With apologies to Graeme (and Jenny!) for the delay – here is the rest of our trip!

 

Saturday 23^rd May – Day at Sea.

What a busy day! Nesta went off to a RADA workshop at 10am whilst Ian gave the Intermediate Bridge lesson at 10-30am a go. Nesta enjoyed her class, but Ian wasn’t at all impressed, either with the standard of teaching or the other participants… He was more confused than ever once the lesson finished!

We met up after our classes and found we had missed breakfast. Unfortunately, lunch didn’t look all that inspiring but we forced ourselves to eat something – if only to soak up all the free alcohol we were going to drink!

1-45pm saw us in the Queens Room for a demonstration of how to paint by David Porteous-Butler. He doesn’t use a brush but puts the paint on the canvas with various pallet knives. His technique was brilliant and it was amazing how much of a picture he painted in just over 45 minutes.

We then went into the Art Gallery where Captain Wells unveiled David’s specially commissioned work of art celebrating the Three Queens visit to Liverpool. This did involve a free glass of champagne and at 3pm we had to leave to go to the Britannia Restaurant for our free wine-tasting event. We tried four Argentinian wines and liked the Pinot Grigot but not the Chardonnay. Bizarrely, we didn’t like either of the Malbecs on offer – but they were the cheapies at only $40 a bottle! Thank goodness there was cheese with the wine – as our small portion of food earlier wasn’t doing that good a job in soaking up the alcohol!

After the wine tasting we went up to the library and queued up to get a book Gary and Jenny had given us signed by the Captain. We took the opportunity to thank him and Stephen (the Deputy Captain) by giving him a greetings card we had bought in Oban portraying a large ship along the lines of “size matters!” (Nesta thought it was funny, anyway!!) Fortunately the Captain seemed to like it!

Back to the cabin for a little rest before getting into our finery one more time and going down to the Art Gallery for yet another fizzy drink where we talked to David Porteous-Butler about the possibility of buying the demonstration picture when he’s finished it and then into the Captain’s cocktail party (yes, you’ve guessed it – with free glasses of wine)

The cocktail party was packed – only 20% of the passengers on board haven’t sailed with Cunard before and the number of nights spent on one of the three ships by all the people in the room totalled more than 500 years! (That’s loyalty for you) Our contribution of 123 nights seems paltry in comparison to the couple who won the “most number of nights on board” prize with 1834…

Although Ryan got us a couple extra drinks we slowed our intake down a bit as we had been invited to dine at the Senior Officers’ table (with, as you might expect all the wine you can drink!)

Nesta was sat next to Ib Nielsen – the Staff Chief Engineer – who is Swedish, but that meant that no-one else had much chance of a conversation with him! The other officer was Roy Sturrock (also a Staff Chief Engineer) who is taking over from Ib when we get back into Southampton. It was his first “table” and he had been feeling really nervous about meeting Cunard customers and he was pleasantly surprised at how “normal” we were! In recognition of this he invited us both to the pub after the meal - where he bought us three pints and sung in the karaoke (well, he is a Geordie!)

A good day!!

 

Sunday 24^th May 2015 – Liverpool.

This time it was Ian’s turn to be up at the crack of dawn and watch us sail into the Mersey. We were parked at the Pier Head before Nesta woke and announced she had a hangover! (Apparently she didn’t remember drinking the third pint in the pub so felt that this final drink was the sole reason for the hangover…)

After a breakfast of paracetamol, ranitidine and black coffee she joined Ian in a walk around Liverpool – but for some reason she didn’t seem to enjoy being shown the different offices that Ian has worked in! (No pleasing some people).

We then went back down to the waterfront and visited some of the free museums and sat and watched the crowds who were already congregating. There were lots of interesting stalls and street entertainment but after about four hours ashore, Nesta decided that it was time to have a lie down! Back to the ship we went where Ian watched the last football of the season (and wishes he hadn’t) whilst Nesta recuperated to ensure she was ok for the evening’s entertainment.

We had time for a quick snack in Kings Court and then went to the theatre to see “The Beatles Experience”. These were the tribute band that had been on the ship between Brisbane and Sydney (well, the George had changed!) and this time they sang songs from 66-70. They were excellent and said that they’d be reprising songs from 62-66 tomorrow when the three Queens are dancing in the Mersey!

We then went outside and found a good spot on the steps between decks 7 and 8 where we had an uninterrupted view of the light show projected onto the “Three Graces” (The Liver Building, The Cunard Building and The Port of Liverpool Building) and the following fireworks display.

 

Monday 25^th May – Liverpool.

We didn’t get off in the morning as the Queen Mary 2 was sailing at 10am… The Pier Head and the waterfront were already packed as we went out into the river and sailed towards the mouth of the Mersey, between New Brighton on the Wirral side and Crosby. There were lots of people on both beaches despite the cold weather (and we later discovered that Ian’s oldest friend Ian was there with his family).

We turned 180 degrees and waited for the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria to join us. They sailed past us and we joined on behind and - with a water spouting tug in front and behind - we sailed in convoy back into Liverpool.

We stood on the observation deck 11 which afforded us a great view. Once the ships were in position (with the QM2 in front of the Three Graces) we began our synchronised 180 degree turn. Bizarrely, when the three ships rear ends were pointing at Liverpool, one glass of free champagne for everyone was provided!

As the ships continued their turn, we headed down to Deck 8 aft where the Beatles Experience had played as we sailed away from Liverpool, and the Queens Room Orchestra was now due to play during our ballet on the Mersey but - importantly - we could also see the sky, as we didn’t want to miss The Red Arrows.

We climbed up on the poolside right next to the band and danced and waved our flags. We also got recorded for posterity on the Ship’s Voyage DVD!!

The ships completed their turn and then the Elizabeth and Victoria came alongside the Mary in an arrowhead formation, finally finishing off with all three ships a line abreast in the Mersey in front of The Cunard Building. Apparently there was never less than 130 metres between us – but it seemed a lot closer than that to us!

We took lots of photos and Nesta managed to get a picture of The Red Arrows as they flew overhead. It was now time for the QM2 to leave again, on our way to St Peter Port in Guernsey, and the Elizabeth berthed with the Victoria anchoring in the middle of the river. There is going to be another light show and firework display tonight, after which the Elizabeth will leave and the Victoria will tie up and stay overnight. We understand Tom and Elizabeth (Heather’s mum) were on the Queen Elizabeth, so we probably waved to each other!

As we were later leaving Liverpool than originally planned, once we had crossed the Bar we steamed at an average 24 knots but still won’t arrive in St Peter Port until lunchtime tomorrow.

We had to get ready for our last ever formal night (and yet more free drinks). Our first stop was the Art Gallery where we weren’t able to buy the David Porteous-Butler demonstration picture after all. We thought he had agreed to negotiate with us about a price but he decided to sell it to someone else instead! Oh well… we probably couldn’t have afforded it anyway…

Whilst talking about money – we are having a difficult time spending our free on-board credit! (Could it be something to do with all the alcohol we are being gifted?) We even tried to book a future trip across the Atlantic – but they wanted real money for this, instead of our on board credit, so we declined!

After the Art Gallery, we headed “round the corner” – as the captain would say – and had a chat with Stephen (the Deputy Captain) on our way into the cocktail party. He was buzzing and said that it had been his “best day at sea – ever!”

We managed (again) to drink more than our fair share at the party – but that didn’t stop us from ordering one last bottle of Mullygrubber with our meal in the restaurant.

After the meal, we headed up to the Winter Gardens for a last pint with Ryan and to listen to “Ghost Stories” from RADA. Strangely we haven’t seen Lee this entire voyage but I suppose it might be because we haven’t been to any of his shows!

 

Tuesday 26^th May – St Peter Port, Guernsey.

We joined the queues in the photo gallery to spend our credit on some photos and an album. We also picked up our copy of the Voyage DVD which includes shots of St Peter Port (which is really impressive as we’ve not arrived there yet!)

We anchored off St Peter Port at 12-30pm and then queued … and queued for a tender to take us ashore. We overheard a passenger saying that the ship should be renamed the Queue M2… Declan, from the entertainment team, has been on since November and has been excellent all around the world in getting us ashore and back again. This however was the last straw (he gets off tomorrow) and even he lost his cool with all the chaos!

We got ashore eventually and were told by the local tourist information that the number 92 service bus travels around the island for the amazing price of £1 per person! The ship’s tour which we would have booked, if it hadn’t been full, was $60 per person…but at least we would both have had a seat! (The bus we travelled on was very popular which meant that Ian had to stand the whole way round!)

After our bus trip we walked to Castle Cornet (another of the ship’s tours) where Nesta bought a new bag.

Guernsey exceeded our expectations and we were talking about going back there for a proper holiday until we realised that there are very few pubs on the island! The hotels have bars but there isn’t a Wetherspoons! Ian Platts’ (Schofield) daughter works in Guernsey and apparently the only thing on the island that isn’t expensive are the busses!

We got back on board at about 5pm and we pulled up anchor to “potter” our way across the Channel back to Southampton.

For our last night on board we had booked the “Coriander” Indian evening in the speciality restaurant. It was busy and there were lots of the crew in (including Captain Chris, his wife and three children). We had a window table, so we saw the sunset over the Channel Islands as we ate. Fortunately they seem to have sorted out the issues they had at the end of the world voyage and it was a really nice meal.

Despite our best efforts we have $10-34 left in our credit account but neither of us could face a nightcap before bed – lightweights!

 

Wednesday 27^th May – Southampton.

For the second time there are so many Platinum and Diamond guests on board that there is no nice lounge or priority disembarkation for us! Our instructions are to sit in the Royal Court and disembark at 10-45am – which is fine as our train isn’t until 12-27pm.

We went for a late breakfast and sat in Kings Court watching people leaving the ship. At 10-15am, when we were about to go into the theatre, there was a shipboard announcement advising us that disembarkation was complete and anyone left on-board were to go ashore straightaway!

By 10-30am we were off, luggage collected and in a taxi heading for the station. On the way to the station, Nesta received a call to pre-interview her for a 111 job that she had applied for – so maybe she will have another job soon!

We got to the station an hour and a half before our train was due but when we asked if we could catch an earlier train was told that it would cost us £30-25 each instead of the £7 our pre-booked tickets cost. We decided to wait!

When the train arrived – it consisted of just the one carriage! Fortunately we got a seat next to our luggage and the train rocked, rattled and rolled back to Temple Meads. Rather than get the bus we decided that – as it was our holiday – we’d get a taxi home…

Oh well – that’s another journey over. Thanks for reading our blogs…wish us well in getting back into real life now!

Bye!!

 

  

Wednesday 20^th May – Dun Laoghaire, for Dublin.

We arrived as planned at anchor. It was windy and the sea was a bit rough. A few of the tenders were lowered but it was obviously too choppy for the mile and a half trip, so the decision was taken not to tender passengers ashore until the wind dropped.

Jo – the Entertainments Director – and the tours team were therefore left frantically trying to arrange on-board entertainment and to rearrange the morning’s tours.

Eventually at around midday, the Captain said the tenders could start. We looked at the first few bouncing around and decided to give it a miss! We had, after all, seen Dublin before…

Instead, we went to a pub quiz (we were rubbish again) and to an intermediate bridge lesson.

In the evening we had cheese and biscuits in our room before heading off to Illuminations to watch “The Second Best Marigold Hotel” This was very funny and better than most sequels we’ve seen.

We gave Roy Walker a miss – as we didn’t think he was very funny on the last leg of the world voyage and we assumed he would do a similar act.

Anfisa came up trumps - as when we got back to the cabin we had received an invite to dine with the Senior Engineer on Saturday. This will mean that we’ve got drinks in the Art Gallery viewing at 2-30pm, a wine-tasting at 3pm, the Captain’s cocktail party at 7-45pm and the senior officers meal (with free wine) at 8-30pm. AA for us when we get back?

Greenock tomorrow – wonder how well it will work out trying to meet up with Gary & the girls, Uncle Alan and Rob & Jenny?

 

Thursday 21^st May 2015 – Greenock.

Nesta was up at 5-30am to see our entry into the Clyde – passing Millport and Largs – and it brought a tear to her eye.

We docked safely to be met by a pipe band and “Hamish” (a bouncy Mr Blobby type character in a kilt!) We went ashore to suss out the pub situation for our guests today. Greenock has seen better days – the main street is full of betting shops, pound-land shops and pawn shops but we eventually found the “James Watt” – a Wetherspoons next to the station. (Ideal for Alan!)

We got a text from Jenny to say they were at the port and had met Gary’s uncle Barney and his wife Christine. They joined us at the pub (along with Becky, James and Fiona from the ship’s crew) where we all enjoyed a pint and the obligatory Scottish breakfast (tattie scones, lorne sausage etc.) Alan joined us at about 1pm – so we had to have another drink!

Just before 2pm, Gary et all headed off back to the ship for their champagne afternoon tea and we walked slowly back with Alan so that he could see how big the ship is.

Nesta popped on board to let Ryan and Mohammed (bar manager) know that Gary & the girls could use our on-board credit (because otherwise they couldn’t buy a drink). Aren’t we nice? Other visitors had to leave by 5-15pm but the three amigos managed to extend their stay until 8-30pm (Guess that’s all our on-board credit wiped out then!!)

Alan and the two of us found a licensed café where we had a cup of tea followed by a bottle of wine! Rob phoned at about 5-30pm to say he and Jenny were on their way. When they arrived, we had a meal and then walked down to the ship where the security guard let us in the gates and took a photo of us all in front of the QM2.

We said our goodbyes and walked back to the terminal where we met the inebriated three amigos who had to wait there as Cunard had “misplaced” their passports!

We went to the back of the ship for the sail away. A massed pipe band and dancers (plus two “Hamishs” this time) were on the quay, Vibz played on the back of deck 8, a fantastic fireworks display and hundreds of people lining the banks to wave us off. Even the Waverley was there (sailing down the Clyde with us).

When we got back to our cabin, we saw that the kids (Gary, Jenny and Dianne) had left some lovely chocolate cup-cakes for us…aaah!

We also found an invite for yet another cocktail party hosted by the Captain, Deputy Captain and Hotel Manager to take place on Monday. We seem to be very popular!

 

Friday 22^nd May 2015 – Oban.

Nesta woke up at 4-30am as the ship was “jiggling” a bit. Even though it was beginning to get light, she couldn’t see anything as it was so foggy. The foghorn was sounding but when we looked at the TV we saw that we were travelling at 23.8 knots. We thought this was a bit fast in poor visibility (although we suppose it’s all done by radar etc. now!)

We were 30 minutes late anchoring off Oban and the Captain had the cheek to say that it was because we had to slow down due to the fog!!

We tendered ashore and went to Wetherspoons for another Scottish Breakfast (and a pint) then wandered around the town until Gary and the girls arrived from Greenock. We went back into the pub but the girls were only drinking soft drinks as they were still suffering from the excesses of the previous afternoon!

They gave us one of the presents they had received at their reception (a nice “coffee table” book about Cunard) which we’ll get the Captain to sign tomorrow!

They also paid us back for the use of our on-board credit and told us one of the bar staff (Wilber) was really worried every time they said it was alright to put the drinks on our account…so, of course, when we had said our goodbyes and returned to the ship we went down to the pub and asked to speak to Wilber. We asked him how $89 could have been charged to our account when we were actually ashore in Greenock. He looked petrified until we started laughing and told him it was ok (we can be quite cruel!) He is now going to wind up Gary on Facebook saying he is facing disciplinary action!

After our drink in the pub, we went into the Winter Gardens to see Ryan. As we were going to have so much free alcohol on Saturday we decided to have a light day – only four pints each – which is still probably more than the daily recommended amount!

From there we went down to The Queens Room for the party night with Vibz. Lewanne would have liked it as they still were playing all her favourite songs (not!)

We were thinking about having a bop when Imogen (the Social Hostess) decided to improve (?) the party atmosphere by stopping the band and begin teaching the passengers the line dancing steps to “Achy Breaky Heart”!

Our time to leave…

British Isles and Liverpool Salute

Sunday 17^th May – Southampton.

This is on the blog just for you, Jenny!!

We had set the alarm for 8am but Nesta was excited and up, making tea and getting some “fresh air” long before that.

By 10am we were out of the door, with one large suitcase and one small rucksack, and walked to the bus stop where a number 9 bus came unexpectedly early. This meant we were on the platform at Temple Meads with 40 minutes to spare!

The train we caught was going to Brighton and it stopped at every conceivable station along the way (11 in total) including a “request” stop! Still, the countryside was attractive and it was far more relaxing than charging along the M4 etc.

We got a taxi to the Ocean Terminal where hundreds of people were waiting to embark…We found the “preferential embarkation” desk, said “platinum” and were whisked to the front of the queue and on-board in no time!

The security man scanning our cards recognised us and welcomed us back on board and two of the porters in the Grand Lobby also gave us cheery waves.

We made our way to our cabin which was the same as our previous cabin except that everything is the other way round! I wonder how long it will take for us to stop opening the wardrobes when we want to go into the shower room!

We had some lunch and then phoned the friend who had stowed our “formal” suitcase under his bed during the last fortnight - and by the time we picked this up and unpacked it, our other luggage had been delivered so we were all shipshape!

We went to Deck 8 aft for the “sail away” party. The entertainments team handed out plastic union flags and “Land of Hope and Glory”, “Rule Britannia” and other patriotic tunes were played as we sailed down Southampton Water and past Portsmouth before entering the English Channel!

We decided to eat in the Britannia restaurant tonight and managed to change our table to one near where we ate previously. Unfortunately, Robert (our waiter) has been moved to another section downstairs which consisted of three tables for eight – so no Robert this cruise…

We thought we’d give the new guys a chance but were not immediately impressed, although the restaurant was very busy.

The evening show was Philip Hitchcock “one of Britain’s finest entertainers” who is a magician, apparently. We decided that seeing him would be one excitement too many, so we gave him a miss and had a quiet drink and an early night!

 

Monday 18^th May – Day at Sea.

There are some RADA students on board and Nesta went to their first workshop. (Not sure she needs help or tuition to be more dramatic) She enjoyed it and plans to go to the others.

The lectures this morning had subject matters ranging from astronomy to Downton Abbey (we gave them all a miss) so visited the tours desk to book a couple of tours in Cork and Dublin.

In the afternoon we went to a talk by Dr Stephen Payne OBE. He is the naval architect who actually built the QM2 and is also an excellent speaker. It was a very interesting presentation and we learned a lot.

Tonight was the first of three formal nights on the cruise and we chose to join the queue to greet Captain Wells at the cocktail party, to see if he remembered us from the first half of the world voyage…he did!

We were also recognised by Cat, who is now the Asst. Entertainments Director (both Skippy and Dumbo having got off for a holiday) and Jo – the Entertainments Director – who remembered Nesta from the impromptu muster and tea party on the first leg which occurred because hot water pipes in several cabins sprung a leak.

We also spoke to Stephen Howarth – the Deputy Captain – and had our photos taken with both him and the Captain.

During the party we spoke to Anfisa (who was our world voyage concierge). She is now an officer in the technical department and she asked us if we’d like to dine at the senior officers’ table this week…we said yes!!

The sea was moderately rough (force 7) which normally is not a problem for this ship - but it was rolling around a bit. The Captain explained, during his entertaining welcome speech, that as Cork wasn’t far away we were going slowly (12 knots). The ship is designed to go twice that speed and doesn’t like “pootling” around!

We went into the restaurant again – and the service was really slow. Nesta was so unhappy that she got up and left when, an hour later, we still hadn’t been served our main course. Bring back Robert and Leo!!

Later in the evening, we went to a RADA performance of the “History of Cunard” which was both entertaining and funny.

 

Tuesday 19^th May – Ringaskiddy, for Cork.

Originally we were due to dock at Cobh (the Titanic’s last stop) but because we were too big, we docked across the bay at Ringaskiddy. (Cork Harbour is apparently the second biggest harbour in the world after Sydney)

We had booked on the afternoon walking tour of Cork and then we discovered that the ship was actually providing a complimentary shuttle service to both Cobh and Cork! (Oh well – it’s only money!)

We got off the ship early and took the shuttle around to Cobh (pronounced Cove). It took a good 40 minutes to go by road a distance that, by water, was about a mile and a half! Cobh is a quaint little town and we went to the Titanic Museum and the Lusitania memorial. (The Lusitania was torpedoed just off the coast and survivors were brought ashore here). We were going to buy a coffee, but Nesta discovered that she had brought the purse with the still unidentified foreign currency in it from the last trip - rather than the euros purse! Thank goodness for cash machines!!

We shuttled back to the ship in time for our walking tour. We had two guides (Mary and Eleanor) and we’re sure that Mary is knowledgeable and professional but we never found out - because Eleanor never stopped talking, singing and entertaining (?) us the whole trip. We were even in her group for the walk. Cork is much smaller than expected for what is the main city in South West Ireland but is quite interesting.

We decided against the evening entertainment – swing and jazz vocalist, Kai McKenzie! – So went to eat in the Chef’s galley.

After this we went into the Winter Gardens where we discovered that Ryan (one of our favourite bar staff) was working. We had a couple of pints and a good talk to Ryan – interrupted only when other passengers were rude enough to want drinks serving!

 

 

 

Friday 1^st May 2015 – Day at Sea.

We took our passports down to the Britannia restaurant to clear British passport control and were pleased that the weather was very British as well – wet and windy!

We sailed through the Bay of Biscay and it was as flat as a millpond.

We went to listen to lecture by the Safety Officer which was very good (although Nesta thinks he’s nowhere near as good looking as Aureliano!)

In the afternoon we finally played bridge! (Ian thinks he did very well in delaying it for this long!) We were a bit confused, as only one other pair played the same way as us! (For Graeme’s benefit this means that every other pair played Standard American, strong no trump with five card majors with a possible phony club bid - as opposed to our Basic Acol!)

Ian got even more confused by the bidding - but even allowing for this, we finished fourth.

Fortunately we finished in time for Nesta to attend the “hat decorating” session! (Oh yes!!) The idea was to encourage passengers to have a hat good enough for the “Ascot Ball” but as we had already packed our formal gear we sat this out!

 

Saturday 2^nd May – Day at Sea.

The last day of our voyage – and it’s raining!

As we are getting back on in a fortnight for the 175 year Liverpool celebration, we packed our formal kit (and the wine) in a suitcase and phoned one of our friends on board who has offered to put it under his bed!

We spent the day packing but decided to give the evening entertainment one last chance to impress us. Unfortunately Roy Walker was not funny and “The Flyrights” were absolutely appalling - so we left early and went into the restaurant for a last meal. It was a nice meal and we said goodbye to Robert and Leo, giving them both a “little something” in thanks. Leo is going home tomorrow but Robert will still be on when we return – so we’ll ask to be moved to his section when we get back on.

After our meal all we had to do was finish our packing and put the cases out for collection. We contacted Graeme to let him know we should be off by 11am.

 

Sunday 3^rd May – Southampton.

Well – here we are!

113 days later and we’re back in Southampton. We have been told to sit in the Britannia Restaurant and await our slot to leave the ship will be at 10-15am.

At 9-45am a message came over the loudspeaker that the gangway was closed, due to a security issue, and disembarkation had therefore been delayed….We gave it until 10-35am before deciding to join the queue and get off under our own steam. Nobody checked whether we should have been in the queue or not and we got off in time to meet Graeme!

Overall we have had a fantastic trip. We have seen some amazing places and the QM2 is a tremendous ship. We do feel that Cunard are not as good as they think they are (living on their name) but we are glad we came!

Thank you all for reading (and commenting) on our blog and, if you can bear it, we’ll start it again in a fortnight when we get back onto this wonderful ship!

Bye!!

Monday 27^th April 2015 – Day at Sea.

It’s a busy day for Nesta!

After an early breakfast (9am!) we went to listen to Michael Howard giving his impression of the world in 2015. He is a very good public speaker (Captain: you could do worse than take some lessons!)

At 1pm Nesta went off to the “scarf folding seminar”! (She did, really…) She never realised there were so many things you could do with a square scarf – good job she was able to borrow one of Jenny’s as she hasn’t got one herself! (Yet)

There was an extra choir rehearsal at 2pm and we then managed a quick sandwich before Nesta was off again – this time to learn how to do some magic tricks! You should see what she can do now with an elastic band and a couple of paper clips!

After a performance of her newly found skills for “the gang” we nibbled in Kings Court again – as the evening entertainment wasn’t up to much.

Tomorrow we’ll be back on dry land!

 

Tuesday 28^th April 2015 – Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.

The predictive weather report was far too pessimistic. We had temperatures reaching 27 degrees and there was unbroken sunshine in the south of the island.

We went on a “two stops on your own” tour where a coach takes us to a town and we have a couple of hours to explore on our own. We thought this was a good way to see more of the island – and also it took us away from the cloudier northern part of the island.

Although we were expecting just a coach driver, we actually got a guide who told us all about the island and the places of interest we were passing. (We even managed to wave to Rob & Jenny’s second home on the way to Maspalomas and Puerto Mogan)

The sand dunes at Maspalomas were a bit underwhelming after Namibia – so we walked around the town and then had a drink in Paddy’s beach bar.

Puerto Mogan was very pretty in a quaint fishing village sort of way (even though it’s all been built in the last 20 years) but the scale of new development seems to be getting out of hand. Hope they don’t spoil it.

We then bought some very cheap booze for Adam and Lee to thank them for doing choir and some dirt cheap cigarettes for Nesta!

The sail away was good in the warm sunshine and we ended up eating Asian style food in Kings Court with Jenny, Dianne and Lewanne. We had Indonesian coconut chicken – which was a nice change after what’s been available for the last few weeks.

 

Wednesday 29^th April – Funchal, Madeira.

This is our second visit – as Voyager came here before it crossed the Atlantic. We parked at the same terminal as Voyager because the posher terminal has been demolished! Hopefully they are rebuilding it.

We did the sightseeing bus tour (it wasn’t really a hop on, hop off bus as it didn’t stop anywhere that looked interesting enough to get off!) The trip wasn’t helped by the fact that the driver hit a parked car – which caused a 20 minute delay and lots of loud talking in Portuguese! Unfortunately, the commentary wasn’t switched off, so when we re-started - we had no idea what we were seeing, where!

After getting off the bus, we walked through the old town and back through the main shopping street to catch the shuttle bus back to the ship. There were a lot more shops and restaurants open than when we last visited – although I suppose that was in December, so it would have been off-season.

We did “full-on” dancing during our last “sail away” party and were a bit sad, if we’re honest, because it has been an amazing trip.

We went to the art gallery for a glass of bubbly and to look at some new pictures before we went and ate in the Coriander Indian Restaurant. It was ok – but not as nice as the first time we went with Helen and Mike. Our desserts were so frozen that they flew off the plates when we tried to eat them. It was the funniest thing of the day!

 

Thursday 30^th April 2015 – Day at Sea.

Well, today was the day for our big/final choir performance in the actual theatre! We had a last rehearsal at 12 – which meant we couldn’t see Michael Howard’s final lecture – followed by a technical rehearsal. (How to walk on and off the stage, without falling into the audience!)

We gave Lee and Adam the presents we’d bought during the half hour free time we had before the performance. They seemed pleased.

The performance was ok but only lasted 20 minutes. The theatre was quite full and we did get a standing ovation! (No encores, though – which was just as well as we hadn’t learned one!)

Ed (Dumbo) the Assistant Entertainment Manager introduced us and thanked us after the show. As usual he demonstrated his lack of attention to detail by thanking Ben (the other male Cunard singer who has had nothing whatsoever to do with the choir) for all his hard work! Lee laughed it off and said he was used to it - but we thought it was terrible!

It was Adam’s birthday (he’s 24 today) so we got the whole audience to sing Happy Birthday to him. Nesta was standing next to his Mum (who is on board for this leg) and she had a tear in her eye!

Tonight was the night for our “all the way round” farewell dinner. 16 of us dined in an alcove downstairs in the Britannia Restaurant. Glen (the food and beverage manager) provided the wine and Anafisa (the World Voyage Concierge) Hazel (the lovely Events Manager) and Maria (the head of housekeeping) joined us, Gary, Jenny, Dianne, Lewanne, Andrew, Linda, Colin, Vanessa, Norah and Alan. Some of us dressed up to represent some of the places we visited. Gary dressed as an Arab, Nesta had her Namibia tee shirt on, Lewanne had her Madeira hat and jumper on and Ian went as “Southampton”!

Lots of photos were taken and we had a noisy, enjoyable evening. Even the food was hot and freshly cooked!

We didn’t finish eating until 10-15pm so there was just time for the smokers to get some “fresh air” before we went into the theatre to watch Roy Walker (of The Comedians and Catchphrase fame.) He was funny in a “gentle” sort of way and provided a nice end to a lovely evening.

Although we have two more nights on board after tonight, we all agreed that this was the “actual” last night of the cruise… There is one more formal evening (the 41^st!) but we’ve decided to pack away our formal gear and slum it from now on. After all, we’re not expecting the Bay of Biscay or the English Channel to be sunbathing or promenading weather!

 

 

 

Sunday 26^th April 2015 – Day at Sea.

We decided to give this Captain two more chances to impress us!

First of all in the church service he was, unfortunately, his usual monotone self and when reminding us about the charities supported by the ship joked (again) about asking the congregation to make large contributions to his favourite charity – the one that looks after all the sailors’ girlfriends in every port… not funny – and wholly inappropriate…

Finally got our fifth song from Lee that we are going to sing at the big concert on 30^th and were disappointed that it wasn’t the promised Bohemian Rhapsody... There was an unannounced photo shoot of the choir which led to lots of protests that we weren’t dressed in our finery and requests that perhaps it could be postponed until the day of the concert. But when push came to shove, Nesta was the only one who stood her ground when the photo went ahead and refused to join the photograph. She was not a happy bunny…

We went to our final World Voyage cocktail party in the evening and listened to the Captain’s final speech. He included a few jokes but was once again underwhelming. He doesn’t circulate and chat with guests (he’s never even come near us!) and we both think that this is an increasingly important part of the job. Captain Wells managed to do it without diluting his professionalism.

We did manage a few additional drinks (but one red wine served to Ian was corked!) and then went into the restaurant to see Robert and Leo in what could well be our last meal in the restaurant.

Finally we went and drank, smoked and danced in G32 (the nightclub) with the gang – but left shortly after midnight.

The wind had now become a Force 7, near gale - and there is a moderate sea running (do you like my nautical terminology?!) but this ship is excellent. There was hardly any movement and we both had a good night’s sleep.

 

Thursday 23^rd April – Day at Sea.

We had a quiet morning as the lectures were underwhelming again. Adam did do another recital in the Royal Court, which we went to, and as a result choir was delayed.

As it was another formal evening (the 39^th of the voyage!) we decided to go and watch the Oscar nominated film Birdman starring Michael Keaton. Lewanne and Norah went to the earlier showing, however, and told us “it was absolute rubbish” so we didn’t bother.

This did lead to a “what are we going to do now” moment and after a few glasses of wine, Nesta decided she would dress up in all her colourful stuff and go to the African Ball in the Queens Room…Jerry (our room steward) didn’t recognise her and Wilfredo, from the next section, asked her if it was a pirate’s night!

We went to the Commodore Bar (very posh) for drinks with Gary and the girls in order to listen to Adam. He immediately started playing music from the Lion King, whilst many of the other guests looked down their noses at fellow passengers actually enjoying themselves!

 

Friday 24^th April 2015 – Day at Sea.

Today is really hot and humid – with heavy downpours! Not ideal for the “crossing the equator” ceremony.

Nesta tried the South African Plastic Surgeon’s lecture about how plastic surgery could help protect the rhinoceros population of Africa – but she wasn’t impressed as all he was saying was what he wanted to do if he had permission and the money. (He currently has neither – so a bit of a waste of time!)

Fortunately the rain had stopped by the time we actually crossed the line. There weren’t as many “pollywogs” as there had been at the beginning of March when we crossed it previously but there were lots of passengers up on deck to watch. As we didn’t have our birds eye view from the Balmoral Suite we had to join the masses on deck 8 trying to get a glimpse of the gunging!

There was no choir practise as the singers were supposed to be rehearsing for their “Singers in Concert” performance – but as it happens, Emma (the new girl) was ill so their show was cancelled. This was a disappointment for us (as we had decided to go and see it) especially as the replacement show was “Stewart Gillies sings the songs of Frank Sinatra and Neil Diamond”…….

Luckily our new friends, Leanne and Ben, in the Clarendon Fine Arts Gallery (absolutely, my dear!) have put us on their list of clients so we now receive invites to their events. They are really nice people, not at all patronising about our lack of knowledge and not even disappointed by our lack of buying signals!

That explains why this evening we were discussing art and “what we liked” at a cheese and wine party surrounded by passengers who think nothing of spending a few thousand dollars on a painting!

Later on we managed to skype three of the kids – we now have more internet time so it was nice to actually be able to have a chat, rather than just touch base.

Sunday 25^th April – Day at Sea.

Today is Anzac Day (and the hundred year anniversary of Gallipoli) but even though there are hundreds of antipodean passengers still on board, there was not a dedicated service to commemorate all the people who died.

Today is the day of the World Voyage Charity Country Fayre!! As Nesta had signed up to be a helper, she couldn’t go to Michael (Lord) Howard’s lecture about his life in politics. Ian reported that it was interesting and well delivered with just the right amount of self-deprecating humour.

Because of choir practise at 2pm we couldn’t go to the opening ceremony (conducted by the Captain) and Nesta’s shift was 3pm to 5-30pm. She was part of the “human fruit machine”… This consisted of three guests sitting in a row (but partitioned off so they couldn’t see each other) picking up their choice of six pieces of fruit every time someone had paid $2 to shake a tambourine! (You had to be there!) If two or three pieces of fruit were the same the lucky contestant won prizes as wonderful as pencils and out of date t-shirts!!

Ian couldn’t take the extreme excitement so went back to the cabin to watch the football results coming in (of course, he wishes he hadn’t as, Tranmere Rovers got relegated from the football league for the first time in their history, just 14 years after they played in the League Cup Final)

At the end of the country fayre, Nesta was given (as a thank you for two and a half hours on the stall) a prize voucher which can be exchanged in the bookshop for a pencil! Perhaps, Cunard, for future reference - a personal thank you would be much better!

We ate again in Kings Court as the menu in the Britannia wasn’t to our taste and then managed to skype the other two kids – so we’re all up to date.

Only two more sea days until dry land!

 

Tuesday 21^st April 2015 – Day at Sea.

This is our first of seven sea days as we travel up the west coast of Africa. There was a surprisingly cool breeze today which caught out many of the white skinned “newbie Brits” By the end of the day there were lots of lobsters around! (Do people still not realise that the sun can burn even if there is a cool breeze??)

Nesta signed up to run a stall at the “country fayre” (or jumble sale as the lower classes call it!) Well – it was either do the fayre or go to the lectures…(and what a choice of lectures!) The first one was “how to not let your pets rule your life” and the second lecture was “the whys and wherefores of plastic surgery”

We made the effort to dress up for our last Britannia Grills reception (until our May voyage!) Even though most of our waiter friends have either got off or been moved to other bars (are Cunard trying to tell us something?) we still managed to drink more than our fair share of wine. We didn’t however queue up to have our picture taken with Kev (the Captain)

We did grace Robert with our presence in the restaurant (and even bought a bottle of Mullygrubber) but we decided to give the singers (and the film) a miss as none of it interested us. Perhaps we’re ready to come home!

We have been on so long that we now have hours of free internet time so if only we could find the kids in, we could skype them to our hearts content!

 

Wednesday 22^nd April 2015 – Day at Sea.

The weather is warming up - so now it’s too hot to sit in the sun!

Ian went to see the lecture by his new friend Michael Howard but Nesta wasn’t really interested in his subject matter (the first week of Churchill’s premiership) He spoke well, but it was a very similar presentation as the one made by Sir Max Hastings on sector two.

Nesta went to line dancing instead - but there were too many “yee hahs” for her liking so she left early!

Sam (Katherine’s Cunard Singer replacement) turned up at choir to help Lee. He needs all the help he can get – as he’s decided to do a difficult four part harmony version of “Rhythm of Life” as one of this leg’s songs!

After choir we attended our free wine tasting in the Britannia Restaurant. This time it was four different Australian wines including Mullygrubber!! (We obviously haven’t been drinking our predicted levels – so they have to get rid of it somehow!)

Ian seems to have picked up the lurgy again so he went to bed after the wine-tasting. Nesta went to the magic show (yet another “mentalist” – again very similar to the previous act) and then ate in Kings Court on her own. But she did bring Ian a little doggy bag back to the cabin!

 

Saturday 18^th April 2015 – Cape Town.

When we woke up this morning we saw that the ship is parked under Table Mountain – although inside a container port! Have to say that the mountain isn’t as big or impressive as it appears in the photographs we have seen.

We learned that the wind had been too strong for the ship to get into the harbour on time yesterday morning and it meant that Gary, Jenny & Dianne were very stressed as they had booked a private safari with an 8am pick-up! Fortunately their taxi waited for them…

We decided on a quietish day so took the shuttle into the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. (Yes, Alfred, not Albert - as it was Queen Victoria’s son Alfred who put a lot of money into Cape Town) We went to the “hop on hop off” tour office and decided on the two and a half hour peninsular trip. (Unfortunately we didn’t have time to do the free wine tour part of the trip as the ship was leaving mid-afternoon and we all had to go through South African immigration again…)

The trip went around behind Table Mountain passed the Botanical Gardens to the better beaches and through the affluent suburbs – one of which is called Clifton! One stop we wouldn’t have got off – even if we had the time – was a walking tour through Imizamo Township.

After a coffee in the waterfront we got back on the ship where Ian was very nearly crashed into in Kings Court by a suitcase wielding Michael Howard (the celebrity guest speaker on this leg)

We attended the emergency drill again, as we had received a personal invite. Apparently maritime law states that passengers have to attend one every six weeks – but as they don’t take a register how would they know? We got there early (yes, we realise that if it happens for real we wouldn’t know when the alarm would go off) as it’s the only way we can get a seat! We sat right in front of Lee (the Muster Station Leader and also our choir master) who told us later he couldn’t look at our serious faces as he gave out the information - because he would have laughed.

We then went up to Deck 8 for the “sail away” where we discovered that Norah (who is the spitting image of June) and Alan are back on board. She had brought presents! Chocolate for Gary and handbag ashtrays for the girls. (Nesta’s has got “Two beers or not two beers” printed on it – what is she trying to say?) We enjoyed a couple of pints (two beers?) as we sailed out of Cape Town. This is a place we would come back to – always assuming the riots that followed our Durban departure and have now spread to Johannesburg spread no further.

As newbies always cause chaos in Kings Court we decided to have our meal in the Britannia Restaurant. We asked Robert for an umbrella as there was a “sneezer” and a “cougher” at the two tables on the level above us. Robert tried to be professional but had to walk away laughing when Nesta sat there with her napkin over her head…

 

Sunday 19^th April – Day at Sea.

Clocks went back again last night so we are on GMT + 1 – which means we are on the same time as the UK!

It was a sunny day but the southerly wind was cold. We decided to cancel our “leisurely” trip in Grand Canaria and go on the “free time at two different places” tour instead. Ian went down to the tours desk where he found himself behind his new friends Lord & Lady Howard!

Michael Howard was trying to book a trip to Swakopmund from Walvis Bay tomorrow - but was told it was full and he would have to go on a waiting list. When he said he had filled in a request form the previous evening the girl in the office basically called him a liar - as she had “processed all requests that have come in”. For a man who would have, after all, been Prime Minister if the Tories had won the 2005 General Election he didn’t come the “do you know who I am” and instead of getting his butler to arrange a trip, merely shrugged his shoulders and accepted that he had to go on a waiting list. Ian has never agreed with his politics but on the basis of his two meetings with him now thinks he’s a genuine person.

There was a church service led by the Captain but we couldn’t bear to listen to his boring monotone voice again – so gave it a miss.

In the afternoon we signed up again for the choir. As this is the last leg, we will be doing a full concert in the Royal Court Theatre so lots more people turned up hoping to get into the limelight! Let’s see if they can drag themselves off their sunbeds for rehearsals when the weather gets a bit warmer!

It was formal night tonight – but we decided to give the restaurant a miss (after being coughed and sneezed on last night) Ian ordered a steak from room service and Nesta brought fresh pasta down from the chef’s galley. We drank some of our own wine and had a nice evening.

 

Monday 20^th April 2015 – Walvis Bay, Namibia.

We docked safely and attended our usual African immigration queue before getting on to our tour to Swakopmund (a German settlement dating back to when Namibia was called German South West Africa)

Walvis Bay was more affluent than we had expected (even though the tour guide said that there was 35% unemployment) We didn’t see much evidence of the townships that blight South Africa and the locals we came across appeared friendly!

We saw flamingos in the lagoon next to where the ship was parked and then went along the coast road to Swakopmund. We didn’t feel it was very Germanic (certainly not as quaint as Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills) but went to a crystal factory and a factory where weavers were making carpets before watching how shoes are made from the skins of zebra, springbok and crocodile… (Don’t worry Fi & Ellie – we didn’t buy any!) Nesta did buy a “Pumba” tee-shirt, though!

On the way back to the ship we stopped at Dune 7 (so named because it is seven miles from the sea, apparently) This is allegedly the third biggest sand dune in Africa and Nesta decided she would be an intrepid explorer and try to climb it. Unfortunately, we only had 15 minutes free time, so she had to admit defeat!

Back on the ship we went to the sail away party and then to the cinema to watch Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Imitation Game” about Professor Alan Turing of Bletchley Park fame. We enjoyed the film even though we had German passengers behind us translating most of the dialogue!

We then called it a night. Our next stop is Las Palmas in Grand Canaria which is seven days away…

 

Tuesday 14^th April 2015 – Day at Sea.

It is cool with intermittent rain today. We had a late breakfast and went up to the Atlantic room for a coffee. Here we heard a full account about how a gentleman passenger died yesterday during a tour to the Zulu village. – Very sad.

Our final rehearsal for the choir started half an hour early and we just about made the songs acceptable before our performance. Come back Catherine!!

We received the news that FW de Klerk (Nobel prize-winner and former President of South Africa) was joining the ship tomorrow in Port Elizabeth for a lecture followed by a Q&A session - before getting off again when we arrive in Cape Town. (Typical! We actually get off the ship in Port Elizabeth for our overland “Garden Route” safari, re-joining it in Cape Town. So, we’ll miss him!)

In the evening we went to see “The Equaliser” starring Denzel Washington. It was a remake of the Edward Woodward TV series and we didn’t think it was as good. Towards the end of the film the ship got a little “lumpy” so we decided to leave as Nesta wanted to “investigate” (i.e. have a cigarette!)

It was pouring down and the water in the swimming pools was cascading across the decks! In view of this, Nesta decided to go back to the cabin and have an early night – we do have to get up at 5-30am in the morning after all! (This is because the passengers doing overland tours have to go through South African immigration again … why?)

 

Wednesday 15^th April 2015 – Port Elizabeth for the Overland Garden Route.

The ship parked on time, and we got up and charged off at 6am to the Connexions Room for our immigration inspection as requested. When we got there we were informed by a shame-faced officer that the authorities had changed their minds! We could have had another two hours sleep!

We met up with the twelve other passengers going on the Garden Route, were taken to our luxury coach and we set out at 8-30am. Our guide is called Scott and our driver is Mohinder  

After a non-scheduled tour of Port Elizabeth (Scott had forgotten to bring water bottles, so we had to go to his house to pick them up) it was out on to the N2 highway. Our first stop was the Tsitsikamma National Park at the aptly named Storms River Mouth. We walked around the headland to the mouth of the river and saw some spectacular waves breaking over the rocks. It was colder than anticipated and also rained so we were soon back on the coach and heading down the coast to the seaside town of Plettenberg Bay.

We booked into the five-star hotel in time for a very nice three course lunch with panoramic views over the bay from the restaurant.

We had a huge room, complete with four poster bed, and a terrace which led to an infinity swimming pool 10 metres away. Unfortunately, it was a little cold for swimming but we did go for a walk to the nearby beaches. It felt a lot “safer” than in Durban – but we did see security guards everywhere.

The hotel had free internet so Ian updated the laptop whilst Nesta enjoyed a luxurious soak in the massive bath. Soon it was time for more food – this time a four course dinner – and then we decided to have a quiet night. (The weather had other ideas as we were woken up by a tremendous thunder clap followed by torrential rain. Glad we were on land, in this weather, rather than on board ship!)

 

Thursday 16^th April 2015 – Overland Garden Route and Safari.

During breakfast Colin Norton (one of the other passengers) saw on his tablet that the visit of the QM2 to Port Elizabeth was front page news in the local paper. Upon reading the story, however, we were shocked to learn that a second passenger has died - this time shortly after returning to the ship from a trip ashore.

From Plettenberg it was back on the N2 until we came to the Little Brak River turnoff. From there it was a thirty minute drive to the Botlierskop Game Reserve.

We were greeted to a glass of champagne on a terrace overlooking the reserve where we were given our itinerary. We noticed that it said “beverages extra” so brought this to the attention of the staff – as when we booked we were told there were to be complimentary beers and wines… After checking with the management we were informed that local beers and wines were indeed complimentary so we decided to take them up on it by ordering a very nice Shiraz to accompany lunch!

After lunch we were escorted to our tents (not the sort that Ian can remember from his time as a scout) these had air conditioning (which worked as a heater as well) a sunken bath, electric blankets, Wi-Fi and even an outdoor shower! (Fortunately it was a little too cold to try this out!) Each of the tents were in their own private area of land and the staff also laid on golf-carts to take the more elderly of our number to their tent. (Unfortunately, we were deemed fit enough not to need the golf-carts…)

At 3pm we met up for our first safari. We climbed aboard two Toyota Landcruisers and went in search of elephants. We found a family of four in one of the valleys and watched them for about 20 minutes. The Rangers (ours was called Marco) kept us informed of what was on the Reserve and what we were likely to see. Next it was off to the Rhinoceros compound. These animals are protected by law but poaching is such a menace (even on private reserves) that they have to be carefully monitored. Their horns are cut off to discourage attacks from poachers (one rhino horn is reputedly worth about two million rand), there are trackers in the bush 24 hours a day to keep an eye on them and, every two days, a helicopter flies over the park to count them! Even with all this monitoring, Marco said that it is likely that rhinos in the wild will become extinct in South Africa by the year 2025 - because in a country with 40% rural unemployment, someone is always going to take a chance to get rich… How sad.

We saw lots of different antelopes, wildebeest, ibis and zebras and were in time to see giraffes walking into the sunset as they made their way into a different valley for the night. Just as dusk approached, the trucks turned into bars and spirits, beers and wine were served! Ian had a couple of whiskies and Nesta vodka and tonic followed by an introduction to Amurulu (A bit like Baileys). It is made from the Murula fruit that grows on trees in the Reserve and which are actually the elephants’ favourite snack!

It was dark when we returned to our tents and there was just enough time to change for dinner. On the menu there was crocodile tails, ostrich and game sausages but we decided that we would stick with zebra and gemsbok steaks! All washed down, of course, with the complimentary wine…

We didn’t spend too much time talking after dinner as we had a 5-30am alarm call booked for our early morning safari!

 

Friday 17^th April 2015 – Overland Garden Route and Safari.

We woke before the alarm went off and had fun trying to find our clothes! Although the tent had electricity, lighting was limited to two bedside lights and down lighters in the bathroom – not enough to illuminate the sides of the tent where our suitcase was!

At 6-15am we were back on the trucks – all wrapped up against the cold – and were even given a hot water bottle each (in a zebra patterned cover) to help us all keep warm until the sun got up!

Marco drove us to the far side of the reserve where the lions live. There are three animals here, two lionesses who are sisters and a male called “Chris!” They were all rescued from a breeding programme and are living out their lives here. In the wild, cubs stay with the mother for at least two years, in which time they are taught how to be a lion. They then leave the family and fend for themselves. Lionesses usually produce cubs when they are six years old and then again when they’re eight and eleven. In captivity the cubs are taken from the mother at six months and bred repeatedly from the age of two. When they are too old they are sold to hunting companies who charge (mostly Japanese, Chinese and American) “hunters” mega bucks to shoot them!

Chris and the girls need to be fed every two weeks as they never learned how to hunt - but the sight of them roaming across the bush at dawn was awesome. Apparently lions only roar at sunrise and sunset and because we were there in time we got to hear their chorus! (Nesta also remembered to turn on the record button on the camera – so we have the proof!)

We left the enclosure and drove up a steep track to a plateau overlooking Mossel Bay for African Hot Chocolate amongst the zebras. African Hot Chocolate differs from the traditional drink in that Amurulu is used instead of milk! Although it was only 7-30am about half a dozen passengers decided to try this concoction and even the Rangers seemed impressed!

The African “Big Five” consists of Elephant, Water Buffalo, Lion, Rhinoceros and Leopard and it is only the Leopard which is missing from this Reserve. The Buffalo however are not too sociable and took a bit of finding. According to Marco they are more dangerous and unpredictable than lions and after mosquitos and hippos are the third biggest killers of humans. We eventually found a group but it was noticeable that Marco stayed in the truck to give his commentary!

Eventually we went back to the Lodge for a 9-30am breakfast after which it was back to the tent to pack, in time for an eleven o’clock check out.

The itinerary said that we would now walk to the Day Safari Lodge (where there is a souvenir shop) before another three course luncheon… None of us were hungry in the slightest - so Scott asked if a packed lunch could be made up which would enable us to have a few extra stops during the five hour journey to Cape Town.

One of these extra shops was at a “Bottle Shop” (off-licence) which was duly cleared out of their stocks of Amurulu!

The scenery was still spectacular, although different. We passed through the farming belt with their acres and acres of wheat and quinoa. There were also lots of farms with both beef and dairy cattle and sheep. It looked a bit like the M6 going through the Lake District at times. The next area was the apple growing belt (yes, Nesta did buy some cider!) and, before the range of mountains which protect Cape Town, finally a wine producing area.

We travelled through Sir Lowry’s Pass and stopped at the top to take pictures of the Cape Flats and the city in the distance. It was very windy but fortunately the wind was blowing in the right direction – Scott says there has been instances of cars being blown off the road here.

We safely descended and then drove through the townships on the outskirts of Cape Town. They are made up of metal shacks (which are too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter) with plastic roofs secured by rocks – They were, however, were all connected to electricity cables and we noticed that most of them had satellite dishes! Social housing is being built but, as fast as a family can be rehoused, another one has moved into the original shack. There doesn’t seem to be an easy answer as there is not enough work to go round and yet migrants are still coming in from rural areas and even from abroad. (Incidentally we saw on the news that riots had occurred in Durban the day after we left - as black South Africans were protesting that their jobs were being taken by immigrants from Nigeria and Somalia)

After experiencing rush hour in Cape Town, we made it back to the ship at 6-30pm. We were welcomed back with a free glass of champagne in the Verve Clicquot Bar (One of our favourite waiters, Ryan, managed to produce a few more!) and we all said our goodbyes to Scott. What a great experience!

Strangely we didn’t feel like eating in the restaurant and as we had had three “full-on” days we decided that we would unpack and have an early night.