Saturday, August 25th .....

It’s the first day of our cruise and we’re nearly four hours out of Brisbane. We left a little late but I’m sure the captain will make up the time. We had a good flight up from Launceston yesterday and it was great to see Madeleine, our grand-daughter, last night, looking so well and sounding so happy with life. It’s not easy being 16 but she seems much more settled since the last time we saw her.

Our flight from Launceston didn’t leave until 4pm but, of course, we were packed and ready to go by mid-morning. We decided a lunch at the Country Club would help fill in the time. As luck would have it, the Liberal Party Conference was being held there and we were delighted to see all the elegantly-dressed and immaculately-coiffured ladies arriving to exercise their right to rule, red-faced farmers in their RM Williams shirts and drizabone jackets, ever-smiling wannabees, eager for every opportunity to impress and the world-weary professional politicians, trying to hide their reluctance to give up another weekend for another conference at the ends of the earth. We even saw Tony Abbott at the airport, having just flown in from Brisbane.

I was invited to a Liberal Party Conference once, in tandem with one of my staff who was being touted as a success story from the old Work for the Dole scheme. Peter had duly completed his allotted hours and I gave him a permanent job. Our local Senator, Eric Abetz was so impressed, he paid for Peter to attend the conference to show him off and I was able to attend as well, but had to pay my own way. I don’t remember it as a highlight of my career but I did shake hands with John Howard, although I bet I’m only one of millions who’ve done that.

I’m very impressed with the Pacific Dawn. I had some misgivings about her age and the fact that she is a P&O ship which, in my mind, places her several steps below the Princess boats we’ve been on previously. In fact, she’s quite grand. She was built originally as the Regal Princess and designed by Renzo Piano. Her atrium is not as glitzy as some we’ve seen but there’s plenty of room with high ceilings and wide corridors. Deck 7 has several comfortable bars and a terrific dining room. I think we’ll have a good cruise.

Boarding was the usual shambles - hordes of people trying to work through the process with no instructions. Drop off the bags first, then get in line, only to discover you should have filled out a form first, finally reach the desk to a surprisingly cheerful young woman who completes the transaction, then wait to be called to the security check.

This is not unlike other boardings we’ve experienced, but with one subtle difference. There are certainly more groups travelling together than we’ve seen before, and they advertise the fact. There’s a gaggle of young women wearing T-shirts – ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Tour 2012’, two fortyish women in black and white skirts, accompanying a third one with a tiara and a sash – ‘Celebrating Kylie’s Fortieth’, and a large family with red and black shirts with a white ship on the back and the slogan, ‘Big Birthday Adventure’.

What have we let ourselves in for?