20 July 2018 was my last day at work - hopefully the stress levels will gradually reduce :-)
Only five weeks now until our trip to Cairns and Brisbane, and then another five weeks until we're off to Singapore for our cruise back to Sydney. Originally then it was going to be three months until the next cruise - Sydney to New Zealand and return in early February. However, we have just added another cruise in between - just a short cruise to Tasmania in December to celebrate my 60th.
We're also booked on a cruise from Shanghai back to Sydney in August next year, but Paul isn't really keen (because of the impact of pollution on his asthma) so we might swap over to another one. We're getting to the point where the idea of a long overseas flight to get to a cruise, and another long one back, doesn't appeal much. But, that still leaves plenty of options, so we'll just see what happens. We don't need to make a final decision about this cruise until early next year.
And, I'd like to see some of China, so Adam and I are thinking about doing a land tour there some time next year or the year after.
There's no way we can afford to maintain this level of travel, but for now I'm just looking forward to all of these trips!
Oh, and one final note - in my previous post I talked about trying out Pappa Rich in Canberra. I can report that it's just as good as the one in Wellington :-)
Wednesday, 25 July 2018
Sunday, 25 March 2018
What on earth happened?
I've just realised that is's almost four months since I posted anything about holidays.
The trip to New Zealand was enjoyable, although I was totally caught out by the weather. The forecast temperature for our time there was a lovely cool maximum of 21 or 22 but it actually went into the high twenties most days - in combination with the 'down by the sea' humidity, I found this to be quite uncomfortable.
However, Wellington is a lovely place. We got to see the Great War Exhibition at the War Memorial which was of course the main reason for the visit, and also a smaller exhibit they've got in place at Te Papa. Both were just excellent and I'm so glad we got to see them. We also did a tour based around the local Lord of the Rings movie filming locations and it was really well done.
While in Wellington we also discovered a restaurant chain which I would never have considered - it's Malaysian cuisine and I'd normally think this would be too spicy for me. But, they have all sorts of options for the level of 'hotness' and the dish I chose was really nice. The restaurant is called PappaRich, and there's one here in Canberra, so I think I'll give them another try. Or maybe even more than one :-)
The kitchen renovation I talked about in my last post is now complete - it went quite well and I'm very happy with the result. Unfortunately while we were in New Zealand I started to get a back twinge which turned into a nasty pain. So, for most of the kitchen renovation I was either lying on the floor in the lounge room, or staggering off to work and struggling through the day with a combination of lying on the floor there (!!) and pain killers. After a fair bit of physiotherapy it's now sort of under control, although I still have to do my exercises every day (and it's not really going to get better any other way - two disc bulges, one disc hernia, and arthritic degeneration in a few places). And, I no longer sit at a desk - both at home and at work I now use a stand-up desk. It's all quite tiring but being tired is better than being in pain.... This all means though that there has been very little work done on the upcoming holidays; I've booked a couple of hotel rooms and the flight to Singapore, but that's about all.
The direct flights between Wellington and Canberra seem to have been quite popular - both flights we took were totally booked out, and we ran into two separate people that we know while in Wellington. However, Singapore Airlines have decided otherwise and have now cancelled these flights. They have also cancelled the direct Singapore to Canberra flights - you now again have to travel via Sydney. There is still a direct Canberra to Singapore flight a few times a week, and we were going to fly to Singapore with them for the cruise. However, flying direct from Canberra does restrict your options if you need to be there on a particular day - for example, in order to catch a cruise! And, it's a long flight in economy with a bad back. So, we're actually going to go to Sydney and get a "Scoot" airlines business class flight to Singapore; it's probably not much fancier that most airlines premium economy but it actually isn't going to cost any more than the Singapore Airlines economy fare would have been, and my back will be a lot happier.
The trip to New Zealand was enjoyable, although I was totally caught out by the weather. The forecast temperature for our time there was a lovely cool maximum of 21 or 22 but it actually went into the high twenties most days - in combination with the 'down by the sea' humidity, I found this to be quite uncomfortable.
However, Wellington is a lovely place. We got to see the Great War Exhibition at the War Memorial which was of course the main reason for the visit, and also a smaller exhibit they've got in place at Te Papa. Both were just excellent and I'm so glad we got to see them. We also did a tour based around the local Lord of the Rings movie filming locations and it was really well done.
While in Wellington we also discovered a restaurant chain which I would never have considered - it's Malaysian cuisine and I'd normally think this would be too spicy for me. But, they have all sorts of options for the level of 'hotness' and the dish I chose was really nice. The restaurant is called PappaRich, and there's one here in Canberra, so I think I'll give them another try. Or maybe even more than one :-)
The kitchen renovation I talked about in my last post is now complete - it went quite well and I'm very happy with the result. Unfortunately while we were in New Zealand I started to get a back twinge which turned into a nasty pain. So, for most of the kitchen renovation I was either lying on the floor in the lounge room, or staggering off to work and struggling through the day with a combination of lying on the floor there (!!) and pain killers. After a fair bit of physiotherapy it's now sort of under control, although I still have to do my exercises every day (and it's not really going to get better any other way - two disc bulges, one disc hernia, and arthritic degeneration in a few places). And, I no longer sit at a desk - both at home and at work I now use a stand-up desk. It's all quite tiring but being tired is better than being in pain.... This all means though that there has been very little work done on the upcoming holidays; I've booked a couple of hotel rooms and the flight to Singapore, but that's about all.
The direct flights between Wellington and Canberra seem to have been quite popular - both flights we took were totally booked out, and we ran into two separate people that we know while in Wellington. However, Singapore Airlines have decided otherwise and have now cancelled these flights. They have also cancelled the direct Singapore to Canberra flights - you now again have to travel via Sydney. There is still a direct Canberra to Singapore flight a few times a week, and we were going to fly to Singapore with them for the cruise. However, flying direct from Canberra does restrict your options if you need to be there on a particular day - for example, in order to catch a cruise! And, it's a long flight in economy with a bad back. So, we're actually going to go to Sydney and get a "Scoot" airlines business class flight to Singapore; it's probably not much fancier that most airlines premium economy but it actually isn't going to cost any more than the Singapore Airlines economy fare would have been, and my back will be a lot happier.
Saturday, 9 December 2017
Tasmania Cruise - Day 6 (At Sea) & Day 7 (All over!)
Day 6 was one of our favourite sorts of cruise days - a full day of doing almost nothing!
So that this isn't the shortest blog entry ever - here's the view from our cabin:
We deliberately opted for this "obstructed view" because that's the sort of cabin we had booked on our (now abandoned) 38 day cruise from Southampton to Singapore - I wanted to be sure that I'd be ok with no balcony and not much view. Probably would have been ok, but I'd still prefer a balcony.
Anyway, there's not much else to report, just the usual sadness at the cruise ending.
Now, we've just got to survive a kitchen renovation and my retirement, and then hopefully next October there's another cruise on the way!
So that this isn't the shortest blog entry ever - here's the view from our cabin:
Anyway, there's not much else to report, just the usual sadness at the cruise ending.
Now, we've just got to survive a kitchen renovation and my retirement, and then hopefully next October there's another cruise on the way!
Tasmania Cruise - Day 5 - Hobart
Well, I'm finally catching up on the blog posts - almost a month after the event!
Second day in Hobart we hired a car and - as in Burnie - had no real plans about where to go.
First drama - getting out of the city. We decided to start with a trip to an "Apple and Heritage Museum", but we had an amazing amount of trouble getting out of the city in that direction. Many of the streets in the city are one-way, and the map app on my phone didn't know about all of them. And, at one point it told me to do a u-turn on a road that was effectively a free-way! We also ended up driving on a street that I'm pretty sure only allows bus and delivery traffic - oops.
However, we eventually found our way out of town.
The museum was a disappointment - I should have realised it would be once I saw that it was a 'site of interest' in the documents Princess prepares about their shore excursions. The description was the classic "come here on a shore excursion to spend money on food and souvenirs but don't really expect too much else", and it unfortunately lived up to that standard. However, we found a cafe in town and had a nice coffee while considering our next move
We had considered going to the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary and also to some wineries but in the end we decided against this. Instead, we decided to go up Mt Wellington. Unfortunately there was so much twisting and turning on the road that I managed to get carsick. But, when we got to the top, it was absolutely worth it - spectacular views in all directions.
Disappointing afternoon back on the ship though - for some reason they were doing work outside our cabin. Now, I understand that they are always needing to do minor maintenance, and I understand that sometimes this might involve multiple people bashing heavy hammers directly onto the metal hull just outside your cabin. What I'm not happy about is the fact that we weren't warned - usually when there's going to be noise they let you know, but not this time.
Paul astoundingly managed to nap through a couple of hours of this (with a pillow over his ears!) but I couldn't.
Second day in Hobart we hired a car and - as in Burnie - had no real plans about where to go.
First drama - getting out of the city. We decided to start with a trip to an "Apple and Heritage Museum", but we had an amazing amount of trouble getting out of the city in that direction. Many of the streets in the city are one-way, and the map app on my phone didn't know about all of them. And, at one point it told me to do a u-turn on a road that was effectively a free-way! We also ended up driving on a street that I'm pretty sure only allows bus and delivery traffic - oops.
However, we eventually found our way out of town.
The museum was a disappointment - I should have realised it would be once I saw that it was a 'site of interest' in the documents Princess prepares about their shore excursions. The description was the classic "come here on a shore excursion to spend money on food and souvenirs but don't really expect too much else", and it unfortunately lived up to that standard. However, we found a cafe in town and had a nice coffee while considering our next move
We had considered going to the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary and also to some wineries but in the end we decided against this. Instead, we decided to go up Mt Wellington. Unfortunately there was so much twisting and turning on the road that I managed to get carsick. But, when we got to the top, it was absolutely worth it - spectacular views in all directions.
This is the view of Hobart from Mt Wellington - the little white blob in the water is our cruise ship.
This is Paul on top of Mt Wellington
Fortunately, getting back into Hobart was nowhere near as dramatic as leaving. We managed to find a servo to stop up the petrol (therefore avoiding having to pay the outrageous prices Avis charge to top up) and had no one-way street trouble either.Disappointing afternoon back on the ship though - for some reason they were doing work outside our cabin. Now, I understand that they are always needing to do minor maintenance, and I understand that sometimes this might involve multiple people bashing heavy hammers directly onto the metal hull just outside your cabin. What I'm not happy about is the fact that we weren't warned - usually when there's going to be noise they let you know, but not this time.
Paul astoundingly managed to nap through a couple of hours of this (with a pillow over his ears!) but I couldn't.
Monday, 13 November 2017
Tasmania Cruise - Day 4 - Port Arthur and then Hobart
Two ports in one day today.
Overnight we sailed to Port Arthur. This is a tender port, and one we have visited before. So, we decided to stay onboard and have a lazy quiet time.
Once everyone was back on board, we sailed for Hobart at about 5pm and docked there around 7pm.
After dinner we had a shore excursion - a ghost walk. Interesting tour; we walked around some of the older streets near Salamanca Place, and the guide told us stories about various historical houses, obviously concentrating on ghost stories. I thought that they were going to include some pretend ghosts - I was quite sure that there was someone in the top middle window of this old hotel moving the black fabric around - but no-one said anything so maybe it was a ghost after all ......
The tour didn't go as long as advertised, and a few times she talked about 'showing us photos later' which didn't actually happen. However, it was an interesting walk and talk.
Overnight we sailed to Port Arthur. This is a tender port, and one we have visited before. So, we decided to stay onboard and have a lazy quiet time.
Once everyone was back on board, we sailed for Hobart at about 5pm and docked there around 7pm.
After dinner we had a shore excursion - a ghost walk. Interesting tour; we walked around some of the older streets near Salamanca Place, and the guide told us stories about various historical houses, obviously concentrating on ghost stories. I thought that they were going to include some pretend ghosts - I was quite sure that there was someone in the top middle window of this old hotel moving the black fabric around - but no-one said anything so maybe it was a ghost after all ......
The tour didn't go as long as advertised, and a few times she talked about 'showing us photos later' which didn't actually happen. However, it was an interesting walk and talk.
Tuesday, 7 November 2017
Tasmania cruise - day 3 - Burnie
We arranged a hire car with Hertz, picked it up with no real dramas. The plan was to have no plan, just get in the car and drive, which we did. We found a nice little town called Penguin and had a coffee there. Then, we went further along the coast to Devonport and had a look around the town.
Then, we got into the car and drove back to Burnie.
Doesn't sound too exciting but there was some lovely scenery and the weather was simply glorious
Tasmania was already on our list of 'places to see when we don't feel up to cruising any more' and today simply confirmed that decision.
Today also confirmed that there is apparently a total lack of supply of Travacalm in Australia at the moment. The pharmacies around home were totally out of stock - I asked at one and he said that the supplier is having problems and "everyone is going on cruises". And, for interest I checked out a pharmacy in Sydney and one here in Devonport with the same results - no Travacalm. I had enough to get me through this cruise, but I'm going to have to stock up somehow for next year's cruise!
Then, we got into the car and drove back to Burnie.
Doesn't sound too exciting but there was some lovely scenery and the weather was simply glorious
Tasmania was already on our list of 'places to see when we don't feel up to cruising any more' and today simply confirmed that decision.
Today also confirmed that there is apparently a total lack of supply of Travacalm in Australia at the moment. The pharmacies around home were totally out of stock - I asked at one and he said that the supplier is having problems and "everyone is going on cruises". And, for interest I checked out a pharmacy in Sydney and one here in Devonport with the same results - no Travacalm. I had enough to get me through this cruise, but I'm going to have to stock up somehow for next year's cruise!
Tasmania Cruise - day 2 - sea day
Classic, totally restful sea day for us. Biggest decision for the day was whether or not to risk trying to get into the dining room on 'formal night' in clothes that were 'business wear' at best. No problems, but still on our own at the dining table.
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