Still Day 1

Have arrived in Singapore and the flight was a little rough so much that Monica thought she was going to get sick at one stage. Apart from that the food and service was great. We have a 4 1/2 hour wait for our next flight to Helsinki which leaves here at 11.35pm so we are relaxing in the Qantas Lounge. Hope to get some sleep on the next flight.

Day 1 Brisbane 23 Aug 2016

Have checked in thru Business Class and we have found it great. It's a pity all air travel is not like this. We have had a change in flights since yesterday when we were told that we will be on a different aircraft which will go via Singapore instead of Hong Kong. Luckily we didn't have any plans to spend time in Honkers. We will still have some 6 hours to fill in the same as before and arriving in Helsinki only 35 minutes later than the previous schedule. We will meet Bill and Margaret there instead of H K. Expect to board in 45 minutes.

Still one day to go 22.8.16

Have just heard from our travel agent that we have been re scheduled and now fly later and via Singapore instead of Hong Kong. This means we won't meet up with our travel companions till we arrive in Helsinki instead of Hong Kong. However, this gives us the opportunity to access some more Changi Dollars maybe.

Europe River Cruise 2016

Well, we will start this from Day "0" with less than 24hours before our flight leaves. We are busy packing and repacking etc.

9th Day Akaroa

A pretty frustrating morning here at Akaroa. We thought we were doing the right thing by waiting till the tour groups had got off on the tenders and went down to get our tender ticket at 10 am and ended up sitting in the dining room waiting for well over an hour. They told us there had been a medical emergency which took out our use of at least one of the tenders so what could one do. luckily we weren't planning to meet anyone here today. By the time we arrived on land ( more than a 25minute ride) the small village was overrun by us and also the passengers from the Sun Princess which we only just beat into this lovely harbour by a whisker. Whilst the shops were overrun, I heard some say they weren't selling much. We wandered around, had a coffee, bought some stamps to send postcards to the kids and the men did their thing on the IPads etc and Eric found somewhere to put a bet on the Melbourne Cup ( to no avail) and then back to ship for a late lunch and a nap before dinner. The Showtime comedian, Simon Palamares was a bit weak. We listened to music in Wheelhouse Bar and had a cuppa at Horizons before bed about 11pm.

8th Day Wellington

Right, well here we are in the NZ capital and at first the wind was not too bad but whew! Did it change its mind around lunchtime. It was so strong that I nearly fell over a couple of times. Just as well we aren't still sporting beehive style hairdos. We docked around 8am when it was quite calm although last night the winds were around 150kph and it was thought we may not be able to dock a at all. We enjoyed Brekky while docking and then walked off at 9.30 for a 25min walk to city centre. We took the cable car $4 one way up the mount where we took photos, had a Capp and a look over the Tramway Museum. Then we took the walk down through the Botanical Gardens seeing lots of different sections and colours of foliage etc including some very pretty rhododendrons. One delicate one reminded me of coconut ice. The huge rose gardens are all in bud but very few flowers out yet - a bit disappointing. There also seemed to be fewer plants in the Begonia House and I was so looking forward to that. We continued on down to the city and eventually found a coffee shop with wifi where we had a bite to eat and got our emails and sent some too. The men then came back to ship and Bev and I looked in a few fashion stores - such lovely summer colours this year. Eventually we found our way back to the ship though it was quite a struggle in the wind. We went to High Tea (without Eric) for the first time and that was very pleasant. Maybe dinner will have to be light tonight!

7 th Day Napier

The ship arrived in Port at the planned time of midday and we were on the second shuttle bus for a 10 minute trip to the info centre in the centre of town where we met Lyn and Dennis.Lyn was there to seek us out and then gave us the option of staying in town for lunch or driving down to their place at the beach which was 50ks south or about 40mins each way. The beachside won out so off we went hurtling round the bends in the winding road on the more scenic route to Wairama(?) what a gorgeous drive there and then on a different route back. The mountains were lush right to the top - just some magic views everywhere. They live within about 50metres of the beach with huge picture windows overlooking same for an unimpeded view from kitchen and living areas..But wait, there's more - we then were treated to a delicious lunch of fresh crayfish caught out the front that morning! What more could you want? 

We caught up on what our families were doing etc and talked of the different trips we have done. Lyn loves gardening and has a great display of flowers and shrubs and also a healthy veggie plot. Her own house suffered a severe flood in 2011 with up to a metre of water through so they have had to do a lot of work there inside and out too. 

Back to ship by 4.30 and then no time till it was dinner gong and off we went again. We decided we wouldn't go to Showtime at 8 so just sat in Wheelhouse bar and listened to music for a while. Then we thought maybe we would go to the late session at 10pm so asked how the show was and got differing views so went anyway and it was pretty good - Danny McMaster and Grant Galea with impressions and singing. The first show has become a bit of a problem with not enough seats with queues getting longer and people standing for too long. With a ship load of 2000 and 700 seats in theatre, they really need a third show each night and they did for the first 3 days.

Off to bed around 11pm - no late cuppa tonight.