travel

Day 2

Northeast of Sydney somewhere
Friday, January 10, 2008

I slept in till 8:30 which is very unusual for me. Breakfast is served from 7am till 9am so we made it just in time. Although wildy tempting to go the full cooked breakfast with all the trimmings I knew my system couldn't handle it first thing in the morning so I resisted and stuck to muesli and coffee.
After brekkie we decided to 'walk a mile" and not surprisingly, it only took 20 mins to complete 3 circuits. As we passed the library we grabbed the daily sudoku. The Princess Patter, the daily newsletter, listed all the activites for the day including trivia bingo, craft lessons, computer lessons, etc. We decided to do none of the above, instead we retired to Lido to catch some rays. MBB had completed three sudoku's before I managed to complete one - I kept dozing off, my brain completely switched into neutral. 
 
Time flew by and before we knew it, it was lunchtime. Another 3 course meal, another mile and another mandatory snooze and before we knew it, dinner time was upon us.
Tonight was the captains cocktail party and formal dress for dinner. Neither MBB nor I own anything resembling a cocktail dress, much less a formal ball gown so we made do (black is good) and oggled enviously at the parade of gowns and tuxedos on dispaly. 
We didn't meet the Captain but we had a lovely chat to the assistant cruise director who gave us a run-down of the working conditions. The crew work 7 days a week for 6-10 months straight depending on their contract. They share a cabin and have very little free time or 'space'. Apart from phone cards and internet time they have very little to spend their money on and rarely get to go onshore at all the exotic ports.
Dinner was once again a very pleasant occasion - we seemed to have had excellent luck with our table companions as they all have a similar sense of humour. The Tassie couple didn't show up so we are figuring they asked to be moved. Mick turned up with some chronic sunburn - his sun glasses having left an odd white streak on either side of his face.
After dinner I quickly stripped off the 'formal' gear and changed back into my comfy clothes. We raced off to catch the 10:15 show called "Shimmy" but we were rather disappointed with the amateurish type production. It was less like a Vegas type show and more like a high school concert. Luckily the music and dancing moved pretty fast so we weren't too bored and it was all over in an hour.

01 The view
The view
02 The place to be
The place to be
03 Formal Night
Formal Night
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