March 26, 2026
Ever since Joseph introduced me to “The Cube” – I can never remember the winery’s real name, plus, thankfully, Googling ‘the cube winery adelaide’ brings it right up- I have deemed it my favorite place to visit in Adelaide.
When my mom, who’s been everywhere and done everything, went to visit friends in Adelaide, I insisted she make the trip. Her hosts knew the area well but had never been there. They all agreed that it was a cool and unique place.
It takes about an hour (possibly longer with traffic) to get there from the ship. On my previous visit, we tasted the wine, had a fabulous lunch, and skipped the museum.
This year, my friend Rina had rented a car, and offered to fulfill my dream of returning.
Admission to the museum includes a wine tasting, so I graciously bought Rina’s ticket, knowing full well that she doesn’t drink alcohol.
The museum was smaller than I imagined, so we breezed through it and headed upstairs for the tasting.
During my previous visit, three of the wine names inspired trivia questions that I added to my regular repertoire.
And look who we ran into!
Andy had gotten off the ship for a couple of weeks and was enjoying a road trip of his own. He had a carefully calculated plan to visit to five different wineries, pacing himself with food and timing, so that he could still drive responsibly. Rina warned him about Australia’s strict drunk-driving laws. Neither of us were convinced this was a safe plan, although we later learned that he completed the day without incident, and we celebrated his next birthday on the ship.
And my favorite bathrooms in the world were still there! I’ll post the video on facebook. There are more pictures here in my previous post: https://www.kellylaughsalot.com/2022/12/15/all-the-way-around-adelaaaaaaide/
We didn’t have time to stay for lunch- Rina had to get back to catch a ferry – she and a group of people were spending the night on Kangaroo Island.
I returned to the ship to get enough work done that I could take off for another day.
March 28, 2026
A couple of days later, David and Paul joined Rina and me for a day of wine tasting in the Barossa Valley.
This place was great.
They offered an impressively generous number of pours. I ended up buying a T-shirt.
On the way to our next stop, I had a phone appointment with my energy healer. With the time difference between Australia and California, finding a time when we were both awake and available was often a challenge. I put in my airpods and asked my companions to keep anything they overheard between us.
I needed to process the growing realization that I was not going to be able to survive much longer at Villa Vie.
The Hotel Director, to whom I reported, had hired the Activity Host who reported to me. The Activity Host seemed to have no respect for authority (mine or anyone else’s on the ship) and the Hotel Director appeared to believe that he could do no wrong.
The itinerary was constantly changing which made planning entertainment difficult. Instead of understanding that I was doing more work because of the changing itinerary, the Hotel Director implied that I wasn’t planning enough special events.
Most days I cried tears of frustration as I did my best to manage the residents’ conflicting requests while feeling as though my boss was trying to manage me out. The constant little chips of disrespect were becoming too much to absorb.
We arrived at the next winery, and my friends left me in the car to finish my conversation.
I hid my distress as best I could while on board, then frequently disolved in tears whenever I found a pocket of time off the ship where I could finally be myself.
I took some deep breaths, dried my tears and rejoined my friends, who respectfully carried on as though my puffy eyes were perfectly normal.
They had a section where we could taste the grapes from each of the different varieties, which was so much fun.
I will absolutely choose a bottle simply because it has a good name – or a cool label.
We found some awesome pizza for lunch, which somehow managed to go undocumented, and then squeezed in one more stop before heading back to the ship.
It was just enough wine to get me through the next few sea days.
April 6, 2026
In Fremantle, it was Lyn’s turn to be my savior.
By then, I had reached the point where, when someone genuinely asked me how I was doing, I instantly burst into tears. I was that starved for kindness.
We wandered the streets, explored the stalls at a local festival that happened to be taking place, found some lunch and then indulged in gelato.
My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.