Friday, March 21st ....

With our feet back on dry land, we can look back on a great cruise with lots of good memories. Surprisingly, one of the highlights was meeting some really interesting people over dinner. We had been allocated a table for 2 but we found that we were no more than a foot from our neighbours. In effect, we might as well have been at a table for 12. Happily, we got on very well with them and the situation became even better when one of the entertainers joined us for last few days.

We saw Danny Elliott on another cruise and it was great to see him again. He's from Sydney and his act is based around the fact that he can play almost any instrument you name. We really enjoyed meeting him and hearing how complicated his life is, flying all over the world from one ship to another. Most of the entertainment was exceptional, although we didn't warm to the trio who belted out some Motown numbers. I've never been a lover of this style of music and the Grooveliners did nothing to change my mind.

I've attached a photo of the dining room staff singing for us on the last night.

I'll be heading back to Tasmania on the weekend of the 29th-30th, meeting Jamie in Melbourne on Sunday morning to help with his luggage (he can't use his right arm because of the break). Marilyn will stay on in Wollongong for a bit longer.

Monday, March 10th ....

The captain told us he was worried about a weather system that was developing north of Vanuatu and it had the potential to keep us away from Fiji. However, it's come to nothing and we're on our way to Suva now.

Eleven of us gathered at Giovanni's last night to celebrate Robyn's birthday. It was a very generous five-course menu which none of us could face. It was a shame to send back so much food but we had eaten as much as we could manage. Marilyn went off to bed while I joined the others In the theatre to watch a comedian. He was probably as old as me but very funny.

Our cabin steward is another veteran with an evil-looking moustache and the smell of too many cheap cigarettes about him. He keeps the cabin spotless but his towel animals are woeful. They all look the same: shapeless blobs of crumpled towel with rubber bands helping to give the impression of a head or a leg or something. Marilyn say he must have failed 'Towel Folding' at cabin steward school.

We had a very rough night last night but slept well nonetheless. A couple we met at dinner found it difficult and she was pretty sick this morning. We are at a table for two in the dining room but the next table is only inches away, so we have become quite friendly with Ivan and Avril and Sally and David. Ruth and her partner are only a shout away. We might as well be at a table for eight.

There was a 2-hour sale on this morning. Marilyn thought she might buy a cheap watch because she had left all her good ones at home, but it was impossible to move around the shops. I think some people come on cruises just for the shopping. I can't believe the junk people buy. I'm sure they could find it all home in the Reject Shop and they wouldn't have the problem of lugging it along with the rest of their luggage.

As I said, Suva tomorrow. Today is very overcast and we might get some rain from the tail of the Tropical Low that the captain has been watching. If so, it will be another day on a deserted ship for us and that's not a bad thing.

Sunday, March 9th ...

It's Day 4 and everything is going very well. The ship is beautiful; apparently it's had a recent refit and it sparkles. The crew is friendly, the food is good and the entertainers can actually sing. Today we're in Lifou, the sun is shining and the tenders are busily taking people ashore in droves.

It's a different crowd to the passengers we meet on Princess - more little kids and more tattoos. More overweight people too but that might me be a mis-perception. More of a 'me-first' attitude as well. The other morning, 6 of us were heading for a table in the corner of the bar. Before, we got there, people at the next table turned 'round two of 'our' chairs and put stuff on them to reserve them for their mates, leaving us to ask the waiter if he could find some more for us

Last night, at the Captain's Welcome, I was just about to put my glass on a table, when the bloke in front moved it to where he was sitting. 'The waiter said it was our table', was his excuse. This morning, sitting looking at the water, I popped down to the cabin and came back to find that the bloke next to us had pushed my chair out of the way so he could stretch out his legs, leaving me stranded in the middle of the passage-way.

There's a severe lack of good manners on this boat; not as bad as the bogan cruise out of Brisbane but far below how we would like it to be.

Another odd thing happened at the Captain's Welcome last night. After his speech, he invited questions. One woman asked him to sing a song. Clearly a set-up because he called ou to the band and they broke into Magarita-ville which he followed up with Rocky Mountain High. At that point, Marilyn and I headed off for dinner.

Today is Robyn's birthday and we're having tonight's dinner at Giovanni's, one of the specialty restaurants on board.

Tuesday, March 4th ....

It was a pretty uneventful trip from Launceston to Sydney on Saturday but the lead-up to it was pretty frantic. In the morning, we took part in a car rally which has become a regular event on our calendar. We though we had done pretty well but we didn't feature in the winners' list - a bit of a let-down from last year (when we won) but it was good fun. We ended up at Gravelly Beach, where we once lived, so we had a 60km trip back to Deloraine to collect our luggage for the flight that evening.

Before that, though, we had birthday party to go to. Siatana is just 1 year old so the party was awash with young kids and their long-suffering mums and dads. Most of the families were Filipino so it was great fun. The Filipinos go all out for a party - banners, balloons, fantastic food, and even a jumping castle. We had to drag ourselves away for a drink at the Country Club to celebrate Marilyn's birthday, and then the airport.

On Sunday, we travelled to Wollongong to join our friend Robyn for her family's celebration of her birthday. She's not 70 until the 9th but she'll be on a cruise then. Again, a good lunch and good company. It was a terrific surprise to bump into Trish, one of our fellow-travellers from Nepal, at the Yacht Club where we had lunch. She'd looking well and travelling at very opportunity - a great life!

We've popped in to see Uncle Archie a couple of times and bought him a heap of new clothes. He has always been very particular about what he wears and it is sad to see him in shabby clothes, un-ironed and ill-fitting. When I went in this morning he was sporting one of his new shirts and was very proud of his new look.

Two more sleeps until we join the ship. Can't come soon enough.