Tuesday 17 February 2009

Day Thirty Eight: Up the Creak

No it is not a mis-spelling, we spent the night after leaving Sydney in heaving seas that made the whole cabin creak as the frame twisted with the movement. We had wardrobe doors that kept opening, Ted sliding across the window sill, glasses and a kettle that moved along the desktop and this lasted practically all night. We left it until 8.30am before we got up – showers were out of the question because of the movement – and gingerly made our way to the Al Fresco for breakfast. For reasons that I won’t go into I was in urgent need of prunes, figs, dates in fact anything that might help but Hilary stuck to a little pineapple and we both participated in Tomato Juice as a stomach settler. It seemed to work for me, although I must admit that I put the Sea Bands on before we went to breakfast and we took ourselves off to the Theatre Royal to watch Sherry give a tour lecture about Whitsunday Islands. They look fabulous and we hoping for much better weather by the time we get there, we don’t have a tour booked and we are planning to just visit a local town and beach and hopefully swim in a pool that doesn’t have the seasonal stinging jellyfish in it.

Our plans for the day that we set out from the ship’s itinerary included seeing the other lecture by Sherry today on Yorkey’s Knob and also going to a Portunus club meeting but the weather and the seas took a turn for the worse and we settled for a day in the cabin. Hilary was able to do her scrapbook for a while but eventually needed to get her head down and took a short nap. I piddled around with the Sudoku and got out the middle bit but then made a hash of the rest of it and then realised it would be a more productive use of the day if I got some more of the video onto the laptop and in fact this is happening while I am typing – I love these new multicore processors that allow you to multitask. We also watched a couple of movies on TV, the first was The Nannie Diaries with Scarlet Johannson and the second which is on now has Billy Crystal, Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones in America’s Sweethearts. I have actually spent most of the day at our little table with the laptop in front of me while looking out of the window and simultaneously keeping an eye on the video camera screen to see what it is that I have recorded. We are gradually working our way up the east coast of Australia and when the mist clears we are able to see its coastline and I am glad to say that the wind and the seas have finally dropped down (it is around 4.30pm our time) so with a bit of luck we will have a nice easy dinner tonight and a good day in Brisbane tomorrow. Incidentally the couple that we spoke to last night about just going from Sydney to Brisbane were not unique, apparently P & O are doing a ‘taster’ and there are 140 of these people on board out of a total of 500+ that joined the ship yesterday.

That’s it for now, I will hand you over to Hilary who will do her Lurch impression as she moves from one side of the cabin to the other.

Tiz I. I’m making a bad job of keeping my head, stomach and legs in working order today. The sea was very lumpy and the cabin was in rock and roll mode. From the horizontal position I have been able to put together the first page of the scrapbook and the last page into order. I have also figured which photos I will need to be made into 3x2 inch size. Now all I have to do is write up the journal part of each page and I will be able to complete the second leg up to Sydney. I will take the camera’s memory card down to the photographer as soon as I can walk again! I think that I will run out of pages (even though I brought a spare pack) before I get all the pictures into the book – still I will get as far as I can. I expect that Sam will be back in Austin by now – exhausted after the journey home. Keep all your photos together sweetheart, I will be over and can’t wait to see them. It is not long now before Dad and I will see Jess in Hong Kong – if she can make it over there with her heavy schedule. I’m staying positive that she will be there and we can go shopping together. Sheila and Marlene how did your weekend in Cornwall go I hope you had some dry weather so you could visit some of the beautiful places down there. Tomorrow we visit the crocodile hunter’s zoo in Brisbane, I will tell you all about it when we get back. Take care, God bless.
Just came back from a fantastic evening show in the theatre by a young New Zealander called Will Martyn. Twenty four years old, started singing at 13, started playing the piano at 16 and is an incredible talent. A huge voice from a slight frame and he started with some classical, then went into Billy Joel, followed by Elton John and finished with classical. That young man will go far. The internet is iffy so without further ado I am going to post this. Tomorrow it’s the zoo and Brisbane.

4 comments:

samw7 said...

Hi There

I'm safely back in Austin after a really long trip, but oh so well worth it. I was reading the blog and the comments this morning and thought that we should set up a permanent family and friends blog, where we can all keep in touch with each other. I love hearing about what everyone is doing and it helps me feel connected from so far away.
Sorry to hear that the sea has been a little more challenging, but it sounds as though you are coping. I'm so glad that you were able to see Brian and have a good day with him.
After visiting Jess I can see why she loves China. There is an entrpreneurial energy there that makes you feel as though you are part of something that has so much potential. We met so many friendly people and had such a good time. There was also a reminder how you can do so much with so much less and so many fewer restrictions. Health and Safety people would go crazy with the dumpling store that is situated right next door to an auto repair store and shares much of the same area. I am still not quite sure how they all drive the way that they do and there are so few accidents, but I learned to look out the side of the car so that I didn't see the buses and other vehicles and people that were so narrowly missed as new driving lanes were created. I can't wait to go back, but it was good to come home and see Jeff and Jack, who also had a good time with each other.
Hayley - Congratulations on all you are doing. I trust this is going to be a break-out year for you and your mom
Sharon - Just change the locks and that way you can avoid participating in the pwer play. just remember that you can't change another person's actions just your responses. i'm still working on that one.
Love to all, Sam

Pat said...

Hi
I was up early this morning and when I logged on Sam hadn't blogged which totally threw me. Luckily I tried a little while later and was happy.
Sammy glad you had such a good holiday, especially the massage (tee hee) and I love the idea of the family blog. Definitley a job for your Dad when he gets back home.
Have just lost the sun and it's already 4pm so where did the day go.
Hilary I have finished all the animals on Holly's sampler and only have writing to do. Can't believe I have managed it.
Love Pat

Marlene and Tara said...

Hi guys!I agree with the others - it is so lovely getting the daily life of cruising and sharing it with you.
Sheila and I did have a lovely weekend. We had a lovely meal and a bottle of wine - don't tell Simon!On Saturday we went through all the unusual shops of Penzance and then walked on Marazion beach. We nearly got across to the Mount but as the tide was beginning to come across the walk way, decided neither of us were fit enough to run for it.
On Sunday we went, of course, to Sennen. Sheila showed her adventerous colours and led us on a mission from Sennen beach to the adjoining Gwenvor - accessed by a very long stretch of big boulders. We managed quite well doing our "old lady" impressions because we decided we are too old to leap from rock to rock and spent most of the time scrabbling and crawling. Well worth it though. Gwenvor is smaller than Sennen, but equally as beautiful. Tara managed well - but then she is a Tibetan mountain dog! We came back on the coastal path which was a bit muddy, but ok. A quick cup of tea and I safely delivered Sheila back to the train. Oh too quickly. It was lovely and she has promised to come more often - as long as she does not take me on too many scary escapades!
Lots of love to you both. Enjoy your life on the ocean wave.
Marlene and Tara xxx

Sharon and Georgia said...

Hi Guys,

You poor things. You may not have had sea legs when you began this adventure, but I am so impressed! I think I would have been dramatically wobbly. At least it gave you the opportunity to catch up on editing, scrapbooking and etc.

Sam,happy to know you are safely at home in Austin. Thank you for your support...Walking my talk is bloody hard, but of course,you are right. Locks will be changed! And you're idea of an ongoing interactive family blog sounds brilliant! I would enjoy contributing to that.

Sending you all love and extra strong sea legs for those who need... xxxx