Cruising the Kimberley coast on Le Laperouse, Darwin to Broome

[RooFlyer]

That evening, it was the Captain's welcome gala, dress up, jacket and tie for me.

He gave a welcoming speech on the pool deck and introduced his officers/dept heads (7 of them)



At this meal I realised that the food & wine would not be as top-notch as I thought it may be. While all the meals have been very nice, I thought if we didn't get the very best at the Captain's gala, it just wouldn't be appearing. I didn't take many food shots due to the compnay I was keeping, but a crab starter (there is always an amuse bouche before the starter)



Barra hot starter - the foam was a fancy touch.



The captain's table was adjacent to mine - he was probably dining with the expensive cabin mob. BUT I did notice that their wine was decanted. I thought it would be a good drop too ...



But no, same as we were drinking (a French red or a French white). Anyone recognise them? Good, bad, indifferent?



Mains came out with a great fanfare on the top table:



I'm struggling to picture the presentation below in a French restaurant. Don't worry, I'm not going to keep grizzling (except a bit more on the wine tomorrow), but it has been a bit of a let-down. Tonight, everyone was seated and served at the same time, so I understand the limitations on that, but the standard seems to be the norm for the voyage (I'm now 1 1/2 days beyond this time).

 

[craven morehead]

That evening, it was the Captain's welcome gala, dress up, jacket and tie for me.

He gave a welcoming speech on the pool deck and introduced his officers/dept heads (7 of them)

View attachment 287242

At this meal I realised that the food & wine would not be as top-notch as I thought it may be. While all the meals have been very nice, I thought if we didn't get the very best at the Captain's gala, it just wouldn't be appearing. I didn't take many food shots due to the compnay I was keeping, but a crab starter (there is always an amuse bouche before the starter)

View attachment 287243

Barra hot starter - the foam was a fancy touch.

View attachment 287244

The captain's table was adjacent to mine - he was probably dining with the expensive cabin mob. BUT I did notice that their wine was decanted. I thought it would be a good drop too ...

View attachment 287245

But no, same as we were drinking (a French red or a French white). Anyone recognise them? Good, bad, indifferent?

View attachment 287248

Mains came out with a great fanfare on the top table:

View attachment 287246

I'm struggling to see the presentation below in a French restaurant. Don't worry, I'm not going to keep grizzling (except a bit more on the wine tomorrow), but it has been a bit of a let-down. Tonight, everyone was seated and served at the same time, so I understand the limitations on that, but it seems to be the norm for the voyage.

View attachment 287247

That has to be completely underwhelming, surely

 

[JohnM]

Sancerre is a classic French white. Sauvignon Blanc in a dry, lean style. From the Loire Valley.

The key part of the label is not visible for the Bourgogne (Burgundy), but it looks somewhat nondescript to me. @Daver6 can likely add some insight.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Sancerre is a classic French white. Sauvignon Blanc in a dry, lean style. From the Loire Valley.

The key part of the label is not visible for the Bourgogne (Burgundy), but it looks somewhat nondescript to me. @Daver6 can likely add some insight.

From the town of that name, and there's four different terroirs due to soil types! Good stuff.

Domain's presentation

The domain can be found in the pretty village of Chavignol whose reputation for its famous goat's cheese, "Crottin de Chavignol" is wide spread. Since 2010 Vincent Delaporte's grandson, Matthieu Delaporte has been fully focused on further improving the domaine's wines. A more organic approach...

www.domaine-delaporte.com

 

[tgh]

I'm not going to keep grizzling (except a bit more on the wine tomorrow), but it has been a bit of a let-down

If the general "buzz" across the genera of participants ...is that it is all pretty good.. then the line has hit it's demographic product target and you need to go up a grade next cruise.
The sad reality is that there are luxury cruises /hotels/restaurants for a range of different perceptions and you need to find your level.

 

[Daver6]

Sancerre is a classic French white. Sauvignon Blanc in a dry, lean style. From the Loire Valley.

The key part of the label is not visible for the Bourgogne (Burgundy), but it looks somewhat nondescript to me. @Daver6 can likely add some insight.

Looks like it's this 2016 David Duband Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits Cuvée Louis Auguste, France, Burgundy, Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits - CellarTracker So not dirt cheap but very much an entry level Burgundy.

 

[JohnM]

Were you too busy looking at some dirty old rocks to catch your own barra?





Contrary to others, I think the food looks pretty good; I like the nouvelle cuisine approach with the smaller quantity. Eating far too much with sit-down breakfast, lunch and dinner is one of the traps of cruising IMO.

But another stick of broccolini would have balanced the main meal...

What choice did you have for the entree and main?

As for the wine, don't forget it's French; not some monster from the Barossa. For Australians accustomed to full-bodied fruity wines it generally takes a bit of getting the head around French wine and its seeming general insipidness.

And - as a general rule, vin ordinaire from Australia is superior to vin ordinaire from France.

 

[JohnM]

Looks like it's this 2016 David Duband Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits Cuvée Louis Auguste, France, Burgundy, Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits - CellarTracker So not dirt cheap but very much an entry level Burgundy.

The decanting was clearly only for show...

 

[VPS]

And some of the terroir from Les Augustins in Sancerre (and the obligatory cheese platter)

 

[RooFlyer]

Re meal choice, so far it’s either been a choice of ‘Australian’ or ‘French’ or else Veg or regular.

This was the a la carte menu for the following night - see below.

(and the obligatory cheese platter)

Not so obligatory cheese platter if you went the French choice!

 

[JohnM]

Since when was Friday 8 August 2022?

 

[RooFlyer]

We motored through the night (unheard) to Vansittart Bay, and in particular Jar Island to see some Indigenous rock art. My zodiac was the first, at 7am, so it was up at sparrow's:





Light brekkie - you call that a croissant? No, its a Danish.



Off we zoom over an oily sea. They do a full risk assessment and scouting prior to our boarding the zodiacs - for crocs, in this location.



We establish a beach-head. Seeing the marquee, we were, of course, expecting Champagne on arrival. In this case - non.





Lots of little caves and overhangs in the quartzite that house the galleries. They ask that we not post images on 'social meadia', so going here will show you what we saw 'Bradshaw' type of art (also known a Gwion Gwion), elongated figures mainly in ceremonial poses, with echidnas and some other animals. Contrast with the Wandjina type that we'll see layer in the voyage.

Gwion Gwion rock paintings - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

As we made our way back to the beach, we were alerted to this chap off shore:



Off we went ... Funnily enough, the in-coming zodiac wasn't aware of it (didn't hear the alerts over the radio) until they were maybe 50 m away - then veered sharply!



It ended up coming about half as close again, and was quite big - at least 3m

Apres excursion swim was on the bill. It was only 10am and hot as hades, with no wind. Our landing beach in the distance.



Something to beat the heat.

 

[JohnM]

Calm weather looks sensational. Great for mucking about in Zodiacs and for sunset/sunrise pics.

 

[drron]

I bet it was hard to sleep on the night of the Captain's dinner after seeing all those rocks. After heading to bed I imagine a bad case of rocks in the head!

 

[RooFlyer]

I bet it was hard to sleep on the night of the Captain's dinner after seeing all those rocks. After heading to bed I imagine a bad case of rocks in the head!

I think what you were trying to say drron is “was it a total case of phoarrr?“.

Yes Only lacking an adit or open cut mine here and there.

 

[RooFlyer]

But it's unlikely that there's things that may go "BOOM / BANG" on the river.

No, but all you need is a bit of gravity - something’ brought down all the other stuff!! And they have had two 3.0-3.6 magnitude earthquakes in the past 20 years.

It was amazing while we were there, but on reflection I think it was dangerous to park right underneath the overhangs. There is a strong horizontal preferred ‘parting’. Might say something to someone.

 

[Quickstatus]

So no one wearing PPE?
………..
I don’t get the culinary foam. It’s just less of the sauce and more air

 

[RooFlyer]

Calm weather looks sensational. Great for mucking about in Zodiacs and for sunset/sunrise pics.

This afternoon (Tues) in the Timor Sea

So no one wearing PPE?
………..
I don’t get the culinary foam. It’s just less of the sauce and more air

I suspect your jesting, but no, no PPE beyond lifejackets. No PPE would be of any use at all in the situation that I’m contemplating. They really should just not go under these big overhanging rocks. Seriously.

The foam I see as just the barest nod to haute cuisine, but you know, it’s just foam.

 

[Port Power]

No, but all you need is a bit of gravity - something’ brought down all the other stuff!! And they have had two 3.0-3.6 magnitude earthquakes in the past 20 years.

It was amazing while we were there, but on reflection I think it was dangerous to park right underneath the overhangs. There is a strong horizontal preferred ‘parting’. Might say something to someone.

If you stay under it for 30 years (or 100 years?), the overhang might drop on you. Then again, right now might be that 100 year moment, so common sense should tell you not to hover directly underneath! I love looking where fallen rocks have come from. Beautiful and interesting.

 

[JohnM]

That wedged rock has been a must-view object on the King George River for yonks.

The couple of times I've been under it, I have thought: I hope the gap doesn't to decide to widen right now...