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Day 3 – Tuesday 30 October
I woke early to run the scheduled 7am tai chi class on the Dome Room and had about 25 people attend. It was good fun and made some more acquaintances among the passengers. Natalie joined Frances and I for the stretch class. We then had breakfast on deck which was starting to warm up as we sailed further north, but I gave the "Walk a Mile" a miss.
The Tai Chi class scheduled for 10am in the daily program, but the program director had double-booked the Dome Room so we had to do it on the top deck, outdoors in blazing sun! I found a section with some shade for the approximately 15 participants, but I was standing out in the sun, fortunately with a hat. Frances and Natalie attended the 2nd talk by John Hocknull which was held at the same time. In the afternoon, after lunch in the Waterfront where we met Paul and his wife from Adelaide, we all attended the 3rd talk by John Hocknull about his time as a patrol officer in PNG during the 70s.
Feeling tired we all adjourned to our rooms for an afternoon rest before our 8pm dinner slot at the Waterfront.
Because of the late start, we now have and additional sailing day and Rabaul in New Britain has been dropped from the itinerary which is pretty disappointing.
In the late afternoon, Frances and Natalie found a relatively quiet area at the rear of the boat and reclined on banana lounges while sampling the cocktails.
Tonight, Frances went to a John Denver show which she really enjoyed, I was busy elsewhere, I think picking fluff of my jumper or something. We had a late dinner, but it was quite relaxing, especially accompanied by a bottle of De Bortoli Prosecco which was quite drinkable.
Day 4 – Wednesday 30 October
We’re all a little expectant now of landing in PNG after spending a little too long sailing.
However, I ran a Tai Chi class at 7am again which started with about 8 people, but ended with about 12.
After a relatively quick breakfast, I ran another class scheduled for 9am which had about 30 people. The space was a little cramped, so the focus was more on Qigong rather than Tai Chi, but went quite well.
I’ve realised a couple of things though. Firstly about 45 minutes is long enough for people who haven't done Tai Chi before, and secondly, it's wise to remove most of the movements requiring standing on one leg.
We had lunch in the Pantry, then a quiet afternoon, and around 6pm went to listen to "Guitar Melodies" with Jasper Malone.
He was fully decked out in Halloween make-up. He has made a selection of 'scary' songs which weren’t too bad and he was quite entertaining – or it may have been improved by the cocktails.
The "Halloween Night" was the first of 4 themed nights aboard ship, the others being a "Schoolies Night", "White Night", "Great Gatsby 20s Night".
Next we went to the Marquee Theatre for a show called the "Seven Deadly Sins" which consisted of the company singing and dancing to songs whose themes represented the sins.
The theatre was pretty packed (more than for the John Denver show) and the show was pretty good.
By now, around 8pm, we again went to the Waterfront restaurant for dinner, tired and hungry. The meals were pretty patchy though - the entrees mediocre and the mains could have been better. Frances had Grilled Ocean Trout which was exactly as described – a piece of grilled fish. Natalie had Beef Tips with chips – the beef was the most tender and flavoursome beef we ever tasted, but the chips were only warm and soggy.
I had Pork Chop with Apple Sauce accompanied by a Potato Mash and Stuffed Eggplant – forget about the chop which I did not eat, but the vegetable accompaniments were stunning. We all agreed that Beef Tips with Potato Mash and Stuffed Eggplant would have been a perfect meal.
Day 3 – Tuesday 30 October
I woke early to run the scheduled 7am tai chi class on the Dome Room and had about 25 people attend. It was good fun and made some more acquaintances among the passengers. Natalie joined Frances and I for the stretch class. We then had breakfast on deck which was starting to warm up as we sailed further north, but I gave the "Walk a Mile" a miss.
 |
| John Hocknull |
Feeling tired we all adjourned to our rooms for an afternoon rest before our 8pm dinner slot at the Waterfront.
 |
| Relaxing on the rear deck |
In the late afternoon, Frances and Natalie found a relatively quiet area at the rear of the boat and reclined on banana lounges while sampling the cocktails.
Tonight, Frances went to a John Denver show which she really enjoyed, I was busy elsewhere, I think picking fluff of my jumper or something. We had a late dinner, but it was quite relaxing, especially accompanied by a bottle of De Bortoli Prosecco which was quite drinkable.
Day 4 – Wednesday 30 October
We’re all a little expectant now of landing in PNG after spending a little too long sailing.However, I ran a Tai Chi class at 7am again which started with about 8 people, but ended with about 12.
After a relatively quick breakfast, I ran another class scheduled for 9am which had about 30 people. The space was a little cramped, so the focus was more on Qigong rather than Tai Chi, but went quite well.
I’ve realised a couple of things though. Firstly about 45 minutes is long enough for people who haven't done Tai Chi before, and secondly, it's wise to remove most of the movements requiring standing on one leg.
 |
| Jasper Malone |
We had lunch in the Pantry, then a quiet afternoon, and around 6pm went to listen to "Guitar Melodies" with Jasper Malone.
 |
| Ship's crew at the restaurant entrance |
The "Halloween Night" was the first of 4 themed nights aboard ship, the others being a "Schoolies Night", "White Night", "Great Gatsby 20s Night".
 |
| Still from"Seven Deadly Sins" with Digital screen background. |
 |
| Frances and a couple of friends |
The theatre was pretty packed (more than for the John Denver show) and the show was pretty good.
By now, around 8pm, we again went to the Waterfront restaurant for dinner, tired and hungry. The meals were pretty patchy though - the entrees mediocre and the mains could have been better. Frances had Grilled Ocean Trout which was exactly as described – a piece of grilled fish. Natalie had Beef Tips with chips – the beef was the most tender and flavoursome beef we ever tasted, but the chips were only warm and soggy.
I had Pork Chop with Apple Sauce accompanied by a Potato Mash and Stuffed Eggplant – forget about the chop which I did not eat, but the vegetable accompaniments were stunning. We all agreed that Beef Tips with Potato Mash and Stuffed Eggplant would have been a perfect meal.
