Day 5 - Lifou

Today is a beach day.  At the moment it is 6.30am and we have been awake for an hour! Coop has been an absolute champ about sleeping in the same room as us for a week now.  He is starting to wake earlier but I don't mind too much as he is having such long sleeps every afternoon (and so am I).  Had better go and get everything ready.  We are meeting the others for breakfast at 7.30 so we can get to the beach early before it gets too hot.  Will update when I can!

We had an amazing day on Lifou! We walked and saw some traditional huts and an old Catholic Church and then had a swim on the beach. Coop didn't want to come back to the ship!

"Hey Dolphin! Come here and give me a

snuggle!" said Coop as we were waiting for the tender back to the ship.

Day 2 and 3- Sea days

We had two fairly rough sea days before we got to Noumea. Shalissa spent most of Day 2 in bed, as did Allison and Brent.  The Pyes, Shalissa, Jordan and I went to the cinema on Day 2 to see "Now You See Me", while Cooper stayed with JacJac and Laney.  

We ate in the main dining room for lunch minus a sick Lissy and then came back to the room for what has become our regular (long) afternoon nap.  We had a casual dinner in the dining room and then Liss offered to look after Cooper while we went out to see the show.  We saw 'Piano Man', which was a tribute to great piano players like Elton John and Barry Manilo.  It was great, and the dancers were really good as well.  Afterwards, Jordan went back to our room to be with Coop and I went with the Pyes, Lanes and Quayles Snr to a game show in the Colony Club called "If You Know It, SingIt".  It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed watching some brave souls get up to finish the lyrics of songs.  None of us were brave enough to get up, but it was fun!

Day 3 was much the same.  Today we tried the kiddy pool with Cooper and it was so much fun! He and I went down the slide a few times which was great fun also.  Poor Brent is sick with a sinus infection and visited the ship's doctor for some antibiotics.  We didn't see much of them at all until dinner.  Tonight was formal night and we got all dressed up and had some lovely photos taken in front of the beautiful Christmas tree. There are some beautiful ones of the individual families, and also a few lovely ones of the 10 of us.  We plan to be a bit more organised photo-wise for the next formal night.  

After dinner, I felt a bit queasy and so we came to bed after dinner.  I am really enjoying reading my book, even though I only manage a few pages before falling asleep each night.  I haven't read a book for fun in ages- too many assignments to mark! :)

Day 4 - Noumea

Today we docked at Noumea at 8am.  The 3 of us, as well as The Lanes and Quayle Snrs had pre-purchased tickets for the 'tchou tchou train', one of those sight-seeing trains.  We had been on one in Athens and quite enjoyed it, so we thought it would be a good option, especially for Cooper.  We were right. He loved it! 

 

We toured all through Noumea, and up to two different lookouts.  At one of the lookouts, we had apple cider and French pastries.  Of course, Coop and I didn't have any cider.  We stuck to water and lemonade. :)

I was surprised to learn that nickel mining drives the economy, and equally surprised that it wasn't a more 'developed' city.  It was quite dirty and not overly 'corporate' for a capital city of a country.  There were some amazing beaches, though. I would have liked to have visited the beach but we have two beach days planned for the other ports to decided to do the one thing I had always planned for Noumea: French pastry!! We found a patisserie and with woeful French (we wished Tris was there) and some help from a lovely bilingual fellow customer, we ordered a selection of delicious treats.  The eftpos machine was not working and I had not changed any $AU into Pacific Francs, as I was just going to use my credit card.  We had to leave the pastries there (sob!) while we walked back down Coconut Square to exchange some money.  Cooper was in the ergo and very quickly fell fast asleep, but only after asking one more time for his special cup cake. :)

We finally returned and got our pastries and enjoyed them sitting on a bench in Coconut a Square before heading back to the shuttle buses and back to the ship.  The Quayles Snr and Lanes had explored on their one after the train adventure, including continuing the cruise dare fest by daring Laney to get a tattoo (he didn't!).  The Pyes and Lissy had had a grand old time at Lemon Bay, and had crepes for lunch. They benefited from Tris' ability to speak French, and he even made Em remember her French lessons by making her order lunch.  
We (Quayles Jnr) had a 3 hour afternoon nap! It was so good! :) 
We had an enjoyable dinner all together before heading to the centrum for another round of the 'finish the lyrics' game show.  Cooper enjoyed dancing to all the music.  We thought he would enjoy a show in the theatre so we took him to one at 9pm.  He absolutely LOVED it and sat through the whole thing, clapping (sometimes singing) and cheered loudly at the end.  A lovely end to a fun day!

Christmas Cruise - Day 1

We started the  day with a brisk walk from our hotel in Pitt Street down to Darling Harbour for breakfast.  It was lovely and quiet at 7am, and it seems we beat the 'rush hour' rush.  Jordan is quite adept at pushing the pram and cutting swathes through the crowds along the sidewalks of the CBD. I have take to just following behind him as it is the most efficient way to get anywhere! I tried pushing the pram for a while but I am not quite as fearless and found myself stopping and apologising a lot.

After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel to pack up our bags and get ready to head down to Circular Quay to board the ship. It took 30mins to get out of the Meriton! I think everyone was wanting to check out at 10am like us and we had to let 3 lifts go past because they were completely full and we wouldn't possibly have fit.  After we finally did get an elevator, we stopped on just about every floor on the way down (and we were on the 35th floor!), which took forever. At least the people in the lift with us were funny and we all had a good laugh at the situation.

Mum and I started walking down Pitt Street with Cooper in the pram to get to the Overseas Passenger Terminal and we ran into Liss.  Dad and Jordan had taken our luggage in a cab.  Once we got there, we thought we might just scope out the boarding process while we waited for the Quayles Snr and the Pyes.  We ended up meeting a floor supervisor who ushered us through the huge crowds straight to check in and security.  We still don't know whether  it was because of super cute Cooper, or because Mum and Dad are in a suite.  

We were all wearing our matching cruise shirts for a laugh and it turns out that the Quayles and Pyes were recognised by the check in staff because of them!  We were on the ship in only a matter of minutes, which was lovely.  Brent had been feeling unwell and said so on his medical form so he had to get checked out by a doctor before they could board. 

Eventually, all of us were together eating lunch at the buffet and waiting for our rooms to be available.  When ours was ready, we went and had a huge afternoon sleep.  Dinner was in the dining room while we sailed out of Sydney Harbour and was really nice.  We have a 10-seater table all together.  Cooper was so well behaved at dinner and the waiters loved him, as did our room attendant, Kaba. 

Here we go again!

We are heading on another cruise next week, which is very exciting! At the moment I'm frantically trying to get everything done before we leave. Being pregnant adds a whole new dimension to packing, especially because I can't wear my wardrobe staples, and have to pack a whole case of maternity clothes.

We have a suit for Cooper for the formal nights, which I am SO excited about! He is going to look so very handsome. :)

We leave at 5.50am next Tuesday, so I still have a few more days to buy last minute gifts and organise everything. 5 sleeps!! :)

24 hours of travel

We got up at 330am on Thursday morning to get everything ready for our big trip from Brisbane to Honolulu via Sydney. We were in the lobby at 515am and our driver was there waiting for us. It was nice to finally see Mum and Dad as their flight had been delayed and they didn't get into Brisbane until 1245 the night before. They had about 3hrs sleep- poor things.

Our flight to Sydney was fairly uneventful. Coop is a really good traveller. He has absolutely no trouble with his ears. He actually fell asleep and slept for 45mins during takeoff and the first part of the flight. The most difficult part of the day was spending 8 hours in the international terminal -5 of which was BEFORE we could check in! Jord actually slept for two hours on the floor. I felt like such a bogan - Em and I sat in a corner on the lino floor next to a power point while I straightened her hair. We had a long wait!!

Cooper was excellent on the international leg - he slept for most of the ten hours in his basinette. What a good boy! And what a lifesaver for parents those basinettes are!

We arrived 6am Thursday morning local time, after almost 24 hours of travel, desperately needing a shower!

Brisbane- Cooper's first plane trip

Cooper's first plane trip went remarkably well. He slept for 45 mins after having his bottle during take off. He sat/wriggled quietly for the rest of the time on Jordan's lap or the seat in between us (thanks Qantas)! He played with Duckie and I recited The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Elmer's Colours and it all worked out fine!

We caught the AirTrain to the CBD where our hotel is just a couple of hundred metres down the road. Walking here in the pouring rain was a bit crazy but we made it.

We are staying at the Rothbury On Ann heritage apartments and they are nice. We booked and paid for a hotel room but have been given an apartment which is lovely. Gives Coop a bit more exploring room, especially when we are stuck inside due to pouring rain. We leave here at 530am for Sydney and Honolulu.

Poor Mum and Dad have had their 730pm flight from Townsville delayed to 1030pm which will get them in here after midnight. They'll find our marathon trip to Honolulu more exhausting than the rest of us, I imagine.