Nearer and nearer...

  Apart from landing at Brisbane airport and finding that the car rental company we have used several times before were conspicuous by their absence, we had a good week.   

  Thankfully the very nice lady at “Thrifty” car hire fixed us up at a fair price so we were only delayed about 45 minutes.  Quite how a company can have a website; accept an on line  booking for a car from Brisbane airport; send a booking number in October; then claim that they hadn’t serviced the airport for several months, is just unbelievable.  Tracking down the  staff proved even more difficult, as they had moved from their published office address and once we found out where they worked from, the desk seemed to be permanently unmanned when we called.

  The week soon got better though as on the Thursday, we caught up with two very experienced local cruisers for a 3pm cuppa - that drifted on very amicably to an early evening pizza!

Friday, for about the 5^th time on the Gold Coast, we spent an enjoyable day at Sea World.  Without either grandchildren, children or even our regular travellers to ride the various rides, (though I did manage the roller coaster as there was no queue) we contented ourselves with ambling around and watching the various shows, though the new ‘on the lake’ show wasn’t a patch on its predecessor.  However we did see the British advance welcoming party for our ship... (see pic)

  Saturday was another highlight with our two new cruise buddies joined by three other cruisers for what turned out to be about a three hour getting to know you ’lunch and laughter' session.  Probably the first real ‘meet and greet’ of the CC11 cruise group?  It is so good listening to experienced cruisers relate their varied travel experiences and we found the lunch both informative and fun.  By the time the ship sets sail on May 25th, no doubt several other ‘mini groups’ will have met.

  We came away from the lunch in very high spirits and we now need to change our cruise dining from the early sitting to the late sitting as the others in the group made it quite clear that we might find that tripping over zimmer frames on the way to our table, might prove to be injurious to our health and would adversely affect our ability to join in the dance classes.  As neither of us are really gym bunnies, we see the dance classes and probably the top deck sports court as our means of keeping fit. (Dining time now changed to the late sitting...) 

  During the course of the 5 days, we managed to scoff three large tubs of mango/Greek yoghurt, plus 5 local mangoes...  Sheer bliss.  

 More often than not we ate Italian but one night we ate Indian.  That proved to be a mixed blessing as the starter platter was a disgrace but the kangaroo curry was a nice first and the chicken curry was fine.  The bill was extortionate though.  Probably about twice the price of an equivalent meal in NZ.

 Our favourite restaurant proved to be Valentinos.  On the way there (two minutes walk) each night we heard the most tremendous noise that proved to be the lorikeets.  Apparently it is their mating season and there were hundreds of them in the trees around the open area adjacent to the restaurant. A few minutes after darkness finally settled in, it all went quiet!  The picture at the beginning of this post is one of my all time favourites but is of a lorikeet that Paula's son son had 5 years ago, but it shows the beautiful colours rather better than the other pic which was taken from ground level in the dark!  
  Valentinos was just tremendous.  Not only beautiful tasty food, but in typical Italian style, run by father and son and very attentive staff. Same two chefs for the last 19 and 16 years too.   A complimentary glass of port each night was a nice touch and even I enjoyed that the second night.   

  On the way back to the airport, we called in at a couple of shopping malls, more to kill time than to shop – but in a lightening raid on the wallet, I walked out with three  shirts and two ties!

  A great flight back with Air New Zealand who as usual managed to start and finish on time - and with the same number of engines; a prompt pick up by the Park ’n Fly people to collect our car. Pity any new visitors as the motorway not far from the airport was closed and the diversion signs seemed to peter out.  Fortunately we knew where we were and not for the first time did we comment that the road signage around Auckland was quite pathetic.  Home and bed about 1.30am - which was of course 10:30pm Brisbane time.  Hard to believe a 3 hour flight AND a three hour time difference. 

  The next planned holiday (at this stage) is - THE CRUISE!

Yet another cruise extension!

Well, even though we had no joy getting any sense out of the cruise company regarding their wacky pricing (they were advertising a cheaper fare from Dover to Auckland than from Fort Lauderdale to Auckland, but wouldn’t let us board at FL!) I eventually managed to speak to someone further up the chain but without any change in stance. 

Once again, we did the numbers and the cost of a few days in LA (a place we have been to, many times), added to the likely cost of a one way air fare from LA to NZ, plus our usual daily costs of food, fuel, badminton, night classes gas and electricity etc., we worked out that for the extra cost of extending our cruise yet again, right to Auckland, the difference was minimal! 

A powerful incentive was the feeling that we have already had such good contacts with several other cruisers, via the Cruise Critic website (more specifically, the Roll Call for our Dawn Princess cruise) that we cannot fail to cement several friendships.  As we are only in touch with those who are on that message board, that still leaves a fair few potentially new people to meet.  

By extending our cruise, we unfortunately lost the cabin we had previously booked from FL to LA, but a change of location shouldn’t take too much getting used to. 

As mentioned in the previous post, we are off to Broadbeach for a few days next week, where we are really looking forward to meeting some other cruisers.  Paula is also looking forward to the beautiful Australian mangoes and the Greek yoghurt. We are also looking forward to fresh prawns, straight off the boat, instead of the Vietnamese and Chinese prawns cultivated in puddles at the side of the road, normally available in NZ...

I suppose I should add a pic or two to liven this up, but rather stuck for appropriate ones until next week.

Another step forward.

Well, we just couldn’t face another 230 days without a break and as our only break so far this year was back in April, we decided to head back to Broadbeach (the southern end of the world famous Surfer’s Paradise, south of Brisbane, for those of you in the UK who are less aware of the local geography...).

We stayed at the Meriton Apartments just over a year ago with two other couples and Paula got really good value out of the superb heated indoor pool and I enjoyed the spa.  We only managed one session in the heated outdoor pool, on our last night, as they were working above it during the week, but we were impressed with it and the large spa too.  Needless to say, a return visit to the same place was an easy decision, even though we’ll be without our usual travelling and dining companions and partners in crime.

 

Thanks to the Cruise Critic message boards and our involvement with the Dawn Princess roll call for May 2011, we are in touch (albeit at a distance) with several fellow cruisers, so once we announced our intentions, very quickly, we were in a position to be involved in an opportunity to meet two or maybe three other couples whilst in Broadbeach. So, early November, we’ll have something to add to this travel/holiday/cruise blog and maybe a couple of fine weather photographs, just as the UK starts to get those horribly grey creeping cold evenings and early mornings.  Shudder....

The Meriton is only a two minute walk to the hub of Broadbeach where there are some great restaurants so we’ll be having a meal with four 2011 cruisers, possibly an Italian meal and we can just pretend we are in Europe for a couple of hours.

"Our Ship" The Dawn Princess, leaves Auckland for Sydney

We opted to see the ship leave Auckland rather than arrive - a good choice. The weather was a bit erratic (as usual) with sun and showers, but mainly sun – thank goodness. The first photograph was taken from Auckland’s North Shore, brunch time, just across the road from our usual cafe, in Birkenhead. Birkenhead is known as the “City of Views” this is looking back towards downtown Auckland and you can just see the tip of the stern of the ship in the centre of the photograph, tucked behind the hotel that looks like a ship! This street in Birkenhead goes down to the ferry.

If you want to find this on the map, it is Hinemoa St and the sandwich board bottom right is pointing to Palm Cafe – where I get my (LARGE) daily fix of coffee and usually a fairly full breakfast. Highly recommended if you are ever over this way.

Mid afternoon, Paula and I headed over to Devonport, to the top of Mount Victoria, ready to watch the Dawn Princess head off on the last leg of this year’s Round the World Cruise, bound for Sydney. We sat in the car (fortunately) as the temperature slipped down to about 14 degrees, staring at the ship which was scheduled to leave at 4pm – that is 1600hours nautically speaking. Gee I am getting the hang of this cruising jargon! We waited patiently and at 16:15, it moved. The clouds were gathering and the sun was somewhat hidden for most of the area but fortunately, the camera did a pretty good job of recording the departure.

The ship passes Devonport Wharf (just visible in the foreground) - and I was waving, flashing the car headlights and generally being a total embarrassment to Paula! Judging by a couple of flashes from the ship, someone was taking a picture or two from the ship, probably wondering who the loony was on land...

After Devonport, the ship turns 180 degrees to port (I think that is left...) and passes in front of Rangitoto Island. The 'toadstools' in the foreground are air vents for the network of tunnels in the mount, a defence post for Auckland when invaders were expected.  Rangitoto is an extinct volcano and can be seen from many different places around Auckland. 

A matter of minutes after this shot, the ship slowed - presumably to let the pilot off, did another turn - to starboard this time and headed off for Sydney.

I hopped back in the car as it was rather chilly and we headed back home.  Now it is time to see what is on the video camera...  The pictures above are all reduced in size from the original 3 or 4mb to about 355kb so if anyone wants any full sized images, just let me know.

A strange feeling watching the ship, knowing that about this time next year, we'll probably be there again waving to the 2011 cruisers probably with a degree of sadness as we won't be there right at the very end of the adventure with them, but also next year, we'll no doubt be catching up with a few passengers first...  We'll probably also be looking forward to 2012 by then.

Farewell Dawn Princess, see you again in about 265 days...

Under 300 days to go now.

The Dawn Princess continues its 2010 round the world journey and the on board bloggers continue to inform and entertain us.  Every day, both Paula and I dive into the various blogs for our ‘fix’.

What I had overlooked was that when we went to Sydney for a few days last year (round about Melbourne cup day) the Dawn Princess was in. Not for one minute did we think that a few months later we would have booked a cruise on it!  Had we realised, we would have taken more pics.

The fascinating thing about the various blogs is that each puts a different perspective on the cruise, which is brilliant.  “Packetau” is taken with Philip’s daily quotes and may well continue with that next year.

We have had several enjoyable international trips to the Australian Masters Games and the World Masters games, with the Kiwi contingent.  A lesson I picked up from the Jaycees, was recording the misdemeanours of the other members, usually to create a laugh and resulting in a small fine.  This seemed to make sense for the badminton players so I avidly recorded all such ‘incidents’ whilst we were away.  With  a bit of embroidery and massaging of the truth, our reunions were generally hilarious as these ‘incidents’ were given a wider airing.  Maybe my mission whilst on board will be to record the things that made us laugh.

We will certainly leave the historical info on each port to the others and as someone who prefers to be behind the camera or video camera, don’t expect a heap of personal pics! 

  We have enjoyed some of the stunning food creations that bloggers have posted so far and maybe we’ll make a point of taking lots of pics of the food!   Editing the movies and stills down into a reasonably sized package might take some time too as the critical thing is making sure you are brutal with the editing.  A 53 day cruise for us is quite a long one, so the resulting DVD may have to be broken down into segments otherwise the computer might struggle to cope.   If others are going to produce their own movies of the cruise, maybe we should make sure we swap addresses and post each other our finished DVDs!

FAMILY STUFF...

The new grandson arrived 6 days later than expected (July 26^th) and at this stage looks to be a chip off the old block(s), with a remarkable likeness to his dad at the same age.  Bearing in mind that Stewart also looked  a lot like me when he was young, we’ll just have to wait and see how junior progresses.  As Stewart’s wife is Brazilian, the normal convention there is to carry over mum’s maiden surname so Manu became a Santos-Green when she married Stewart.

It  took several days after the birth to confirm the baby’s name and we expected he might carry over the double barrelled surname.  But it was not to be.  The proud parents have opted for Noah Samuel Santos Green, thus retaining the ‘Santos’ as a Christian name.   Although there are Samuel’s in our Green family history, this is the first Noah and I can’t help thinking that rather than a Scalextric set, maybe granddad should buy him a carpentry set and show him a picture of the Dawn Princess...  

Second thoughts.  I’ll stick to the Scalextric set as at least I’ll enjoy it!

More holiday - but closer to home

Well, 315 days to go and the 2010 cruise is only a couple of days away from
the UK. Every day, we have been checking the blogs from the current cruisers and four of them seem to manage to update daily - most impressive!
Having different viewpoints has been invaluable and helps with deciding what
we'll be putting in this blog next year as well as what we intend doing at
each port. No doubt by then, there will be several 2011 bloggers and each

will be deciding what they think is important either for their friends or

the 2012 travellers. As my interest in history is just about zero, others
will no doubt be keen to put the history in their blogs, so easier for me to

just put in their links.

ON BOARD

From all accounts, the time on the ship for the first half of the current cruise has been most enjoyable, with several looking forward to a day or two at sea as a time to relax and recover. Whilst most see a cruise as a holiday (which of course, it is) it doesn't mean that it isn't tiring, so
conserving energy on port days will be a key consideration for us.

Days at sea learning a new dance each day will be one of our more enjoyable forms of exercise and will be part of our fitness regime. So far, they have been learning a real mix of Ballroom, Latin, Rock and Roll - plus Australia's own contribution to dance - New Vogue. Paula has been learning NV here in NZ but I opted out when the class was moving just a bit too fast for a total beginner with two left feet. Teachers (particularly dance teachers) need to understand that when you are old and tall, it takes a long time for messages to reach the feet... Even longer to learn the routines.

On the current cruise, it sounds as though there is a bit of traditional (Dixieland) jazz being played, so hopefully, we'll get to enjoy that too.  Several of the current bloggers have posted pics of the most amazing cakes but as my tastes are generally more savoury, maybe my mission will be to post a normal menu a day! Correction, my menu... NZ followers and family

will be well aware that thoughts of food are usually uppermost in my tiny mind, so the blog may as well reflect that. May need a panoramic camera - not just for the food either, as no doubt the waistline may go through a period of adjustment.

LAND IN NZ

Not even as far as the airport this time... A winter weekend away at Mount Maunganui was bright, but rather cold!  Mt Maunganui next to Tauranga could well be a future stop off for the round the world cruises, as it is a growth area and Tauranga docks are as busy as Auckland's. Several NZ travellers head straight to the wonderful thermal area of Rotorua - Tauranga is closer than Auckland.

Somewhat surprising that the Princess round the world cruises only have a short day in Auckland. Probably as the majority of passengers are Australian anyway and many will have been before. Auckland's advantage over many overseas ports is that you can stagger straight out of the terminal into downtown Auckland.

Currently the dock area is earmarked as 'Party Central' for the October 2011 Rugby World Cup, but as usual, Auckland is being short sighted with its plans. What a great place for a decent cruise terminal that doubles as Party Central for large events, rather than the two shapeless old fashioned sheds that are on the site now.

Checked out flight costs to Sydney for May 24th 2011. Looks like now is a good time to purchase flights - and to lower the final bill for the next financial year.

AND IN THE UK...

With my (Ray's) first grandchild due in just over a week, Manu is ready, with Stewart by her side, and we say a big thank you to the developers of Skype that we will see the new arrival not long after it comes home. Exciting times ahead.

Isn't technology just wonderful.