How about an interesting fact about the Tasman Sea. The Tasman internal tide is the only one known in the world that moves almost completely in one direction. It forms at a ridge south of New Zealand then pushes west toward Tasmania, where it breaks on the continental shelf.
Now you ask, what is an internal tide? An internal tide is a wave that occurs beneath the ocean surface, generated by the interaction of regular tidal currents with the ocean floor topography, particularly at features like continental shelves, ridges, or seamounts, causing oscillations within the stratified water layers of the ocean, essentially creating "hidden" waves that move through the water column with the same period as the surface tide; these waves are largely invisible at the surface but can be significant in terms of mixing deep ocean waters. What makes the Tasman internal tide different is that it does not oscillate with the surface tides.
The Gulf Stream is not an internal tide but a current. It is though influenced by internal tides. And... now you know more about internal tides than you ever thought necessary. Isn't Google wonderful.
Sunday morning we attended a lecture about the history of Australia up until the discovery of gold in 1851. Dr. Babcock will be having the second part of this series in a couple of days.
After a brief recess, we enjoyed another presentation about Australian Wildlife. This lecture also was part 1 of a 2 part series.
The ship's culinary team today produced a Sunday Brunch which was unbelievable. The amount and variety of food was ridiculous. They converted the entire pool area and the Wintergarden into serving areas. I didn't get many photos simply due to the crowd, but here is one of just the "cake station"
This was just the "cake station", it doesn't even include all the other desserts available. There were also stations for just about any variety of food you desired, from Mexican to Chinese and everything in between.
We enjoyed a lazy afternoon, the other 3 of our group attended a Q&A session with the Viking Vocalist. They are debarking in Sydney and we will be receiving "new" resident entertainment for the next session. This does not include the entertainers and performers who come on for just a short segment for a couple of weeks. By interspersing the resident talent with the short term talent Viking maintains a nice variety.
Later in the afternoon we all enjoyed a presentation by a new lecturer, Dr. Charles Lineweaver. Dr. Lineweaver credentials include a BA in history, an MA in English, a BS in physics and a PhD in Physics. His research areas include exoplanetology and cosmobiology. In other words, he is involved in the search for extraterrestrial life.
Dr Lineweaver gave a very informative lecture and I look forward to his future presentations. He was the stereotypical "absent minded scientist". His train of thought would sometime jump ahead and he had challenges with the video equipment (not his fault).
Monday is the second of three sea days. After our normal early morning routines we attended ANOTHER lecture. This was by another New speaker, Nitza Lowenstein.
Ms. Lowenstein is a historian, journalist and radio personality in Australia. After 35 years on SBS AUS TV/Radio she has retired and become a cruise ship lecturer... not a bad gig if you can get it!
Even after two previous trips to the "Land Down Under", I learned some new things about Australia.
Our second morning lecture was another new speaker, Sandy Leong who gave an excellent presentation about how the discovery of gold influenced the development of Australia.
Ms. Leong is a historian and a member of the Royal Historical Society with a gift for storytelling.
We enjoyed lunch today in the World Cafe. In addition to there usual incredible display of food, today they featured a "Lamb Station".
I enjoyed fresh New Zealand lamb chops, homemade naan bread, fresh cucumbers and tzatziki sauce. I even made an exception and had a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon at lunch.
This afternoon we had another excellent lecture by one of the "new" guest lecturers, Dr. Julian Dowdeswell. Dr Dowdeswell is a retired professor of Physical Geography at Cambridge University where he was Director of the University's Scott Polar Research Institute for almost 20 years.
Viking has done an excellent job of acquiring speakers who were prominent in their field and almost all of them seem to be able to present the material on a level that is deep enough for you to get a real understanding of the material covered without it being so academic that it is over the average person ability to comprehend.
I realize I post a lot of photos of lecture and entertainer presentations. I hope it doesn't bore you too much. I post these for my own purpose. This blog serves as my journal of our travels and these photos serve to remind me of these lectures and performances which would otherwise slip away...
At dinner this evening we saw something unusual, another ship! I took this photo from our diner table, through the window with my phone camera at maximum telephoto (30x). I thought it was not too bad. It appears this Carnival ship is headed toward New Zealand.
After dinner we enjoyed our second and final performance by entertainer John Milligan titled :Songs of Legends". Milligan is a singer, pianist from Sydney. He performed renditions from Queen and Elton John as well as several others. It was a very enjoyable show.
Tomorrow will be our final sea day before reaching Sydney in the early morning.
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