Cruising through life

My first ever cruise was in 1976.  My sister and I boarded the Fairstar for a Pacific Island cruise.  Back in those days family and friends would farewell you with streamers being thrown both ways.  The idea was to hold onto that streamer until your ship sailed away from the dock.  The cheering was so loud and it was a very memorable moment.

Leaving Sydney

No security on the dock and look at the length of that gangway.  People would literally die if they had to negotiate all those steps these days!

Fairstar (showing what a terrible photographer I was)

These days of course that tradition is now just a fond memory.  Security would NEVER allow anyone portside anymore.  What a shame.  The Fairstar and its sister ship the Fairsky were very much a young persons cruise with lots of partying well into the night.  I can't remember their being a Casino onboard but maybe there was, but I certainly remember the discos!There was only one restaurant and dinner was a formal affair. There were two dinner sittings and you were designated a table that didn't change throughout the whole cruise. How different it is these days.

Life and kids got in the way before our next cruise in 2003 when we boarded the Norwegian Dawn for 15 days.  We sailed from Miami around the Carribean Islands and then up the west coast of America to Rhode Island, Marthas Vineyard and on to our final destination, New York.  How we loved that cruise! We met some terrific people and the cruise ship had a "Love Boat" feel to it. We were certainly uneducated when it came to shore excursions and found ourself on one occasion in an unregistered taxi. A big no no. Fortunately for us the local constabulary saw us and hauled us out of the taxi.  We may not be here to today if it wasn't for them.

Our next trip was in 2009 on the Norwegian Sun.  We boarded this ship after we had a two week adventure through Peru and Bolivia, and that's another entire blog post!  The cruise commenced in Buerno Aires, Argentina and 15 days later we disembarked in Santiago, Chile after circumnavigating South America via Cape Horn.  This cruise had some of the finest sailing we have ever experienced.  Cruising through the Beagle Channel with glaciers reaching right down to the waters edge just left us speechless and photos could never do it justice.

We tend to book the next cruise from onboard the ship we are on.  There are huge discounts doing it this way so in 2011 we were off to the Mediterranean on board Norwegian Jade.  It was another 15 day sailing from Barcelona to Venice via Turkey.  The cruise was originally meant to go to Alexandria in Egypt but because of trouble in the area we were diverted to Turkey and I'm so pleased it worked out that way.  Istanbul was a most remarkable place that I would dearly love to visit again.

Our next cruise was a change of pace as we decided on a river cruise in 2013.  We chose to travel with Scenic on Scenic Diamond, for yet another 15 day cruise!  This time it was from Budapest to Amsterdam.  I highly recommend a river cruise if you are new to sailing.  Everyday you dock and have the choice to get off the ship and enjoy an excursion or stay on the ship and enjoy the amenities. We chose to leave the ship each day even though we had the coldest Spring on record and had snow, ice or sleet every single day!

In 2016 we were back on the larger ship, this time for 20 days.  Norwegian Pearl took us from Los Angeles through the Panama Canal to Miami.  Oh wow!  Traversing the Panama Canal is a definite bucket list item.  It is truly amazing.  After this cruise we flew to New Orleans for 10 fun filled days staying right on Bourbon Street.  The Music! The Atmosphere! The drinking! The eating! This place has it all and that's only at night.  Through the day we went to all the touristy places that are really worthwhile.

So last year we embarked on our longest cruise, 42 days.  As the readers of my blog would know, this was aboard little Regent Navigator cruising from Singapore to Rome via the Panama Canal.  I loved this cruise so much and really, really did not want to leave the ship.  I just know I'm ready for a world cruise!

And that brings us to our last 18 day cruise from Singapore to Sydney for Christmas and New Year.
Our next cruise is in 2021 from Vancouver to Tokyo for 30 days  (I'm already excited) and our friend circle have also decided that in 2022 we will again do a river cruise through France.

Life is good....

Home again......naturally....

A week has passed already since our holiday and we have jammed so much into this last week it almost feels like our holiday was imaginary.  But this happens every time we go away.  There is just so much catching up to do when we get home.  We are so lucky that our gardener, Trudi, looks after the place for us and her son Neil does a great job at taking care of our old Labrador.  Hudson really is showing his age now and I don't think he will see this year out.  The skin cancers are spreading rapidly over his body.  But he is still reasonable lively and when he is not, well, we know what we have to do and have prepared ourselves for it.

So, what have we been up to since arriving home.  Apart from unpacking the suitcase and washing and ironing great mounds of clothes (really must reduce our wardrobes by half) it has been same old same old. Before we left for holidays Philip opened gates so that the cattle could have six paddocks so he has been busy mustering them all into one mob again to continue rotational grazing.

I have been cooking light and healthy meals in order for us to lose the weight that we gained on holidays.  We are back to fasting for 16 hours each day and NO ALCOHOL until we re-gain control of our weight that I'm pleased to say is almost back to normal.

Miso Eggplant on Brown Rice for an easy lunch.  Apart from being delicious it filled my tummy to the brim!

Exercise has been high on our list this week. Philip has been cycling and I have been making good use of the pool.  I caught my little toe on the bedside table a few days ago and boy oh boy has it been painful.  No walking for me at the moment. When I visited the doctor this week to start the preliminaries for my finger joint replacement, she looked at the very bruised toe and said that she thought I had probably broken a small bone. Yoga has recommenced after the long Christmas break and on Tuesday I went along to the new premises for a gentle class.  I am making myself practice yoga on a daily basis this year, just 15 minutes a day, because my body and mind enjoys and needs it very much.

We had a quick trip to Cairns during the week as we had quite a list of things that we both needed.  For Philip it was maintenance items and a haircut and I, well I didn't really NEED anything but how is this cute little razor that I picked up in K-Mart for $10! It works amazingly well but I'm fairly certain it won't last long.

Can we talk about my boy Nick Kyrgios for a moment. He has again shown what a truly remarkable and admirable person he is by organising the tennis Rally for Relief tournament that raised $5 million for the bush fire ravaged areas of Australia.  Being a Canberra boy he knows first hand how devastating these fires have been in Australia. I really want him to do well at the Australian Open.  Maybe this will be his year.  I  hope Aussies get behind him and stop knocking him.  And as for Ash Barty, isn't she a dynamite.  I watched her play Danielle Collins last night in the Adelaide International semi finals. My heart almost stopped a couple of times but Ash certainly showed her mental strength and I'm sure she will do well in the AO. Hey now wouldn't that be a dream.  Kyrgios and Barty to take out the AO!

Well friends, that's a wrap for this week.  I'm glad to say that we have received some lovely rain while we were away and just wish I could send it down to Victoria and New South Wales where the fires are raging.

Blue Mountains (I think)

When we were in Sydney as part of our Regent Cruise we were taken to the Blue Mountains and surrounds.  It took about an hour and a half to reach our first stop at Echo Point where you get a magnificent view of the Three Sisters.  Unfortunately, this is what we saw.......

And this is what we should have seen......

The smoke, mingled with fog, was not the greatest combination for visiting an area that relies on its beautiful vistas. But, that said,  we made the most of the tour and had a terrific time.  We travelled on two different Cable Cars and the Vertical Rail that I found very disconcerting. We took a long walk through the rainforest that is quite different to our own tropical rainforest and so very beautiful.

Vertical Rail

The Three Sisters (I think)

Lunch was in the town of Leura that is a delightful little place that I would enjoy exploring when I had more time.  Lunch at the Gourmet Restaurant was one of the most delicious if have ever eaten - Duck and Orange Sausages with Sautéed Onion, Roast chat potatoes and a salad with a dressing that I would beg to get the recipe for.  There are apparently fabulous views from the verandah where we ate and we could see the outline through the haze of what would be fabulous.  Ah well next time.

Leura

ATP Cup Sydney

Okay.  My second attempt at this blog.  When I saved the last one, it disappeared.  I am going to change platforms this year as I have had many problems of late with the Blogger Platform.  I will give my readers plenty of notice!

So, back to the subject of this post.  The inaugural ATP Cup hosted by Australia.  

I purchased tickets online, while we were cruising, for the ATP Cup Quarter Final that was to be held in Sydney.  At that time I did not know who would be playing in the quarter finals but just overjoyed that we were going to be in the right place at the right time.  You can imagine my excitement when I found out Australia had made the quarter finals and were playing Great Britain.  

We purchased the Rockpool Hospitality Package that included a complimentary shuttle from the city to Ken Rosewall Arena at Sydney Olympic Park, best seats in the house, and a three course meal designed by Neil Perry from the famous Rockpool Restaurant. It was well worth it. We had no trouble finding the shuttle at the Sheraton on the Park and with the new underground tunnel the journey from the city to Olympic Park took less that 30 minutes.  We were given a bit of misinformation regarding the shuttle and arrived before the gates were open but as the shuttle dropped us where the players entered we were able to watch the arrival of the teams and their captains.

It didn't take long before the doors were opened for us and we took our seats that were three rows from the front in Section A1.  Our seats looked down the centre line. Nick Krygios vs Cameron Norrie was the first game and Nick hardly got a sweat up when he defeated the Brit 6-2, 6-2.  I want to say at this point that I am a great supporter of Nick Kyrgios. The 24 year old has the ability to be the World No 1 (he has beaten the worlds top 3) and to get to that place you need fire in the belly. Nick has plenty of that. When he came onto the tennis scene, it was alongside Bernard Tomic, who was nothing but a spoilt brat and unfortunately for Nick the press shoved him into the same boat as Tomic. I'm not saying he is a saint but we have had plenty of outspoken players who've gone on to achieve career highs.  Think Mark Philippoussis and John McEnroe.

Time will tell.

The next game was Alex De Minaur vs Dan Evans.  Alex is a Sydney boy and he badly wanted to win in front of his home town but it wasn't meant to be.  It was an epic 3 hour game with the score of 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 telling just a little of how this game went down.  Alex had a huge amount of support from the crowd but it just wasn't enough to take him over the line.

The decision by Captain Lleyton Hewitt to bring on De Minaur/Kyrgios for the deciding doubles game I think was a brave decision as the Chris Guccione/John Peers team had been a winning combination.  De Minaur had just come off the court from a long match but Kyrgios was well rested.

When they hit the court they were immediately on fire and the match was nail biting down to the epic 30 minute 18-16 tie breaker.  Alex and Nick are great buddies off the court and that mateship certainly helped them to win this deciding match. Semi finals next and after watching this team play and final placing is not out of the question.

After the three games ended we wandered over to the practice courts where Rafa was practicing.  Be still my beating heart.....

This was our first live tennis game and I can't tell you how much we enjoyed it.  I always thought you would see more on TV and possibly you do but there is NOTHING that can equal the atmosphere inside an arena when your team are playing.

Sydney

I get really sad on the last day of a cruise.  I just don't want to leave the ship.  It's just so terrific to be waited on hand and foot where the biggest decision you have to make is what you are going to eat for dinner. But, I must say that after a very rough sailing on our last night I was glad to leave the ship.  It is always rough waters in the northern Tasman Sea and I was somewhat prepared for it, but I still didn't sleep well.
But all thoughts of a restless sleep left my thoughts as we entered Sydney through the heads and into the calm waters of Sydney Harbour.  It was quite early when we entered the harbour and the misty morning gave the city a surreal feel.  Fortunately for us the smoke haze had also temporarily disappeared.

We are in Sydney for a three day post cruise tour.  We chose this when we were in Rome last year and enjoyed the opportunity to immerse yourself in the city.
Once we disembarked Regent Voyager we boarded a tour bus that took us to Darling Harbour to board another boat (!!) for a four hour harbour cruise.  On the walk to our boat we passed the Sydney Showboat and had to take a selfie.  When we were in Sydney for our honeymoon almost 42 years ago, we had dinner on this exact same boat!

Our harbour cruise included a fabulous buffet brunch that not only looked appetising but tasted even better. There was quiche, croissants, yoghurt, granola, fresh fruit, sandwiches with tea, coffee or juice. And just to round it all out they had seven different ice-creams and gelato to choose from.
The cruise was very leisurely almost to the point that I wanted to find a corner and lie down for a nap.
I didn't.

After the cruise we docked at Taronga Park where our bus was waiting for us.  It was now time to drive to Manly for lunch.  We obviously didn't eat after the substantial brunch, but thoroughly enjoyed a beer (for Philip) and Lychee/Mango/Champagne Cocktail for me.  We had a bit of a wander around Manly Beach and decided that we really liked this area and wouldn't mind coming back.  I wonder if there is a caravan park nearby?

After Manly Beach it was time to head back to the city and check into The Four Seasons Hotel on George Street.  I have to give a big shout out to the staff at the Four Seasons who had the best check-in we have ever experienced.  There were about 150 of us to check in to the hotel and the hotel had set out three tables in alphabetical order (i.e. A - G, H - M etc). We went to the table for M and were handed an envelope that had everything we needed for our stay in exchange for the credit card form that we had filled out on the bus. Check in took about 1.5  minutes.
We quickly showered and changed because we were to meet friends from the cruise ship for dinner and drinks on Circular Quay.  Our plan was to have dinner at the Opera Bar and watch the laser light display on the Opera House but the crowds quickly turned us around to head in a different direction.  We ended up at the Pullman Circular Quay and I had the best roast pork that I have EVER eaten.  It was just so damn good.
We had an enjoyable night with our new friends from Florida Keys and look forward to sustaining the friendship in years to come.

Brisbane

We arrived into Brisbane on quite a hazy day.  I don't think it was smoke, it felt more like atmosphere. It takes quite a long time to reach our dock at Brisbane Cruise Ship Terminal from when we first enter Moreton Bay.  We meander along the Brisbane River for many kilometres and we remark it how much has changed.  It is still an industrial area but even the industrial sheds are surrounded by green lawns.  We wonder if it has been a Brisbane Council initiative to "green" the area and we find out later from our tour guide that is indeed the case.
The place where we dock at Hamilton was not so very many years ago a place that you would not want to be.  There were a lot of old sheds and not much more.  Now there are dozens of multi story apartment blocks lining the banks of the river and there is a vibrant feel to the place.

Today we are heading to Tamborine Mountains for a lunch and a wine tasting.  We originally chose this tour because we thought it would be good to go somewhere a little cooler but unfortunately it was almost as hot on the Scenic Rim as it was in Brisbane.
Our tour took us through the heart of Brisbane City and being Sunday it was remarkably free of traffic and our driver could take the bus at a leisurely pace through the precinct.  I was very impressed with the amount of greenery in the city.  Even the beautiful old Moreton Bay Fig that sits proudly in the middle of Edward Street (?) still remains. Kudos to you Brisbane.

From the city centre we made our way onto the freeway before eventually turning off at Beenleigh.  I know this area quite well as I have a sister living at Beaudesert that is not far from where our tour will take us.  Our first stop was at the amazing Skywalk.  I say amazing because to build this sky walk over the top of the tree canopies is an engineering miracle.  If you were a little scared of heights this walk is not for you as it is very high.  The walk is only 1.5km round trip and you are encouraged to take your time so it took us around 30 minutes to complete.  It is a beautiful rainforest walk that I highly recommend.

By this time we had built up an appetite (said with tongue in cheek) so it was off to our lunch stop at the quant old St. Bernards Hotel at Tamborine.  We were served a two course alternate drop meal of either chicken or steak and cheesecake and fruit salad to round it out.  A glass of wine or beer was also included with this very delicious meal.

It was only an hour stop for lunch before we were once again back on the bus to drive to the arts and craft street in Tamborine.  Being Sunday it was very busy so Philip and I found a nice quiet restaurant were we could sit back with a beer and do a little people watching.  This area reminds me of the Maleny/Montville area on the Sunshine Coast with all its trendy little shops that are actually very over-priced.....

From here we were taken to a local winery, whose name escapes me, for a wine tasting.  All the grapes are sourced from the Granite Belt and I am particularly fond of the wine from this area although most would say it is a little too sweet for their liking.  We were seated with a lively group so the wine tasting was very enjoyable.  And no Kate.  We did not order thousands of dollars worth of wine as we did from our last wine tasting :-)
We were back on board the ship by 5.30pm for our sailing at 6.30pm.  We decided to open a bottle of champagne and not have any dinner tonight even though it was our second last night onboard. This cruise has gone so fast! Tomorrow we have our last day at sea before docking at Sydney early Tuesday morning.  We then have three days to explore before flying home on Friday.  I also managed to score tickets to the quarter final of the ATP on Thursday.  I am beside myself with excitement and wouldn't it be great if we got to watch the Aussie team.  Fingers crossed.

Airlie Beach, Whitsunday Islands

We have been really looking forward to Airlie Beach as it has been more than 30 years since our last visit and we were keen to see the changes.  The Whitsundays have been ravaged by a couple of devastating cyclones in the past few years but looking around now you would not know that.  It is a lovely place and has certainly grown from the sleepy village that we saw all those years ago.  We were lucky enough to spend a week on Hayman Island for our honeymoon, thanks to my generous parents, in 1978.  The island has been totally re-vamped since then and is now a millionaires paradise but we loved it the way it was with all its hidden bungalows. There are 74 islands in the Whitsundays with Hamilton Island being the largest.
The ship anchored offshore again and we were tendered into Airlie Harbour via the Island Hopper fast catamaran.  However, it took forever to leave the ship to join the tender.  I don't know what the problem has been getting passengers off the ship and on to tender, but passengers are starting to become very irritated with the slow process.  No doubt there will be some bad reviews about this at the end of the cruise.
We eventually made it ashore to join our tour that was "Travel by RIB to Whitehaven Beach".  Now,  I really should have researched what RIB actually was before I signed us up for this tour.  I am not a thrill seeker or adrenaline junkie, just a 62 year old woman who likes the slow lane.  RIB stands for Rigid Inflatable Boat that travels at around 90kmh across the ocean, and just for a thrill or two the skipper throws in a couple of 360 degree turns here and there.  Actually, it could have been worse I guess and it was all worth it when we reached Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island.

There have been a lot of travel shows lately featuring Whitehaven and I have been longing to see it for myself.  I was not disappointed.  It is one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. Who knew that there could be so many different shades of blue in the ocean.

We hiked to the lookout to take photos of the beach.  It is a 20 minute hike with about 300 steps but an easy walk and so worth doing.  After our photo shoot we trekked back down to the beach where our boat captain had laid out a very delicious cold cuts and salad lunch with lots of fresh fruit.  After our hike we were quite hungry so the lunch was very well received.

I just noticed another overloaded boat in the background!

We had around an hour on Whitehaven Beach before we once again boarded the RIB to make the one hour return journey back to Airlie Harbour. A big shout out to Ocean Rafting company and our captain James and his right hand man, Tom, who bent over backwards to make our journey as enjoyable as possible aboard "Wild Thing".