Helen: Well, well, well. Our glorified ferry ride is turning out to be quite an experience! Our cabin is the biggest room we've stayed in since we left home and we have a private bathroom, all to ourselves. We even have a little man who turns down our bed, leaves choccies in our room and makes us a different towel animal each night (I'm not kidding, Holland America (the cruise line) has even published a book of the '40 best towel animals'!). I'm in planning and sewing heaven – I get a daily schedule so I can organise my day to the nearest nannosecond and I've met a group of ladies who knit and sew! How ridiculous is that. Marylin is a lovely little old lady who has taught me how to spin, and I've been getting tips galore on my new dress – it's going ok (now I've let our one of the seams I can actually breathe fully) and should be finished for our final night dinner next week.
C is also, despite himself, having a whale of a time. He's in the gym every day, which means he has made friends with all the ladies who work in the Spa next door – very useful as they are now searching high and low for materials for him as he is...building a model boat! It has to carry a cargo of 12 cans of Coke and will be tested in the Jacuzzi on the last day of the trip! So far he's had the staff collecting chop sticks and cans and I've made him a Red Ensign.
The biggest down side of the cruise isn't actually all the other people (in among all the fatties we've met some lovely folks) it's the time ashore. You don't get long, the shore excursions they arrange are uber expensive and they usually visit the more developed destinations as they're the only ones that can cope with 1400 people in one go. I've actually enjoyed the 'at sea' days more than the days on land! We've been to the Whitsundays (golf cart madness) and Cairns (bush turkeys were the highlight – what does that tell you) and we're currently en route to Darwin. Think we might save our money and just hang out in town in Darwin so we can hire a car in Bali and go and see some temples and rice paddies.
Not sure what else to tell – tonight is 'formal' night which means everyone is dressed up in tux's – apart from us. We're off to the buffet and then maybe the cinema. We even saw a magician a couple of days ago – he made his lovely assistant vanish – I know there's a rational reason how he did it...but it impressed me and made me giggle like a small child nonetheless.
Will write again when we get to Singapore on April 4
Lots of love
H&Cxx
PS We had our first jive lesson last night! We were swinging away, when we noticed someone doing fantastic jiving...and he turned out to be both a lovely guy and a dance instructor, so he taught us the basics. V cool. And the drummer from the band (old Polish man who's been with the company for 39 years!) said he might give me a drum lesson too!
Friday 27 March 2009
Thursday 19 March 2009
Floating hotel
Helen: We checked into our cruise ship yesterday. It's SO cool :) Admitedly we are the youngest people on board by about 30 years (we did spy one other backpacker couple in the check-in queue though) and the decor is late 70s/early 80s (lots of sparkles and shinyness, despite the fact that the ship is only 9 years old - probably deliberate to make the old dears feel at home). But, all the staff have been absolutely wonderful (as well they ought to be - we are being charged an 'optional' $11 a day/person for tips!). Nothing is too much trouble and no one has so much as batted an eye lid over C's out-of-the-ordinary dreads. Our room is ok too - not in the engine bay after all. We have an en-suite bathroom, two wardrobes and even two portholes, as well as our own flat screen TV and DVD player (which was on when we got to our room playing a welcome message - very Big Brother). That makes it about the most luxurious room we've stayed in all trip! There's a gym that opens at 6am where C will likely be spending most of his time, we've found one of the restaurants that doesn't have a formal dress code, there's dancing and music every night and three screenings of two films every night too. I'm not going to want to visit any of the places we stop at at this rate!
C even begrudingly admitted he thought it was pretty cool too. It's so convenient - we have the best hotel spot in the city! He was a bit upset though - we had to give htem our passports and credit card details - and all we got in return was a little bit of yellow paper as a receipt!
So, we're off at midnight tonight. Then two 'sea days' before we get to the Whitsundays where we hope to do some diving, then Cairns, then the Great Barrier Reef, then Darwin, Bali and Semarang before Singapore. Very excited :) Will try to post en route if we can get to internet cafes, but I think our time ashore will be pretty limited and internet on board is via satelite so v expensive.
H&Cxx
C even begrudingly admitted he thought it was pretty cool too. It's so convenient - we have the best hotel spot in the city! He was a bit upset though - we had to give htem our passports and credit card details - and all we got in return was a little bit of yellow paper as a receipt!
So, we're off at midnight tonight. Then two 'sea days' before we get to the Whitsundays where we hope to do some diving, then Cairns, then the Great Barrier Reef, then Darwin, Bali and Semarang before Singapore. Very excited :) Will try to post en route if we can get to internet cafes, but I think our time ashore will be pretty limited and internet on board is via satelite so v expensive.
H&Cxx
Tuesday 17 March 2009
Aussie mossies
Helen: Went kayaking and camping at the weekend. Lots of fun, even for a self confessed non-camper, although I could have done without the Aussie strength mossies. They were even biting me through my clothes the bastards. Now have bright red welts on my backside. Not a good look when I was trying on bikinis in Bondi yesterday (you should have seen the look on C's face as he waited paitently in the shop. Didn't know where to look - even I was a bit bemused by all the gazillions of different styles of swimming costume there are out there. Sadly the only bikini I liked that wasn't 3 triangles of material held together with some floss was $150. $150!!)
Going to the zoo today to see koalas ("but we can see koalas in the zoo at home" from you know who) and maybe even a platypus. And then maybe to see the Star Wars exhibition at one of the local museums. Apparently they have a weightlessness simulator...
Not much else to report - have mostly been relaxing at Al and Hazel's house - catching up on admin/practising guitar (C is getting pretty good at Johnny Be Good) and I've started making another dress - was getting bored and tetchy - nothing like a good sew to sort me out.
Our boat arrives tomorrow and we sail at midnight on Friday. Very exciting. Al has lent C a shirt with a collar so that he stands a chance of being fed in the restaurants on board (although, it is a hawaian shirt!)
Hxx
PS still no decision on how we're getting home - the bloody Russian embassy here won't give us visas (long story - basically we have to go back to London to get them) so it looks like we might have to fly from Mongolia to Europe and then catch the ferry from Estonia or Denmark or somewhere like that. Hope to have it sorted this week - will let you know!
Going to the zoo today to see koalas ("but we can see koalas in the zoo at home" from you know who) and maybe even a platypus. And then maybe to see the Star Wars exhibition at one of the local museums. Apparently they have a weightlessness simulator...
Not much else to report - have mostly been relaxing at Al and Hazel's house - catching up on admin/practising guitar (C is getting pretty good at Johnny Be Good) and I've started making another dress - was getting bored and tetchy - nothing like a good sew to sort me out.
Our boat arrives tomorrow and we sail at midnight on Friday. Very exciting. Al has lent C a shirt with a collar so that he stands a chance of being fed in the restaurants on board (although, it is a hawaian shirt!)
Hxx
PS still no decision on how we're getting home - the bloody Russian embassy here won't give us visas (long story - basically we have to go back to London to get them) so it looks like we might have to fly from Mongolia to Europe and then catch the ferry from Estonia or Denmark or somewhere like that. Hope to have it sorted this week - will let you know!
Sunday 8 March 2009
New hat
Helen: What a difference a few hundred miles makes! Sydney is green and wet - it rained for hours last night. The only thing that crunches here underfoot are the cockroaches and the small blue jellyfish on the beach (that I told C not to stand on as they were probably poisonous just before I inadvertently trod on one and shreiked when it made a loud popping sound as I burst its air sack.)
We arrived here via several embassies in Canberra - a wierd Milton Keynes sort of a city - lots of monumental architecture and big boulevards...but lacking in atmosphere. Everyone on the streets had sensible hair and suits - most of them work for the government. We had hoped to be in and out in one day...but, predictably, I guess, getting the visas took longer than anticipated (we now have Mongolian and Vietnamese visas though - only Russia to get - got all the endless paperwork (no clue what it says as it's all in Cyrillic) and we're going there tomorrow)). So, we were stuck there overnight and had a few hours for sightseeing - I asked C which of the many 'National...' museums/galleries he wanted to go and see and he chose the Portrait Gallery as he said these are usually the smallest galleries. Hah! The one in Canberra is huge! (but also not very good so we whizzed through it). Saw a protest tent village outside the Old Parliament House - Aborigines and something about land rights - but no one offered to explain anything about it to us, and I couldn't help thinking they'd slightly missed the point. There were no actual polictians near their protest - they're all at the NEW parliament house just down the road...
Now we're in Sydney with our friends from Scotland Al and Hazel who live in Bondi. Reassuringly they don't sound a bit different from when we last saw them 3 years ago. Very comforting to hear a Scottish burr again. We've been to the Opera House to see Shostakovich (!) and I've got a new hat as the old one really was beginning to fall apart and I felt very unfashionable with all the beautiful people in Bondi.
Right, time for a cup of tea...
Hxxx
PS must mention the Melbourne Motorshow - it was full of manicured, made up birds in off the shoulder dresses and high heels who didn't know anything about cars. What's that all about? (C says I should try a bike show - the ladies there are in bikinis apparently!)
We arrived here via several embassies in Canberra - a wierd Milton Keynes sort of a city - lots of monumental architecture and big boulevards...but lacking in atmosphere. Everyone on the streets had sensible hair and suits - most of them work for the government. We had hoped to be in and out in one day...but, predictably, I guess, getting the visas took longer than anticipated (we now have Mongolian and Vietnamese visas though - only Russia to get - got all the endless paperwork (no clue what it says as it's all in Cyrillic) and we're going there tomorrow)). So, we were stuck there overnight and had a few hours for sightseeing - I asked C which of the many 'National...' museums/galleries he wanted to go and see and he chose the Portrait Gallery as he said these are usually the smallest galleries. Hah! The one in Canberra is huge! (but also not very good so we whizzed through it). Saw a protest tent village outside the Old Parliament House - Aborigines and something about land rights - but no one offered to explain anything about it to us, and I couldn't help thinking they'd slightly missed the point. There were no actual polictians near their protest - they're all at the NEW parliament house just down the road...
Now we're in Sydney with our friends from Scotland Al and Hazel who live in Bondi. Reassuringly they don't sound a bit different from when we last saw them 3 years ago. Very comforting to hear a Scottish burr again. We've been to the Opera House to see Shostakovich (!) and I've got a new hat as the old one really was beginning to fall apart and I felt very unfashionable with all the beautiful people in Bondi.
Right, time for a cup of tea...
Hxxx
PS must mention the Melbourne Motorshow - it was full of manicured, made up birds in off the shoulder dresses and high heels who didn't know anything about cars. What's that all about? (C says I should try a bike show - the ladies there are in bikinis apparently!)
Monday 2 March 2009
Dry and crispy
Helen: Everything is dry and crispy. The grass is dry and crispy. The trees are losing their leaves and it's still summer. At least half the days that we've been here have been 'Total Fire Ban' days where you're not even supposed to smoke outside. They've had a drought here for the last decade, and yet people still manage to use more than 170l per person per day. The target is 150l. C, Stuart and I used 300l over 27 days (ok, so we were pretty grubby by the end, but you get the idea.) Jenny and Gareth (our hosts) are fanatical with water - they have buckets in the shower and reuse the grey water from the washing machine for the vegie patch - but they still manage to use nearly 100l per person per day - washing machines must be so horrifically uneconomical with water.
Jenny said something funny the other day - we were going to the Grampians national park for a long weekend camping (named for the Gramps in Scotland, although they are so far from the lush green hills in the UK it's bonkers). She said the first time she visited the Grampians here, over a year ago, she thought they were dry and red and dusty. Now she's recalibrated and thinks they're lush and green! Have a look at the photos (once we upload them) and see for yourselves!
What else have we been up to? Went to see The Taming of the Shrew outside (I've only ever seen it outside!) - very wierd to hear the Bard in a strong Aussie accent. Also visited the National (shouldn't that be 'State'?) Gallery of Victoria which even I agreed was the worst excuse for an art gallery I've ever visited (lots of china and furniture and pictures of Jesus) although it did have a very good temporary exhibition of C18th European satirical drawings from Hogarth and co.
Going to the Motorshow today (C's reward for having been so well behaved in the Chinese embassy) and we're leaving Melbourne for Canberra and more fun with the Vietnamese and Mongolian embassies tomorrow.
More later
Hx
Jenny said something funny the other day - we were going to the Grampians national park for a long weekend camping (named for the Gramps in Scotland, although they are so far from the lush green hills in the UK it's bonkers). She said the first time she visited the Grampians here, over a year ago, she thought they were dry and red and dusty. Now she's recalibrated and thinks they're lush and green! Have a look at the photos (once we upload them) and see for yourselves!
What else have we been up to? Went to see The Taming of the Shrew outside (I've only ever seen it outside!) - very wierd to hear the Bard in a strong Aussie accent. Also visited the National (shouldn't that be 'State'?) Gallery of Victoria which even I agreed was the worst excuse for an art gallery I've ever visited (lots of china and furniture and pictures of Jesus) although it did have a very good temporary exhibition of C18th European satirical drawings from Hogarth and co.
Going to the Motorshow today (C's reward for having been so well behaved in the Chinese embassy) and we're leaving Melbourne for Canberra and more fun with the Vietnamese and Mongolian embassies tomorrow.
More later
Hx
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