Dolphins spotted!

From the balcony ...

 

Golden Lion Ukulele Flash Mob

 Today we had an 'flash mob' ukulele in the Golden Lion ... for St Patricks Day.

Bitung Indonesia

Today we did a 7-hour trip around Bitung: We went to the Capital of North Sulawesi, Manado, saw the big statue of Christ, went to the Chinese Temple and the Cathedral. Lunch at the Novotel. It rained at the start, and our bus almost stopped, but an enjoyable day ....

Chinese temple

Our bus

Huge statue of Christ

Cathedral

Back seat ...

Crossing the Equator (again) ..

Between Darwin and Indonesia, we had a crossing of the Equator Ceremony, this time at the outdoor pool.

Darwin

Last Port in Australia - we went on a long coach tour starting off in the rain, and taking in the large termite mounds and waterfalls, with lunch on the way. Very enjoyable.

Green Ant!!

Magnetic Termite mound ...

Passing Queen Anne

 We'd both left on the same day at Southampton, and we passed just inside the Great Barrier Reef just north of Cairns, going different ways around the world!! Lots of Horn Blowing ...

Yorkeys Knob (Cairns)

 We're too big to fit into Cairns, so we are anchored here with tenders (large local boats as well) taking us to shore. We went on the Kuranda railway through the rain forest, and went Gold Class so we got free drinks and snacks, very good 🍹🧉 ... saw a number of waterfalls as it is raining a bit here.

Our train

Carriage

Brisbane

 We're at the Cruise Terminal and had to reverse in as we were too big! We then went out with Peter and Vera and talked family history.

QM2 on berth

On the way to Ipswich

Family Photo

QM2 docked, came in backwards

Day 2 in Sydney

We moved to the anchorange and tendered to the Man O War steps at the Opera House. Went into Sydney to look at a few shops, including the LEGO shop, of course, with some more bargains like T-shirts!! We had a coffee in the Strand Arcade, and then lunch at the Opera House bar.

We have over 900 new guests on board, so lots of people wandering around looking lost...

Lego Sydney ferry

Lego tree

Coffee

Ship at anchor with local tenders

Opera House Bar lunch

Leo Sayer on QM2

 In the evening, we had Leo Sayer come on board to give a concert, great!!

Sydney Australia

 We are at Circular Quay and had a busy day: Charles had a tooth looked at with a temporary repair, then his feet were done. An Amazon parcel was collected from a locker, and lots of shopping was done!

On the 1st March, the payroll was run and VAT returns submitted to HMRC ....

Coffee after the dentist!

QM2 at Circular Quay

Tuaranga New Zealand

 We went to see an old mission and house, followed by a visit to see the Kiwi fruit, which I never knew was the Chinese Gooseberry. Had a tea and then back to the ship, a good tour of the countryside and bought some Kiwi Fruit cough sweets!

Kiwi fruit

Volcano from our ship

Tea!

Maori building

Auckland New Zealand

Early morning arrival, as we were too big, we went into the commercial port with a shuttle to the normal cruise terminal. In the morning, we had a coach trip around the town, and visited the ANZAC museum and saw a Maori cultural explanation. In the afternoon, we took the shuttle to have a look around town and to have lunch.

Lunch

Museum

Where Bill Clinton had a coffee

Black Swans

QM2