Goodbye Australia

Fremantle, Friday 29th
I can't believe that a whole week has gone already and as they say, what a difference a week makes.  An absolute stunner of a day here , - not a cloud in the sky with a temperature of about 20 something out of the breeze.  I have changed into long shorts ( or short longs depending on your viewpoint) and although we started off with our jackets on, we were soon carrying them.

We are fortunate to be on the Port side, as this is the side facing the port and the lovely city of Fremantle.  The forklifts have been flat out all day loading supplies before we head off.  I said to Vivian earlier that it doesn't really feel like we are on the great adventure yet, but I know that after tonight when the lights of Australia fade into the distance, the true feeling will eventuate.

Last time we were here our cruise terminated and we went to Perth, so an ideal opportunity to look around Fremantle today.  Being of Scottish heritage we took advantage of the 2 free buses which covered the city very well.  Having established where the "Cappuccino Strip" was, we stayed on the bus until we got back to that stop.  It is certainly an area with literally hundreds of coffee places.  There was one particularly large one on an intersection, but as we couldn't get a seat we went down to Coffee Club, who did a great coffee (& good free internet).

We decided to visit the Arts Centre and jumped off the bus adjacent.  We had to walk up a small hill to the entrance ands found a small sign on the locked gates that it was closed until 2 June due to asbestos removal.  So much for our culture experience in FreO!  Decided to give up the buses and walked back towards CBD to find a supermarket and came across Woolworths and bought our supplies - cough medicine and antiseptic gargle which we couldn't bring from NZ and back to the ship for a VERY light lunch.

A couple of hundred passengers disembarked this morning and about 300 got on this afternoon, so we are pretty well at 100% on this sector to Dubai.  Roughly half of the passengers are doing the Round the World, so we are not alone!  We have just sailed out of Fremantle on our way to Colombo next Friday, so there may not be much in the way of Blog news for a while.  Also, I am still having problems with the photos, but will look at alternative ways to get them posted, as I am well aware that a picture is worth a hundred words!

I have also looked back at some of these postings and see that Mr Autocorrect Gremlin has made some changes to what was intended - nothing to do with Mr Chunky Fingers of course. 

Cheerio for now - off to the Indian Ocean.

Westward Ho

Day 5
We are slipping into the routine of sea days now although even with the extra hour, we still slept in so breakfast before the walk.  As tends to happen, we talked longer than we anticipated (& probably longer than the waiters anticipated!,) do we only did 1/2 mile so we could go to the port lecture on Brusselton.  We did the other half after the lecture, so feeling a little virtuous.  The swell has grown and the wind getting up, so much that there spray is making the deck wet on both sides! however the sun is shining.

Met up with Mark & Christine from Canberra ( why is it that every second person is named Mark?) and had a very pleasant lunch together before Vivian took off to bridge.  About this time the sea took a turn for the worse and the wind has grown.  Even the Captain has promised a wild ride tonight!  Sure enough the ship is rocking & rolling, so much so that they have cancelled to stage performance tonight and replaced it with a film.  Vivian & Margie went to that and the others (excluding Ash) went to the Elvis impersonator in the Vista Lounge aft.  Even he was having trouble standing on stage, but it probably improved his r&r performance.  Vivian hated the film and they didn't stay. 

The rocking etc. continued all night, occasionally we ran on to a trough, with much shuddering and shaking, but I was very pleased with our cabin location, as it was not in the least concerning.

Day 6
Same as above weather wise.  Clocks have gone back yet another hour, but didn't make a lot of difference.  Too dangerous to walk the deck (my excuse), however we have fully abandoned the lifts and use the stairs all the time. Bridge has been moved forward to 10.00, so I went to the port lecture for Fremantle alone.  I stayed on to watch the production video on NZ, which was very good.  It is part of the video package for the whole cruise - only costs $AUD 399 - not for us.  Hang on, do we have any takers to watch all 22 DVDs in one sitting?????

By afternoon the seas are abating a little and Captain Kent is promising a reasonable day tomorrow, when we reach our next stop at Brusselton, which is in the Margaret River area and is just around the southwestern corner of Australia.  In fact, there is a watery sun coming on to our balcony, a!though it is far too cold to venture out.  The good news is that we will now have the benefit of the afternoon din as we start to head northwards for the next week and a bit.

After dinner we all (that is our table) to try the movies again - just as bad and we, and half the rest of the audience left after 20 minutes.  Need to be up early for our visit ashore, which is by tender boat, do alarm set for 6.30!

Day 7 - Brusselton
Although it was an early start, the weather is looking promising, except for a huge raincloud extending over the whole of the Bay.  Early breakfast in the MDR and rushed (well moved in a determined way) downstairs for our tender tickets, expecting to find a queue, but no, we were aboard within about 5 minutes and reached the shore before the town had woken up.  We had decided to do the marine observation tour at the end of the Brusselton wharf, so immediately bought our tickets for the 11.00 mini train to their end of the wharf.  The wharf is the longest in Australia at just over 1.8 km.  We could have walked it, but the little train was more convenient.

The centre of town was about 1/2 kilometre inland and we soon found ourselves at the far end, where there is an historic church - the oldest stone church in WA.  Once again, we were the first to reach the end of town and even beat the Vicars Warden, who arrived to open the church and show people around.  A lovely old church, with a new larger centre adjoining.  The graves of the Brussel family, who founded the city (yes it recently qualified as a city), and also designed the church are there too.

We thought it was time to head back to the wharf to do our trip, but on the way was an opportunity to Gert a coffee and some free WiFi.  Coffee was great. WiFi, although advertised, was non existent...... OK, lesson learned - check WiFi BEFORE buying coffee!!

The trip along the wharf was great, although a little cold towards the end.  Forgot to mention that it was a glorious morning with clear sky and little wind to start with.  One of the ship's photographers joined our little compartment and I am able to confirm that I am now featuring in the previously mentioned DVD set, studiously looking out to sea!!!

The marine observation centre was an eye opener.  It extends down 8 metres to the seabed and has various windows at different levels.  Over 300 different species live in the area and we saw thousands of them.  Apparently there had been a shark around just earlier.  The particular beauty is that everything is completely natural and there are no barriers or feeding, just the external window washers once a week.

It was well worth it as far as we were concerned.  The return train and observation centre was $32 each.  The Princess tour (yes there were 12 of them with us) was $60 each.  Ouch!   The good news however was that  we found WiFi at the info centre adjacent to the wharf (after all that), so got a couple of emails away and tendered back to the ship just after 2.00 and just before the wind got up a little and it got a bit colder.

The Captain is promising a fine day at 19 degrees tomorrow and we have just weighed anchor ( same weight as yesterday) and we are on our way to Fremantle, where we loose a couple of hundred short-term passengers and presumably gain some more before we continue our journey - 7 days at sea.

Day 3. Melbourne

I just realise that I have forgotten to mention our dinner companions, which is surprising, as we have been having so much fun.  We are at a table of 6 - all kiwis.  Heather & Mark from Cable Bay and Margie & Ash from Tauranga.  Heather & Mark came from Barbados some 43 years ago and surprisingly they have been married precisely 1 week less than us.  Not only that but Mark's birthday is the day after mine.  Margie & Ash are older, but originated from Hawkes Bay, from the transport industry, so Vivian has much in common.  Margie is an artist (watch out Wyn) and is still collecting royalties.  They retired out of Dubai, where Ash had business interests, so are a wealth of information.  Much hilarity at the table each night.

Day 2
Saturday dawned wet and windy, but much better than overnight.  After breakfast, Vivian went to Line Dancing, while I went to the library and got a couple of books and set up the Tablet to the internet.  A little more structured this time, as we each get 1500 minutes - for the whole cruise, so about half an hour a day, which is not too bad but makes one wary of ensuring that we are only logged on for the shortest possible time.

After morning coffee it was time for lunch in the MDR (Main Dining Room) and the Vivian's Bridge.  I had spent much of the morning trying to get Vivian's Tablet connected, but to no avail.  Certainly it was connected to Sea Princess, but no way could I log onto the satellite.  For any techos reading this, the WiFi has a direct link to all Princess sites at no cost, but otherwise to get to the WWW, email etc. one needs an account for which you pay, except as above.

Long story short, I could not understand why I was getting the message "no data received", so I thought I'd pop down to see the internet manager when he/they opened at 2.00.  Funny that.  I found a queue of at least a dozen people before me and to give him his due, he was actually handling 4 or 5 people at a time before his assistant arrived. In due course I reached the head of the line.  He did what I had done, saw the result, selected another browser (as installed by Samsung) and that was that.  Always a simple answer!

Met Vivian for Green Tea after her bridge and sat with another couple from Melbourne - she too played bridge.  Anyway, they were most unhappy with their cabin (sorry, Stateroom) which was apparently directly above the nightclub and they had had no sleep on night 1.  He had been to passenger services demanding they find him a new cabin or else..... won't go onto the details.  OK, it must be difficult with the noise but considering they had cruised over 100 nights, one would have thought that they would have researched the plan beforehand.  But as she was happily telling us how she had been playing one agent off against another to save $400, I wonder whether this was some kind of payback from their travel agent.

I must also say how surprised we have been with the number of " experienced " travellers who had not even considered booking excursions in advance and thought that they would get to Machu Picchu at the last minute.  In fact on check in, there were a couple in Elite category who said it was the only reason they had booked the cruise and that they were not aware of reservations being made on line/in advance.  Having said that, we have had some great conversations with many people, particularly Women, who have done the RTW cruise 4 or 5 times.  A great bunch of travellers onboard.

Sunday 24th
A cool morning as we entered the port area.  Despite our best intentions, we still did not wake until 7.00 and had time for a cup of tea before breakfast.  I have to admit that we are a couple of days behind on our deck walking.  It was far too cold & wet yesterday and not really time to do it this morning.  Tomorrow is another day of promise!

We met  Richard & Nicky and their delightful children (Richard is the son of our Papakura friends Penney & Muir). Enjoyed time with them and wandered around for an hour or so (to make up our walking quota) and back to the ship.  We thought that we'd have to go to the Horizon buffet, but found that the MDR was open - even though it wasn't publicised.  Turned out that there were only a dozen or do of us there & there was a special menu with special dishes.  Another dozen people arrived and it seems that they were travel industry types bring given the promo for the ship.  We considered ourselves very lucky and the lunch was delicious.

The ship was very quiet as most were ashore and the new passengers just starting to board.  It is interesting that Princess has been selling short sectors and we had about 200 doing a weekend cruise Sydney to Melbourne.  There are also a fair number just going to Fremantle as well.  We went back to the cabin after lunch and looking out across the bay ,we saw a pod of dolphins about 300 metres away.  A pity that there were so few about to see them.

We were due to sail at 4.30, but by 4.50 they were still calling out for 2 passengers. Then I saw a taxi fly up and eventually we cast off just after 5.00.  Some people have commented that the Captain should have made an example of them and sailed on time!!  Not that there is any rush as we have 3 days sailing westwards across the Great Australian Bight.  The day has been generally fine but a little chilly, although possibly not as chilly as NZ.  Seems that we sure know when to leave home😀

Day 4
As we head ever westward we are thankful that we have put our clocks back an hour, so a bit more relaxed today and we were able to do our mile+ around the deck before breakfast.  Although a little chilly, it is a beautiful clear day with smooth seas.  I thought that I'd take the time to bring this blog up to date before the day gets too hectic.  You know, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner etc.  The Captain's welcome party tonight, so I'll give the penguin an outing.

...and we're off

It is just over 15 months since we booked this cruise and it is incredible that the day of departure has finally arrived.  Yesterday (21st) we yet again had breakfast on our deck watching the sun rise over Kawau Bay.  For about 1 millisecond we contemplated staying put, but no, there are so many adventures in store for us.  Had an overnight at Fiona & Richard's - yummy NZ lamb and early to bed to try and get some sleep. The excitement is creeping in.

The alarm going off at 5.00 was quite a surprise and the shuttle arrived as planned at 6.00.  A quick trip to the airport and smooth check in.  In reality we were probably an hour early, but was nice to enjoy a coffee and know that stage one was completed.  The flight was about quarter hour late in leaving but we were pleasantly surprised at the weather for most of the flight.  We were flying an A320, so a bit like a domestic flight - just longer.  Various bumps, particularly in the latter part of the flight.  A wet and blustery Sydney.

Arrived at White Bay cruise terminal about 11.00 and complete shambles prevailed.  Far too many people arrived early and the facilities (& sorry to say, staff) were inadequate.  Just to make it clear, these were contractors, not Princess people.  Once on board we had a sandwich for lunch and chatted with an interesting German couple living in Australia.  We got the surprise of our lives when they were brought to our table by Meg, who was our waiter on our 48 day cruise from Rome to Sydney a couple of years ago.  When we last saw him, he was off to UK, as his wife was having a baby - she was then working in the Purser's office on Ocean Princess.  Small world indeed.

Passenger Muster Drill was scheduled for 4.15 (just after our scheduled departure) yet after the drill (which is repeated every 30 days), we were still tied up.  I watched as large pallets of carrots, rice and goodness only knows what else were loaded onto the ship.  Happily our luggage arrived and we were able to busy ourselves in unpacking - cases under the bed, not to be seen for 98 more days!

Time went by and it got dark (& wetter) and we eventually took off about 7.00, which was really great as the Sydney Vivid Light Show started on Friday and if we'd been on time we would have missed it.  Certainly a great sight with the bridge, Opera House, the Docks and all the ferries decked out with  lights.  The bad news however was that the rain got heavier and the wind was strengthening.  Oh yes, I reckon the funnels were less than a foot away from the Harbour Bridge as we sailed under and the ship's horn sounded as we went under, to quite an echo.

The bad news Captain Kent gave us was that the swells at the heads and down the coast would be 7+ metres and that we were in for a rough night.  OK, there were a few shudders and a bit of a roll now and again but really nothing significant from our perspective.  Suffice to say that we slept very well as it had been quite a long day!

One thing about the ship is that it is like a favourite pair of slippers (or whatever), whereas a lot of passengers are consulting their booklets to find out where they are and where they want to go to, we don't need to as the Sea Princess is a sister if the Dawn (sailed on last November) & the Sun - sailed on her 3 years ago!  Our cabin is in a great position and we are really happy with the location and our cabin steward, Noel (although apparently pronounced Noelle ☺).  Just to conclude this post, the food is hugely better than the Dawn.  So with sleep and eat taken care of, we can put up with anything in the way of weather........