Random Goes on a Cruise

First few days in Sydney

Checked into the Hyatt and in the afternoon my darling Kathryn came to the hotel and a joyous reunion took place. Wonderful to see her. We went upstairs to the Zephyr bar, which Kathryn knows well (!) and she had a cocktail and I had a glass of Rose. The view over Darling Harbour was lovely and the sun was so hot that they kept spritzing the bar with cold water droplets.

In the evening Stella and I had a meal at an Italian restaurant on the edge of the harbour and just sat and watched the world go by and the lights on the water.

Next day we went to the Opera House. Now I have been there so many times and yet each time I see it I am enthralled by it all over again. The boldness and beauty of the design is stunning and has really put Sydney on the map. We went on a tour. I went on one a few years ago but was happy to repeat it We are not allowed to take photos but before you embark on the hour long tour your photo is taken and then when you are finished you can purchase a book all about the building and its history and inside your photo is superimposed on different shots of the opera house. It is a great souvenir and I decided to buy one, though I wished I had brushed my hair...

After this we went for a walk in the Rocks area, which I shall revisit myself later on as I shall be here another few weeks, but good to get a flavour of it all. Then back to the hotel and crashed out for an hour or so.

Today we went to Manly on the ferry which is another thing I love doing in Sydney and of which I never tire and though I had promised myself no more pics of the opera, I simply had to take this one. The sun was shining on the shells of the building, it was a glorious blue sky and I am delighted with the result.

Manly is a charming place and when you are there you feel far away from the bustle of the City. The waves were coming in, not too high, but a lot of surfies about. We had a nice lunch, a beef sandwich shared between the two of us as they are monster and, once again, chunky chips with aoli. SUBLIME.

And look what I bought for Beatrice and Florence..

Sydney

I have arrived. The entry into the harbour by sea was all I thought it would be. Simply wonderful. I freely admit to a tear in the eye. And we went under the Bridge as well!

Last few days

Another day and we arrive in Sydney and I disembark. The last couple of days have been full of incident. Eating breakfast when a Code 4 was announced over the PA system and a cabin number given. This is an emergency, a total emergency and later we learned that a passenger had suffered a stroke. While we took this in we became aware that the ship was turning round and the captain announced that we were returning to NZ where a helicopter would fly out to meet us and the passenger would be airlifted to hospital. As we had been steaming away overnight this mean practically a full day’s sailing before we were in the limit of the helicopter. It arrived at 3pm and of course most people whipped out their phones to take pictures which I found pretty nauseating. One guy had a huge telephoto lens which he put to use as the stretcher was being winched up, no doubt hoping for a close up. Yuk.

Well, by turning back we were then caught up in the back lash of the end of the cyclone which had just caught NZ and we had pitched seas for the next 24 hours. Deck were roped off and so everyone was inside and though most people were perfectly accepting of what had happened there were the usual moaners. One guy in the Quiz afternoon complained that it was not fair that one team had six instead of seven even though this lady was just sitting there drinking a glass of wine and was not taking part. Pathetic. The prize for this quiz was a ship’s biro and, considering that a possibly dying man had just been taken off the ship, the pettiness and utter banality of some people is truly lowering.

Went to bed fairly early and had a dire night. The anchor is close to my window when it is being lowered and I do not think after having to stop mid ocean that it had been locked in properly as with every movement of the ship when the waves were pitching it bashed against the side making sleep impossible. But I told myself, Elaine you cannot sleep, you have a headache but it does not matter. You are alive and well.

I was still glad when morning came though….

So Sydney tomorrow and disembarkation the following day. I have enjoyed this cruise immensely, minor irritations aside, but there have been moments in the last 24 hours when I have wanted to shriek “Stop the Ship I want to Get Off!”

And I will soon

Oh and by the way I have read 42 books while on board….

New Zealand 2 - Bay of Islands

Last day in New Zealand and this was the best day. Glorious weather, sun shining and a light breeze. The air in NZ feels wonderful, so fresh and gentle and full of the most wonderful smells from the trees and the plants.

We were on a cruise round the Bay of Islands so called because it is a Bay and it is full of Islands. Right. Got it? Good. It is simply beautiful and I am going to try and upload loads of photos so you can see what I mean.

Glad the beauty of these islands soothed my soul because while we were sitting on the cruise boat waiting to set off a lady behind me decided to Skype her relatives at home. ‘Hello I am on the boat’ ‘Yes I am in New Zealand’ ‘Oh can’t you see me? Press the red button at the bottom of your screen. I said PRESS THE RED BUTTON’ at this point probably because of my furious glare her husband told her not to shout she lowered her voice somewhat. I was struck when listening to her conversation about the likeness to Sybil in Fawlty Towers played by the wonderful Prunella Scales, who was on the phone for hours going ‘Oh I know, oh Yes, oh I KNOW’. I sat there, very ostentatiously with my fingers in my ears as this wittering went on until I think the penny dropped in the end and she stopped. I thought Blimey I am on a boat in NZ and somebody is on their phone behind me not taking a blind bit of notice of the glory all around. Words fail.

After the mini cruise was over we repaired to a local eatery for lunch and, remembering the size of portions, ordered a steak sandwich between us both and just as well we did when it arrived. Enormous. But it was accompanied by chunky chips and a bowl of mayo and I spent a blissful fifteen minutes dunking.

We chose to get off the boat at the little town centre which was simply charming and delightful and raided a local souvenir shop, a very good one no tat, and piled up the pressies. Then across the road, a market full of stalls selling local jewellery, wood, soaps etc and I bougt a lovely silver pendant which was on special offer. Chat with the jeweller who was charming and said that all the people off the Columbus she had met that day were lovely and friendly and full of ‘positive energy’. I then spent another few minutes chatting and, hopefully, exuding more positives and then we caught the free shuttle bus back to the wharf to pick up the tender back to the ship.

And the bus driver, of Maori descent, sang songs to us all the way back.

It was a simply gorgeous day and I am already planning a return to New Zealand. I loved it years ago and the feeling is still the same.

New Zealand - 1

It is the 19th February today and I can hardly believe that the end of my sea faring days is in sight. Five more days and I will arrive in Sydney and see my darling Kathryn. I can hardly wait to give her a hug. She has been in Australia eight years now, has just got her permanent residency, and it is her home. When she set off back in 2010 she assured me she would only be there for her three year contract, but I made sure that I told myself that she would not and accepted it from the start. Having lived in Oz myself and loved it, I knew that she would not be back. It has been, and still is, so hard having a child so far away and as I get older I will find it more and more difficult to make the journey. As many of you may know I received a legacy a few years ago which has made it possible for me to visit Oz whenever I want to and in comfort too. If that had not come my way I would now be unable to visit so am doing it as long as my resources and my health are in place. You get used to a child being so far away but I will never stop missing her. It is like an ache in my heart and it is there all the time. I then remind myself that my other lovely daughter, Helen, is in the UK with my grandchildren and count my blessings. Not sure what I would do if it was the other way round and I could not see Florence and Beatrice and be part of their lives.

This morning as I write this I can see through my window (the days of portholes long gone) that we are arriving in the Bay of Islands, the third stop in New Zealand. It really is a beautiful country and I feel I would like to come back, perhaps on my next trip this way and kathryn and I can book a trip there. I last visited NZ many moons ago and though I found Auckland rather uninspiring then, and do now, the countryside is wonderful.

I visited Devonport on our first outing, a seaside resort on the North Shore of Auckland and it brought back the feeling I had on my last visit, that I was back in the fifties or sixties, the whole place just had that feel about it. Even has an Esplanade Hotel which is copied from an old hotel in Brighton of all places. It is a charming place.

We had been to the top of Victoria Mount, named after Her Maj of course, and the view was stunning. Scattered about the mount were cannon and redouts It seems that Tsar Alexander 3, the one who was in charge when Napoleon was rampaging through Europe if my history is correct, was not happy with the English at this time and was threatening her colonies so steps were taken to keep an eye out for any intruders approaching Auckland. Odd to think that NZ and Napoleon are linked, albeit in a vague way, European history seems so far away in this part of the world.

The tour ended in the town and we were given a ticket to take us back to the City by ferry. I love going by ferry and the fifteen minute journey back just rounded the day off nicely. One of the things I want to do in Sydney when I get there is take the Manley ferry across the harbour. Do it every time and it never palls.

Next stop, Taurangua and here we went on what was billed as a Maori Cultural Experience. Firstly, I have to say that the influence of the Maori and the culture seem to be very strong in NZ unlike Australia where the lack of interest in the Aborigines is much less. I could be very wrong in this respect as I am merely going on my feeling over my visits in the last eight years.

We were taken to a Maori meeting place where we were greeted by an Elder tribesman who welcomes us in Maori. We then had to reply, we then sang and these ceremonies went on for a little while. The usual embarrassed Brit singing made it a somewhat dispiriting experience. We were taken to a meeting house and the ceremonies which took place there were also explained and after that we went into a nearby hall to have tea and coffee and be entertained by some local Maori school children who sang and danced and did a great Haka. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Much though I found all the background and talk interesting I did find the entire visit was somewhat lacking in atmosphere. The place where all this took place was slap bang in the middle of a residential area, apart from the Meeting Place which was in traditional style, the rest of the surrounding buildings were obviously built in the sixties or seventies and were bland and uninteresting. I found this a real let down. Also, the elder tribesman greeted us in a polo shirt, grey trousers and his belly hanging over the top of this belt. I freely admit to feeling a tad let down….

New Zealand next

We have been at sea a few days now and our next port of call is Auckland, New Zealand. The end of the cruise is now in sight and it will not be long before we arrive at Sydney and I can see my daughter. I am so looking forward to that as you can imagine. In the meantime I have been people watching again, a fascinating subject, but it has made me realise that I am not a people person any more and I have really had my fill of the human race en masse for the time being.

The Battle for the Sun Beds has now settled down as everyone realises that there is a long way to go on this round the world trip and everyone needs to get on with their fellow travellers. Also, we have our own favourite areas now and tend to gravitate there every day. No use in me being superior about it all as I am just the same. We are Creatures of Habit and have our own daily routines. I avoid the sun deck with its incessant music and ghastly pop videos (so out of date as well. Ally McBeal anyone?) and the fun and games round the pool. Not to my taste. I have sunbathed on one deck with comfortable beds at the rear of the ship, sorry aft, and that was fine but I have finally come to roost on Promenade Deck 7 starboard side. It is lovely there. Nice and quiet, gets the sun in the morning and then plenty of shade to doze and read in and enjoy.

I wake early and am up on deck by 7.30 am. I get a bed, lay my towel on it (yes I do!) but then have a peaceful half hour to myself before others start arriving. And I noticed that every day I put my bed in the same place – not too close to the door onto the deck so I am disturbed, not too close to the deck curling location (people who play that are vicious) and next to an iron ladder leading up to the next deck which is for crew use only. This makes a handy place to drape my shorts and t-shirt when I discard them and sunbathe in my swim suit. I end up next to a couple every day who wish me good morning and are charming and nice and who also sit in the same place. This territorial instinct is odd. I freely admit that if I arrived one morning to discover that somebody was in My Place I would be rather put out….

After an hour I nip up for breakfast and there I have had to learn patience and understanding, not two of my main attributes, I freely admit. My goodness people faff about they really do. You find somebody standing in front of the tray of sausages gazing at it as if it was the Mona Lisa and trying to fathom out the meaning and who come to with a mighty start if you bump into them. Oh sorry they say I was just looking. I nip in, get my food, eat it and am out in about fifteen minutes and back to the sun bed with a Danish pastry tucked into my napkin for a mid morning snack. The sooner I am out of there the better.

I am finding, thank goodness, that my appetite is about half what it is at home. I am eating much less which is good as I am spending all my days lying around in a heap and doing zilch which suits me down to the ground. I hesitate to say this but I feel I have actually lost some weight which is amazing as most cruisers end up piling on the avoirdupois when sailing. There are a few travellers who I see regularly who have certainly rounded up since we left Tilbury and I am always stunned at the amount of food some people put in their plate.

I am sitting up on my bed writing this. I came in early afternoon, had a shower, cup of tea and then a siesta and feel totally relaxed and rested. Then it will be dinner, coffee a quick look at the show (Chinese New Year today so we are promised an extravaganza), then a read in bed and sleep.

I have really duplicated a routine that I do At Home but with the bonus that I have no housework, cooking, cleaning or shopping to do. It is going to be rather odd when I get back home and have to revert to this. As I may have mentioned before my motto is “housework won’t kill you, but why take the chance?” But we do have to do some and though I keep it to a minimum it has to be dealt with. Still another month before I have to worry about that.

As I said, Auckland tomorrow and the wifi reception, now we are out of the dead zone, is picking up so I hope to be able to post about it and some pictures.

 

French Polynesia

Managed to get on line so a quick post.

we are currently at the French Polynesian Islands. Wifi reception is poor and slow and it was announced that it would be switched off for a few days as it was wasting everyone’s money. Then when it was restored it was difficult to get online. I am therefore writing these posts and will put them up when I make landfall and have access to unlimited wifi

Our first stop was Nuka Hiva. It was one of the smaller islands and quite beautiful. Though we were unaware that it was the start of the rainy season, we soon found out that we had arrived in time to be soaked in rain that just reduced you to a sodden wreck in no time. It was warm rain though and I found it rather fun though many of my companions seemed to take it as a personal insult that they had come on a cruise and were being rained upon. I had bought a Pac a Mac, not the most flattering of garments, but it kept the worst of the wet out.

We had had a lovely sunny morning before the downpour and then when it stopped and the sun came out everything shone and gleamed and sparkled and the flowers and the shrubs looked vibrant and beautiful. You could almost see them growing in front of your eyes, no wonder the land is so green.

I gather that Herman Melville jumped ship and took refuge in Nuka Hiva and wrote his book Typee (which I have to say I have never heard of) while sheltering here. He survived though it seemed that most of the native populace were cannibals. He eventually went home, presumably avoided a court martial, and wrote Moby Dick which is enough to make on regret that he had not been served up as a Plat de Jour…..

Tahiti – the largest of the islands and the most touristy. The capital city, Papeete, was hot, dusty and dirty with masses of traffic and did not appeal to me at all. Our tour took us out of the city and round the island and I found it curiously unappealing. I am trying to work out why as the foliage and flowers were quite beautiful and we stopped off at a water park which had the most glorious water lilies and ferns. I think it was because it was the overtly tourist attitude that I did not care for. Being greeted by dancing girls and a band who tried to encourage passengers to dance with them (some did, embarrassingly) and it seemed a bit tacky to me. Incidentally, when were greeted at Moorea a day later it was the same band so I assume they pedal furiously backwards and forwards to greet the cruise ship at each island.

 

Moorea was lovely and we had a hilarious guide called William taking us round. His patter was well practiced and a smooth act and he obviously produced this performance to each tour, but he was great fun and very informative and he made the trip very pleasant. Turned out, after a lecture on Black Pearls which are on sale in these islands, that he just happened to own several shops run by his family and we just happened to stop at one….

Today the weather is awful. Heavy cloud and rain. Yesterday in Bora Bora we were lucky with the sunshine. I went on a trip in the afternoon on a glass bottomed boat to see the fish etc and it was great fun. One of our guides dived underneath and made the fish come up close to the bottom of the boat so we could see them. There were black and white striped ones, yellow and green and a brilliant royal blue. Quite lovely. And then along came a sinister looking long black Moray eel and in a flash the fishes vanished.

So woke up this morning to this torrential downpour. When checking the weather and the locations for this trip I had neglected to check when the rainy season started. I have now found out….

Apologies

My apologies for lack of posting but the wifi in the South Pacific on board is very slow and expensive. I am going to leave it now until I rae h Oz and then blast you with posts!

Bora Bora tomorrow...

At sea and crossing the Equator

We have been without wifi for a few days. The signal was so poor and so many people complaining about their band-with being wasted that a decision was taken to switch it off util we are nearer our next port of call and will get a stronger signal. Well, there was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth but after my initial Oh My God no wifi reaction, it all became rather peaceful and added to my feeling totally Zen. Nobody to email, nobody to Facebook, no blog, nothing. It has been a treat to be honest though I will also be honest and say I will be glad to have it back. The ship produces a paper each day with bits of news in but I do feel rather cut off without being able to pull up a newspaper and read. That is the only thing I do miss but oh the joy of not reading or hearing about Trump or Brexit. Bliss

This is the longest stretch at sea, nine days and it has been rather good. My days are filled with nothing and I mean nothing. I sunbathe, sleep, read, sunbathe, sleep, read and in between I have the odd spot of lunch. In the evening we listen to a wonderful pianist and violinist playing and then toddle off to bed. I cannot recall a time when I have felt so relaxed and I am making the most of it.

We have taken to having our evening meal in the upstairs Bistro instead of the more formal dining room, though we have not abandoned it completely. It just makes a change from having to make conversation all the time. Nice though our table companions are, it is like attending a dinner party every night and having to be witty and amusing and charming. I am afraid I can only manage that in small doses. The Bistro is heaving during the day, breakfast and lunch very crowded but come the evening it is very peaceful and half empty and you could just sit there and read a book and eat if you so wish.

One thing that is totally discombobulating me is the time changes. Every time I come to bed there is a little card resting on my pillow saying that the ship’s clocks are going back an hour. It throws me completely and I keep waking up in the middle of the night wide awake and raring to go. I have to make a cuppa and read for a while and then make myself go back to sleep. The main reason I am writing this is to keep me awake for another hour because really going to sleep at 8.30 pm at night is a bit shaming…..

Oh and we have crosse the Equator and the sun is shining and the other day we saw a pod of dolphins leaping alongside the ship. Everyone got very excited and makes one realise how far away from the UK we are.