We will spend two more days in South Georgia. A zodiac ride along the Nordenskjöld Glacier in Cumberland Bay must be canceled due to strong winds. As a substitute, we land in a nearby cove called Jason Harbour, where there is a small hike with fur seals and a small colony of King penguins. Since we are particularly focused on the King penguins, Plan B turns out to be better than Plan A for us. In the afternoon of the same day, we will land at the main (perhaps the only) settlement in South Georgia - Grytviken. Here, there are remnants from the whaling era, along with a hike to a mountain saddle (300 meters high) that offers a fantastic view. Also, Ernest Shackleton is buried here - tradition dictates that the captain gives a small speech at his grave and pours some rum on it - and additional rum finds its way into the throats of the visitors.

Next, we will make another landing in a King penguin colony (at Gold Harbour - now at the southeastern tip of South Georgia). With about 20,000 breeding pairs, it is said to be the third largest of its kind. As a bonus, we also encounter a larger number of elephant seals. Our last activity was supposed to be a zodiac tour in Cooper Bay, but the strong winds (8 Bft, between 70 and 80 km/h) make it nearly impossible to launch the zodiacs. There is really no Plan B left now. Offshore, there is an iceberg cemetery - many icebergs are stranded here in water depths of approximately 50 meters and must first lose some mass (= height) before they can become seaworthy again. We take a sightseeing trip among them, and as a highlight, we spot a relatively small (= fairly young) humpback whale that slaps the water with its tail (communication?) and allows us to come as close as 30 meters. It is lying flat in the water and is quite visible in full size.

Afterwards, we leave South Georgia. For us, it was the main goal of our trip. We personally saw King penguins up close on all four landings and feel well satisfied. There were also some additional treats. Now we are relaxed and look forward to what comes next ... next, we set course for A23a, the world’s largest iceberg (about the size of Mallorca) which is moving within reachable distance. For the first time, we also feel a little movement of the ship, but it’s still not enough for seasickness.

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We have 2 more days at South Georgia. A zodiac tour along the Nordenskjoeld glacier in the Cumberland bay is canceled due to too strong winds, instead, we land in a nearby cove called Jason Harbour. Here, we have a little hike with Fur seals and a rather small King penguin colony. As King penguins are for us anyway the biggest attraction here around, we did like plan B even more than plan A. In the afternoon of that day we land in a little (and maybe the only) village on South Georgia, Grytviken, an ancient whalers station. Besides seeing the remains of the whaling, we do a nice little hike up to a mountain saddle offering incredible views both towards dark blue sea and glacier-packed mountains. Also, in Grytviken, there is the grave of Ernest Shackleton, and our captain follows an old tradition to hold a little speech and put some rum onto Shackelton's grave. More rum was then put into the surrounding visitors.

The next activity was another landing in a King penguin colony - this time in Gold Harbour at the southeasterly tip of South Georgia. The Colony shall have 20,000 breeding pairs and is announced to be the 3rd-largest here around. We find additionally also a number of elephant seals here, partially quite active. Our last activity at South Georgia should have been another zodiac trip along the coastline in Cooper Bay, but the strong winds (8bft) made it impossible to even get the zodiacs into water. This time, there is no plan B, but the area is an iceberg cemetery (many icebergs strand here as the ocean floor rises to 50m below surface). We do a sightseeing trip through the icebergs and see as a highlight a humpback whale smashing the waters with his fluke. We come as close as 30m or so and can see the whale in full size (well, for a humpback it was rather small (=probably rather young) but still impressive).

Afterwards, we leave South Georgia. For us, seeing it was the main reason to go on this trip. We have had 4 times on land, and each time we saw King Penguins up close, so we are very satisfied. And there had been additional highlights as well. Now we are pretty relaxed and look forward to seeing what's next… we did set course to A23a, the (actual) biggest iceberg of the world (said to be about the size of Mallorca, an island in the Mediterranean sea) which travels north close to our route. Also, for the first time on this trip, the ship is moving a bit up and down, and/or rolling sidewards, however, there is still no sign of seasickness ...

It takes two days from the Falkland Islands to South Georgia. Neptune is kind to us, and our ship rocks only moderately, with seasickness being a foreign word. Along the way, we see our first iceberg and some whales ... all just a prelude: South Georgia is our main destination for this journey. Accordingly, the disappointment is great when we are not allowed to land at the second-largest king penguin colony (in Salisbury Plain) - there are apparently too many dead animals lying around due to avian flu, making it impossible to adhere to the distancing rules. The Zodiac shore excursion that we do instead is merely a poor substitute.

In the afternoon, we have a smaller 'KöPi' colony (in Fortuna Bay) on the agenda, which can also have its advantages. There are also dead animals lying around here (mostly seal pups), but the density of animals is not as high, so we can go ashore here. While we are no longer allowed to go right into the colonies - as was previously permitted - we can get up to 10 meters close, and the animals coming from and going to the sea come much closer - a fantastic experience, and by the end of the day, we are reconciled.

By the way, the panorama was spectacular at both locations, especially in sunshine and blue skies.

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It takes two days from the Falklands to South Georgia, and Neptune is still a friend of ours: Only moderate winds and gentle waves provide us with a smooth ride, and seasickness is far away. We see our first iceberg of the trip, and a number of whales … but that's only the overture: South Georgia is the main target of this trip for us. Unfortunately, it doesn't start well: The first stop here - Salisbury Plain, the second-largest king penguin colony - cannot be visited, as there are too many dead animals to meet the distance requirements due to avian flu. We do a Zodiac ride in front of the beach here, but this is not at all like a land visit.

In the afternoon, we visit Fortuna Bay with a much smaller colony of king penguins, which in this case has some advantages: There are also some dead animals, but there's enough space here to maintain distance, and we are allowed to go ashore. The rules for visits are becoming stricter each year, so it is no longer possible to walk directly through the colony; we must keep a distance of 10 meters, but individual penguins coming in or out come much closer. In the end, we are satisfied with this day.

The scenery, by the way, was fantastic at both locations, with snow, ice, glaciers against a backdrop of blue and sunny sky ...

We haven't heard from us for a while. But we are still doing great.

We spent New Year's Eve - as I said - in Noosa with a nice fireworks at 9 p.m.. we slept through the one at midnight. 🙈😉 On New Year's Day, we spent some time at the beach in Noosa, strolled through the town a bit, did some shopping (only Nadia successfully) and enjoyed ourselves.

On 02.01., we made a stop in Mooloolaba on our way to Brisbane, where we visited SeaLife, spent some time at the beach, did some shopping (unsuccessfully).. and then landed in the early evening with Nadia's friend Jane and her husband Bossy, who warmly welcomed us, prepared delicious burgers and spent a cozy evening with us, before we slept in a "real" bed again after a long time. George allowed us that for the next two nights.

We visited Brisbane on Wednesday, 03.01., which was not really worth mentioning.. but the evening at Jane's parents', who not only have a 60,000 m2 property, on which snakes and spiders like to show up as well as kangaroos and deer, but also a small brewery, whose beers we happily tasted. We saw our first Huntsman spider.. luckily only a small one. 🙃 🙈 😳

Thursday, we were especially excited and looking forward to it, because we went to a huge water park, the WET'N'WILD on the Gold Coast, where we raced down the Black Hole together in a crazy pace on a float, where we made a loop in the slide after free-falling in AquaLoop, or experienced the ride in Tornado screaming. A great day when we ran through the park for 9 hours like little kids, eagerly trying out and experiencing the next slide. Wonderful!! In the evening, we arrived completely exhausted at the campsite and were greeted directly by a (our first seen) koala, which was hanging directly above our spot in the tree. Amazing!! The dozens of huge bats, which - no shit - had a wingspan of at least half a meter, flew almost terrifyingly around in the twilight. The sight of the koala was quite reassuring and took away our fear, at least for Flo, because he is always scared. 😉 although Batman is actually a good guy.. oh by the way, Flo almost collapsed when he saw an incredibly large spider dangling about three meters above him in the dark while Nadia was showering. 🙄 he then immediately moved the entire car within the pitch. 🤔

Since yesterday, we are in Byron Bay now, after making a short stop in Surfers Paradise and taking a look at the hustle and bustle and the beach there. It's incredibly crowded here, lots of young people, nice bars with live music, which we enjoyed yesterday with a few cocktails. Fortunately, our beach just outside Byron is not as crowded as in the center.. we played in the waves all day today.. like little kids again. A few meters away, there were five dolphins swimming calmly. Awesome!! 🤗😃👍

Tomorrow we will continue towards Sydney, where we will say goodbye to George on Monday and then explore this city for two days.