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!