BRISBANE

Again we have been so lucky with the weather, especially when you consider what Brisbane was like a short while ago.  We docked in beautiful sunshine, but the cruise into the port showed upturned small craft, some jammed into the river bank, and marks on the shore side where the water had risen.  P&O laid on a shuttle bus to take us into the centre of Brisbane, and the driver told us his bus is 4.3m high, and if he had driven it into the city centre, like we were doing, then it would have been completely under water.

We stopped in a shopping mall for a coffee and were able to get wifi so I could check emais etc.  We had a look around the shops, the malls are very like Cribbs Causeway or Cabot Circus, but the prices are much higher than at home. 

We had lunch out, our first since we embarked at Southampton, and had two glasses of wine each, some grilled Moreton Bay Bugs (like crayfish) together with king prawns – all in their shells – and a couple of scallops.  A green salad accompanied it and we ended the meal with a coffee each.  The bill came to $A136, which with a 10% tip came to just under £100!  This was in a café down the middle of the shopping area, so dread to think what we would have paid in a restaurant!

We then went for a walk into a park where Ian pointed out a ‘lizard’ on a tree.  Difficult to give you scale on a photo, but his tail was just about a foot long and his body the same, so glad he was some distance away!

We are now GMT +11 and it is 1100 on Monday here.  I am sitting on the balcony typing this, the sun is shining and the sea is flat calm.  We can just see the coast of Australia some 19 miles distant, but we are really looking forward to our sail in tomorrow morning past the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.  That will mean a really early start, probably soon after 0500, but definitely worth getting up early!

We have two days in Sydney, so will update the blog towards the end of the week.

NOUMEA, NEW CALEDONIA

Just as we were about to sail from Pago Pago the captain gave us an update regarding the tropical cyclone.  It was now some 750 miles south of the ship and still going in a southerly direction.  However he did warn that the air was still very disturbed and we would experience some 36 hours of rough weather, a swell of 5 metres and if we needed medication we should take some that evening!

Well we haven’t needed any yet and didn’t take any this time, but there were a few empty tables at dinner!  Very peculiar movement when there is a heavy swell, first pitching and then rolling followed by what seems to be going into some very deep potholes as the whole ship ‘shudders’ as her bow hits the water!

Absolutely poured down all day yesterday (Thursday) but thankfully our arrival into Noumea this morning (Friday) was blues skies and sunshine again.  We had arranged to take a tour to the botanical gardens for a couple of hours just really to do something different.

All the birds were under netting or in cages with very small netting so almost impossible to take photographs. 

We went back to the ship for a reviving glass of wine with lunch (nothing changes!), then took the shuttle back into town to have a look around.  We were there all of half an hour as the good shops were extremely expensive (it’s a French territory) and the others weren’t worth going into!

We sail at 1630 for Brisbane where we arrive on Sunday.  We are now GMT +10.

We are awaiting an update regarding New Zealand after the devastating earthquake in Christchurch.  The port we would have used was Lyttleton which was the epicentre and is very badly damaged as I’m sure everyone saw on the news.

That’s all for now, will post again after Brisbane on Sunday.

PAGO PAGO, AMERICAN SAMOA

Our tour bus, with its decoration of fresh flowers

Our tour guides, who are young students

Pago Pago, another island in the beautiful South Pacific, or as I saw on one man’s T-shirt – “Where the hell is Pago Pago”!

The Samoan group of islands lies in the centre of the South Pacific surrounded by Tokelau, the Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji and the Ellice Islands. Since 1899 they have been divided into the now independent nation of Western Samoa with nine islands, and American Samoa with seven islands. Tutuila is the largest island on the American side being one third the size of the Isle of Wight and Pago Pago is the capital.

Pago Pago is pronounced Pango Pango, because the early missionaries didn’t have a letter N in their printing set, so had to print the name Pago Pago.

The islands are not blessed with very many beaches, and there are sharks in open water, so swimming was not an option for us!  We took an organised tour in what are the island’s normal buses, which are always decorated in fresh flowers!  We were told there was one bus with a grass skirt around it, but unfortunately we didn’t see that one!

Pago Pago gets some 200 inches (508 cm) of rain a year, and we certainly experienced a bit of it while on tour.  However it doesn’t last long, and we soon dried out.

We had to be back on the ship for a 1530 departure to make our way to New Caledonia and our stop at Noumea and that tropical cyclone.

THE DAY THAT NEVER WAS!

We went to bed as usual on Monday night 21^st February, GMT -13 and when we woke up Tuesday had disappeared completely and we were GMT +13 on the 23^rd!  We also have to put the clocks back another hour tonight so we will then be GMT +12.

BORA BORA, FRENCH POLYNESIA

Apart from arriving in a torrential rainstorm, Bora Bora is simply beautiful.  The colour of the water has to be seen to be believed, but I will include a couple of photographs, just to give you an idea.

We used the ship’s tender to get ashore from where 6 of us piled into the open Land Rover to start our discovery of the interior of Bora Bora.  Having travelled from the Faanui Valley in beautiful sunshine, Cyril, our driver suggested we were going to get some “liquid sunshine”!  He handed out yellow rain coats and we managed to scramble into them just in time.  The heavens simply opened and no matter how hard we tried, although the roof had a tarpaulin over it by now, the open sides meant that every bit of water and mud was going to land on us.  What rain wasn’t running down your sleeves (where you were having to hang on whilst we negotiated ruts and almost perpendicular hills, but it also ran down behind my back and the seat so ensuring I was also sitting in a pool of water.  I had zipped the coat up at the front over my shorts, but the folds were making ideal channels for the rain and I ended up with shorts as wet as if they had come out of a washing machine without being spun dry!

The rain did ease quite quickly but we were all so wet it was going to take a bit longer than our 3 hour drive to dry out!

We visited a pareo (sarong) house high up in the hills and were treated to fresh fruits, just picked off the tree – pineapple (which was peeled and sliced in half, then each half was cut into slices.  We even ate the core it was that soft and sweet). We also tried a huge fruit like our grapefruit and papaya, all simply delicious.

We paid a visit to a black pearl farm where we were shown how the black pearls are harvested from the oysters, and also how to recognise fake black pearls should I ever have the money or the inclination to buy!  Another opportunity to try some more pineapple and fresh coconut.

Compared to Papeete yesterday, Bora Bora is very basic. The main street of shops are mostly shacks, huts and stalls.  All the roads, schools, electricity station and telephones etc were all put in by the Americans during the Second World War.  Up in the hills we even came across two huge canons that had been used in the First World War.  The locals had used a bulldozer to create a road up to the top and the canon were carried up in parts then reassembled.  An interesting photo opportunity.

We now have two days at sea before arriving at Pago Pago on the 21^st February where we have another tour booked!  Next blog after this!

Update: Just before we were due to sail, the captain announced the weather will be fine for the next three days.  However …. they are keeping an eye on a cyclone, which is forecast for our arrival in Noumea, New Caledonia.  We will receive an update after we leave Pago Pago, so watch this space.

EASTER ISLAND, PITCAIRN ISLAND AND TAHITI

The fifteen stone carvings on Easter Island

Pitcairners preparing to board Aurora

Museum in Papeete for Mutiny on the Bounty

How everyone believes Tahitians dress!

Our 8 days at sea have really gone very quickly; we cruised around Easter Island but it was really barren and not much sign of life, although we believe it has around 1300 inhabitants.  I have included a photograph of the 15 stone carved figures which were taken on full zoom, so may not be very clear.

Pitcairn Island was very interesting.  The islanders boarded Aurora with their wares to sell, but before that started there was an exchange of gifts – the Captain to the Mayor and vice versa.  We were the first P&O ship to make a stop at the Pitcairns, so we have been part of history really. Only 57 people live on Pitcairn with10 children between two families.  The mail ship comes every three months, so not much use if you’ve forgotten to order the tea bags!

One amusing moment came when the islanders came to leave.  Several cabins on Aurora have had their carpets changed, and the islanders took off this used carpet together with empty beer barrels!

The first time our feet touched solid ground was this morning in Papeete, Tahiti, where the sun was shining and it was very hot.  We were met at the quayside with a Polynesian band and some drummers who accompanied young dancers. What a beautiful place, lush, beautiful flowers, palm trees – although no beaches as it is a volcanic island and what sand there is is black.

I have taken so many photographs today it will be difficult to choose, but as uploading any photograph, although reduced size, takes a long time, I will limit the number to four.

Bora Bora tomorrow, where a ride to the interior in an off-road vehicle awaits us.  We are keeping our fingers crossed for dry weather, but will let you know in the next blog.

AREN’T YOU BORED ON A CRUISE SHIP – JUST WHAT IS THERE TO DO?

These are the questions that we always get asked when it is known we are going on a cruise, or in this case, a long voyage.

As an example, below is what is on offer throughout the ship between the hours of 0800 and 1600 today, Thursday 10 February. Bear in mind though, breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea will have to slot in there somewhere!

Walk a mile

Step aerobics

Christian fellowship get together

Pray the Rosary

Pathway to Pilates

Non hosted social tennis

Interactive games session

Coffee and chat and travelling alone

Line dancing class

Port talk on Bora Bora

Acupuncture for muscle tension and muscle cramps

Deck Quoits competition

Shuffleboard competition

Craft class

Improvers bridge

Theme quiz – classic tv cops and robbers

Non hosted cribbage

Non hosted chess get together

Non hosted scrabble

Beginners dance class

Oasis spa – is beauty skin deep

Tennis competition

Beginners Spanish

Table tennis competition

Guest speaker Charles Carlton on the British Monarchy today

Golf tricky chipping

Battle of the sexes quiz

Aurora vocalists passenger choir

Loose Lips (Aurora’s version of ITV’s Loose Women)

Giant scrabble

Talk on secrets to a flatter stomach and thinner thighs

Art class

Tap dancing class

Aussies get together (there are a large number of Australian passengers on this voyage)

Guest speaker Olga Stavrakis on the Great Polynesian Migrations

Non hosted whist

Whist drive

Duplicate bridge

Interactive bowling

Play reading group

Picture quiz

Dance class

Golf putting competition

Film: 2012

Canasta

Celebrity Guest speaker – Tim Wonnacott on Auctions, Anecdotes and Awful Moments

Snowball jackpot bingo

And that only takes us to 1600!  After that there is late afternoon entertainment, two Captain’s Welcome Aboard cocktail parties for those passengers that embarked in Valparaiso but obviously the whole ship go, dinner at 1830 and 2030 followed by shows, dancing and cabaret until the last passengers go to bed!

No, definitely no time to get bored – in fact sometimes it’s difficult to fit everything into the day, especially like today.

Saturday 12 February.

We are now 6 hours behind UK and lose another hour tonight. This will continue until the day before Papeete which will make us GMT -10.

VALPARAISO TO SYDNEY : SECTOR THREE

The manor house at Concha Y Toro vineyard

Now that's what we call a barrel of wine!

This has been the only tour so far that we wondered whether a 2-hour coach trip one way to get to a vineyard was worth it!

Valparaiso and Santiago are simply big cities and you could be anywhere, but again the sun was shining and the temperature was around 28c when the coach pulled up at the restaurant where we were to have lunch before visiting the winery.

The menu was by now becoming fairly predictable! Pisco sour and empanadas to start, followed by soup, then steak and rice!!  Dessert was fresh fruit salad, all washed down with a very good red or white wine.

To those of you who know your wine, our visit was to the Concha y Toro vineyard who produce the well known red wine Casillero Del Diablo available at all UK supermarkets.  We had a tasting of 2 wines, one white and one red, but resisted the temptation to buy any.  The Casillero Del Diablo was $7, or about £5 in the UK, but we didn’t see the point of buying wine that is freely available at home.

Having left the ship at 0745 we got back just before 1900 with just a short time left to shower and change before dinner at 2030.

We now start an 8-day crossing of the Pacific, broken only by a cruise-by Easter Island on the 11^th, and a visit from some 50-or so Pitcairn islanders on the 14^th. From our point of view, 8 days at sea is simply wonderful and a chance not to have to get up at 0615!

Clocks were put back another hour today and we are now 4 hours behind UK. Weather is 17c and overcast.  Our next stop is Papeete in Tahiti where we are warned it is the rainy season, and that is where the next blog will be coming from.

PUERTO MONTT, CHILEAN PATAGONIA - AND THE END OF SECTOR 2 OF OUR VOYAGE

Osorno volcano, Chile

Llamas on the balcony!

Emerald Lake, Chile

At our first Captain’s Welcome Aboard party shortly after we left Southampton the captain told us he was in charge of the ship but the passengers were in charge of the weather!  Well, I reckon we’ve all done a great job so far! 

The alarm went off at 0545 as we had to assemble at 0645 for our trip to the Chilean Lake District where we were to visit the Petrohue Falls and the Esmeralda Lake. A cup of tea and a biscuit had to suffice as breakfast, but as we boarded the tender for our journey to the shore, the weather was decidedly overcast and cool.

We drove almost 2 hours to our first destination, the lake; about an hour into the journey the skies cleared and we had our first view of the Osorno volcano, peeping out from cloud cover below it. I have included a photo of this volcano because it looks like Mount Fuji.

We took the catamaran for a 45-minute trip around the ‘emerald’ lake, which really is a beautiful green colour, then drove a short distance to the Petrohue River Falls, again a definite photographic opportunity.

After we drove to a park area (like a holiday park in the UK but no caravans, just a handful of cabanas, where we were served a delicious 3-course lunch -  a pisco sour and empanadas to start, soup, salmon (now farmed in the area) and something similar to cake.  Naturally the red and white wine flowed freely!

The setting was perfect, with wooden cabanas dotted around the park and a herd of llamas wandering loose! They like nothing better than to trot up onto the decks of the cabanas and look through the windows, presumably for food. St Minver was never like this!

Finally boarding the coach for our trip back to the ship, we stopped at Puerto Varas, known as the City of Roses. A lovely little place, but as we had only half an hour here, we made our way to the supermarket to buy a couple of bottles of Pisco Sour!  For those of you reading this who know your cocktails apparently it is very similar to a Margarita.  It isn’t particularly alcoholic at 15% but it does depend on how many you have and the size of the glass!!

We got back onto the ship at 1630 and relaxed on the balcony in the sun for an hour before getting ready for dinner. A day at sea tomorrow, then Valparaiso on Tuesday. We have now reached the end of the second leg of the voyage.

Speakers on the voyage have been particularly diverse: apart from the port lectures for some 33 ports, we have had talks on jewellery, lifeboats, deep sea diving for Glenn Miller’s plane, Johnny Kingdom on Exmoor wildlife, several wine talks and tastings from Brazil to Chile, Julie Peasegood talking about her television career and Anthea Guthrie on gardening, especially planning a garden for Chelsea.

Besides the onboard Headliners Theatre Company who have been excellent with their interpretation of many London shows, we have had Pam Ayres, Dave Kristian, the Merseybeats, Don Reid, comedian Kenny Smiles, Tracey Quinn, Bonnie Langford, Hanna Starosta, a Russian violinist, comedians Lee Wilson, Mel Mellers, TV talent show winner Anthony Adams as Frank Sinatra and tonight Joe Longthorne. Most of the comedians are from the Granada TV programme, “The Comedians”. I appreciate that most of you reading this will not know many – if any – of the names above, but for the ‘older’ passengers, we remember all of them!

We now wait to know who will entertain us on the third leg of our voyage.

GLACIERS ETC

Albatross

Amalia Glacier

Pio Glacier

Since we left Punta Arenas we have travelled through some fantastic scenery which we imagine must be similar to the Norwegian Fjords, also similar to Alaska. The Amalia glacier was huge and as the weather was calm with fairly clear skies, it looked great. The next day we passed the Pio X (now it seems it is the Pio X1), which is even bigger.  We had to wait until the ship moved away to get the whole glacier in the photo! However the weather was not kind and it poured with rain! Not too bad though, almost the first we have had since leaving Southampton.

Later on Thursday afternoon the captain spoke to the ship saying that as we were leaving the inland water and joining the Pacific, we would experience some fairly bad swell, around 6 metres.  It was quite bad – but Ian and I were fine, no need of anti sickness tablets - but there were many tables empty for second sitting dinner! Moving around was fairly difficult as the ship was pitching and rolling, but we’re getting like old sea-dogs now!  No rude comments, please!!

Today, Saturday 5^th, we saw some albatross, which made my day.  Thankfully we had a chap next to us who was able to identify the various types, i.e. one wandering albatross (I didn’t see this one), a couple of young Royal Albatross and some black-browed (I think).  Well, black something!  Also saw quite a lot of stormy petrels. Also seen some dolphin and seals.

As I am writing this blog it is 1805, the sea/inland canal is like a mill pond, the sky is now blue and with hills/mountains in the distance, some with snow on their peaks.  I have tried to take photographs, but the light, late evening, is very hazy. It does look beautiful though.

Early start for us tomorrow, Sunday 6^th, 0730 to visit the Petrohue Falls and Esmeralda Lake. It is an 8-hour tour with lunch, so should have something to talk about for the next blog!

PUNTA ARENAS, PATAGONIA

We can’t believe our luck as yet another day dawns fairly bright as we anchor off Punta Arenas in Patagonian Chile.

We had to get the 0800 tender to shore in time to pick up our coach to take us to the Estancia Olga Teresa, a family owned working sheep and cattle ranch some 50 miles from the port. We arrived to cloudless skies and after having a quick look at the four lambs being barbecued while we drank coffee or tea, we were taken to view a working sheepdog demonstration, the sheep shearing and finally the sons demonstrating how they work with young cattle on their specially bred horses.

An excellent lunch followed, preceded by a glass of the local drink pisco sour and empanadas followed by the barbecued lamb and salad.  Red and white wine flowed freely and once again a good time was had by all.

The 3^rd and 4^th of February sees us cruising past the Amalia and Pio X glaciers so if there is a photo worth publishing I will include it in the next blog.  Failing that we are off to Puerto Montt on the 6^th to view the Petrohue Falls and Esmeralda Lake. Once again we are keeping our fingers crossed for fine weather, but hope it will be warmer than of late – between 6c and 10c!

USHUAIA

Another day that dawned dry, but cold.  We took a coach direct from the ship at 1200 to board the End of the World train, which was originally a train for transporting prisoners – but not in its current condition with windows, heating and comfortable seats!

We only went a short way into the National Park (45 minutes), the Tierra del Fuego, before arriving at Ensenada Bay with its views of the Beagle Channel and the southernmost post office in Argentina.

We returned to the ship by coach at 1430 and left Ushuaia at 1500.

Tomorrow we arrive in Punta Arenas where we have a tour booked to the Olga Teresa Estancia (ranch) – but more on this tomorrow!