Breakfast with yet more new faces showed us how small a world it really is when one of the Aussies works for a firm with connections in Hull. We decided it was time for a bit of culture so we went to a lecture given by Dr. Edward Bernard Glick who spoke about the relationship between Australia & America:The American rebellion against Great Britain linked the histories of the USA and Australia. It was very interesting and the 82 year old – today was his birthday – got the loudest clap when he denounced political correctness. Having never been to a lecture at sea I was a little worried we might be the only ones, but we needn't have worried because around 200 people turned up to hear him.
We then decided to enjoy a bit of sun bathing but it was not to be as we ran into a squall and had to run for cover, a pattern which has been repeated at times during the day. I'll try and explain how the squall arrives; imagine standing on the starboard (right) side of the ship staring straight ahead and it's clear and bright, you then look to your right which is to the rear of the ship and its clear and bright, you then look to your left to the front of the ship and obviously the way you are heading and what you see approaching is a grey coloured curtain which extends from the sky to the water but with its edges visible and then the rain starts and it absolutely lashes down until we've passed through the curtain and everything goes back to normal. Because we are sailing in the Coral Sea, home of the Great Barrier Reef and a myriad of islands, the Captain has explained that it is too shallow for him to try and manoeuvre the ship around any squalls so we just do what everyone else does at this time, find somewhere sheltered and relax.
After lunch we continued in similar fashion, ie me reading and Stephan sleeping (it's a hard life) before he woke up and decided to go to the gym. When he returned it was time for afternoon tea – you can see a real pattern forming here can't you? The ship is now rounding Cape York which is the northern-most point of Australia, and we are now crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria.
The 6 of us, that is Faye & John, Chris & Dave and ourselves decided to give the main dining room a miss and we went to the Horizon Court which is buffet style. Princess is one of the few cruise lines that allows people to bring wine on board but obviously if you take it to the dining room you have to pay corkage so Stephan smuggled into the Horizon restaurant a bottle of our own wine and somehow we managed to drink the whole bottle without anyone seeing us. We felt like naughty schoolchildren which, of course, made the wine taste even better. After we had eaten the men went off to the casino to watch a poker tournament and we women retired to our own cabins. It's been a long day with lots of eating and drinking which is very exhausting!!!
Ho hum, another day, another round of eating, another round of sleeping. Interspersed with this hive of activity was a bit of sun bathing, watching a musical revue (very enjoyable) and also watching the England vs Italy rugby match. This was shown on the MoviesUnderTheStars screen, but unfortunately it started to rain so we went into one of the many lounges to watch. We have now been on the ship 5 days and we are still finding new places to explore. I still get lost and will only have learnt my way around by the time we are due to disembark. Prior to sailing I had done a fair amount of research on the ship and cruise line and the one constant was whether the coffee is drinkable or not. Apparently the ordinary coffee that is offered at meal times or at various points round the ship all day is a syrup based coffee. I'm not sure what this really means as to me the word syrup conjures up Camp Coffee but I am told it isn't. Anyway, is it drinkable – a short answer is 'just about'. You can get freshly brewed coffee, lattes, etc but, in common with most cruise lines, you have to pay for it.
After dinner we headed for the Explorer's Lounge where 3 of the guest entertainers where giving a final show before they left the ship and new entertainers came on board. When they had finished we decided to retire a little early as we are onshore tomorrow and felt we needed a good night's sleep.
HOPEFULLY WE WILL BE ABLE TO BRING OUR BLOG UP TO DATE IN DARWIN. ASSUMING THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS YOU WILL BE ABLE TO READ ABOUT OUR ADVENTURES SO FAR. AFTER DARWIN WE HAVE A FULL DAY'S EXCURSION IN BALI SO I DON'T THINK WE WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO POST ANYTHING THEN, SO IT COULD BE A WEEK BEFORE ANYTHING NEW APPEARS. PLEASE BEAR WITH US AND I HOPE YOU ENJOY WHAT YOU ARE READING.
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