2016-03-08/09 – In the Tasmen Sea Wellington to Sydney

Tuesday and Wednesday, March 8 & 9, 2016 – (Loose 1 hour overnight) At Sea on route between Wellington and Sydney, Australia. It was a bit of a catch up time – Laundry, Blogs, Facebook posting etc during these days, but we remained busy with may activities on the Ship.

Tuesday was the Graham Howell Port lecture on Brisbane, which is always interesting. This was followed by an interview by the Entertainment Director Jo Haley of last night’s entertainer – Mike Doyle. In the hour and a quarter she was able to get in three questions – How did you get started in Show Business, was the first. after 40 minuets he sat down and said – I hope that answers your question! He was exceptionally amusing and obviously not only a comedian but a talented mimic and singer. He has certainly done a lot of shows and entertaining form many years all over the world and a lot on cruise ships. The evening’s entertainment was a talented clarinet and ukulele player and with the orchestra, did a nice “Big Band” performance, which they repeated twice the following day in the Winter Garden.

Wednesday – Mick Dawson did his final lecture about what’s next for him after rowing across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, which mainly entails setting up a charity to help PTSD Falkland and other war veterans. This started with a friend of his who suffered PTSD after both had fought as Marines in the Falklands. The next discussion was fascinating as it was Capt Alastair Heron. He at 75 years old has been at sea in different vessels all his life. He is on the ship as the Barrier Reef Pilot through March 17. He told us all about the life of a pilot, the way to get onto ships, the responsibilities and in general, the Modus Operandi of Marine Pilots. The are the ones responsible for taking ships through difficult waters to navigate or into Ports as they have the specific local knowledge that general Captains / Masters do not have. We then went to the gym to discuss and be tested for our muscle, water and general body conditions. In order to help the body conditions, we then ended up as a group of 17 in the Commodore Club Bar for a lesson in fixing drinks that old Cunard Commodores mad famous in their day. One of them was the last drink to be sold on the Titanic (Punch Romaine a la Carpathia) – The Carpathia was the ship that went to the aid of and rescued the survivors of the Titanic. For those interested it contains Advocat, Limoncello, Cream Sherry and lime juice with a browned marshmallow top, garnished with a lime twist – Scrumptious! Anyway, a really interesting time, but 5 large, strong drinks in 90 minutes played its toll! Eventually three of us made it to dinner and soon thereafter to rest! – A fun time nevertheless. We were sad to bid our Australian friends at the next table (Ian, Catherine, Miron and Hilda) goodbye as they are getting off in Sydney and home to Melbourne. Tomorrow we arrive in Sydney for 2 days, visiting the city and going to “The Barber of Seville” Opera tomorrow night at the famous Opera House – Very Exciting.