…and the celebrations continue (with still quite a few to go!) with a Black-Tie event at ours for a few friends. Nick & Celina, Ralph & Karen and David and Valerie joined us for my Curry Banquet – with Ann doing most of the legwork in the kitchen and me contributing just by making the …
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Month:October 2016
Australian Cruise: Singapore Stopover – Day 15 and 16
Written: Sunday, 23rd October Day 15 – Saturday So it’s goodbye to Celebrity Solstice and hello to dry land in Singapore. We’re here for two days before we fly home on Sunday. It’s our fifth visit and we love the place! We first came here 30 years ago (or thereabouts) so we thought we’d revisit …
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Australian Cruise: Brisbane – Day 3
Written: Monday, 10th October. Our day began early as we still haven’t got into a regular sleep pattern just yet. This meant we were at the Gym (for the second day running) by 6am. I stuck to my standard 30 minute ‘walk’, whilst Ann did all this and more! Then it was off for a …
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Australian Cruise: Final Two Days On-Board– Day 13 and 14
Written: Friday, 21st October Day 13 –Thursday Somebody must have spiked my iced-water last night! I didn’t wake-up until 7.45! – so much for the Gym at 7 then!!! If we were to get a prime position on Deck this morning, it was a good job we’d ordered breakfast in our room, because by the …
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Australian Cruise: Arrival in Benoa, Bali – Day 12
Written: Wednesday, 19th October We slipped into Benoa, Bali at around 7.30 this morning – we watched the arrival from the treadmill in the Gym! Strangely (and unlike yesterday) the Gym was deserted and we were able to ‘do our thing’ much more easily. Then, as usual, we headed for breakfast in Blu that was …
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Australian Cruise: On Board – Days 10 and 11
Written: Tuesday, 18th October Day 10 – Monday The Sea was like a mill-pond We’re now at sea for two days on our way to Benoa, Bali. We skipped the Gym today, in favour of a quick breakfast in order to gain some time and secure a suitably warm/shady spot on the Deck. Being on …
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Australian Cruise: Darwin – Day 9
Written: Sunday, 16th October Either we’d both been kidnapped and hidden in the glass-blowing ovens overnight – or we’d arrived in Darwin. The lack of glass around us proved it was the latter! Cor! What an absolute scorcher – and it’s only 7am!! So the main challenge today was about how we (or more specifically, …
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Australian Cruise: On Board – Days 7 and 8
Written: Saturday, 15th October Day 7 – Friday We’ve now got two days at sea, arriving in Darwin on Sunday. We’ve got no plans for today apart from seeing the conclusion of the glass-blowing demo that started last night. After breakfast in the Blu Restaurant, it was up onto the Solstice Deck for a comfy …
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Australian Cruise: Airlie Beach, Great Barrier Reef – Day 5
Written: Wednesday, 12th October The big excursion today! The Ship’s blurb said… “Climb aboard a catamaran and sail to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Your destination is a large off-shore platform offering easy-to-operate semi-subs. Choose one and enter a world teeming with colourful fish, exotic creatures and brilliant coral. Afterwards, enjoy lunch on-board and lounge on …
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Australian Cruise: Cairns – Day 6
Written: Thursday, 13th October After a decadent lie-in until 6.30, we hit the Gym for our daily punishment around 7am. Then it was off to the Blu Restaurant for brekky. I might be tempting fate, but with last night’s steak meal and this morning’s offering, that’s two in a row where the food has been …
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Australian Cruise: On Board – Day 2
Written: Sunday, 9th October We’re all at sea today! Although we slept well, we were both awake from the early hours. So what to do? Most normal couples would go back to sleep, but we headed for the Gym at 6am! Wow! It’s probably the largest Gym we’ve ever seen on a Cruise Ship with …
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Australian Cruise: On Board – Day 1
Written: Saturday, 8th October After a substantial breakfast close to our Apartment, we grabbed a taxi to take us to the OPT (Overseas Passenger Terminal). Well, getting the taxi-bit sounded OK in theory, but in reality, it seemed the rest of New South Wales had the same idea, and we were diverted away from our …
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Australian Cruise: On Board – Day 4
Written: Tuesday, October 11thAnother day at sea today as we head in the direction of Airlie Beach and the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow.A perfect opportunity to test-drive the room-service breakfast!Breakfast sorted! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love …
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Australian Cruise: Day 3 – Last Day in Sydney
We were up earlier than yesterday – not sure why – so we had breakfast in our room before taking the shortish walk down to Darling Harbour.We planned to catch the Ferry to Parramatta (as every Australian school-kid knows, is west of Sydney and one of their major business districts. It’s also one of the …
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Australian Cruise: Day 2 – Exploring Sydney
After a really good night’s sleep, today we were ready to take on the rest of what Sydney had to offer! But the first job was to seek out breakfast – and we found somewhere very near the David Jones Department Store… Suitably stuffed, and after our daily dose of retail therapy in the rather …
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Australian Cruise: Day 1 – Arrival in Sydney
After the flight out of Birmingham, courtesy of Emirates, stopping off at Dubai and Bangkok, we eventually arrived in Sydney – I think it’s been our longest flight-to-date, at around 23 hours. We’re staying at the Wyndham City Resort Hotel in the Harbour area of the City. We arrived around 11am and that was far …
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