Monday 30^th March 2015 – Day at Sea.

We were due to leave at 8am but just as the ropes were about to be let go, there were two medical emergencies which necessitated ambulances coming to take the two gentlemen (and their wives) off the ship. We therefore missed our slot to leave and the pilot got off and went out into the harbour to bring in a bulk car carrier which was at anchor. Evidently, when he got to the ship their Captain said he wouldn’t move as the QM2 was on its berth! (Honestly – it’s true, the Captain confirmed as much later on in the day) The pilot therefore came back into the dock, reboarded QM2 and we were finally able to go at 10-30am…

It was a warm sunny day, the sea was calm and we saw schools of dolphins jumping through our wake. It looked as if they were playing. The Captain said the delays in leaving wouldn’t affect the time we get into Fremantle as he can go quicker over the next few days – weather permitting of course. (The Great Australian Bight is noted, apparently, for bad weather – so, watch this space!)

After dolphin watching (and Ian is sure he saw a whale as well) we had a late lunch sitting outside on Deck 12 and then went to the afternoon performance of a Sand Artist…

We weren’t sure how building sand castles would work in the Illuminations theatre but Ed (the new entertainments director, or Dumbo as he is affectionately known) assured us that a camera would project everything up onto a screen for all of us to watch. It turns out we were right to be cynical - as five technicians, plus the artist, couldn’t get the camera to work. Lots of leads, plugs, screw drivers etc. were sent for and tried before, after over 30 minutes of trying, they gave up and the performance was cancelled! Oh well – Ian thought the entertainment value of watching them for that 30 minutes was far higher than some of the recent evening performances whilst Nesta said the team were actually auditioning – and failing – for the crew talent show…

We have managed to contact Elizabeth (Heather’s Mum) and Tom and agreed to meet them at the early evening cocktail party. After queuing for a good while we made it into the Queens Rooms and managed to find a seat. They are very good company and Nesta was able to practise her Scottish accent! The swell has increased over the last few hours and is now running at five metres. Even this ship is moving a bit but as the Captain pointed out, in his quite amusing speech, if we had been on a cruise ship instead of this ocean liner we wouldn’t be standing here at all! – Wonder what he would make of Voyager??

We only had a couple of drinks as we were saving ourselves for the “Wine Dinner”, hosted by Executive Chef, QM2 – Klaus Kremer and Brand Ambassador for The Lane Winery, Australia – Christian Burvill-Holmes! We sat on a table for four with Louise (as Lewanne now wants to be known!) and her friend Bernie, from the Princess grills, and had a very nice evening.

Christian was a good speaker and very informative about his wines but the Executive Chef didn’t appear, to talk about the dishes or explain why he felt they complemented the wines. We did feel let down, as we had paid a lot of money and would have liked the guy to at least turn up!

The wines were interesting although we felt that matching the vineyard’s flagship wine, a red Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon, with apple crumble, white chocolate and saffron cream is just plain wrong!

 

Sunday 29^th March 2015 – Adelaide.

We docked in Port Adelaide, 45 minutes by road away from the city. As it will be BST in the UK we’ll only be nine and a half hours ahead now!

For the first time in a long time we were booked onto a tour today – to the Adelaide Hills and more specifically Hahndorf, which is the oldest surviving German settlement in Australia.

Unfortunately, the port authorities wouldn’t let the ship use two gangways and as 800 people were disembarking it meant that we queued for a good 30-45 minutes to get off the ship… wonderful!

Our guide on the trip was a woman in her sixties called Hannah, who emigrated in 1969, but still had a pronounced Germanic accent. She didn’t seem to know much about the area and just read from a tourist guide. Fortunately our driver – Steve, a former South Australian policeman – rescued the tour and kept interrupting her “spiel” to tell us interesting facts about where we were passing. As it was Sunday, there wasn’t too much traffic around so he drove through the Central Business District (CBD) of Adelaide pointing out interesting buildings and telling us the history of the place. Then it was out onto the freeway for about 25 kilometres to the summit of Mount Lofty (another unimaginative name?) for a photo stop. Here he came with us and pointed out the areas of Adelaide. We could even see the QM2 even though it was nearly 30 kilometres in the distance (photo duly taken with our brilliant camera!)

Hahndorf itself is really quaint and picturesque. We walked round passing pubs like “The German Arms” and cheese shops like “Udder Delights” until we stopped at “The German Cake Shop” for coffee and steak pie (couldn’t find the cakes!). The pies were lovely and Ian even managed to decorate himself with tomato ketchup! (You still can’t trust these Germans!!)

Rather than return via the freeway, Steve took the old road back to Adelaide and stopped off for us to take some pictures of koalas in the wild… aaah!

He then took us along the coast, past all of the beaches, and back to the ship at the end of a brilliant trip… Thanks Steve!

We were due to sail at 6pm but at 5-45pm the Captain announced that a problem with part of the propulsion system (engines?) had been found, during routine maintenance. This would be fixed by about 10pm but the Port Authorities wouldn’t let us leave in the dark - so we won’t be going until 8am tomorrow morning.

Unfortunately there were no coaches available to act as the free shuttles for the 45 minute journey into Adelaide (although we could, as the Captain said, use taxis or the train) - so most people stayed aboard. He confirmed that we would be able to make up the delay during the three sea days between here and Fremantle, so no-one thought anything of it – although there was disappointment that we couldn’t easily get back into Adelaide.

Friends of Dianne and Jenny, however, put a different spin on the whole “delay” thing. They live in Perth and were originally meeting them there, but two weeks ago managed to buy a trip from Adelaide to Fremantle. They were rather surprised at the Captain’s announcement as their travel agent had told them a fortnight ago that it would be ok to join the ship here as it was overnighting in Adelaide for regular maintenance…

It does make it difficult to understand why Cunard don’t always tell the truth…Surely it couldn’t be that they had decided that the cost of keeping the shuttle busses on through the night (as they had done in Auckland) was too prohibitive?

In the evening we went to see our new mate David Copperfield’s full show. His full name is Stanley David Copperfield (don’t you just hate people who use their middle name?) and he told us that when the American one came to England he was asked how much money he wanted to change his name! Well – even though he was born in Scotland, he was brought up in Yorkshire so you can imagine what the answer was…. So, there are still two “David Copperfields”!

The show was good and finished in time for us to have cheese and biscuits before calling it a day.

We’ll be seeing the Captain at tomorrow night’s cocktail party…wonder if any of us will be brave enough to ask him to come clean and tell us the truth??

 

Thursday 26^th March 2015 – Day at Sea.

Lots of “newbies” on board – some of whom are only travelling from Sydney to Melbourne –hardly seems worth the effort!

We went to see Dr Ingrid Visser “top and tail” a documentary called “Blackfish” which looks into the subterfuge behind the death of a trainer at Sea World in California by a killer whale. You would never visit Sea World – or any aquarium or “swim with the dolphins” if you watched this documentary. It’s not just the conditions but it’s also the vast differences in lifespan between whales in captivity compared to their natural environment. The bottom line seems to be money (what a surprise). A whale in captivity is worth about 10 million dollars to the aquariums – so they overbreed them and regardless of claims to the contrary they do not look after the animals’ wellbeing.

We were very surprised that Cunard let her show this controversial film and host a Q&A session afterwards – but glad they did!

It was a formal night so we went to the restaurant. Gary, Jenny and Dianne are going to move to the next table – so that’ll be good!

Once again the evening entertainment – Aurelie & Dmitri another two acrobats! - wasn’t up to much (in our opinion) so we gave it a miss.

 

Friday 27^th March 2015 – Melbourne.

What a journey to get here! After passing the Furneaux Group of Islands off the top of Tasmania the wind and seas increased until we had 90 knot gusts of winds. Even this ship listed to port so much that our stateroom door didn’t close automatically. It was a bit disconcerting to see the sea over our balcony from the chairs in our room - when Nesta usually has to sit on two big cushions in order to see it!

Anyway – we finally arrived at Melbourne and the weather calmed down. It is unseasonably cool today and we discovered that it was the funeral of Malcolm Fraser (a former Premier) so half the roads were closed off. The shuttle bus from the ship to the centre was therefore diverted for miles and it took over an hour to get into the city (hooray)

We caught the free tram and did a circuit of the city. It was very busy but luckily managed to find seats next to a local couple who gave us a running commentary of what we were seeing. We got off at the stop nearest to the Melbourne Cricket Ground and walked there. We did the tour of the ground – which lasted an hour and a half and was very interesting (to Ian, anyway!) The World Cup Final is being played here on Sunday (come on New Zealand!) and there were lots of preparations going on. Whilst we were there the New Zealand team actually came out to practise and some of the blokes on the tour tried to “disappear” so they could stay and watch them!

We got some great views from the Members’ Stand - not just of the ground but also of the Rod Laver Arena and the Margaret Court Stadium nearby, where the Australian Open Tennis tournament takes place every January.

Apart from the sports stadia, though, Melbourne gets the accolade of our least favourite Australian city so far – although this was not helped by the fact that the ship was only allowed to have one gangway in operation instead of the usual three - so there were long queues to get back on board.

We went up to the “sail away” party and it was so cold that Vibz (the Caribbean band) all had hoodies on! We did spend half an hour chatting to David Copperfield who seems a really nice guy. We’re looking forward to his full show on Sunday.

Dinesh (our Sommelier on the first leg) had mentioned that there was a “wine dinner” on 30^th March in “Todd English” (the a la carte restaurant). The Executive Chef and The Lane Vineyard’s premier wine expert will concoct a meal with complementary wines (don’t think that means they will be free!) and the meal lasts for two and a half hours…We booked it!

Only Lewanne from our gang was interested in it – so the three of us will have a good evening… their loss!

Again the evening entertainment - Russell Harrison, star of New Zealand TV’s “Bring the Sing” (?) - didn’t do it for us… shame, really - so we had an early night. It wasn’t as lumpy as the night before but the weather still woke us up a couple of times.

 

Saturday 28^th March 2015 – Day at Sea.

The weather has calmed down thankfully and we had a quiet day updating the diary and the blog. We went to Judith Hinchliffe’s lecture about the Australian Bushfires of 2009 but were disappointed to find that it was virtually the same lecture as the one she’d done on the 2004 Tsunami (with different pictures) Perhaps she thought that there had been a complete changeover of passengers in Sydney!

As it is now too cool even to sit out on our sheltered balcony we watched the afternoon film on our TV and ordered ham and cheese Panini’s from room service for lunch.

For a third day running the evening entertainment did not tempt us. Kym Purling, Australia’s favourite and most versatile entertainer is doing a 45 minute slot but the theatre is only half full, so maybe it’s not just us!

Wednesday 25^th March – Sydney.

It was lovely to wake up this morning, go out onto our balcony and see the harbour bridge. We went up to Kings Court and sat eating our breakfast looking out at the opera house.

We’ve decided to spend the day in Manly so walked around the corner of Circular Quay and bought our $15Aus return ferry tickets. It takes 30 minutes to reach Manly so we had our own harbour tour. We recognised many of the areas we did previously on the “Bondi Bus” and just before arriving in Manly the ferry crosses the mouth of the harbour so it can be a little “lumpy” - from the Pacific swell coming in. Fortunately, it was fine.

We got off and walked along The Corso (pedestrianised main shopping street) and noticed how much cheaper goods were here as compared to central Sydney. We had a coffee overlooking Manly beach with its surfers and sunbathers and then walked back through side streets to the wharf. Here we set off on the “Manly Scenic Walkway” round to North Harbour and back – stopping from time to time to admire the view (and have a cigarette!)

There are supposed to be little penguins around these shores – but we didn’t see any, unfortunately – must be the wrong time of year.

Back at the ferry terminal we found an Aldi and bought 4 litres of Shiraz and 2 litres of Semillon Sauvignon Blanc for the grand total of nearly £13… Result!

Shortly after leaving Manly there was an announcement over the ferry’s loudspeakers that as there was higher than normal swell in the mouth of the harbour those of us sitting in the outdoor areas in the bow of the ferry “will get wet”! By then, though, it was a bit too rocky to move so we just stayed where we were. We did get covered in spray a few times but it was nothing serious – although as we were on the top deck, we didn’t know how those downstairs fared!

Six litres of wine is rather heavy and difficult to “smuggle” back on board – but we made it, but the problem is now that there isn’t enough room in our fridge for all of our drinks so we’ll have to plan our day in advance and rotate our drinks stock!

Once we had put our drinks away we were off again and walked round “The Rocks” area (where the first settlers came ashore) finishing off with a welcome pint at a pub before re-boarding.

A quick shower and change of clothes and it was up to Deck 8 for the “sail away” party. Gary, Jenny & Dianne are back with us and were pleased with their balloons and welcome poster from us. The seven of us oldies sat drinking whilst the three returnees danced and did the conga round the deck. It was like “having the kid’s home”!

In the evening, we went to our first “Welcome Aboard Show” only because Ian wanted to see David Copperfield (the English one, not the American illusionist, thankfully!) He had seen him 35 years ago doing a tour with Tracey Ullman and Lenny Henry and had always wondered what had happened to him. He was very funny and we are now looking forward to seeing his full show in a couple of days.

It is a sobering thought that we have now begun the fifth sector out of six on our voyage - but the “good” news is that we are now Platinum Members of the Cunard World Club!

This entitles us to a free wine tasting - which we are looking forward to – 20% off laundry (which we don’t use) and four hours of free internet (which we certainly will use)

 

Monday 23^rd March 2015 – Day at Sea.

It was a quiet sea day. Nothing of interest entertainment wise – not even choir, as the lovely Catherine (Cunard singer) has gone home after being diagnosed with an oesophageal ulcer. Lee is carrying on with the choir but we will give it a miss this leg.

Nesta spent all day getting the previous four days written into the diary and Ian sorted out naming the photos and updating the blog.

We did go to the restaurant for dinner – it has been such a long time since we were there that Robert (our waiter) introduced himself to us again!

In the daily information, Nesta noticed a special promotion for an “earthing pedicure”. The blurb said “Reconnect to the natural energy of the earth (has no-one told them we’re on a ship?) With a warm stone massage and grounding flip flops which are yours to take home complimentary with every service - which costs $150” Well! Not even the prospect of “free” flip flops tempted her!

 

Tuesday 24^th March 2015 – Day at Sea.

The clocks went back last night by an hour – so we are on GMT+12 (at least for a day)

At last, we had some interesting lectures to attend. Forensic Dentist, Judith Hinchliffe, gave a very good lecture about how dental records help identify and repatriate victims of disasters like the 2004 Tsunami. Although the subject matter was serious she injected “survivors humour” into her presentation and we look forward to her next presentations.

Dr Ingrid Visser then discussed the phenomenon of stranded whales and dolphins. She debunked a lot of the “weird” explanations as to why these creatures sometimes get stranded ashore and was passionate about the need to rescue as many animals as possible. Another person who’s next lecture we look forward to.

In the afternoon there was the “groovy choir” again - where passengers gather in the Grand Lobby and sing songs from the last 50 years. We enjoyed it – but not as much as last time.

In the evening we went and watched “Star of London’s West End” Richard Gauntlett… No, we hadn’t heard of him either – but he was brilliant! At last, a comedian who was funny. Add to this the fact that he was an escapologist, a juggler, a singer and a dancer and it makes you wonder how some people get famous whilst other talented people don’t.

Tomorrow, Gary, Jennifer and Dianne get back on board so Nesta phoned Hazel (the Events Organiser) to arrange for balloons, a card and decorations to be put in their new stateroom to welcome them back!

Saturday 21^st March 2015 – Day exploring New Zealand with Stuart & Diane.

We set off at 8-30am and before leaving Ohura drove to their golf club (and actually across the fairways, so we could see the lie of the land!)

Today we stayed on tarmac roads and went eastwards to Lake Taupo - stopping only to take photos of more stunning scenery as we went. Stuart decided to drive up the east coast of the lake as it is more picturesque. We stopped in Taupo itself for lunch. It was a lovely spot – but the service was terrible and the food mediocre – we won’t be going there again!!

We then headed north on State Highways 1 and 27 (to avoid Hamilton again). It was very different scenery to yesterday – much more “managed” farming and actually quite like the UK. It was still an amazing drive and we’re both really grateful to Stuart & Diane for putting themselves out like this to show us their lovely home and give us a taste of the real New Zealand.

We made it back to their second hotel in Auckland (they are going home on Sunday) and had time to have a couple of drinks with them before there were hugs and tears as we boarded the shuttle and made our way back to the ship by 7pm.

Jerry, our cabin steward, welcomed us back – even if he did seem a little put out that we hadn’t told him we were going away!

We had a quick bite to eat in the Kings Court, surrounded by even more “newbies”, decided that the “entertainment” wasn’t for us so went and had an early night. It had been an exhausting two days…

 

Sunday 22^nd March 2015 – Bay of Islands, New Zealand.

If we hadn’t been spoiled by the previous couple of days, we’re sure we would have found the beautiful scenery and the rather regimented ship’s tour excellent. As it was, it all seemed a bit rushed and “touristy”

The Waitangi Treaty Grounds was where the official treaty welcoming New Zealand into the British Empire was signed in 1840. It is a very important site for the Maoris, who make up the majority of the population here, and our guide was entertaining but it was only a five minute walk from the quay that the ship’s tenders were using and it probably took longer to get the passengers on and off the coach than it would for us to walk there.

There were other photo stops, and the tour did last about three hours, but once it had finished we made our way into the little town of Parhia and looked around at our own speed. We had lunch there and watched the world go by as the locals came out to fleece (sorry, serve) the tourists.

Back on board we decided to stand at the back of the theatre to see what Danny Elliott’s Musical Extravaganza was like… Danny is billed as “Australia’s premier multi-instrumental and vocal entertainer”. Well, he played “Rock around the Clock” on the bagpipes told a few unfunny jokes and then played Ravel’s “Bolero” on the mouth organ!! Not being able to take any more excitement, we left and went for a nightcap…

Thursday 19^th March – Auckland.

We arrived in Auckland and headed for the shore as soon as we were cleared by Customs. Ian had managed to talk to Diane on the phone and they had arrived too - and were sitting on Queen’s wharf looking at the Queen Victoria which was docked there and also watching The QM2 dock. Fortunately our ship’s shuttle would be dropping off passengers at Queen’s wharf - so we quickly packed a bag and got on the shuttle.

When we got off the bus – there they were! They were booked into the Copthorne Hotel, on the waterfront, for the night so we decided it was time for a quick beer (or four) and a catch-up. We went to a nice bar on the waterfront right next to where the World Cup cricket was being shown on a giant screen (no further mention of cricket will be made!) Following this we went to a restaurant on Prince’s wharf and had a nice meal with New Zealand wine…

Eventually, we all staggered back to our various abodes and agreed to meet up at 7-30am in the morning to begin our 36 hour road trip!

 

Friday 20^th March 2015 – Day exploring New Zealand with Stuart & Diane.

We met outside their hotel at just after 7-30am and set off through the city and out on State Highway 1 heading towards Hamilton (not the one where Nesta was born or indeed the one where the QM2 is registered either). We were soon out in the country and stopped at a town called Ngaruawahia for a very nice coffee in what is a mainly Maori township...

We bypassed Hamilton and came off the main highway at Te Kuiti. Little did we know that the small roads we were now travelling on would shortly seem like motorways!

We stopped at a little town called Piopio for brunch. Ian had a toasted sandwich but Nesta went native and tried the toasted breakfast bagel with bacon, egg and avocado. (Nicer than it sounds!)

We had gone five miles down the road when Diane realised she had left her bag (with money, cards passport etc.) back at the café but fortunately when we returned, someone had handed it in untouched… Phew!

Sheep farming is on the decline in New Zealand (Stuart & Diane only have about 8000 now!) but dairy farming is increasing together with logging. Stuart knows this area very well and kept us informed of its history as well as telling us who lived in practically every homestead we passed! He managed to make it very interesting, with personal anecdotes such as “this is the railway crossing where my Dad was hit by a train” and “this is the corner where I ran into my Mum” and most bizarrely “This is the home we used to live in, but after the fire we moved the building from where it was, down the valley - to where it is now, so that we could rent it out to a couple who work for us”!

After the settlement of Aria, the tarmac ran out and we were on “metal” roads which is what they call gravel or unmade up roads. Our first stop out in the wilderness was at the house Stuart grew up in. They now rent it to Billy the Goat… (Yes, his first name is Billy and he raises hundreds of goats). His son lives there too and he has about 300 beehives producing Manuka honey – which is now increasingly exported to Japan and Europe.

Billy suggested we might like to go up on the “terrace” for a good view of his goats. Stuart & Diane haven’t been up there for a couple of years – so off we went. This is where the gravel ran out! We were completely off road, driving over bridges that Stuart had put in and up through a natural forest where there wasn’t even a track. Eventually we got to a flat field (the terrace) where there were fantastic views of not only the goats but also the countryside, all of which was owned by Stuart & Diane!

Thirty years ago, Stuart’s father – Ian – had planted 200 trees on top of a ridge near an old coal mine. Stuart explained about the management of timber, including regular pruning so that the trunks grow straight, and told us that he was currently “taking these out” as now was a good time to sell them. They do not intend to replant trees here – Stuart wants to put in an airstrip… (Yes, honestly) Of course, we had to go up and see where all this was happening!

The dirt tracks up the side of a mountain were exciting enough but now we had to contend with giant logging trucks coming the other way! (Nesta had her eyes closed for most of the climb). When we got there it was amazing…Lots of photos taken!

Eventually it was time to negotiate our way back down the mountain and re-join a tarmac road and drive to their home. We arrived about 4-30pm in lovely sunshine, so it was cold beers all round. As Martin and Polly will know, their home is lovely. The silence in their garden was only broken by crickets, sheep and the occasional vehicle on the road below.

The respite was only brief however as off we went into Ohura to have a pint and meet up with some locals in their Cosmopolitan Club. Ohura used to have a bank, shops and garages but seems to be dying now. Indeed when Nesta was outside having a cigarette with the locals all their talk was of the decline of farming, the increase in paperwork and the lack of interest from their Government… made her feel at home!

The locals were very friendly – Ian actually had a couple of games of pool against them, but found that New Zealand rules differ greatly from UK rules (ok – so he lost!)

Finally it was time for home and a meal of barbecued home grown steak, home grown salad and home grown jacket potatoes and three bottles of Australian Merlot (Stuart & Diane don’t make their own wine!). The world was most definitely put to rights and we finally called it a night at about 1am.

Tomorrow we return to Auckland but by a different route!

Wednesday 18^th March – Day at Sea.

Well – Wellington got the boot!

Our day in Wellington turned out to be a day at sea. We pottered around in the Cook Strait between the islands until 5am. There were storm force 10 winds and a heavy swell again. This time Ian noticed it – but apart from a bit of pitching, the ship handled it well (didn’t need to worry about objects falling off tables etc.)

We tried the approaches to Wellington but at 8am the Captain announced that it was too dangerous and that we were going to sail up the west coast (keeping the land between us and the weather) and then sail around the top of New Zealand, arriving in Auckland “sometime tomorrow afternoon”.

It was a slightly bumpy day for us. They tried to rearrange some “entertainment” but it didn’t inspire us too much and for the first time this trip, Nesta was bored!!

Paul, the Entertainments Director, has had to fly home to the UK as his Mother is ill. His team did manage to persuade the headline act for this sector – that well known singer and “comedian” Mike Doyle (?) – to do another show for us, as he should have flown home to Wales from Wellington!

We had missed his first show - and his Q&A session with Paul - but were told he was very funny… Well – he’s got a good voice, but funny?? We thought watching paint dry was funnier – but passengers sitting around us were rolling in the isles, so perhaps it’s just us?!

After the show we had chicken and “pigs in blankets” in the Kings Court – very edible! We had also filled up our empty bottle of “Mullygrubber” with supermarket Shiraz so enjoyed a cheap drink or two with our meal.

Hopefully we’ll be in Auckland by 4pm tomorrow afternoon, so we are now waiting to hear back from Stuart & Diane with details of where we’re going to meet them – should be good!

 

Monday 16^th March 2015 – Day at Sea.

It is still Nesta’s birthday in the UK so we skyped and managed to talk to Dave on top of a mountain in France (he’s on a skiing holiday) and the girls in Bristol – great!

We had a quiet day, as the lectures didn’t interest us, with just the choir rehearsal to keep us amused. Cyclone Pam seems to have absolutely devastated Vanuatu and although we aren’t very near it, its aftermath continues to affect us. After Picton tomorrow the plan is to sail to Wellington overnight but at our cocktail party tonight the Captain implied that we may not be able to get there. Apparently the entrance to the harbour is quite shallow with only one and a half metres below our hull. Normally this is ok but if there is a swell then it could be too dangerous. He won’t know until Wednesday morning – so, fingers crossed!

 

Tuesday 17^th March 2015 – Picton, New Zealand.

As a replacement for the still earthquake damaged city of Christchurch, we weren’t expecting much from Picton. We looked it up on Google and found it is a small commercial port with 3000 inhabitants, no bus service and only one train a day! It does, however, have a ferry to Wellington and as such is the “gateway to South Island”!

Well – it is lovely! A pretty little town with stunning views, good “local” shops, and lots of walks available plus enough free Wi-Fi to read and update all of our e-mails! We walked out to Bobs Bay – but couldn’t find him! – And it was warm, dry and sunny! We took loads of photos and spent a good five hours in the town before we got back on the ship.

In the evening there was a concert by Catherine Shepherd, our choir mistress, in the Winter Gardens. It was packed and Catherine, who has a fantastic voice, sang songs from musicals that meant something to her personally. It was very popular and she actually got a standing ovation!

After that it was off to Kings Court for a bite to eat and then down to the Queens Room for a pint and to watch the dancers celebrating St Patricks Day with a selection of “Irish” dancing! Didn’t stay too long…before it was off to bed to see what tomorrow brings.

Friday 13^th March 2015 – Day at Sea.

We put our clocks forward yet another hour so we are now at GMT+12. After no luck yesterday, Ian managed to skype Martin and Rebecca whilst it was still 12^th March in the UK.

Not quite so relaxing a day today – force six winds with a moderate swell. Evidently Cyclone Pam is causing chaos in the Pacific and heading our way. The Captain says it may alter our New Zealand plans. He also said “4 metre swells today – not significant for QM2” (Voyager, eat your heart out!)

The new lecturers’ topics aren’t doing it for us – neither, unfortunately, is the evening entertainment so all we did today was sign up for the choir again!

Yet another 175 Ball tonight – which we’ll probably give a miss. As it is a formal night, we dressed up and had our meal in the restaurant. The good news is that “Mullygrubber” is now back on board!!

 

Saturday 14^th March – Day at Sea.

Yet another hour forward – we are now at GMT+13!

The good news is that we’re still going to Milford Sound tomorrow – the bad news is we won’t be able to go to Akoroa (for Christchurch) on 17^th.

We’ve seen on the news the devastation caused by Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu and it is apparently heading for the north east of New Zealand. We understand that there is also a smaller cyclone coming up from the south - so as Akoroa is a “tender port” it has been decided that it will not be safe to go there. The Captain has said we need to stay on the western side of the country for the moment and is looking for somewhere big enough for us to get into.

It’s a bit cold to sit out because of the wind – but this means our sheltered balcony is coming into its own!

We decided to give astronomer John Maclean a go today. He was talking about “near earth objects” i.e. meteors etc. It was quite interesting, but we’ll probably not go to see him again. We went to choir and then after scones and jam went to see the film “Lucy” starring Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman. We had read the previous day’s film synopsis so wasn’t expecting a sci-fi – still, it was quite fun to watch.

Time to scrub up again for yet another formal night and Captain’s reception. We didn’t find any of our waiter friends so had to make do with only two free drinks tonight – poor show!

Ian has spoken to Hazel (events manager) and booked the Boardroom for drinks and canapés tomorrow evening for Nesta’s birthday. We have invited Andrew, Linda, Colin, Vanessa and Lewanne to join us.

We gave the welsh comedian a miss and had an early night to prepare for whatever tomorrow brings!

 

Sunday 15^th March – Milford Sound, New Zealand.

Happy birthday Nesta!

As it was her birthday, Ian let Nesta go and get our early morning tea! (Or have a smoke as it’s also known)

The weather has changed a bit – it’s only 16 degrees today.

Milford Sound is part of the Fiordland National Park and we picked up a park ranger with the pilot. We went up to the observation deck on 11 but the wind was quite strong up there so we went inside to the Atlantic Lounge (for world voyagers only) and watched the scenery out of the window whilst drinking coffee! It was possible to stand on the low window sills and take photos over the heads of the freezing passengers outside. (At last a “real” perk!)

As we’re not going to Akoroa, the Captain decided to stay longer at Milford (the town at the end of the Sound) it was interesting as he just spun the ship around a full 360 degrees continually for about 45 minutes in the sunshine. We then headed 60 miles or so southwards and went into Thompson Sound, around Secretary Island and back out of Doubtful Sound. The Ranger, Ross Kerr, did a presentation during the time it took us to get there. He has worked for Fiordland for over forty years and his knowledge and enthusiasm was apparent. We feel he is a much better speaker than some of the lecturers!

There are no settlements further south, so not many people get to see this part of the world - the only way in is by sea. It is certainly not on the cruise ship or tourist route and is stunning; although it had started to rain by the time we got there. (It does rain for over 200 days a year here, so we suppose it is to be expected!

Not a bad place to cruise on your birthday!

The magnificent seven met up in the Board Room for drinks and canapés. We enjoyed it so much that we went back and forward from there to Churchill’s (the cigar lounge) all evening and didn’t bother with dinner. Vanessa had bought some small mild cigars, with filters, which smelt like vanilla ice cream (and didn’t taste too bad either). We didn’t, therefore, get thrown out by “Hitler” who still regularly checks to make sure no-one is smoking cigarettes. N.B. Ian was ok in there…non-smokers can go into the lounge, it’s just cigarette smokers who can’t!

Nesta had a birthday card signed by the Captain waiting when we returned to our cabin. As we are now GMT+13 her birthday will last for 37 hours (Ian only got 35 hours). We will speak to Dave, Ellie and Fiona in the morning – which will still be Sunday evening for them – it’s a funny world!

 

Wednesday 11^th March 2015 – Day at Sea.

Happy Birthday Ian.

A birthday card signed by the Captain arrived today, together with four from our group of friends. They all have a similar theme – seems like they know us quite well!

One of the speakers, Capt. Rigby the airline pilot, showed a video of the actual flight deck during a Ryan Air flight from Birmingham to Dublin. Nesta had her eyes closed several times! He runs a “fear of flying” course and Ian has threatened to buy a place on it for Nesta’s birthday…

At 11am we went to the Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais Q&A session. Unfortunately Ian La Frenais had forgotten to put his watch on an hour (now at GMT+11) and eventually arrived, late and totally embarrassed!

We brunched after this and had a relaxing afternoon before going to a “meet the speakers” session in the Chart Room. We had a nice chat with Dick Clement about his early days, their upcoming projects and his love of football. Even though Ian La Frenais supports Newcastle, Dick Clements supports Chelsea (since the 1960’s he was at pains to point out, and not just since Abramovic).

In the evening there was a one night only tribute band on, called “The Beatles Experience” Thanks Nesta for arranging that! They were excellent and we enjoyed it so much we decided to miss dinner and watch the performance again!

 

Thursday 12^th March 2015 – Sydney.

Had a fantastic day in Sydney. We parked right under the Harbour Bridge in Circular Quay. We bought tickets for the “hop on, hop off” bus (with a 10% discount because of our Darwin trip!) and got off the city explorer bus at central station where we got onto the Bondi bus. Bondi Beach was nowhere near as commercialised as we had feared. We had a paddle (although Nesta didn’t see a large wave so she got a bit wet!)

 It was really attractive and we walked the length of the beach before having a glass of wine in the “Bucket List” bar whilst we watched the world go by. It’s very much a backpacker/surfer sort of place so it was quite easy to differentiate between locals and cruise passengers!

We reluctantly dragged ourselves away and returned to central station on the bus through all of the expensive suburbs with fabulous views over the city and harbour. At the station we got back on a city tour bus and completed that tour. We got off at The Rocks and walked back to the ship to take on more “fluid” and drop off a bag. We then headed out to do the local area on foot.

We walked over to the Opera House and looked at the special “Cunard 175” exhibition of photographs that the Captain had opened at midday and which will be free for the public to view for the next 175 days. We circumnavigated the Opera House and went into the Botanical Gardens, where we watched the poor old Queen Victoria passengers catching tenders back to their ship which was at anchor in the harbour.

We walked back to the ship through the Opera House restaurants and bars but after checking out their prices decided to wait until we were on board for a welcome pint!

No time for dinner tonight as we would miss the “sail away” and firework display as Sydney said goodbye to both Queens. There were lots of people waving us off from the shore and a flotilla of small boats followed us out. The fireworks began when we met up with the Queen Victoria (which was still at anchor, following us out half an hour later) and we enjoyed the whole evening with the rest of the “magnificent seven” as we now are - due to Gary, Jenny and Diane leaving us for a few weeks until they get back on at “Sydney 2 – The sequel” on 25^th March.

 

Monday 9^th March 2015 – Day at Sea.

After the success of the Commonwealth games in Glasgow last summer it has been decided that at 10am on Commonwealth Day (9^th March, if you didn’t know) QM2 will raise the Commonwealth Flag – joining 53 countries across the world as we do so. It was quite a moving little ceremony but spoiled by the fact that the wind made the Captain difficult to hear. (Don’t think there would have been a similar problem with the old Captain!)

After this we charged off to the choir dress rehearsal performance and were surprised by how many passengers came into the Queens Room after the Captain’s navigational update – just to hear us. We got some nice feedback and seemed to have got away with it…

In the evening we watched the film “Across the Universe” written by Dick Clement and Ian Las Frenais. It is a musical using the songbook of the Beatles and the Vietnam War to form the backdrop of a romance between an American girl and a poor Liverpudlian artist. It is very much a homage to the 1960’s and especially The Beatles and is excellent. Not many people had heard of it and in the Q&A session after the film, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais explained that the studio thought it was too long and wanted to make cuts but the director refused and after many months of wrangling, the film was released uncut but the studio refused to promote it in any way. As Dick Clement said, you don’t take on the studio as it always wins. Out of interest - whilst not agreeing to the swingeing cuts the studio wanted - they did think the film was too long and should have been “pruned”

We dined in the Britannia and had a goodbye glass or two of Veuve Clicquot with Dave and Gayle (our dining room neighbours since Southampton). They are getting off tomorrow in Brisbane and strangely we only found out tonight that Dave used to be a professional cyclist from Liverpool who actually knew Ian’s cousin Alan, who had ridden in the Milk Race (Tour of Britain), and rode for Birkenhead North End cycle club. Small world, isn’t it?

 

Tuesday 10^th March 2015 – Brisbane.

Happy birthday Jenny!

Our tour was excellent – Lewanne was on the same trip and she thought it was the best ship’s tour she has done.

We went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary first, and were in time to watch (and record) the Aussie sheep shearing before our two hour exploration of the parklands. Lewanne and Nesta had their “cuddling a koala” picture done – although Nesta said she’d rather have cuddled her koala’s handler!! We walked through the kangaroo and wallaby enclosure and watched people feeding them. There were lots of other animals there – Tasmanian Devils, Emus, Crocodiles, Platypuses (?), Dingoes, Wombats and Kookaburras to name but a few!

After we left the Sanctuary we went up to Mount Coot-Tha for a photo stop and then back to the city where we saw all the sights including The Gabba cricket ground…(enough said about cricket!)

Well, everyone made it back on board safely - except Lady D… The ship waited almost an hour for her (not convinced they would have done for us!) and she turned up in a taxi carrying all her shopping bags. Because of the delay we missed our leaving slot and had to wait until a P&O cruise ship sailed past us. We went up to the observation deck to watch it go by and who should be standing on her balcony laughing and drinking champagne but the aforementioned Lady D – obviously very contrite (not) about being late. Nesta took a picture of her for posterity and it has since got onto Facebook!

Tonight is the last night of the Coriander meal in the Kings Court Alternative Dining so we booked a table for ten (Nesta, Ian, Gary, Jenny, Diane, Lewanne, Andrew, Linda, Vanessa and Colin) for an early birthday meal for Ian. As well as being a very enjoyable meal this turned out to be a brilliant idea as over 700 Aussies got on today fora two day “booze cruise” to Sydney! There was chaos in the Kings Court and elsewhere on the ship. Don’t think the QM2 was designed for this!

Anyway, back to the meal. The waiters (nine of them) came and sang “Happy Birthday” to Ian and presented him with a cake with one candle on it – well it would probably have set the sprinklers off if they had put the full number on!

An enjoyable evening – and we can celebrate again tomorrow!!

Saturday 7^th March 2015 – Day at Sea.

We are half way round our world voyage sometime today. (It is hard to work out exactly when, due to the time differences). We went to two lectures this morning – one on the Barrier Reef - and the other by Capt. Chris Rigby (a BOAC trained airline pilot) on “how do planes fly”. He is a really good speaker and specialises in getting people with a fear of flying back into the air. We will see if he manages to persuade Nesta! (Ian is suggesting we all club together and buy her some time in a flight simulator, as she may be ok if she was controlling the thing!)

At 2pm it was our final choir practise before our performance on 9^th March (mmm!) and then for the rest of the afternoon we watched the barrier reef and islands go past from our balcony. As we didn’t feel like going to the restaurant, Nesta phoned room service for a toasted Panini. It was a bit disconcerting when they recognised her voice and said “certainly Mrs Ashworth”!

 

Sunday 8^th March – Airlie Beach, Whitsunday Islands, Queensland.

Airlie Beach is known as the “drinking town with a fishing problem”. We anchored and travelled ashore on MV 2001 (yet again, evidence of laziness when it comes to naming things!). Usually it takes tourists out to the reef so we did the three miles to shore in about ten minutes (twice as quickly as the ship’s tenders were taking).

There was a woman standing on the jetty with her hands on her hips watching passengers as they came ashore and Nesta recognised the stance even before we left the boat. It was Dee!! Hugs and kisses all round and then she drove us through the town to a backpackers' hostel where she had booked in for the night, in case we were going to be drinking!!? – As if!

We looked at the local market and then decided to find the Whitsunday Sailing Club as this was where the ship’s shuttle went from. After a coffee here we decided that it was time for a “proper” drink so we went to “Capers” which was advertising Bulmer’s Cider (it was 10-30am after all) The cider was ice cold and very refreshing unlike the weather which was very hot and humid. There was a nice breeze however (if you could find it). After our first pint (and sandwich to mop up the alcohol) we looked around the town. It is a bit like Woolacombe, in that most of the shops are surf, beach or souvenir shops. Nesta found herself another pair of shoes, so Ian bought them as (part of) her birthday present!

We decided it was time to keep our fluids up so found “Cactus Jacks” and shared a bottle of wine and a nachos sharing plate – very nice. We then went to the bottle shop (Australian for off licence) and stocked up on wine boxes again. Ian hasn’t started his last wine box of red wine so we just got the one that Dee recommended for Nesta.

It was still too hot for walking so we went back to Capers for another pint and to watch some of the Australia v Sri Lanka game on the big screen TV. All too soon it was time to say goodbye and we made our way – sadly – back to the ship. It was really great seeing Dee and we had a lovely day ashore. It made us feel less like tourists and more like visitors to a friend’s home.

None of the evening entertainments inspired us to make the effort – so we snacked in Kings Court and had an early night.

 

Thursday 5^th March – Day at Sea.

We were woken at 8-30am by a phone call from Amy (of the technical department) giving us the answer to a question we had posed at last night’s meal…I know that the crew are at work, but really – do they not know we are on holiday?!

We had to split up this morning in order to attend all of the events. Nesta went to the Chefs’ competition in the Queens Room where there were wonderful creations in five different categories of food presentation. Guests voted for their favourite creation in each category and Nesta took lots of photos. It’s amazing what you can create with a few vegetables and a carving knife (plus talent, time and practice of course!)

Ian went to see his new mate Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement’s latest lecture and enjoyed their funny and informative talk.

We finally met up and had time to have brunch together before it was off to choir rehearsal. Some of the songs picked by Katherine are unknown to us and they seem rather difficult to sing. They are:- “Do you hear the people sing” from “Les Mis”, “Eastwick knows” from the musical version of “The Witches of Eastwick” (didn’t even know there was a musical version) and even in “Hallelujah” the sopranos are singing the harmony which bears little resemblance to the tune…I’m sure it will be ok on the night!

For three hours this afternoon we stood on the observation deck while Dave Sanguinetti (our barrier reef pilot) pointed out Friday, Thursday and Wednesday Islands as we rounded the top end of Australia (do you think that the lazy explorers who named these islands were sailing more slowly in the opposite direction to us?) Ian was glad he didn’t miss the Torres Straits between Australia and Papua New Guinea but he thinks Fernando might have done!

As dusk fell there were lots of opportunities for photographs of the sunset and moon rising. It is certainly a picturesque part of the world.

After a scrub up we dined in Kings Court and had rib-eye steaks cooked freshly for us and then it was into the theatre for the crew talent evening. We got there nice and early and secured a front row seat. Unfortunately most of the real (i.e. Filipino) crew weren’t allowed time off - so over half of the show was performed by the entertainments team and, bizarrely, the ships photographers. Wilfredo, a neighbouring cabin steward, danced and Ryan, one of our favourite waiters, sung. He has a really good voice and actually got Jenny up on stage whilst he sung “Hello” – more video for Gary and Jenny’s memory stick as Nesta broke copy write rules and videoed the performance! Overall, though, it wasn’t as good as the Crew shows on either Discovery or Voyager.

 

Friday 6^th March – Day at Sea.

The scenery exceeded our expectations today as we sailed with the Australian coast off our starboard side and the Great Barrier Reef off our port side. There are over 900 islands and the reef stretches for 1400 kilometres (don’t know how far that is in old money) As we turned to go through the reef, in one of the channels, and go out to sea for tonight and tomorrow’s journey we passed a dive boat. The people on board seemed a little surprised by how close we were to them and we hope that the divers underwater managed to cope with our wake!

This afternoon we received an invitation to attend the Clarendon Fine Art studio. Not sure why – as the pictures on sale were too big for our homes and not really in our affordability range! Having said that, Andrew and Linda (part of the smoking gang) bought a picture and managed to barter them down to just over $1800…We, meanwhile, enjoyed our free fizzy wine and left!

We heard that there was a cocktail party in the Queens Room this evening for Gold, Platinum and Diamond members of Cunard’s World Club (i.e. passengers who have been on board for the most number of nights.) This sector’s winner - a Mrs Farmer - has spent a grand total of 1440 nights on board Cunard Liners and has been on the maiden voyages of every “Queen” dating back to the QE2! We thought that as we were now Gold members we should have had an invite – but no! Apparently you only get one every four months - so it is really for passengers who have recently joined the ship. Not to be outdone we went into the G32 nightclub (which is further aft from the Queens Room) for a drink and smoke and then snuck into the party once it had started…One of “our” waiters Ashley was there so he kept the drinks coming!

We talked to Dave and Gayle (who dine on the table next to us in the Britannia Restaurant) and discovered that it was their last party because they’re getting off in Brisbane.

 

Monday 2^nd March – Day at Sea.

During our time on this ship we’ve discovered that everything costs extra – even photos – so we weren’t surprised when an advert appeared in the daily programme saying that a “crossing the line” certificate will be available to purchase from the photo gallery. But – guess what? Apparently there were so many complaints received that we all got one for nothing! People power or what!

Another busy day – we went to a lecture on the first convicts arriving in Botany Bay by Colonial Historian Evelyn Evans. We have to say that neither her style nor her content were as good as Helen’s.

Nesta watched a show by the classical guitar duo (Duo Diez) and then went to a “scrapbook workshop”! Ian could hardly contain his excitement – but in the end decided to give both of these a miss!

In the evening we went to the pre-dinner show to hear the final rendition by the “voice of Portishead” Benjamin Makisi and during dinner we drank the last (honest) bottle of Mullygrubber on board.

Tomorrow is Australia – which is exciting - but it is also where we say goodbye to the Captain and Deputy Captain – which is disappointing.

 

Tuesday 3^rd March – Darwin.

We docked safely and caught the shuttle bus into the centre (not far!) There we bought “hop on hop off” bus tickets and did the whole tour (about an hour and a half) before getting off at the waterfront precinct. Here we had a cup of coffee and admired their new wave pool. We discovered later that this was where most of the crew, who were allowed to go ashore, spent their time! (Swimming in the sea is not a good idea in these parts due to crocodiles and lethal jellyfish named “stingers”).

The weather was very humid with the occasional spot of rain (quite cooling) but we walked back into the centre (slowly!) where we both had a haircut, bought some more wine boxes and Nesta finally found some flip-flops (or thongs, as they are called here). They were reduced from $68 Aus. to $48 but when we got to the till $10 appeared (about £5) and the shop assistant honoured that…Even said she was going to get herself a pair!

We wandered a bit further – past the “Crocosaurus” stall where a man was holding a live crocodile (albeit a small one) for us to stroke! And then we cut across to join up again with the bus and got off at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territories.

It has some interesting aboriginal and local art and artefacts and also a display about Cyclone Tracey which destroyed 95% of Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974. It included a dark sound booth which played an actual recording of what the cyclone sounded like. Difficult to explain - but two minutes of listening to a deep rumble and the screeching of metal was unpleasant – the cyclone lasted for three hours!

We then caught the bus back to the port and this time Nesta was ready with the camera when we came to the area where wallabies could be seen. She even managed to photograph some of them – but at rather a large distance unfortunately.

We really liked Darwin – as it is a small, clean, laid-back and interesting city with friendly locals – let’s hope it isn’t spoiled by the tourist trade!!

The sail away party got rained off again and the new captain spoke briefly over the tannoy to announce our departure – none of the character or humour of Capt. Wells unfortunately but at least he delayed departure until the rain stopped so we could all go out on deck to watch Darwin say goodbye to us. We went up to the observation deck on 11 to watch where Ian had the pleasure of talking to Ian La Frenais! (Well, I say talking – eventually when he had received monosyllabic answers to three comments, Ian decided to retreat as it was obvious that Ian La Frenais did not want to talk to him!!)

 

Monday 4^th March – Day at Sea.

We are now on GMT+10! Didn’t wake up until 9-30am – all this fresh air must be getting to us.

Nesta only just had time to bring Ian his morning tea before going to the 10am lecture “Where did Australia come from?” by Dr Brian Finlayson who specialises in geomorphology, speleology and environmental hydrology! (You can’t go wrong if you have an “ology”!) He is Australian but got his doctorate at Bristol University!

Ian made it in time for the 11am presentation by Capt. Dave Sanguinetti – who is our Great Barrier Reef pilot – on the make-up of the reef. All we can say is - we hope he’s a better pilot than he is a presenter!

After listening to the new captain’s midday navigational update (again he didn’t sound enthusiastic – merely gave out information) and finally found time to eat at 12-30pm.

This evening we are dining at the “Captain’s table” with the senior safety officer (more later) but this afternoon we had lunch at the next table to Captain Oprey and his wife! He didn’t speak or make eye-contact with anyone… bit of a change from Captain Wells!

In the afternoon Nesta wrote up the diary but ran out of “pritt stick”. The shop didn’t have any in stock – suggested we come back at 6pm but our schedule is tight today, we’re watching a film then – so eventually we went up to our world voyage concierge in the Atlantic Room and borrowed hers! (Must remember to give it back!)

The film – with Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas and Maggie Smith was very good and finished in time for us to get dolled up again for another Captain’s table. (Pippa must have taken us at our word when we told her that if she couldn’t find anyone who wanted to dine with an officer, Nesta would be happy to talk to anyone!)

The Safety Officer – Aureliano Mazzella – is the number three on board after the Captain and the Deputy Captain. He is from Rome, although lives just outside Banbury, so Nesta, of course, had to chat about the Costa Concordia! He was very easy to talk to and told us a few funny stories that have happened to him on board ship. He normally works on the Queen Victoria and is leaving us in 20 days’ time to re-join the Victoria in Sydney.

We learned from our last visit that the quicker you drink the wine the more often it is refilled! When the wine finally stopped being poured – and after a very nice meal – we left the restaurant and went to see comedian Adrian Walsh. He has made over 300 television appearances in the UK – but we’ve managed to miss every one of them! We’ve never heard of him and Nesta was not impressed - even though Ian did hear her laughing a few times.

Another day in Paradise (as Vladi would say)…

Sunday 1^st March – Day at Sea.

Well – this has been a busy little day with not much eating but a lot of drinking!

We attended Captain Wells’ last church service – as both he and the Deputy Captain get off in Darwin (hope somebody will know how to steer the boat!) We then blagged our way into the Balmoral Suite as its large balcony overlooks deck 8 aft, which is where the crossing the line ceremony was taking place.

The suite’s occupants, Stuart and his children Emma and Simon were taking part in the ceremony as was Diane and Jenny – so whilst Nesta was recording the ceremony from the girls’ point of view, Ian was given Simon’s camera to record his family’s progress towards becoming “shellbacks”! Their butler (yes, really!) was instructed to keep our beer and wine topped up whilst they were away…It’s a hard life…

After the ceremony we continued chatting (and drinking) with them and realised we had missed our choir rehearsal (and lunch!)

We decided it would be best to clear Australian Immigration sooner rather than run the risk of missing it. Luckily it was quite straightforward and didn’t include a breathalyser – so we’re in! It is certainly much easier crossing borders on board a ship than it is on land!

In the evening we met up with the gang and planned our “flash-mob” of the Captain at his final cocktail reception. He was duly surrounded by 10 of us singing our song “This is your farewell song, it doesn’t last too long – wow!” and on the “wow” we presented him with thank you cards. (Well, it seemed a good idea at the time and he did seem to be pleased with our gesture. He has, after all, been very professional but also quick to join in with us and not take himself too seriously) What’s more, we also set the whole event up with Jess (the person who makes the voyage DVD) so we may end up on the World Voyage video – again!

After the party, we went into G32 (the nightclub) where the drinking (and smoking) recommenced and went on so long that we missed our evening meal as well!

Good job tomorrow is another sea day – it’ll give us chance to recover…

 

Sunday 1^st March – Day at Sea.

Well – this has been a busy little day with not much eating but a lot of drinking!

We attended Captain Wells’ last church service – as both he and the Deputy Captain get off in Darwin (hope somebody will know how to steer the boat!) We then blagged our way into the Balmoral Suite as its large balcony overlooks deck 8 aft, which is where the crossing the line ceremony was taking place.

The suite’s occupants, Stuart and his children Emma and Simon were taking part in the ceremony as was Diane and Jenny – so whilst Nesta was recording the ceremony from the girls’ point of view, Ian was given Simon’s camera to record his family’s progress towards becoming “shellbacks”! Their butler (yes, really!) was instructed to keep our beer and wine topped up whilst they were away…It’s a hard life…

After the ceremony we continued chatting (and drinking) with them and realised we had missed our choir rehearsal (and lunch!)

We decided it would be best to clear Australian Immigration sooner rather than run the risk of missing it. Luckily it was quite straightforward and didn’t include a breathalyser – so we’re in! It is certainly much easier crossing borders on board a ship than it is on land!

In the evening we met up with the gang and planned our “flash-mob” of the Captain at his final cocktail reception. He was duly surrounded by 10 of us singing our song “This is your farewell song, it doesn’t last too long – wow!” and on the “wow” we presented him with thank you cards. (Well, it seemed a good idea at the time and he did seem to be pleased with our gesture. He has, after all, been very professional but also quick to join in with us and not take himself too seriously) What’s more, we also set the whole event up with Jess (the person who makes the voyage DVD) so we may end up on the World Voyage video – again!

After the party, we went into G32 (the nightclub) where the drinking (and smoking) recommenced and went on so long that we missed our evening meal as well!

Good job tomorrow is another sea day – it’ll give us chance to recover…