“I might just melt and fall down the plug hole” (Ida talking about how luxurious her bath is at our hotel. First bath in 2 weeks, and a proper sized tub, one you can actually like down in, that’s really really deep and fills up in about 45 seconds.) We did bathe onboard, only in a shower stall, knocked about like pin balls…)
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Arrive back in Melbourne – Tuesday, December 21, 2010
It was a sad day today. We had to leave the ship that has been our home for the last 13 days. We are both so tired… being on holiday is exhausting! Squeezing all the joy out of every single day is a task in and of itself.
We found ourselves a hotel next to 
The biggest Lollie Shop in the world is just down the street from our hotel, so we had to pay that a visit as well. Do not put it on your bucket list it was not that impressive. We must have bigger candy shops than that in 
“Words of the Day” – Monday, December 20th
NumNum!!
NB These are for our own private amusement, don’t even ask!!!!
At Sea – Monday, December 20th
It was another rough day at sea today. The
Today is our last full day on the ship, so between the logistics that needed to be taken care of (ie. packing, organizing, eating) there was also the last minute rush to spend some more time with the people that had become our friends over the last couple of weeks. We have been treated so well this whole time.
The little boat that Nikki had seen being built won its boat race today.
Nikki with Hank, who is the namesake of the Oasis Bar renamed to Hank’s Bar. He is a really cool Dutchmen who lives in 
Tonight’s Dinner Beer was: Greenman and Strongman
Picture of our dinner mates.
Our waiters Peter and Gerardo.
We went to the last show of the cruise which was a talent show put on by the crew, based on the British holiday camps of the 50s and 60s. It was hysterical; simple, rude and fun.
Then it was off to Jammers again where Nikki had Tall Poppy India Red Ale as shown in the picture with Joel seemingly praying to it. 
And then we tried to stay up until we docked, well Nikki tried anyway, Ida was much more responsible. But eventually even Nikki decided that some sleep was a good idea, after she had used her extra hour of time change to stay up chatting and swilling with her new friends til 4.30 am!!!
“Words of the Day” – Sunday, December 19th
Permagrin = huge grin permanently on one’s face, often alcohol induced or related to the fun factor. As in, ATVing has a fun factor of 9 out of 10, which earns it a permagrin designation.
Hitch in yer get up = moving slower than usual
Ida: (Regarding the paper tips left by the waiters and bar staff on the business end of one’s straw) "Do you think there are little paper balls all about the ship?"
Billabong = Pond
Tucker Bag = Food Bag
Jum Buck = Sheep
At Sea – Sunday December 19th
We were working on the blog today a bit and found a terrible place to work.
Tonight was our 2nd and last formal night. So we all go dressed up, had a great dinner of steak and lobster and king prawns. Just awful, you missed nothing! Then we had Baked Alaska (called Bomb 
Nikki’s beer of the evening was Wobbly Boot and she learned that “Waltzing Matilda really is the national anthem of 
We had great servers in our waiter, Peter and the assistant waiter, Gerardo.
Cruise Director – Mark Turner & Deputy Cruise Director– Andre Schlemmer
It was a great sunset tonight with rain again in the distance which hit the ship later on. The sunset pictures were taken after 10 pm.
We had a New Year’s eve style party in the Atrium.
“Words of the Day” – Saturday, December 18th
Ida: “I could live here!” Alright, alright already!!
Ida: “I have to pee now. I’ve laughed myself into a peeing place.”
Tuck Shop = Cafeteria or sweet shop
Lolli = sweets = candy
Get that down your neck = finish your drink or an invitation to receive drink or food
Nikki: regarding her champagne cocktail: “It has been a long time since I have had a cherry”
Night Life – Just another night… Saturday, December 18th
Later that night at the bar that we tended to end every night at (Jammers) Ida did some dancing with one of our favorite bartenders, Simon.
We had had a bottle of champagne that night with dinner and so Nikki decided it was best to stay with champagne based drinks and ordered a champagne cocktail, which she swears was the worst drink she ever had. (See picture of sour face.) Then she switched to Champagne Lush cocktails for the rest of the night, which earned a much higher approval rating. Aptly named!
Ship Life – Saturday December 18th
Later on that day, Nikki was out making the rounds of the pubs to see who was out and about and ran into some people who had made some kind of floating device with little engines on the back of it. Asked about it and found out it was for a boating contest in a couple of days. There are pictures of the test boat and the final boat (which won the contest). They called their little boat ‘The Good Ship Lollipop’. The actual contest was supposed to take place in the big pool, but because “the ditch” (Tasmanian Sea) was so rough, the big pool was closed due to the water jumping out of it in waves and soaking all the innocent passers-by. Saw it happen, swear! So the same little pool was used that they tested in as it is very small and protected.
The view from one of the best bars on the ship called The Oasis later renamed Hank’s Bar.
Newlyweds – Milford Sound, Saturday December 18th
There were a couple sets of newlyweds on the ship. This was one that we hung out with a little bit and the day that we were at Milford Sound their camera was having technical difficulties, so we took some pics for them.
Milford Sound – Saturday, December 18th
At 3 pm we were supposed to attend a pilates class, to help prevent the effects of alcowol from settling in for the winter on hips and thighs and such, so we got gym dressed early to go walk on the promenade deck before class. Just then the weather changed and when we entered
At
There was one particularly tall peak there that we did not get to see as the clouds did not open far enough. Darn – have to go back later.
There are pictures on the deck all wrapped in heavy clothes with hot tea and chocolate and yes it was really that cold!!
There were amazing waterfalls in Milford Sound and there is a hotel right down the end as well.
Fiordland National Park – Saturday, December 18th
The first picture is what it looked like sitting at the computer checking emails this morning. That is a view that we could get used to every morning, especially if we have to do computer work.
This was a scenic cruise day, which means we took the ship on excursion around fiords. The morning started off super cloudy, foggy and rainy. It was still beautiful out but we really had a hard time getting the full effect of what we were surrounded by; the tops of all the mountains were shrouded in low cloud. Shrouded and wreathed. I’ve always wanted to say that….
It was very cold and windy, so there were much needed warm clothes and trolleys of steaming hot chocolate with Bailey’s (or any other alchowol you wanted for that matter). We just had one… no two…because of still recovering from the ti many martoonis of the night before. Mmmmm – favorite new discovery; boozy hot chocolate. Much replication forthcoming in LA…
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