!

Hoping you live our trip along with us.

Hasta la vista,
Don and Carrol.