All at sea

Norway - Posted at 4:41 PM on 7/7/2008 by S P
NORWAY

Our week in Norway on the QE2 was wonderful. We loved the QE2 and wish we could have spent longer on her. What made the trip really special was that Ann and Dick were on board! Barry and I were looking at an enormous model of the Mauretania when Barry said there was someone who looked just like Ann and he said “Quick, look round now, while she’s not looking”. I looked round and it WAS Ann and then Dick came out of hiding round the corner. As soon as I had told them we were going on the cruise, they booked also and kept it as a surprise. They had told us they were going away on the boat - and they were! They are hoping to go to Dartmouth as soon as the weather and tides are right.

Ann and Dick had to check in for boarding before us and bought newspapers to hide behind and wore large hats and sunglasses. When we reached the large lounge where people who had checked in were waiting to be called to board, we were called straight through and did not see them. They were also next to us on the way into Southampton (we were early and stopped for something to eat) but their driver ran an orange light so that he wouldn’t have to stop next to us! They were looking out for us but of course we were not looking out for them.

Once on board we had our hand luggage carried for us and were escorted to our cabin. We were forward, in a really handy position, close to everything although nothing is very far from anything else on the QE2. It was so easy in the ports and disembarking at the end of the voyage, not the long queues we had on the QV and we docked right in all the towns we visited, only needing tenders in one of the ports.

Our cabin was huge - much bigger than on the QV. We also had an enormous bathroom, complete with bath as well as a shower, a dressing room with masses of hanging space and further hanging in another cupboard above the fridge. The QE2 was the first ship to offer en-suite bathrooms.

Barry and I went to the Queens Room for white glove service afternoon tea and it was when we were leaving there that we met Ann and Dick. We all went out on deck to watch us sail and stayed until we reached the Isle of Wight before going down to dinner.

Ann had written to Cunard to ask if we could all be at the same table but as we had requested a table for six they said they could not go against our wishes. However, the Maitre d’ rearranged things and put us on a table together. We ate every meal in the restaurant, always together at the same table, and the meals were superb. We had lots of Norwegian salmon and other fish.

We had only two days at sea and on those days we played table tennis, shuffleboard, deck quoits and golf putting but the driving range was closed. Barry won the putting competition and when I collected our prizes with the vouchers we had won, Gun, one of the hostesses who was on the QV, was handing them out and I had a long chat to her. When she gave me the gifts I had chosen, she also gave me a small stuffed lion - guess who will get that! Twenty coupons were needed for that!

We went to a couple of cocktail parties with the Captain but gave the wine tasting a miss. The Captain was very personable, chatty and welcoming to everyone. We had a long talk to the Staff Captain who has married an Australian and they live in Sydney although he doesn’t get home very often.

The entertainment was very good, with some excellent shows put on by the Cunard Singers and Dancers. There was an excellent group - three girls playing the piano, violin and cello - who put on four concerts, also a harpist and several pianists in the public rooms, and other bands.

Our first port of call was the World Heritage City of Bergen, Norway‘s second largest port. I was on deck at 6am, rugged up in woolly hat, gloves and parka. Luckily Ann and Dick had been to Norway before on QE2 and advised us to take all that. It was a lovely, fine, sunny day but small clouds were starting to roll in along the fjord. Once the sun gets up above the mountains, the days are warmer although it was never very warm for us. A couple of weeks earlier it had been very hot. Sunset was at 11.40pm and sunrise 3.30am and it never got really dark.

We took the shuttle bus into Bergen and walked to the market. It looked a pretty town, with cobbled streets and lots of statues and fountains, and no rubbish to be seen anywhere. We walked round the fish market where stalls were piled high with salmon and enormous crabs, and then the fruit and vegetable stalls. The locally knitted jumpers were beautiful but very expensive and probably too hot for Australia.

Barry and I then went up the funicular, two carriages that run on a cable and pass half way up the steep 2,000 ft climb. We looked down on the ship and over the whole of Bergen. Then we walked through the woods where carvings of trolls stood amongst the trees. When we returned to the lookout, the clouds had totally obscured the view, so we were lucky we went when we did. We caught the funicular back down and walked through the narrow streets of the Bryggen, the old part of town near the docks, that dates back to the 1400s. The tiny wooden houses have hooks hanging down on ropes from the upper storeys for lifting goods upstairs. Some of the buildings have been turned into boutiques and artists’ studios selling quality goods and souvenirs.

By now it was raining heavily and we made a dash for the shuttle bus. It was a shame as we had not been able to see much of the town but there was no point getting any wetter. By the time the weather cleared and the sun came out, it was too late to go ashore.

The QE2 will be returning to Norway next month for a Final Voyage but not to Bergen which was a Final Port. There was a band on the dockside playing for an hour or so before they played tear jerkers like ‘Rule, Britannia’ and ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ and, when it was time to sail they played ‘God Save the Queen’. We had all been given Union Jacks to wave and, as the lady behind me said, it was all very emotional. Tears were running down my cheeks and there was hardly a dry eye to be seen. Small boats flanked us to the bridge over the fjord and several helicopters flew overhead. A boat sailed alongside firing water cannon all the way to the bridge

The next morning I was out on deck at 4.50am. It was windy and cold but the scenery was stunning. There were masses of snow covered mountains and waterfalls and the steep wooded sides of Storfjorden and Sunnylvsfjorden reminded me of Alaska. The fjords are up to 4,000 ft deep, as deep as the mountains are high. We sat in the middle of the fjord at Hellesylt, with tugs on standby, where some people went ashore by tender to join an overland tour to Geiranger. Spiced hot chocolate drinks were on offer, with lots of brandy in them. I suggested Barry and I share one, but it was so good I bought one of my own!

After an hour we sailed up the narrow Geirangerfjorden, meaning Spear Fjord in Norse, to Geiranger, past the magnificent Seven Sisters Falls - seven waterfalls in one - and, after turning, anchored at the very end of the fjord. From there we went ashore in tenders and Barry and I went on a coach tour to Mount Dalsnibba. The road was continuous zig-zags and hairpin bends but we had a very safe driver. The road took nine years to build as they could only work on it for three months a year, over summer. It is closed in the winter and there is only one new road out of Geiranger for nine months of the year. The road we were on had been open for only three weeks. Dalsnibba means “Top of the Valley”. It took almost an hour to reach the 5,000 ft summit. Every year a marathon is staged on the mountain and a couple of weeks earlier a cyclist had reached the top in an hour and the fastest runner had reached the top in 1 ½ hours!!

Small stone towers, built with stones and small rocks, were everywhere. People build them if they hope to return. We walked around at the top and took photos along the valley with the ship in the distance far below. Shortly before we re-boarded the coach, the cloud rolled in and obscured the view with a total whiteout, so we were lucky we had been able to see the view before it was lost.

Coming down, we stopped by Deep Lake for refreshments and later we stopped at a lookout with closer views of the ship before returning to Geiranger that has a population of 237 and 300,000 visitors annually. Many houses have turf on the roofs which provides excellent insulation. It keeps the houses warm in winter and also cool on the hotter days in summer. After dinner and the show, we went out on deck and stayed there till we reached the end of the 60 mile (100 km) long fjord.

The following morning I was out on deck at 5.30am as we traversed the 100 mile (160 km) long fjord. It was very, very windy but too good to miss. The Sognefjorden branches out into other fjords and we followed the Aurlandsfjorden to the tiny village of Flam. Ann and Dick had been to Flam before and on the bus trip through the tunnels and on the train journey and they walked to the Stave Church in Flam itself, 3 kms inland from the port. Twenty-eight Stave churches still exist and collectively they are World Heritage Sites.

Barry and I took the train to Vatnahalsen and managed to secure a seat by a window that opened so that we could take photographs of the magnificent scenery. The windows were double-glazed with too many reflections. The 22 km journey took us up 866 metres (2,800ft) through twenty tunnels through the rock, all but two of them dug by hand with picks, shovels and wheelbarrows. After a few minutes, we passed an open air church service and the vicar turned and waved, along with all the congregation, as we passed. Shortly after that, near the Stave Church, we waved to Ann and Dick by the river. The views were superb, looking along picturesque valleys and across to many waterfalls and a glacier. At the large Kjos Waterfall, with a wide free fall of 305 ft (93m), the train stopped for five minutes so that we could all get out onto a platform to take photographs. Halfway along the route, there are double tracks where the southbound train and the northbound train pass.

At Vatnahalsen, we were given tea and coffee and hot waffles with jam and cream. Barry and I walked along a track to a lake and then to a lookout for more views across the valleys. When a train drew into the station, Barry and I, and a few others, climbed on board and went on to Myrdal. After a short wait there we returned to Vatnahalsen where everyone else boarded the train. It was a pretty run and better than standing waiting on the platform. The train zig-zagged for much of its journey with views across valleys to tunnels that we later rode through, and at one point we could see three levels spiralling up the mountains. Back in Flam, we walked round the tiny town before re-boarding the ship.

As well as the sheer cliffs along the fjords, there are small cleared grassed areas where a few timber houses are clustered. In some areas small houses clinging to the cliffs amongst the trees are only accessible by boat.

Our last port of call was Stavanger, population 98,000, where there were once 700 sardine canneries but that industry has now given way to oil. As with all but one of the other ports, we docked right in the town and walked to the nearby market. There was no fish that day but the fruit and vegetables were superb. Barry and I walked round the steep, cobbled streets of the old shopping area that was quite dirty and covered with graffiti. We came to an ugly area that looked liked a construction site but then we realised it was a playground with hideous-looking climbing equipment. We gave the modern area a miss and walked round Gamle, the Old Town adjacent to the docks where there are weatherboard houses along cobbled streets, several hundred years old. The whole city had many cranes and workmen and much scaffolding over the buildings. The construction season is short in Norway.

I watched the Sailaway with Ann and Dick, feeling quite sad as it was our last port of call and almost the end of the voyage and a farewell to a superb liner. That night Ann and Dick took their “Welcome” champagne, that we had all had in our cabins on boarding, to dinner, but we missed the Chefs’ Parade after the meal, with Bombe Alaska aflame, as we wanted to watch the early show. It was brilliant with another classical concert afterwards.

The sea was calm all the way and especially so travelling south-west across the North Sea. We had a busy day on our last day, entering all the sports competitions, packing, going to a cocktail party but declining an invitation to a wine tasting.

Ann and Dick’s wedding anniversary was the day we returned to Southampton. Barry and I took our champagne to dinner on the last night and the Maitre d’ presented Ann and Dick with a delicious, rich chocolate cake with candle and anniversary greeting. Twelve of the waiters gathered round the table and sang them a love song, so it was a good finale to the trip.

We listened to a comedian after dinner and he was followed by the Singers and Dancers performing an Abba farewell song. We passed through the Dover Strait at 10 pm and could see England on one side of the ship and France on the other. I slept well that night and missed the Isle of Wight and entry into Southampton.

We docked early and disembarkation was very quick and easy. After collecting our car we drove to see my cousin Stuart where we enjoyed a coffee and chatted for a couple of hours before heading off to Lyme.

The day after our return we went to good friends for lunch. We leave in ten days so time is running out and this will probably be the last Blog of the trip.

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ENGLAND - Posted at 5:23 PM on 24/6/2008 by S P
ENGLAND

This entry has been a long time coming. We have been busy and there is never enough time to sit down at the computer. Barry has gone fishing today, so I am making the most of the time to start writing about what we have been doing in England. We have had some beautiful days, sunny and very warm with the countryside, as ever, looking a picture.

While we were in Cornwall, there was a bad landslip between Lyme Regis and Charmouth, the worst for 26 years, making the national news on three nights we were told later. Over the years we have seen various holes on the golf course disappear into the sea and the South West Coast Path now follows the road between the two towns as there is no safe alternative. We have walked along the beach but this can only be done when the tide is out and now it is closed off. One day when we were in Lyme looking at the landslip a man heard our accents and asked us where we were from. I said I was born in Solihull and he said he is from Solihull, lives there and holidays in Lyme. We left him scratching his head over our accents, not sounding like Brums or locals, and not enlightening him either.

In May we went to Stourhead, a National Trust property in Wiltshire, to see the rhododendrons while they were at their best. Normally we arrive after they are mainly over. They were spectacular and the whole place looked a picture. We also went into the house, a magnificent Palladian mansion containing superb Chippendale furniture and an impressive Regency library. There are some fabulous books in it, all really old and some with the spines missing but they must be real treasures. They had one massive book "Plates of Cook's Voyage" and an even fatter one, "Plates of Cook's Final Voyage". How I would love to see inside those. People studying for a PhD are sometimes given permission to view them but they are not available to the likes of us! There are many temples and follies in the 18th Century gardens that surround a beautiful lake on the 1,072 hectare (2,650 acre) estate where we enjoyed a picnic lunch in the bright sunshine.

On the property, a two mile walk across the fields or a short drive by road, is King Alfred’s Tower, a folly that was built in 1762 to commemorate King Alfred’s victory over the Danes in 879, at the exact spot where it is believed King Alfred raised his standard. It is a solid looking 50 metre high tower, with protruding round corners but once at the tower we discovered it is a triangular tower, not square, with 205 worn spiral stone steps inside around a stone pillar, with only a rope to hold on to. Every time Barry pulled on the rope ahead of me, my fingers were squashed against the stone and I ended up with grazed knuckles. It was quite dark, with an occasional tiny window to give light, but we made it safely to the top and after ducking through a very low doorway we were greeted with 360 degree views across Wiltshire, Dorset and Somerset. Surprisingly it was easier walking down.

The last weekend in May is always the Whitsun Bank Holiday and on the Monday Barry and I walked the long way round, through the fields into Lyme. When we reached the town, there was a duck race about to start so we stayed to watch. Numbered plastic ducks are "sold" for a pound for Charity, about 300 of them, and all dropped into the stream at the same time. We stopped to watch by a small waterfall, about 4 inches high, right across the stream. When the ducks reached there, they all got sucked in at the bottom and stayed there but eventually started working their way out to the sides and on down the stream. The race finished after one of the bridges - a bit of fun and the children were so excited. Near where we ended up is a fish and chip shop so we bought cod and chips (I had the seniors meal that included peas and a cup of tea as well) and ate that on the front. We were just starting to walk up the hill when we saw the Morris Dancers arriving. It was the Exeter group and they were very colourfully dressed in tails (that they removed before starting to dance) and white shirts with blue sashes, black top hats with blue ribbons and coloured ribbons and bells on their legs. They danced for half an hour, with a group of girls performing two dances as well. It is very energetic, reminiscent of Scottish dancing. One of the dances involved sticks which are intermittently hit together and when the men danced with large sticks they hit them really hard and in another they leapfrogged over each other. A small group played accordions and a clarinet. It was great fun and they had the children joining in at the end. None of them wanted to join in but were all made to and then they all loved it.

One night we walked down into Lyme to see the latest Indiana Jones movie - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - typical Indiana Jones stuff. They have modernised the theatre since we were last there but still serve tea in china cups and saucers. It's a shame they did away with the art deco interior, lampshades etc. Not that I'm mad on that sort of stuff but it was really a lovely old theatre, full of character. They have also done away with the paired "love seats" that we used to sit in.

One Sunday we had a lovely day out on the canal. We drove to Bradford-on-Avon to meet our friend Pam who has a flat overlooking the canal. We drove her to Honey Street, past Devizes, stopping for a delicious canalside lunch at The Barge on the way. Pam moors her narrowboat at Honey Street and we took it for a run - nearly two hours along the canal to a winding hole and then back. It was so beautiful, so quiet and still and the reflections were perfect. Barry took the tiller and wouldn't hand it back to Pam! There were lots of ducklings on the water, luxuriant growth all around encroaching on the Cut, and abundant dog roses and yellow irises in flower. Where Pam moors looks straight across at one of the Wiltshire white horses.

Since then we have spent a few days with narrowboating friends who have sold their boat after living on it for ten years. It was good to reminisce and remember old times.

Angela and Malcolm were over here visiting Angela's Mum and when they spent a few days in Lymington we met them half way for lunch. We drive that way a lot, as it is the road we take to and from Southampton, Winchester, London and the airport and we always pass a pub called the Botany Bay Inne. We couldn’t remember exactly where it was but Barry saw an ad for it, giving its exact location so we agreed to meet there - how appropriate! Apparently it was where people stopped on their way to Poole when transporting convicts to meet the ships to Australia. There is another pub nearby called World's End for the same reason. None of us knew how long it would take to get there and we arrived an hour early. Angela and Malcolm also arrived an hour early and were just heading off to nearby Bere Regis for a coffee when they saw us and came back. We had coffee at the pub before lunch. After lunch we went for a walk to the delightful nearby village of Winterbourne Zelston that we normally miss when driving along the main road. There is a duck pond, a Pooh Sticks Bridge over a pretty stream, lots of thatched cottages and a lovely church. We went into the church and then for a walk across the fields.

Earlier this month we went to Jersey on the Condor Fast Cat, from Weymouth. We had a very calm crossing and checked into our hotel/B&B on arrival before driving round the east part of the island, eating out and returning to the hotel at 10 pm. There are many watch towers around the coastline that were built for defence. They have capped openings looking down for firing from and are painted white on the seaward side as navigational aids. Jersey has a very rocky coastline and there are many rocks out to sea, making approaches by vessels difficult. Many ships have foundered around the coastline.

The beaches on the south, east and west coasts offer many miles of sand and the north coast has picturesque bays and coves. There are several castles and many headlands with Army bunkers and fortifications from World War II. France is only 14 miles away and there are good views to France and the other Channel Islands. The roads are mainly very narrow but there is not a lot of traffic. One-way streets abound in the small towns and villages and mostly involve long detours although nowhere is very far from anywhere else. Many buildings are built of the reddish local stone and some buildings have Portland stone and some Bath stone as well, mainly around the edges and the windows.

We visited the Gerald Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (Jersey Zoo) where endangered species are kept on a 31 acre estate. We arrived in time for the gorilla feeding and were told that the enormous silverback came from Melbourne Zoo. We also visited the Glass Church where the door panels, altar, cross, reredos, screens and font are all made of glass. Portland stone and Bath stone are used in the interior construction.

Over the last week we have been visiting various family members and enjoyed a barbecue with Martin and Melanie, meeting baby Rowan for the first time. He is a beautiful baby but tiny. He was born early by emergency caesarean and Mel was unable to feed him for the first few days but he is gaining weight, albeit slower than most babies. Rosemary was the same age when we last saw her but is now 2 years 3 months and talks non-stop, proper sentences not just words. When we arrived she said “G’day Mate” that Martin and Mel had been teaching her for the previous few days.

We had a super meal out with Ann and Dick and Barry is still raving about it! He is not normally impressed with meals out but this was superb. Ann and Dick are about to take their boat to Dartmouth and Catherine and Barry, whom we had dinner with last week, are planning to sail their new boat down there as well.

We have been enjoying the weekly Charmouth market and car boot sales, eaten picnics at Stonebarrow near Golden Cap which is the highest point along the south coast, been on lots of walks, visited Exeter where we discovered the old city walls and Barry caught twelve mackerel!

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CORNWALL - Posted at 11:10 PM on 12/5/2008 by S P
CORNWALL

The day after the May Day Bank Holiday we set off for a few days in Cornwall. Skirting Exeter, we drove via Bovey Tracey onto Dartmoor where road signs request drivers to “Take Moor Care“. It was a superb day, sunny and very warm and we stopped at Haytor where sheep and cattle grazed, to climb to the top. The grassed slope, with a show of flowering wild violets, looked gentle enough but the steepness soon became apparent as we climbed. Children were climbing to the top of the rocks on the summit, but we preferred to take in the 360° views from safer ground. On the far side of the granite boulders serious climbers were taking the more difficult route to the top. In the bright sunshine, the views were hazy in the distance.

Back at the car park we made ourselves a cuppa before driving on across the moor where wild ponies and their young, cows and sheep wandered free, crossing the roads at their leisure. Pretty, peaceful views stretched all around us and after driving through several picturesque villages, we stopped for a picnic lunch by the river at Dartmeet, where clear water tumbled over rocks in the River Dart before coursing under the arches of the old stone bridge.

In the afternoon, dry stone walls took the place of hedges and we passed through Two Bridges, the main road junction in the middle of Dartmoor where the newer road bridge runs adjacent to the old packhorse bridge, and to Tavistock on the western edge of the moor, before by-passing Liskeard and driving to Looe on the south coast.

The tide was out and the many boats lay idle on the sand, attached to long anchor chains. There is a busy wharf and thriving fishing industry here but unless boats are moored close to the harbour entrance, they are reliant on the tides for their fishing expeditions.

Our next stop was Polperro, where only residents’ cars are allowed. We parked at the top and had a choice of catching the tiny, red Polperro Tram Co electric bus or taking a horse-drawn cart to the harbour. We walked down the pretty, narrow streets to the delightful harbour where houses rise straight up from the sand and, after a walk around the small village, climbed back up the hill to the car park. We had decided to stop for the night in Fowey and, as we had to cross by ferry and we didn’t know what time they would stop for the day, we made haste to Bodinnick, where Daphne du Maurier once lived.

We needn’t have worried as the ferry runs until 8.45 pm. We were first in the queue and didn’t have long to wait before cars coming off the ferry rounded the corner and then we were called - first on and first off. We were told there were plenty of places to stay in the town but there is nowhere to stop there at all along the narrow, narrow streets, all one way, some only just wide enough for our small car. We decided we really didn’t want to park out of town and carry our cases to look for somewhere to stay, so we drove on. Signs to the du Maurier Festival, starting two days later, were everywhere and we wondered whether we would have a problem finding accommodation as, surely, everywhere in the area would be booked out?

The ever narrowing roads, with high banks on both sides, had wider passing places at intervals, yet we saw a sign at a bend in the road to a side road announcing that it was single lane with occasional passing places. We didn’t think a road could get any narrower!

Looking at the map I noticed that Menabilly, where Daphne du Maurier spent most of her life, was just down the road, so we headed for there. We drove down a farm lane to a B&B, only to be told they were full and we imagined it would be the same everywhere. The owner mentioned Menabilly Farm further on, so we drove there, surprising the owner who was hidden behind a wall, weeding her garden. Taken unawares, she was unprepared for guests but welcomed us in. We were just a few hundred yards from Menabilly House, where DDM penned many of her famous works. The house is well hidden from all directions by thick woods, and the gatehouse announced that the land is private, so I was destined to not set eyes on my distant cousin’s adored abode.

We did stop at nearby Tregaminion Church where a memorial service was held for her but it is unfortunately locked except when services are in progress, as is sadly the case with most country churches these days.

For dinner we drove to the Rashleigh Inn, on the beach at the nearby picturesque and tiny village of Polkerris, where they have their own lobster pots in the small bay and all the fish are locally caught. The Rashleigh family own much of the land around here and we would be hearing more of the name in the next few days.

After a delicious cooked breakfast the following morning, we walked down to the beach and for a short way along the South West Coast Path that follows the coastline around Devon, Cornwall and Dorest. A swan left his mate nesting in the reeds and took off from the lake, that we crossed on stepping stones, on a short flight to the sea. Highland cattle chewed the cud and we revelled in the quiet, peaceful morning with only the sound of gentle waves breaking on the shore of the cove. At the car park, half a mile above the farmhouse, a sign requests people to leave their money in the milk churn by the farm gate. The honesty system is still used throughout much of England.

We reached the world renowned Eden Project, north of St Austell, early and parked in the closest car park which was already more than half full. There are ten or twelve car parks amongst the trees, staggered up the hill, all named after different fruits, and by the time we left, seven of them were already full. I cannot imagine what it must be like in the height of summer. Shuttle buses take visitors from the car parks to the Biodomes but we walked down from Banana car park.

A disused quarry, an old china clay pit, has been transformed into an eco-centre, an environmental educational charity, a living theatre of plants and people and a botanical garden, reconnecting with the environment and striving for sustainability and a better future. Many Australian plants are in their own area of the outdoor Biodome and tree ferns that were seized by Customs were not destroyed but kept and passed on to Eden and two other important gardens.

The Rainforest Biodome is hot and humid and smells just like Asia. Having just come through Asia, we could appreciate the authenticity of it. Different Asian countries are depicted, with fishing nets, small huts with washing on the line, old motorbikes and detailed explanatory signs. We recognised Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand and all the fruit and vegetables growing as they do in those countries. After a while there are signs advising people to “bale out” if they are finding it too hot and further on a “Cool Room” offers respite for people who are struggling in the heat. The undergrowth, lakes and waterfalls are all genuine, as are the spices growing, and it certainly gives a good insight into those countries to people who have never visited there.

The smaller Mediterranean Biodome also depicts countries we have recently visited, and was the temperature we experienced while there. South Africa and California are depicted there also as they have a similar climate. The Core is a large building housing educational exhibits. Children are well catered for with many exciting things for them to do outside and inside. Anyone game enough can ride on a flying fox across the gardens.

Our next stop was Mevagissey, for old times’ sake. Many years ago we sat on a bench there with Pauline and David, overlooking the harbour while eating fish and chips. A week later we saw the comperes of a British television show doing exactly the same. They were the “Two Fat Ladies” and we avidly watched their weekly show from then on. As the sun shone we once again sat there eating our lunch and reminiscing while watching the activity around the picturesque harbour.

Barry wanted to make a nostalgic visit to Falmouth, where his ships went into dry dock, but we could not find the harbour. The narrow streets were all one way and we could not find one that led to the water. Climbing out of town we eventually came to an area that overlooked the dry dock but we decided to give the rest of it a miss. Further up the one-way street we reached Pendennis Point where King Henry VIII’s coastal fortress stands high on a hill. We parked at the end of the point, overlooking the ruins of old fortifications, where we enjoyed a relaxing cuppa. Many tankers and other ships were moored past the point, out in Falmouth Bay.

On the way to Helston we saw some of the many wind generators that are all over Cornwall. They look so graceful and I cannot understand why people object to them. It seems a nice, safe way to generate power.

Ever keen to avoid cities and towns, we continued south to Porthleven on the coast. We found another delightful harbour village where the boats were once again high and dry although the tide was on its way in. Driving around looking for somewhere to stay we could find nowhere to park, the biggest problem for people offering accommodation. The places we called at were booked out and when we managed to find a parking spot on the harbour wall, outside the Harbour Inn, we asked there if they had a room available. All their rooms were booked; we were told it was Flora Day in Helston the following day and accommodation would be hard to find that night. Lizzy, the owner, was extremely friendly and helpful and phoned many places for us. Eventually she called a friend who had turned down someone needing two nights but who was able to offer us a bed for that night.

Penny was welcoming and offered us an enormous comfortable bed in a delightful room with en-suite, all recently renovated. Walking back into the village for dinner, we found the tide in and children and a dog jumping off the wall into the water, squealing and shouting with delight. We had fun watching their antics - so much better than sitting in front of a computer! It was good to see them outside having fun. The youngest children were sliding down the boat ramp into the water, the older children were jumping off the wall opposite the Harbour Inn and further down the harbour the teenagers and youths were jumping off a very high wall into deeper water. The golden Labrador was having a great time too, jumping in whenever one of the children jumped.

For dinner we chose locally caught plaice and red mullet and later struck up a conversation with friends of Lizzy who had come to sit at the table next to us. Everyone was saying what a great day Flora Day is and this couple explained all the events throughout the day. Children dance in the streets from 7am, the youngest first and then the older children and adults dressed in formal suits and pretty dresses dance in the streets at midday. The custom is more than 200 years old and is always held on 8th May. Signs in all the shop windows in Porthleven announced that they would be closed the following day.

After dinner we walked around the village and up the opposite hill where we overlooked the ocean beach and watched people surfing, something we saw them doing all along the coast. Porthleven is reputed to have the best waves in the country.

B&B breakfasts are served from 8am which we found quite late but this one was worth waiting for. Beautifully displayed fruit was set out in each place when we reached the dining room and the cooked breakfast was probably the best I have ever had. I didn’t have room for any lunch that day. We had been told of a walk through the woods to Helston, two miles inland, but in the end we decided to give the festivities a miss and drove towards Penzance, visiting Praa Sands beach on the way - several miles of beautiful sand. There are some surprisingly long sandy beaches along the Cornish coast in spite of all the beautiful craggy bays and harbours.

We have visited Marazion several times before but always the tide has been in. This time we were determined to visit St Michael’s Mount, a National Trust property, and went over in a small, open ferry boat. The ferryman left the tiller while he collected the passengers’ fares and we headed in all directions, wherever the waves tossed us, until he returned to steer us towards the harbour. The house and gardens opened half an hour after our arrival and we walked around the harbour and chatted to the staff while we were waiting. We were the first people through the gate when it opened and walked up steep, uneven stone steps to the castle at the top. Another couple joined us and we enjoyed some interesting and amusing conversations with them over the course of the morning.

Cannons retrieved from a sunken French warship are placed around the outer walls of the castle and we climbed even further to the narrow, low entrance to the impressive stone building that was partly covered with scaffolding while the walls are being re-pointed. Many circular staircases are inaccessible to the public but are blocked off with glass panels so could still be seen. The family still live there but we were able to see about half the rooms. All the rooms afford great views across the sea, an excellent stronghold.

The sofa in the Blue Drawing Room was where Queen Victoria sat when she called in one day and “took tea”. Only the maid was in at the time, much to the owners’ chagrin on their return.

Overlooking the parapets, we saw the flower and vegetable gardens on the cliffs far below - a long way to go to pick something for dinner. The terraced gardens are accessed from the base of the castle and, although we later walked all around them we did not climb the many steps to view them closely.

By this time the tide was out and we walked back to the mainland along the causeway and across the beach to the car. We were glad we had taken the ferry across as hordes of people were walking onto the Mount. We were lucky to visit when there were only a few other people there.

Driving to the north coast we made a quick visit to pretty, but busy, St Ives and then drove along the coast road where we discovered Godrevy Point, National Trust land, where there was a colony of seals on the rocks. We stopped there for a cuppa, overlooking Godrevy Island and went for a short walk along the Coast Path.

We spent that night at Portreath, a village with one of the few original stone harbours along the north Cornish coast. We ate dinner at the pub as there wasn‘t really anywhere else to eat in what seemed to be a fairly depressed village, certainly not comparable to the quaint, picturesque fishing villages along the south coast. We were not expecting the meals to be great but they were superb. I don’t think I have ever been served such an enormous meal and couldn’t do it justice. The steak and ale pie came recommended but there was so much of it, with a separate bowl of vegetables, that it would have been more than enough for both of us. However, Barry had his own large meal and it was all delicious. Incredibly we made room for the cooked breakfast the following morning before walking back to have a look at the harbour when the tide was in and the boats were afloat.

We joined the superb new dual carriageway that runs across Cornwall and Devon to join the M5 at Exeter. The roads we drove on were excellent and the signage brilliant. With such superb weather, all the soft-top cars had their roofs down, many of them MX5s of all colours. Jamaica Inn, in the middle of Bodmin Moor, was on the main road last time we visited but now the highway by-passes it. We detoured to the Inn that was crowded with tourists, many cars and several tourist buses. Further on, the road skirts the northern edge of Dartmoor and we left the main road and drove onto the moor and to the Finch Foundry (National Trust) at Sticklepath. It is the last example of a water-powered forge in England that once produced four hundred cutting edge tools daily. Luckily we arrived just in time for a tour and the workings of the waterwheels, tilt hammer, drop hammers, grindstones and old tools for making sickles, scythes and shovels were demonstrated to us. Barry made a comment about Health and Safety and one of the people on the tour said she was from Health and Safety! Heaven forbid that they should ever try to put a stop to those authentic demonstrations of the work people spent their whole lives doing.

After a cuppa in the field where volunteers had a large bonfire crackling away, we drove to the nearby Castle Drogo, a Grade I listed National Trust property designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and the last castle to be built in England that we last visited with Scott and Ross twenty-two years ago. There were many more people there this time but it was a very interesting visit. Julius Drewe (founder of a large shopping chain) built the castle as an ancestral home and the Drewe family still live there. In one of the rooms volunteers were demonstrating the cleaning and preservation of leather, brass and paper. We had a long chat to them and found their advice very helpful although we don’t need to go to the lengths they go to in their efforts to keep everything authentic and in perfect condition for many generations to come. The gardens were lovely and it was interesting to watch frames being made out of willow for training plants on. Trees trained into canopies looked just what we need in Mt Eliza but these ones took thirty years to reach that stage!

There is much to see in Cornwall and we packed a lot into the few days we were away. Since our return the weather has been just as sunny and hot, almost too hot although we don’t dare complain. Long may it last!

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- Posted at 9:01 PM on 2/5/2008 by S P

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- Posted at 8:06 PM on 21/4/2008 by S P
PORTUGAL

Thank you to everyone who sent birthday greetings. We had a great day in Lisbon but the celebrations covered a few days. As we were in Lisbon until midnight, it was possible that some people on our table would be out that night, so we celebrated at the table the previous night. Because of that, and because the night before that was a formal night with a show by the Cunard Singers and Dancers, when theatre boxes have to be booked, Barry booked a box for us. We sat in a special lounge before the show where we were given champagne and enormous strawberries dipped in chocolate (dark on the bottom and at the sides and white in the middle with a bow tie and buttons piped on in dark chocolate) and other delicious sweets. We were then escorted to our private box and given a bottle of champagne that we chose to keep and not have opened then. The champagne we were still drinking (our glasses were carried to the box for us) was quite enough. There were more chocolates on the table in the box, in fact we still haven’t eaten all those.

The following morning we passed Gibraltar before it was light although we did see some lights about 6am. That afternoon they held a Charity auction of memorabilia from the QEII and the QV. Also auctioned was a tour of the engine room while we were in Lisbon. The lady who bought it paid $US1,125!!! I hope she enjoyed it! Over $11,000 was raised all together and nearly $60,000 has been raised throughout the voyage, all for Charity.

That night we celebrated my birthday at our table. Barry ordered a bottle of champagne and everyone had a glass of it. At the end of the meal, the dessert was a birthday cake. They normally provide a cream cake but as I can’t eat cream, we had asked for a chocolate cake. It was superb, with strawberries in it and chocolate sprinkles all around the outside. On the top the chef had piped Happy Birthday in dark chocolate on a rectangle of white chocolate with a strawberry on top and a candle burning. Our waiter asked if he should cut it into six pieces but it was so huge that I asked him to cut half of it into six pieces and that was quite enough as each portion was served with berry fruits and ice cream. When that was served, everyone at the table sang Happy Birthday and gave me cards and presents - very generous. I was one of four Aries birthdays at our table to Dubai and I had received cards from those two couples as well. Barry gave me a card and Cunard also gave me a card. Several people we know who were at nearby tables stopped on their way out of the restaurant to wish me a happy birthday so I was very spoilt. A couple of nights later we finished the cake in our room with the bottle of champagne from the theatre night.

The show that night was three brothers and a cousin who call themselves String Fever. They played stringed instruments that were just composite frames of violins and a cello and at one stage all played Bolero on the same cello - the most amazing feat. The entertainment has been first class.

Every morning the Entertainment Director and one of his crew give a show on the TV that is repeated throughout the day, giving out information about what is on during the day and anything else of interest. On my birthday they read out a standard greeting from Cunard and a special greeting from Barry. He started with wishing a happy birthday to “my English rose” and they looked at each other and Gun said “Oh, isn’t that romantic?” Alastair said the whole message was romantic and continued to read out about how we met at sea etc etc, with at one point them stopping to say “There won’t be a dry eye in the house”! At the end Alastair gave the “thumbs up” and said “Oh Barry, good one, good one. Excellent”!! When it was repeated later (each day’s show runs continuously all morning) Barry recorded it on his camera.

The weather in Lisbon was not conducive to sightseeing. We went on a morning tour to Sintra, in the mountains, and Cascais on the coast. It was raining when we arrived in Sintra, a town built by the Arabs in the 8th Century and a World Heritage Site. Until 1860 it was where the kings had their summer palace. We went into a coffee shop to try the local delicacies (pointed out to us by our tour guide) and coffee. We ordered two cappuccinos and they came with a conical six inches of cream piped on top! Oops! That went back and we were brought what we know as cappuccinos - without all the cream. We never did find out what we were supposed to have asked for.

By the time we had finished that, the rain had stopped and we walked around the steep, narrow, cobbled streets where decorative tiles, that the area is famous for, cover the walls of many of the buildings as that is cheaper than painting them. The street names are painted on tiles and there is a castle in the central square. As we boarded the bus the heavens opened and it teamed with rain. Our drive from there took us through mountains to the coast. The scenery looked very familiar and we could have been driving to the High Country in Victoria. Eucalyptus trees, brought over from Australia in the 19th Century, were growing amongst granite boulders and it looked for all the world like the Victorian snow country.

The coast was wild on such a wet and windy day and the breakers crashed onto the rocks with spectacular spray all along the coast. The long sandy beaches stretched for miles, one of them culminating in the westernmost point of Europe.

Cascais on the coast is a very exclusive, pretty fishing town and we watched fishermen working on their nets and walked around the town before heading back to Lisbon. We did not drive into the city so could not be dropped off there. There were shuttle buses running into the centre but with it being such a foul day, raining and blowing a gale, we decided it wouldn’t be much fun walking around in those conditions and chose to have lunch at one of the harbourside cafes by the yacht marina next to our berth. Our excellent tour guide had recommended a good one to go to and she was right.

We enjoyed a magnificent meal and learnt how to run a restaurant. The staff were very obliging and attentive without being intrusive, in fact when we were choosing from the menu they told us ours was already being prepared! They had cooked local red bream for us and brought it to show us before serving it. They then took it to a special table and served it on dinner plates before bringing it to the table. Every course is served in the same way. There was another couple from the ship at a nearby table and when they had their third course we received a plateful of it “to try” which was very generous. We were brought a bottle of wine that they said they would change if we didn’t like it and a superb local dessert - made only in Sintra. On the table when we arrived were a basket of bread rolls and Melba toast, olives (superb olives, even I ate several and I don’t normally like olives), tuna dip and a yummy whole tiny cheese that had had the top cut off and left as a lid and inside was the most delicious gooey cheese made with sheep’s milk that we spread on the Melba toast. A truly memorable meal.

We were so full that night that we did not go down to dinner - just ate a banana in our cabin before going to the local Folkloric Show of Portuguese dancing. There were fifty performers on stage, thirty singers and musicians, playing accordions, guitars and unusual local instruments, and twenty dancers. The dresses were very colourful and the dancing very energetic and fun.

Our Captain’s mother has been very ill and he was called home suddenly and flew back to England from Lisbon, with our new Captain (who was Captain from Southampton to Sydney) arriving late that night. He was up until 3am with piloting duties leaving the River Tagus and did not take the church service that everyone was hoping he would so that they could meet him. We have had someone on board giving talks about all the Mediterranean ports before we have arrived in each one and he happens to be an Anglican priest, so he took the service. We’ll probably never set eyes on the new Captain.

They had a photographic competition, open to passengers and crew, and Barry entered a couple of my photos. They were not judged but voted for by passengers with some surprising results. The winning one of People was half rubbish bin - not good composition at all. All the entries were printed in 8 x 10 size and we were given the photos afterwards. When I collected mine, the photographer said my People one had been one of his favourites. There were some excellent People entries - difficult to know why people voted the way they did. The event was for Charity, with half the cost going to charity and half to the photographers to cover costs.

British Immigration Authorities are on board and we have been cleared to enter England - what a difference compared with Heathrow! They asked if we live in Australia, stamped Barry’s passport and swiped mine and that was it! There was even time for the officer to offer a few pleasantries. Nice to know we don’t have to bother with that on disembarkation.

With our arrival in Southampton imminent and the internet being shut down later today, this will be my last posting for the voyage. We have had a great time and are not particularly looking forward to getting back into cooking, washing dishes, making beds, and all the other chores that await us! However, we are looking forward to getting to Lyme Regis and seeing everyone in England again. The ship has been fantastic, we have met some lovely people and we have seen some wonderful ports, all in all a great time.

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- Posted at 2:49 AM on 20/4/2008 by S P
SPAIN

Having visited Barcelona several times before, we went on a tour to Montserrat, the monastery high in the mountains outside Barcelona. The drive up the mountainside was steep and winding with many hairpin bends but unfortunately it was foggy and the views across the valleys were lost in the low cloud.

We drove through Barcelona to start with and spent most of the time stuck in rush hour traffic. On the way up the mountain, an officious young policeman stopped us and spent fifteen minutes checking our driver’s papers. The other tour buses overtook us and eventually we were allowed on our way. It was not until we were almost at the steps leading to the Basilica that our guide mentioned that the Black Madonna (the main thing to see there) closed at 10.30am. We left her and ran but when we were within ten feet of the doors, a monk held up his hand to stop anyone else entering and closed the doors in front of us.

We managed to get inside the Basilica and could see the Black Madonna in a recess high in the wall at the far end, behind the altar. It was very dark in there and impossible to take photos from such a distance as I didn’t want to use the flash. A service was obviously about to start and shortly after we left, a very long procession of choir boys, clergy and monks filed into the Basilica, followed by many monks in black pushing a plain pine coffin. Some of them wore Scout scarves but we were told it was a funeral for a monk.

Barry and I wandered around on our own and found a delightful coffee shop where we enjoyed delicious cappuccinos and shared a long crusty bread roll filled with local ham and cheese. There was so much to see that we did not have time to visit - a whole day could easily be taken up seeing everything there. A cable car also goes to the top, and a funicular railway that runs on a central screw up and down the steep slopes. From the buildings to the top of the craggy rocks runs an almost vertical railway, with one carriage travelling up and one travelling down, passing in the middle like the Lynton and Lynmouth cliff railway for those who know!

We drove back to the ship on the other side of the mountain and back along the freeway that was, once again, surrounded by many acres of fruit trees and market gardens.

We sailed early that day and in the theatre beforehand we watched an excellent Folkloric Show put on by local dancers and musicians. The dancing was incredibly energetic, the girls’ dresses beautiful and the castanet playing outstanding. The music was lively and everyone in the audience was whistling and shouting Ole! My hands were sore from all the clapping. Most of the Folkloric shows have been good but this one was excellent.

Leaving Barcelona, the ship backed for half a mile before turning and then heading out to sea. The following day, heading down the Spanish coast, we had Force 6 seas, worsening throughout the day.

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- Posted at 2:48 AM on 20/4/2008 by S P
ITALY

Our tours in Italy were excellent. From Naples we had a full day tour to the Amalfi Coast and Pompei (spelt with only one ‘i’ there). Naples was founded in 800 BC although the first settlement was 3,500 years ago. Mount Vesuvius is 1,277 metres high and an adjoining mountain slightly lower. Originally they were one mountain over 2,000 metres high. The sides of the roads and walls of the cuttings are lava and the volcanic soil is wonderful for growing the lemons, oranges, olives and grapes that the area is renowned for. There are also many gum trees along the coast and wisteria grows profusely all along the side of the road.

The Amalfi Coast scenery is spectacular, with sheer drops down to the ocean where houses tumble down the cliffs to the sea and bricked terraces are covered with fruit, vegetables and flowers that cover every inch of spare land from the water to the top of the cliffs high above the road. There are many rocky inlets and beaches between the towns and watch towers are dotted along the coast on headlands, built many years ago for protection from pirates.

Along the way we stopped at a factory where they were making inlaid furniture, a speciality of the area. We were given demonstrations of inlay work and a coffee, tea or orange juice and a sponge finger which was very welcome along the winding road.

From Sorrento we crossed the mountains to Positano, considered the gem of the Amalfi Coast, a town with extremely narrow streets that were built for donkeys, and famous for ceramics and cameos.

We spent an hour wandering round the delightful town of Amalfi where we bought some Limoncello, the liqueur made from the local lemons. The cathedral is especially magnificent and we spent some time in the cloisters, Basilica that is now a museum, and the elaborately decorated crypt that has superb paintings all over the ceilings.

Then it was on to Minori for a superb lunch. We were given a bottle of red wine for the two of us and also a flute of their delicious local brew. It was nice to have waiter service instead of a buffet. We started with small cannelloni stuffed with ricotta and spinach, followed by chicken and mozzarella cheese with potatoes and finally a lemon cake. Some people were given chocolate cake and the waiter brought me a serving of that too. We walked through the narrow streets back to the buses and continued along the coast to Vietri sul Mare where we turned inland and drove through acres of market gardens alongside the freeway to Pompei. Potatoes, artichokes, broad beans, peas, lettuces, fennel and strawberries all grow well in the fertile volcanic soil.

The Vesuvius eruption in AD 79 destroyed Pompei and left it covered with 25 ft of ash and pumice. They are still uncovering parts of the old town and we saw petrified bodies, covered with lava, in contorted positions. Most of the 2,000 inhabitants perished. We spent 1 ½ hours being taken by our guide round a quarter of the ancient town, the ruins of the houses, shops, theatres and arenas. It was, surprisingly, discovered only in the 18th Century. The streets are made of enormous cobble stones with large stepping stones at intervals across the streets. There are raised pavements and grooves where there were sliding doors. It gives a great insight into life long ago.

Back in the town we were given free tastings of limoncello, local sweets made with lemon and chocolate and bread dipped in various olive oils.

News had filtered through that there had been an accident that had closed the freeway, so we had to return to the ship the long way round. We had been due back at 6.45pm, ready to sail at 7pm, and we eventually got back at 8pm. Passengers and crew out on the decks clapped and cheered us and after we had made our way up the only remaining gangway, the Captain announced “Welcome back and welcome home” and we finally sailed more than an hour late.

The following morning we docked in Civitavecchia, the port of Rome. Having been to Rome a few times before, we chose to go to the countryside and visit a farmhouse. We could have been in England, driving through the rolling hills of the province of Viterbo. We were given a talk on olive growing by the owner and a magnificent spread of lettuce, tomatoes, prosciutto, parma ham, olives, artichokes, cheeses and bruschetta with lashings of different flavoured olive oils, and a glass of red wine. A bit early at 10.30am! The other bus visited there last which would have been better but we did it justice all the same!

After that we visited the medieval town of Tuscania where our guide gave a short talk on the history and various buildings in the town and then we had time on our own to wander round the cobbled streets. We visited the Cathedral and enjoyed a coffee outdoors in the piazza. Very pleasant.

After leaving Civitavecchia we had a medium sea with waves 5-7 metres and were rolling around quite a bit - the roughest day of the voyage, Force 8. We have experienced much worse in the past and everything was as normal except some of the outside decks were closed and the water in the swimming was splashing up out of it. The sun was shining when we passed between Corsica and Sardinia.

We had a lazy day, recovering from the exertions of the previous two days before reaching Barcelona.

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- Posted at 7:26 PM on 17/4/2008 by S P
SAFAGA, EGYPT

After docking at the port of Safaga early in the morning we met at 6am for our tour. All the buses (16 for our tour, 7 for the overnight tour and others for a 5-day tour, returning to the ship in Athens) all had to be full and ready to go at the same time as all visitors to the country travel in a police escorted convoy. Every bus except ours also had an armed security guard on board.

We left half an hour late and the drive to Luxor took 4 ½ hours instead of the 3 ½ hours it should have taken, which really cut down the time we had to see the sights. We had to meet the return convoy at 6pm so couldn’t stretch the day in any way. The drive there was fantastic. We drove through a barren mountainous landscape for several miles before it became flatter and more sandy. There was very little vegetation, a few sparse tiny bushes scattered about every few miles, and one bushy tree once in a while.

We saw ladies in colourful dress with herds of goats - goodness knows what the goats find to eat on the harsh, dry ground. There were many camels along the way, especially in a creek bed where there were a few scrubby plants.

Later on we came to the irrigated land where everything is green with many acres of wheat and sugar cane and plenty of date palms. Along the roadside pampas grass, oleander and bougainvillea line the banks, also small vegetable plots. It was a fascinating drive along the canal, looking across to the farming communities on the opposite bank. The mud brick houses are built around yards where washing was hanging out and ladies were sweeping and doing chores. Schoolgirls walking along the bank waved to us, men and boys were riding white donkeys and the occasional brown donkey, tractors were loaded with sugar cane and many donkey carts were also laden with the cane, most of which is carted by special trains with tiny engines (as in Queensland). Every so often we saw people, sometimes children, in small boats pulling on a wire to cross the canal.

Every bridge over the canal and every road junction was closed to traffic while our convoy passed - which must have taken an hour or more. Guards with rifles were at every road block and the roads and bridges were packed with donkey carts, cows in the back of utes, bicycles, motor bikes, trucks, cars, camels - sometimes with people riding them - and pedestrians.

We also passed through several checkpoints, with guards in little boxes on top of poles, all with rifles, and at one point all the drivers had to have their papers checked. It was a delightful drive, just a shame it took so much longer than it should have taken.

Once in Luxor we drove to the West Bank and the Valley of the Kings that dates from 1570-1100 BC. Our guide was useless and spoke very poor English. He struggled all day to find his words and explained very little to us. Often he contradicted himself and he gave us no information on what we were about to see, what time to meet afterwards or where. Rebecca, one of the Third Officers, was also on our coach (the Paddle Girl - holding up a paddle with our bus number on it) and she smoothed things over as well as she could, telling us what we were supposed to be doing. Everyone is driven up to the tombs by electric transporters with two carriages on each. Other guides went up to each one arriving and called out their bus number but our guide faffed around while all the other buses went ahead of us. After 35 minutes we asked him how far away it was. He said it was a ten minute walk so we set off but found a couple of spaces on a transporter and went up with them. We were there in less than two minutes and it would not have taken us ten minutes to walk. Once there we didn’t know what to do as he had explained nothing to us. Someone said our ticket gave us entry to three tombs.

The whole area is not at all as I had expected. It is in a valley surrounded by dry, barren rocky mountains and the entrances to the tombs are newly built in matching stone blocks. We wandered around and went into two of the tombs, down steep ramps where the walls are covered with paintings, carvings and hieroglyphics - all quite magnificent. At the bottom of the first one, a large sarcophagus was in the centre of the room. Essentially you walk in, walk around and walk out, so it didn’t take long. We saw our guide sitting on a wall (all the others took their party into the tombs to explain everything) and he said the best one was the one near him of Ramesses III (or Ramses as it seems to be spelt in English) so we joined the long, long queue to see it. The walk in - and down - was very long and the walls and small side chambers were brilliantly decorated. It didn’t matter that the queue was slow moving as there was so much to see on the way. There was no sarcophagus there - different parts of it are in museums around the world - and there was more excavation work going on at the bottom.

After that we managed to get into a fourth tomb - the ticket puncher did not even look to see how many holes we had in our tickets - and that turned out to be the best one. The walk in was very, very steep and there was an Egyptian at the bottom who explained all about the paintings to us. It was so amazing.

We told our guide we would walk back down to the entrance but he said no, we all had to stay together. We said we were going anyway and he said no, we would get lost. How he thought we could get lost we can’t imagine. We went anyway, managed to get on another transporter and when we got off at the bottom, we could see the front of the next transporter taking on passengers! There is a very short bitumen track in between barren rock, with a slight curve.

Next we were taken to Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple where we were supposed to have fifteen minutes to get out and take photos. Because we were running so far behind time, we were not allowed off the bus - what a farce. We arrived at a 5-star hotel for lunch just before 3pm and had to leave before 3.30pm. The buffet lunch was served in their floating restaurant on the River Nile, with feluccas coming up to the windows. For dessert we tucked into fresh dates straight off the tree - which, after our souq experience in Bahrain many years ago - I washed in a glass of water before eating! They have a very different taste from the packaged ones. Yum!

Driving through Luxor we passed several English pubs and restaurants, including a pub called, appropriately, the King’s Head. At Karnak, a vast temple with a massive collonaded hall erected by King Ramesses II, it was so, so crowded, we could hardly squeeze in, crushed shoulder to shoulder, the busiest one guide said he had ever seen it. There were sixteen Cunard buses there (x 50, making about 800 of us), but they made up only about a quarter, or less, of the total number of buses there. It was a nightmare and without a decent guide to explain everything we walked around in a fog and took lots of photos. We probably should have done some more homework on it before we went. We were there for an hour and it was all truly amazing, the amount of work done so many thousands of years ago.

That left us with twenty minutes to drive to the Temple of Luxor, see it and join the convoy for the drive back to the ship. We spent a good part of that time in a traffic jam and most people stayed on the bus. You cannot possibly see something so magnificent in ten minutes. By the time we got to the entrance of the actual temple, we were told we had five minutes but there were so many people there, all jammed into the entrance that we would not have been able to get in in five minutes, never mind get in, see it and get out again. So, I took a couple of photos of the outside and didn’t see it. What a disappointment that was.

On the drive back all the roads were barricaded once again, with many people, vehicles and animals waiting at each junction. We returned on the same road and this time had a good look at the villages across the road from the canal, all lit as it was dark, with people outside enjoying themselves and many donkey carts heading home. Children were waving to us and it was an interesting drive. After that I fell asleep for a while and later we were given one tiny piece of nougat each. Barry and I had gone prepared with bananas, apples, nuts, biscuits and chocolate so we didn’t go hungry. It was a long day and too long to go without anything more than lunch (after a very early breakfast) and we were longing for a cup of tea by the time we got back to the ship at 10pm. After a quick wash we headed to the Lido buffet for dinner and fell into bed.

That was the first time Cunard has offered such a trip so it was a learning curve for them and the overnight one would probably have been a better option, as they visited the Temple of Luxor the following morning before returning to the ship. We sailed as soon as they returned about 1pm. The overnight tour included a Sound and Light show at the Temple of Karnak but all the beds in Luxor were booked out so there is a limit to the number of people they can take on that tour.

It was great leaving port at that time of day. They normally have a Sailaway party on deck but we are normally at dinner at that time. One of the bands was out on deck and they had champagne on offer.

That night we had the Egyptian Ball and almost everyone dressed up. The ballroom was superbly decorated for the occasion. I had made an Egyptian-looking outfit with clothes I already had and some trim I found in Myer, and I had bought a beaded headdress. Barry then thought he should do something and disappeared for a while. He returned looking the part with a pillow case over his head, tied on with his network cable and wearing sunglasses! Shalom!

SUEZ CANAL

The day after we left Safaga, we moored at the entrance to the Suez Canal at 3am, ready to transit in convoy at 6am. I woke up at 5am and went out on deck. The passenger ship that had been next to us in Safaga was ahead of us and there were 35 ships in our convoy. Two convoys head south every day, passing the one north-bound convoy in the two lakes.

Last time I was here, I went to Cairo while the ship transited the canal, so I was pleased to be seeing it even though everyone said it was just sand. It is much narrower than I had expected and over the years much building has taken place so there was plenty to see. Even in the last two years there has been an enormous amount of development.

At first the decks were closed because of very strong winds but I had a good view from the Commodore Club that spans the front of the ship. When the decks were opened, one of the deck crew showed me how to get outside in front of the gym where I had a great view and could take photos. Later the Captain announced that the areas on Decks 6 and 7 across the front of the ship were also available to us. They are normally for crew only but Barry and I spent most of the day out there. At lunch time Barry made up warm beef and salad rolls for us and a lady we were talking to out on deck, with biscuits and fruit as well so I was very spoilt and didn’t miss anything!

We passed under the Egyptian-Japanese Friendship Bridge, funded mainly by the Japanese, that has a clearance of 68m and was opened October 2001. The bridge is 3.9kms long and the span across the canal is 400m.

There was plenty of activity on the banks of the canal, guards at posts dotted along the length of it, people in boats, small villages, a Second World War Memorial, the more modern Israeli War Memorial and numerous mosques in the sand. The east bank (Sinai Desert) was just that - desert - sand, sand and more sand while most of the habitation and activity was on the western bank.

We had a very quick transit, reaching Port Said ten hours after starting out. Normally it takes between eleven and sixteen hours to go through. The speed limit is 8 knots through most of the canal and 12 knots over the last part where it widens and eventually becomes the Mediterranean Sea, a very insignificant exit from the canal.

SUEZ CANAL UPDATE

Oops! The older of the two memorials we saw along the Suez Canal is to commemorate the First World War, not the Second World War as I said. I should have looked at my photos first!

GREECE

Crossing the Mediterranean we experienced our roughest seas yet, although it had calmed down by the evening. That day a Country Fair was held in the Queen’s Room that raised more than $US7,000 for charity. Barry and I had several tries at various things but didn’t win anything. I attempted to throw a plastic quoit over a bottle of wine and just succeeded in knocking over all the bottles, domino effect!

On arrival in Greece we docked in Pireaus early in the morning and Barry and I went on an easy tour to the Temple of Poseidon on Cape Sounion. Only one bus went and we had a picturesque drive along the coast. Unfortunately a south wind had been blowing for several days which meant there was a lot of fog and the views were not as good as they could have been. When the wind blows from the north the skies are blue and the water is clear.

Once at Cape Sounion the skies were clear and we had good views all around the southernmost point of Europe. There were four or five buses there when we arrived but they were all Cunard ones on a full day tour taking in Athens as well. They moved off when we arrived which meant we had the Temple to ourselves and managed to take photographs without crowds of people in them.

The temple is smaller than I had expected and is roped off so we could not see Byron’s signature but there were plenty of other ones engraved into the stone. It is very impressive standing on the point.

On the drive back to Athens the weather closed in again and was as foggy as it had been on the outward drive. We asked to be dropped off in Piraeus where we walked round the fish, meat, fruit and vegetable markets. We found a wonderful delicatessen where there were enormous bowls of olives and all the ingredients for antipasto, cheeses, gooey Greek sweets and other mouthwatering goodies. We found a café where we ate lunch and drank delicious Greek coffee before doing some sightseeing and visiting the massive dock area. Hundreds of ferries of all sizes come and go all day and it is a very, very busy place. We went on the long walk around the harbour to the cruise terminal where we caught the shuttle bus back to the ship.

That night there was a performance in the theatre by a local group. The Greek music is lively and we all joined in with some of the songs. Some of their dancing is surprisingly acrobatic and of course they finished the show with Zorba.

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Allatsea - Posted at 4:22 PM on 2/2/2008 by S P

ALLATSEA

We have been at sea now for ten days and it is time I started the Blog. We were going to join in the paddle tennis tournament this afternoon, but if we keep playing all this sport, I’ll never have time to write anything! We are trying our best to keep fit and not eat too much and are succeeding pretty well so far. Barry won the shuffleboard tournament the first day and I have won or come second in every daily table tennis tournament. There are very good players on board so I am enjoying that - giving it a miss today, though, to exercise some of the old grey matter.

Our holiday started in Melbourne two days before we left. Barry fetched the hire car from the city (a condition for an interstate drop-off) and as the Queen Victoria berthed in Melbourne the morning we left, we drove along the Beach Road and took photos of the ship before heading up the Hume Freeway. The road is freeway all the way to the border and I drove for part of the way. The New South Wales road is a disgrace - single lane still although they are working on a motorway (not a freeway) which meant we drove through hundred of kilometres of road works and were glad to stop for the night in Gundagai.

We had never visited the town before and found it very interesting. Many old buildings, a lovely restored railway station and the two trestle bridges (one road and one rail) are amazing “managed ruins” across the flood plain of the Murrumbidgee River. When the river flooded in 1852, a third of the entire population of the town drowned and it remains the biggest single disaster in Australia’s history.

We spent a couple of nights in Sydney and on Saturday took the ferry to Watson’s Bay, which enabled us to take some good photos of the Queen Victoria. After climbing up to the lookouts and walking along the cliffs, we enjoyed a superb lunch at Doyle’s on the Beach - service and food top class. We sat on the edge of the sand, looking back towards the city - what a magnificent setting.

On Sunday afternoon we checked in on the Queen Victoria before meeting Len and Evelyne, friends who shared our table on the Pacific Princess. They were travelling on the QE2 from Santiago and we managed to spend a bit of time together before they had to re-board the QE2 at Garden Island. We sailed at 6pm with thousands of people crowded onto all levels of the Overseas Passenger Terminal and every inch of the shoreline and, of course, climbing the bridge. Maybe you saw it on TV? The two ships passed on opposite sides of Fort Denison with dozens of helicopters overhead and thousands of boats flanking us as we left the harbour. People were lined up on both sides of the harbour all the way to the Heads and several boats followed us out of the harbour.

We missed dinner that night, as our sitting was while we traversed the harbour. There is no way we were going to miss that! We had told Len and Evelyne we would wave to them but of course couldn’t pick out anyone as the passengers looked like ants, but we waved all the same. There is a Lido buffet, open for 24 hours, and as we had had no lunch, we ate an early meal there instead.

Our cabin is on Deck 6, towards the stern, between the two restaurants (one up, one down) but it takes us longer to walk to the theatre than it takes me to walk into Mt Eliza and back!! Walking past the laundrette this morning, I noticed there was no queue for the ironing board, and it took me five minutes of brisk walking to fetch the ironing and return to the laundrette. I still get lost but it didn’t take Barry long to find his way around.

We are normally up on deck at 6.30am, walking several laps, playing paddle tennis and shuffleboard (sometimes others join us for this) before showering and eating breakfast in the Lido. Have yet to try the restaurant for breakfast but there are so many things to do and we would need to allow more time for that. We have been having fruit, nuts and sometimes cereal - nothing more! The full cooked English breakfast is available, eggs in many ways, stir fries etc, croissants and pastries galore, but I have not been tempted so far. Barry sometimes has delicious looking scrambled eggs.

Our mornings are spent playing in the paddle tennis and/or shuffleboard tournaments, sometimes followed by a game of draughts on a giant draughts/chess board, followed by very interesting talks on Cook, Bligh, Mutiny on the Bounty; one by astronaut Walter Cunningham, the second man in space which was just amazing; nature talks by a scientist; talks by various ship’s officers and a very interesting talk on the Timor Sea by the pilot for that area.

Sometimes we eat lunch in the Lido, depending what else is on, and sometimes in the restaurant where seating is random, so we sit with different people there every day.

In the afternoon there is more sport and performances by pianists, a lovely harpist (in looks and ability), concerts, films, afternoon tea that we have yet to participate in (maybe we never will) and all sorts of other activities all day. I went to a hair seminar and petit Daniel from the south of France was excellent. We each had a free 15 minute consultation and he later cut my hair superbly. There is a gym and spa and all the treatments - reflexology etc etc, manicures, pedicures, massages etc etc etc that you could wish for.

We chose the first sitting for dinner and requested a table for 6. We were given a table for 4 but luckily we get on well with the other couple - much older than us, from Perth. They are fun and extremely interesting and we always have plenty to talk about. I am enjoying being waited on and it is wonderful not to have to clear the table and wash dishes afterwards!

After dinner we go to the shows which have all been excellent so far - vocalists, a violinist who was outstanding, pianists, bands, an incredible magician, showtime dancers and Shakespeare and other performances by RADA. One night, in front of the seats we were about to sit on, was Barry’s cousin from Mt Martha! We had no idea she was on board. The theatre is on three levels and has private boxes on both sides (you have to pay for those at night but champagne and appetizers are included). After that we go dancing, sometimes in the night club, but usually in the general ballroom which is where they have the balls. Half the nights so far have been formal and half semi-formal nights. Elegant casual dress is worn only on the days we are in port.

In Brisbane we spent the day with Pauline and David. They had arranged for all the local family to join us and we had a great day. We have visited Port Douglas before, so wandered around town, enjoyed a coffee, visited St Mary’s by the Sea with the magnificent picture window behind the altar, and had a lazy afternoon on board. We were still recovering from the frantic few weeks before we left.

The sea has been unbelievably calm and this morning there was a beautiful sunrise, our first in the northern hemisphere. Yesterday we had the Crossing the Line ceremony with King Neptune presiding. People had raw fish rubbed all over them or were covered with raw eggs, flour, jelly, spaghetti etc before being sent into the pool. The Captain was charged and also pushed into the pool! Apparently the tradition goes back to 1393 when they discovered the earth was round and not flat. We have been presented with colourful certificates for crossing the equator.

We have met some great people, a good many of whom will be getting off the ship in Singapore. There are nearly 500 sailing all the way round the world. Some boarded in Southampton but most boarded in New York, and will finish the trip on the QM2 from Southampton back to New York. Some passengers sailed from Southampton on the QE2 and transferred to the Queen Victoria in Sydney - two ships, one world.

On boarding we had to surrender our passports and were given key cards which are our cabin keys and credit cards which makes life easy. We don’t need to carry anything else with us.

Every hour, 600 tonnes of water are desalinated - quite mind boggling. It seems odd that they chlorinate the pools. There are two swimming pools as well as hot tubs. Six diesel generators run two electric pods that drive the propellers.

That’s all this time, folks. Next report after Kota Kinabalu (rhymes with hullabaloo).

KOTA KINABALU (JESSELTON) - HONG KONG

Time to write some more before we reach Vietnam. Since leaving the calmer waters of the Great Barrier Reef, the seas have been moderate but we are rarely aware of the ship’s movement.

On Thursday we were in Kota Kinabalu and we went on a K K Overview tour. This was formerly the town of Jesselton. The tour showed us some interesting sights but nothing spectacular. We drove past many interesting sights where we would like to have stopped to take photographs. We were taken to a tiny market with little there, so crossed the road to the main part of the town for a walk around.

The tour was a morning tour only and we felt there was nothing we wanted to return ashore for, so we spent a relaxing afternoon on board and indulged in the afternoon tea. What a delight that was. We were shown to a table at a window overlooking the dock and brought sandwiches, cakes and scones and a lovely cup of tea. Waiters kept supplies replenished but we restricted ourselves to very little (really - Barry had one warm scone and I had two tiny sandwiches). All the while the string quartet played beautiful music and apparently the pianist and harpist also play some days. It was a lovely experience and something to repeat. It reminded me of the times my great-grandmother took us for tea in the Pump Room in Leamington Spa.

The table tennis tournaments have been brought forward to 3pm as the later time was leaving it tight for our first sitting for dinner, especially for me as I usually play to the end. I was the one who asked if they could be earlier but maybe it’s a good thing that they now clash with afternoon tea as we can‘t be in both places at once and I choose the healthier option most days!

One day the crew had a tug-of-war out by one of the swimming pools. Every department had a team, engine room boys, electricians, waiters, sommeliers, casino staff, entertainment staff etc etc. It was great fun, with everyone cheering on their favourite team and the Captain presented medals to the winners. Every day the Captain does his rounds of the ship and he has spoken to us a couple of times, once out on deck and once in the Commodore Room, a lovely room across the front of the ship.

Every city the ship has been to has presented the ship with a plaque for it’s maiden visit and they are all on the walls outside the Commodore Club.

On Saturday they had an Art Culinaire demonstration. The ice sculptures were enormous and prepared dishes - hot, cold and desserts as well as special decorative presentations - were amazing. People voted on the dishes they considered the best.

That night we went to the Alternative Dining in the Lido. Part of the buffet is closed at night for themed meals that are very difficult to get into. Tables can only be booked by phone after 9am on the day of the meal and we had heard that if you don’t phone before 9.10 am you will not get a table. Barry dialled continuously from 9am and eventually was lucky enough to get through. Various appetizers and starters are brought to the table and we just had to choose the main courses and desserts. The curries were quite hot but all very tasty. We drank a whole bottle of wine and we felt the ship rolling a lot when we left!! If we buy wine in the restaurant we make it last three nights - a glass each is enough and we do not have it every night.

On Sunday we reached Hong Kong and berthed in the container terminal. The main terminal right in town is owned by Star Cruises who were not about to allow us to use it! A new terminal will be built for the larger ships. Barry took the shuttle bus into town in the morning and in the afternoon he went on a tour to Stanley Market across on the far side of Hong Kong Island. I went on a full day tour to Lantau Island, part of the New Territories. The new airport is on Lantau Island and we had hoped to visit the large Buddha there last time we were here but never got there.

First of all we were driven to a viewing area to see two bridges, one of which we later drove over. In spite of it being a Sunday, there were crowds of school children everywhere we went as Sunday is the day they go on their school outings. Past the airport we had to change into a smaller bus as the larger coaches cannot negotiate the steep, winding roads through the mountains. Even so, we had to give way to many vehicles coming the other way on the narrower stretches. A new wide road is currently being built. Once over the highest point we descended past an enormous reservoir and a prison for lifers. They appear to have a cushy life there, probably far better than they would on the outside. The gaol overlooks the ocean, and has all mod cons, with lots of tennis and basketball courts.

When we finally reached the beach I felt quite sick and went for a long walk along the sand to get some fresh air into my lungs. Moving on from there we came to an old fishing village where there are stilt houses in the water and an interesting market. Our excellent guide led us to a couple of monasteries and left us to find our own way back to the bus from there. It was a fascinating place and it would have been good to spend longer there.

Our next stop, after more winding roads through the mountains, was the Po Lin Monastery and, atop the hill, the largest sitting Buddha in the world. The coach drove up to the Buddha but had to reverse half way round one of the hairpin bends as it was so sharp it could not be rounded in one. Inside the Buddha was interesting, with a beautifully decorated inner wall that took five years to paint. It is considered such a holy place that people want their loved ones to be buried there but of course that is not possible. Instead, they pay many thousands of dollars to have a tiny space on the inside of the outer wall, and have to pay a yearly fee to keep it, where names and tiny portraits are printed in an upright panel about an inch wide and about six inches deep. There were many flowers there also.

There are 268 steps up to the Buddha and I walked down to the bottom. The steps are straight up and down, new and even, so it is easy walking and it took only about three minutes.

At the base of the Buddha is the Po Lin Monastery and we had a vegetarian lunch there. It was rather like a hall at the Munich beer festival, in appearance and noise where our party had three tables. Food was put on a large lazy susan in the middle of each table and it was all delicious. We tried some weird and wonderful creations, all yummy. We were given half an hour after lunch to walk around the monastery area where many people were lighting incense sticks and putting them into sand in various containers all around the place. A cable car takes 10,000 people a day from the base of the mountains to the monastery. Then we had to re-negotiate all the hills to return to the bus depot! It was a great day and although there were hundreds of people everywhere, no-one bothered us, unlike in HK itself.

On board after dinner we watched a local Hong Kong performance that was excellent. I had expected something rather hillbilly but it was outstanding. A girl played a stringed instrument that had a beautiful sound and she was accompanied by a pianist for some of the tunes. The dragon dance was spectacular and brilliantly done and the final dance was called “changing faces” and the dancer changed his masks innumerable times during the performance without us seeing him do it! All we saw were the new masks. It was an amazing performance.

We were sound asleep when the ship left HK at 1am on Monday morning and we are now heading for Vietnam.

VIETNAM - THAILAND

This blog has been a long time in coming as I haven’t had time to write anything the last few days. However, they have been having trouble shoreside with the satellite connection and we had no internet connection at all for a week or more so the previous blog has only just been posted.

We had a great time in Vietnam. Chan May was our first port of call and we took a 9-hour tour to the nearby city of Da Nang and south to Hoi An, passing China Beach and the remains of the American war bases on the way. Da Nang is the fourth largest city in Vietnam and we visited the museum there.

We drove along a beach that stretched for many miles, past elaborate graves and tombstones, painted in fading bright colours that we were told are going to be removed to make way for five 5-star resorts. It will be a great shame to lose all the old tombstones and, as there is an existing resort further along the beach, set well back from the road, I am sure they could build the resorts beyond the cemetery.

Hoi An is an ancient town where no cars or trucks are allowed. Motor bikes are also banned on three days a week and there are thousands of bicycles everywhere. They ride very close to people and when Barry took a small step sideways he collided with one and had his camera knocked out of his hand. It crashed to the ground but luckily survived intact.

We were taken to a private house and into a small museum displaying ancient implements and customs, and early costumes. We walked through the market before being driven out of town for a delicious buffet lunch of local dishes at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the river. Later we were driven back into town and shown traditional weaving and embroidery. We went to a temple where there are conical lanterns of incense that people write wishes on and hang from the ceiling. They take about a month to burn away. On the way back to the ship we stopped at Marble Mountain and were taken to the marble works where we watched men chiselling and carving the marble and girls polishing the beautiful statues.

We passed rice paddies, water buffalo and many fishing boats on the water. Back in Da Nang we saw cruise ships in port but the Queen Victoria is too big to berth there and we had to dock a long way out, about half an hour’s drive away.

Ho Chi Minh City - or Saigon as they call it there - was a typical city, very dirty and very noisy with horns constantly blasted by everything on the road. There are thousands of motor bikes and vehicles drive on both sides of the road - wherever they can find a space - so it is really chaotic and you have to be extra careful when crossing the road. You have to be brave and just walk out - the bikes will avoid you if you keep a constant pace! We saw some amazing craft work, had several stops at various sights around the city and were given a delicious buffet lunch of local food at a 5-star hotel. While we were eating, the locals put on a music and dancing show for us. We were expecting a 9-hour tour but it lasted for 10 ½ hours and it was a busy, tiring day.
Our bus returned to the ship just before 6 pm and as there wasn’t time to shower and get to the restaurant in time for dinner we ate in the Lido buffet that night. During dinner the Captain apologised for interrupting our evening and announced that a rope had become fouled round a propeller and our departure would be delayed. They had to bring in divers to disentangle the rope and we were several hours late leaving. We soon made up the time, doing almost 29 knots, our fastest speed so far.

Two days later we were in Thailand at the port of Laem Chabang, a 2-hour drive south of Bangkok. Voravit and Sutarat came to meet us off the ship and it was great to see them again. They drove us to Pattaya, a very busy touristy area with a magnificent beach, and statues of children all along the promenade, and up to a hilltop to a lovely hotel for lunch. We walked round the grounds that overlook one end of the beach but ate lunch in the cool of the building. Sutarat and I had fresh coconut milk to drink - a whole coconut each with the tops almost cut off, to make lids and when we had finished the drink, we scooped out the flesh (on very young coconuts it is soft) to eat - very cooling when eating hot food! Barry and I had Thai chicken and cashews (with mushrooms and chilli) and also pork and basil leaves with green peppers that was very hot. The peppers were sprigs of green peppercorns and we found the meat on its own was not as hot as the sauce. Voravit and Sutarat ate western food for a change!

On leaving the hotel, the guard told Voravit he had a puncture in a front tyre so Barry and Voravit changed the tyre before we drove back to the ship. We appreciate their driving all that way to see us and hope it won’t be too long before we see them again. That evening local Thai people put on a presentation of local dancing in the theatre.

The following day we reached Koh Samui (or Samui as the locals call it) and went on a tour around the delightful island. We had to anchor offshore and go ashore in tenders. The beaches are beautiful and it is where Vararat goes diving. She has her licence to 30m. We went to the Big Buddha Temple, to an elephant camp and to a coconut plantation where we watched monkeys climbing palm trees and throwing down the coconuts. A local took a fresh coconut, stripped off the outer shell and husk, split it open on a spike and then sat on a block shaped like an anvil and grated it on a serrated blade at the end. He then handed round the coconut for us to eat - yum! Back at the docks, there were many colourful fishing boats and boxes and boxes of fish in ice. It was very hot and we did not walk back into the local town.

The day we were in Samui was Palm Sunday and they held an early, short interdenominational service in the theatre. At the last service there were about 300 people there but as people were going on tours, there were only a few people there and the service was taken by a priest as the Captain was busy with port duties. We were each given a palm cross (embedded in an embossed card with a “maiden voyage” commemoration on it) and sang one hymn without accompaniment. Luckily the priest had a strong voice and although the hymn books contained the music, the last few bars were so low I could not sing them. It was a very short service and finished well before our tour started. We were taken in tenders to the shore and came back in a local ferry boat.

We are continuing to have good theatre performances every night and one night we had a great Victoriana show and were all given Union Jacks to wave during the “Last Night of the Proms” finale and red, white and blue streamers to throw at the end.

This is necessarily brief as we have a busy few days coming up. Barry will post it when he can. Photos are more difficult with the satellite connection and they may have to wait until we are back on land.

SINGAPORE - PENANG

Although we have been to Singapore many times before, we took a short tour in the morning. It is amazing how much construction work is going on all over the place. The skyline is a mass of cranes and there are plans for many more hotels, casinos and other buildings over the next few years. We were given our passports back to take ashore with us but had to hand them in again on re-boarding.

Singapore is the busiest port in the world. Because of the size of the Queen Victoria, we were in the container terminal once again and it is enormous. There are acres and acres of containers piled high. We have seen so many in every port and wonder what is in them all. Many, many boats were travelling in and out of the port non-stop all day. The port is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and is the hub for worldwide shipping. Everyone re-stocks with fuel, water, food and provisions here and even other Asian nations use Singapore as a base for import and export.

Eight hundred passengers disembarked in Singapore and that afternoon there were many people wandering around the ship open-mouthed and looking lost. From Sydney to Singapore there were more Australians on board than any other nationality. Now there are mostly British people. When we returned from our tour of Singapore, there was a very long queue waiting to go up the gangplank - new passengers as well as transit passengers. Just as we reached the crew gangway, an officer said anyone in transit could go up that one, so we did and were back on board in no time, without having our bags x-rayed. Every time we board or leave the ship, we have to have our hand luggage x-rayed and key cards scanned. We would have liked to invite Voravit and Sutarat on board for lunch but no visitors are allowed these days.

The following day we berthed in Port Kelang, a 1 ½ hour drive from Kuala Lumpur. After only twenty minutes on the bus I was feeling sick, so closed my eyes and promptly fell asleep. The next thing I knew we were in Kuala Lumpur which has many parks and green areas.

Our first stop was the Royal Palace that was swarming with security. A new Parliament (they use the British system here) was being sworn in that day and there were Police everywhere and many cars driving in the new politicians. We saw the horses that were on guard being changed and one of them gave a passing car a hefty kick!

We were driven through the beautiful Botanic Gardens where there is a Butterfly Park and an enormous Bird Park which is covered with netting so that the birds can fly free. A whole day is needed to explore the area properly.

After that we went to the National Mosque (but were not allowed inside) across the road from the Old Railway Station. We had been to the station when we travelled by train a few years ago and walked around the park near the mosque. After being taken to several other prominent buildings, we went to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel (as we did in Singapore) where we were given delicious drinks that tasted like rambutan. They also provided nibbles for us. As we returned to the ship at 2pm, it was good to have something to eat. Barry and I walked around the adjacent gardens overlooking a lake and photographed the nearby Petronas Towers.

Kuala Lumpur is a very clean city and there is plenty of construction work in progress. It has a population of 1.8 million and there are 28 million in the whole of Malaysia that consists of thirteen states.

Returning to the ship we were taken through the town of Kelang where the traffic was very busy. It was an interesting tour but a long way to go to get there.

Penang was our next stop and we anchored in the channel between Penang and Butterworth on the mainland. It was only a short ride by tender to the shore and we went on the Grand Penang Tour, expecting to see a good part of the island as we had been to Georgetown before. However, the tour should have been named Georgetown and Surrounds as we spend most of our time in the town. We were taken to the enormous Temple of Paradise high on a hill out of town that was very interesting, and later to the Reclining Buddha Temple and the Burmese Temple opposite.

Feeling templed out we were ready to see something of the countryside but, no, we were taken to a modern shopping centre - another Chadstone or Southland, with The Body Shop, Giordano, Elle, Levi’s, Guess, Riverland etc etc, oh dear - and left there for one and a half hours. Barry and I walked across the road and along the promenade. The tide was in and there was rubbish in amongst the rocks against the wall. Overall Malaysia is very clean with little rubbish but there was certainly some in places. When the tide is out apparently that is not a proper beach but mud flats. We then found a coffee shop to sit in in the cool while waiting for the time to pass. We had expected a local market somewhere on the island.

However, after that we were driven out of town to a beach on the north of the island for a delicious buffet lunch of local food at the Parkroyal 5-star hotel. Beautifully dressed girls and men put on an excellent show for us and after lunch Barry and I walked onto the beach and then lay on the hotel sunbeds for a while. People were paragliding and swimming and it was very relaxing lying in the shade on the lawns.

We were then driven to a Butterfly Farm where we were surrounded by hundreds of beautiful butterflies that landed on us and our cameras. There were also masses of scorpions and fish ponds, all in all an interesting place.

Then it was time to head back to the ship along the rocky coastline and past sandy bays. We were running late and the driver was driving very fast so it was difficult to take photos as everything flashed past the windows. The last tender had been due to return to the ship at 4pm but it was after that when we reached the docks. We were the first of seven buses on our tour but we knew the ship would wait for us - unlike being late if travelling on your own.

A comedian entertained us after dinner - quite funny but we had heard many of the jokes before. He asked a passenger to join him on stage and he was a young man who has his own business so could give as good as he got! To save face, the comedian then asked for the spotlight to be shone on the boxes opposite us and after chatting to the people there, said he wanted to see someone younger. The lights were shone on the box next to ours and then he said, “No, they’re too old, how about the next one” and so we had the spotlight shone on us and had to wave to everyone!

The following day was a day at sea and it was good to relax after visiting three ports in three days. There were hot cross buns for breakfast and displayed in the Grand Lobby were an enormous Easter egg and dozens of smaller ones with Happy Easter piped on them in many different languages, Easter bunnies and other models, all made by the chefs on board.

The seas have been calm all the way so far, sometimes with not a ripple. Even the Bay of Bengal was calm with depths there of 3,500 metres.

INDIA

After leaving Penang, we crossed the Bay of Bengal and arrived in Chennai (Madras) on Easter Sunday. They had a service on board early that morning before we all went on tour. To start with there were not enough tour buses and it was bedlam for a while. The Queen Victoria is the largest ship to visit Madras and they have never had so many visitors there at any one time and were struggling to cope with the numbers.

We were driven around Madras and it was quite chaotic. Madras is the fourth largest city in India and we were driven along the very wide 13km beach - the second longest city beach in the world after Rio. The tsunami came in there and 90 people lost their lives. We saw many buildings still suffering water damage. We couldn‘t see the water but there were hundreds of fishing boats along the shore and people selling fish at stalls along the roadside.

It was raining slightly and our first stop was at a Hindu Temple. We had to pay our guide $US1 to take photographs inside but when she didn’t have change we didn’t buy a ticket and were glad we didn’t as there was nothing there to photograph. We had to remove our shoes before entering and because of the rain it was wet and muddy and we were given plastic bags to tie over our feet. It was utter chaos inside, just an empty space with people pushing and shouting - not a haven of peace as we had expected. After that we walked around the local market before visiting the St Thomas Cathedral Basilica, the only cathedral, other than St Peter’s in Rome, where an original apostle is buried, and it was beautifully decorated for Easter Sunday. They were singing a hymn we had sung that morning, and I joined in as we were taken through.

We were taken to Fort St George that was built in the seventeenth century by the British East India Company and found it very interesting. The museum contains many bronzes, mainly of Shiva, dating back to the third century. There was an art gallery with a huge statue of Lord Cornwallis and massive paintings of our early (and more recent) kings and queens.

People were playing cricket on every available piece of land and there were several games in progress around where our bus was parked ready for our drive back to the ship. Some of them offered me a bat and it might have been fun to join in if we had been on our own, but we had to get back on the bus and go. One of our dinner companions told me that would not have been an appropriate activity for a grandmother!!

Before reaching India we went to several lectures by Dr Rami Seth MBE, an Indian who has practised medicine in England for over 40 years. He was very informative on all aspects of India and general life there. Later he gave a talk on how to be a patient. He has had two major operations and said life in hospital is very different when seen from the other side. He told some wonderful jokes and was very entertaining.

When I went for an early morning walk the day after we left Madras, the deck I normally go out onto was closed and I had to climb the last staircase inside. The decks were black and the deck crews were washing and scrubbing. I asked the Assistant Bosun what it was and he said when coal (from Thailand - we saw large piles of it in Cochin as well) was unloaded the dust landed on the ship and the deck crew had been up all night washing down. He said it would take them at least three days to clean it up properly and they were working on the most used parts of the decks first.

After leaving Madras we circled Sri Lanka in the main shipping channel, passing close to many other ships. In the Arabian Sea we passed within 70 miles of Colombo where the depth of water was 3,000 metres. We were sorry not to go to Colombo as on the original itinerary but Cochin in India was a worthy substitute. It has a population of 1.3 million and we visited the old town where there are many elegant houses that were built by the British. We were taken to see the Chinese fishing nets that are all along one of the beaches and fascinating to watch. Enormous nets on horizontal frames are lowered by pulleys into the water and constantly pulled up again. Incoming tides provide many fish but sometimes they catch nothing. The nets are pulled up about three hundred times every day and catches are sold along the shore.

We walked to the nearby St Francis Church that was originally built in 1503 and renovated in 1779. There are large fans, lengths of cloth attached to beams that run the length of each side of the church, that were pulled backwards and forwards by ropes from outside the windows, providing a gentle breeze for the congregation.

We visited the Dutch Palace which has wonderful frescoes on all the internal walls and spent some time walking through the Jewish Quarter to the Synagogue. There were once eight Synagogues but now there is only one and there are only thirteen Jews still living in Cochin, and only three of them are under seventy.

The shops were wonderful, containing some magnificent antiques and all sorts of beautiful cloth, spices, perfumes, lanterns and any number of different artefacts. We felt the Pashmina wool and it is so soft it hardly feels as though you are touching anything. It is shorn from under the chin of the sheep only in summer, so is a very rare wool and the term pashmina for all shawls is a misnomer. We were shown many grades of pashmina shawls, some with silk added for strength and others mixed with Kashmir wool which on its own is quite coarse (although we were told differently in Bombay!). We saw any number of varpus, circular bronze containers on short curved legs that are used for cooking. They varied in size from just a few inches across to one that was nearly the width of the shop - more than ten feet wide - that had water lilies floating in it. Nowadays they often have glass put on top and are used as coffee tables. We watched saris being woven and found postcards for half the price we had paid at the beach. Our guide was Christian, the driver was Muslim and the young helper was Hindu, all working peaceably together.

Travelling north to Mumbai (Bombay) the depth of water was only 50 metres, quite a contrast from further south.

Two days after leaving Cochin we reached Bombay, the financial capital of India, with a population of 16 million. We docked close to the city and were surrounded by many boats and aircraft carriers, including the former British aircraft carrier Hermes. We had requested a morning tour but were given the afternoon one that didn’t leave until 3pm. We ate an early breakfast before collecting our passports, passing through Customs (we had to be sighted along with our passports) where our Landing Cards were stamped - on shiny paper that instantly smudged! - and handing back our passports. Then we were free to go ashore and did so at 8.30am.

We had a red carpet to walk ashore on and beautiful Indian girls gave us each a fresh red rosebud with a lovely perfume. Inside the terminal building a small quartet sat on the floor and played various instruments. There were also several stalls there selling handicrafts.

The taxis lined up closest to the ship would take only people who wanted a full day tour so we were relegated to a 1994 Fiat - but it had had a hard life and felt like a much older old bomb - with open windows for air conditioning. As our afternoon tour was to take in two of the markets, we asked the driver to take us to the Gateway to India that was only a couple of miles away and to the dhobi ghats and have us back at the ship by 11am.

Our driver had to pay the guard on the gate before we could leave the dock area and we had to bow to the Customs officer in order to get a smile and a wave through the gates. Then it was out into the melee! The traffic was chaotic and it’s a wonder there are not more accidents and more pedestrians killed. Drivers are quite reckless and pedestrians do not move out of the way at all. Horns are blasted all the time but it didn’t seem to be as noisy as Saigon.

The car felt completely unsafe, with the front tyres (as we noticed later) almost threadbare and pointing in different directions! Taking corners at speed was quite scary but I told myself he did this every day and tried to relax. I didn’t realise sitting down could be so exhausting and I am sure I had a few more grey hairs but the time we returned to the ship!

To start with Bobby was so excited he was turning around to talk to us and at one stage the car veered over the white line where there was traffic coming towards us. Completely unfazed, he eventually looked forward again and moved out of the way. We asked him to drive safely and concentrate on the road but in fact he was a very good driver. I have no idea how we escaped a collision with most things on the road and he squeezed into the tiniest of spaces. We charged through many red lights and at one set of lights he squeezed in against the gutter (they drive on the left here), at the front, ready to make a quick move when the lights turned green, but he wasn’t turning left or going straight on, he wanted to turn right!!! How the other cars, that had to brake hard, avoided us I’ll never know. When the lights turned green, Bobby stuck his hand out of the window and drove across the front of all six lanes of traffic to turn right!!!

We drove along Chowpatty Beach and later the driver stopped in the middle of an overpass so that we could take photographs overlooking the curve of the beach. If there was something interesting for us to see, he just stopped the car where it was in the traffic and told us to take photographs. On even the slightest of slopes the car was struggling to get up them. Bobby was a good guide, pointing out places of interest along the way. He took us to the Hanging Gardens where we had a view over the whole of Chowpatty Beach but we couldn’t see much through the smog!

Once again we were dropped off in the middle of the road when we reached the dhobi ghats where the communal laundry is done. The water they were washing in looked dark grey and filthy but there were rows and rows of pristine white clothes hanging out to dry. How the women

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