Day 20 of 111. 537 nautical miles from Hilo, HI

Day four of our walking marathon. We are getting close to Hilo, Hawaii. One of the benefits of walking each morning is the changing sunrise views on the port side of the ship. At one point there was a glorious scene with streaming rays of the sun that was hidden behind the cloud. Today was the last tough day of walking. Tomorrow (our fifth sea day in a row) only requires 12 laps by Ron and six laps by me. We get our last little ticket, our Grand Dollars, and some refreshments. I’ve actually made some friends during this marathon walk.

Today’s cooking demonstration was about Australian favorites of our Cooking Host, Jessica Potter who is Australian. The cookie (biscuit) is called an ANZAC Biscuit. The ingredients are those that do not easily spoil (no eggs or milk) so women during WWI were able to send these treats to their men. The other dessert is called a Lamington. These are sponge cake cubes, rolled in a dark chocolate frosting and then rolled in coconut. These both tasted great. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Jessica also clued us into Vegemite which is some sort of yeast extract and although it is good for you, is an “acquired taste.”

I passed by the fancy dining room (The Pinnacle Grill) which was set up for a James Bond Dinner (whatever that is) and the dinner must feature several types of wines as part of the dinner… look at the number of glasses at each place setting! I stopped for tea again today. I thought it would be a good place to ponder the things I learned in drawing class today. Perspective vs. Byzantine art. Ron listened to a couple of great lectures today about the Natural History of Hawaii and we each took a computer class.