(Monday) January 29th:
We’ve stayed as long as we possibly can, but it’s time to pack up and leave Oz. After shipping far too many suitcases and boxes, we are ready to go! Besides, The Donnelly’s want their house back :)
Another big thank you to The Smith Family for hosting a fantastic going away/welcome home party for The Fetter and Donnelly Families. Great to finally meet Ryan and Tammy and their kids.
Good bye Aussie friends and all the best in 2015!
Love Suzie and Wayne, Noah and Ellise.
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| Ben, Sandra, Ryan, Kira, Josh, Marie, Wayne I, Tammy, Wesley, Jenny, Wayne II, and Suzie |
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| The Donnelly's and Fetter's finally meet! |
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| Why did we bother to clean the house?? |
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| It was like Mount Suitcase-vious erupted. So funny! |
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Ellise and Imogen's final jump together :(
They spent the whole year together on the two trampolines! |
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| I hope their dreams of travelling the world together one day come true! |
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This is a repeat of the first photo taken, by Marie, when we arrived in Australia (Jan. 2014).
Except here we are bronzed by sun and the kids are 3 and 4 inches taller! |
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Ben preparing the lobsters (crays) for tonight feast.
He had just caught them that morning! |
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| Ryan pitching in too. |
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Suzie with Sandra and Ben's 3 week old baby boy, David.
Ben and Marie in background. |
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Wayne does not kid around when barbecuing; he usually has at least 5 different kinds of meat
filling the whole grill when it's a family party! |
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| Wayne with David Smith |
(Tuesday) Jan. 30th:
Had a great time exploring Sydney last night. Couldn’t believe it was a Tuesday. Crowds everywhere. Lots of new year’s eve prep going on. We walked Circular Quay and Darling Harbour. Enjoyed an Aussie dinner of meat pies, Hungry Jacks, and then an adult feast in China Town!
Boarding the Pacific Pearl Cruise Ship today was smooth sailing (ha, ha, ha). We were exploring the ship and enjoying lunch in no time. Let the eating begin!
Signed Noah and Ellise up for the “kids club” and off they went! Lots for all of us to do; movies, lounging, island excursions, shows, treasure hunts, pools, restaurants, ... should be fun. Now I just have to decide if I should start popping the Gravol or fight the drunken-sideways-walking feeling. Maybe I should just start into the rum now?!?
(Wednesday) Jan. 31st
All settled into our cabin; got lucky as it’s much bigger than I was expecting. It has a tiny sitting area and a desk, a bathroom that almost fits two, and it even has a window as big as my bedroom window at home!
Gravol Update: none taken yet. I think I might make it through this cruise after all AND feel okay. Fingers still crossed!
(Thursday) Jan. 1st Happy New Year!!
Second day out to sea traveling to New Caledonia. We are amazed; no ships, no land, nothing. Just the colour blue everywhere we looked and some wispy clouds. The wind picks up in the afternoon and the waves grow, but this giant floating hotel just plows right through without even swaying much. Thankfully! And I love sleeping on a moving ship; I normally sleep in a car far too easily, so this gentle rocking and a little motor vibration is meant for me and my dream time! Our family keeps sleeping in until 8 or 9am (very rare for us).
My favorite thing to do is swim in the pool. It’s just like a wave pool; but it’s just the ships’ movement making the water slosh back and forth. It’s more like swimming in the ocean, as even treading water is tiring. But it’s fun.
We’ve discovered our favourite restaurant on board, called Waterfront. It's fantastic! But the kids still like the buffet (no surprise there). So tonight we all decided the kids will eat and go to the kids club for the night and we’ll all meet for the circus show in the ships’ 3 storey open night club area. So off go the adults for a quiet dinner for two. Nope! Turns out that if you make a reservation for 2, they put you at a table for 6 and you mingle. Worked out fine. Actually every time we sit down anywhere on the ship we meet new people and have a chat. Almost all are from the east coast of Australia. Funnies thing, people have so many questions for us when we tell them we’re from Canada, and we started travelling in December of 2013!
Highlight for me: no longer feeling hung over. I have even grown used to the gentle swaying back and forth and it doesn’t bother me at all. Ahhhh.... what a nice change. (no sea sick feelings at all).
(Friday) Jan. 2nd
Port Day #1: Noumea, New Caledonia
The “Mary D” Excursions Company and all their boats, staff, and chefs took very good care of us!
(Saturday) January 3rd: Mystery Island, Vanuatu
For some unknown reason our ship has changed ports. I think the captain announced something about the port authority being finicky and sometimes denying access for no apparent reason? So they’ve struck a deal to stop at “Mystery Island”. Yes, it’s really a place. The Americans built a runway on a tiny island right off shore of Vanuatu during WWII and to this day, there are no residents on the island. But when a cruise ship is in the area, the people of Vanuatu bring over drinks and souvenirs by the boat load to sell at their little beach huts. We lucked out, because this island is usually an expensive excursion that passengers could take a boat to from the town of Vila, Vanuatu. But since our cruise ship dropped anchor right beside it, we all got a ride over for free.
Plus, the coolest thing happened: our “tender” (or ride to the island) was on the emergency life boats! I didn’t think they ever got used. Good to know they work, I guess? A very cool system though; huge cranes drop them to the water (down about 5 floors) and then a section of the main boat flipped down and became a plank. They opened a door at water level (a bit scary really) and we walked right out onto the lifeboat!
Once back on board we headed to lunch. More lazing around today including reading on deck, games, afternoon naps, a visit to the fitness center, a nice dinner and then an outdoor movie under the stars on the top deck. What a great day!
High light of the day: Waking up to the sound of the engines slowing down, so I knew we were at Vanuatu. For all you mom’s reading this who have a kid who played with Lego Bionicals, you can relate to me here. The hours spent reading about the special aliens from the far away island of Vanuatu, .... and now I’m really here! Kinda’ cool.
Oh, and playing Wild Wild West on the life boat on our way to Mystery Island. I love the way my family can have so much fun just passing time together. I can really see how all this travel has brought us together as a family. Nice to see. :)
(Sunday) January 4th: Vila, Vanuatu
Early breakfast at our favourite restaurant on board (Waterfront) and then off to Vila, Vanuatu for, are you ready for this, a helicopter ride over the island!!
How cool is that. We have always wanted to fly in a chopper. Especially for me, since that day at work about 8 months ago when the Pre Primary kids all got to climb in the helicopter that landed on the oval at Mater Christi Primary School. I wanted to ditch my Year 3 Sport Class and run over to the PP’s incursion and join in! So tomorrow is ‘gonna be fun :)
It was fun. Even though it sprinkled rain, the views were awesome! So cool to ride right over the cruise ship and then see the island from the air. It was shakier than I expected, but Ben the pilot assured me it was safe. We loved it. Short, but super cool.
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| Here's our ride! |
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| Super cool. Wayne was in the front seat beside the pilot. |
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| Here we go! |
Great views from every window!
Afterwards we walked around the outdoor market and bought some trinkets, then went into some shops. We even found Noah a Vanuatu patch. But our main purchase, go figure, was a box of chocolates in the duty free store. After we ate half of them waiting for our bus ride back to the ship, we read that they were not supposed to be opened. Oops. They only lasted one day! And it didn’t matter that we opened them after all.
The day ended lazily; reading and swimming in the pool. Dinner at Waterfront. A magic show and early to bed. I am still sleeping great on this giant hammock rocking me to sleep each night.
(Monday) January 5th: Champagne Bay, Vanuatu
Great to have a slow morning. Wayne and I exercised on the top deck, then weights in the fitness room (down on deck 2 in the bowels of the ship!). A beautiful breakkie in the Waterfront restaurant and then into the “tender” (a.k.a. the life boat) to catch a ride to Champagne Bay. It truly was beautiful. Our pictures do not capture how magic the white sand and aquamarine blue the water is. But trust me, it’s sensational. No wonder they used this beach to film Survivor Vanuatu! Even the lush jungle surrounding the beach is so green and dense... we felt legitimately "off the map".
The rest of the day was heavenly. We had a light lunch (ha, ha, ha- you should see my kids eat) and then the kids took off to play while we read and slept in the big clam shell lounger. It was dreamy. If I get one of those round wicker couches in my back yard, no one will see me all summer! Another fantastic dinner at Waterfront, although I officially ate too much and gave myself a tummy ache. I ask you, who can resist lasagna and baklava? Of course, that was after a bacon and potato quiche appetizer and then a mango salad... I did a ‘Melissa Ion at the farm’ that night. Whoops! Any guesses Amyot’s?
And to end the day... a luau/beach party on the top deck with the Canadian band, Hit Parade. Ellise gave in and went back to sleep, along with Noah. So Wayne and I went back up to dance floor under a full moon and enjoyed the hot breeze. Magic!
(Tuesday) January 6th: L’Espirito Santo, Vanuatu
Another relaxing morning. The adults finally made it to the “7am stretch class” which was followed by a core workout. Oh my, even my Ironman was struggling to finish. Off to breakkie and the
adults walked into Santo; the rain stopped literally as we stepped off the plank and out came the blazing sun! Funny thing, all the shops were the exact same, really not a shopping destination for us.
Mission accomplished for one thing here - found an internet cafe and sent some emails. And even called my dad! Then it was back to the ship to swim (cool off), eat, and nap. Such a boring life (just kidding). We loved being so spoiled!
(Wednesday) January 7th to (Saturday) January 10th
3 whole days at sea to travel from northern Vanuatu back south-west into Sydney again. Perfect timing; it gets tiring going into port so many days in a row. But having a great rest before some very busy exploring days coming up in Sydney was perfect. We slept in a lot. Most mornings the adults would get some exercise; Mr Ironman was fine, but the rest of us almost couldn't button up our pants! Then breakfast. Ellise almost didn't get a chance to try the Waterfront Restaurant for breakfast since she couldn't get out of bed! Then the kids would head off to the kids club to play games and Wayne and I would go read somewhere depending how hot the sun was (shade was tough to find, but necessary). After lunch we'd fall into another coma-like nap. Imagine reliving Thanksgiving dinner over and over again; big feast, full belly, now add in very hot temps and trying to read in a lounge chair.... night, night. What a tough life. And by now we knew all our friends had gone back to school and work... we were indulging in everything!
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| I ask you: Who doesn't like a swim up bar?? |
Time to head back into Sydney. It was well worth getting up at 6:30am to enjoy one of my all time favourite ports! Especially just after sunrise :)
