Departure day at Circular Quay in Sydney after a flight up from Melbourne. A real holiday atmosphere with all the ticker tape.
Way back in 1985 a mate ask if I would be interested in going on a South Pacific Cruise they needed one more to make up a cabin of 4. I said no thanks sounds too boring. The next few days at work I ask a few of my work colleges if anybody had very done a cruise ship holiday. They all raved about there experiences. So next chance I had I asked my friend Brett do you still need one more. Turned out all his other mates had pulled out for various reasons but he was going by himself regardless. So we were off to see his travel agent. Unfortunately to much time had passed and his cabin was filled with other random people and I was on a wait list.
Luckily space became available and I was going but my cabin was at the other end of the ship on a different level but we were on the same table for dinner. As all it worked out Dinner was pretty much the only time I saw my friend Brett, there was just so much going on this cruise.
Green Peace's Rainbow Warrior was docked next to the Fairstar, in front of the Harbor bridge. I had heard of the work it was trying to do and was shocked then it was dramatically sunk later in the year in. The Fairstar Bridge. My parents had Emigrated to Australia as 10 Pound Poms in the late 1950s and travelled out on an older ship called the Fairsky.Every night the food and service was great, something I had not experienced before.We were expected to dress up for dinner. They did a good job seating Brett and I with some with some single girls. We got to know all the people seated around us, trading stories of what we had got up to during the day.Lunch and breakfast was bad either.Duty free drinks while in international waters. My cabin mates.The cheaper cabin on D deck and our steward trying to unblock the drain.NoumeaI have not seen a Fosters beer for yearsA queue up to catch the barge back to the ship.Mystery Island greeting committee.Just like the travel brochure, white sand and crystal clear blue water.We hiked a hill.The Animal Bar back on board, no dress code.Fijian Markets.A Fijian Beach. The main land was not as picturesque as some of the other island.What ever you do, don't miss the ship's departure time when in port or it will cost you extra to fly home. This guy missed the boat luckily not by much and tug boat was able to bring him out.The deckchairs, it was hard to get one, everyone wanted to work on there tan.Ha, must have got one, usually somebody would save me one.Check the swell in the wave pool.The early morning aerobics class was very popular!Bingo every afternoon before dinner. I won $500 on the last night.Back into Sydney HarbourWaiting to disembark.P.S I had so much fun on the first cruise I booked a second on pretty much straight away for the next year.
Vanuatu
