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.