HMP Arcadia

Richard writes:

Locked in our prison of luxury and mollycoddling, with the occasional day release, the last fortnight has seemed a challenge. The day releases to Adelaide, Fremantle and Bali were eagerly anticipated before the monotony of the prison ship resumes, for what feels like an eternity. I realise we are will be receiving little sympathy here (with good reason). The eating options on HMP Arcadia, are incredible. Breakfast . . . the buffet with fruits, bacon, sausage, pastries etc, or the fine dining restaurant or even breakfast in bed! Dinner is the same, with the opportunity to dress up for a five course extravaganza every evening whilst watching the ocean drift by as you eat. Entertainment is limiltless (even if directed at the those whose inning's has been longer than ours). We have competed in (and won) quizzes, learnt some Spanish and attended dancing and singing technicolour shows. However the fact remains, that when on a stretch of three sea days, you can't bloody get off! We find ourselves sleeping in between meals (after all, climbing the two flights of stairs from our cabin to the buffet restaurant is exhausting) and endlessly discussing aspects of the cruise in great detail with each other. Why do we give a shit about why Gladys on table six didn't come to dinner last night or why the pork hasn't appeared on the menu since Tuesday? In short, we don't, but we are institutionalised, we have nothing else to talk about.  When at sea, the limit of our (and all inmates) existence is defined by the ship's confines.

Black tie night!

The winning quiz team!

In what represents either a coincidence or a reflection of our institutionalised state of mind, on our visit to Fremantle we visited a prison! Fremantle prison was shut down in 1991, but now makes up one of the three convict sites that are world heritage listed in Australia (the others being Port Arthur in Tasmania and Botany Bay in Sydney). The place is huge and we were treated to one of the historical tours detailing how the prison has changed over time. The remainder of the day was spent ambling around the beautiful city.

Fremantle Prison

We had a very pleasant day in Bali. We were bused around with our fellow our group from the cruise seeing temples, rice fields and ate our lunch overlooking a volcano. I was struck how organised Bali seemed; far more than other Asian countries I have visited. We concluded the tour by returning to the boat on a tender boat (life boat), as the Indonesian port was too shallow for the cruise ship to dock.

A Balinese Temple