sea days on our way over to Margaret River and Busselton

11th March Wednesday. 25 degrees at sea with fairly strong winds

Up earlier than expected, due to not putting the clock back for 30 minutes
So turned up to do the washing 45 minutes early. so up to the deck for a quick walk before popping back down to do the washing. Then back up to deck seven for a further 45 minutes. Then down to move the washing into the dryer. Quick breakfast with Judith, Chris and Jill before l had to get to Ti Chi.
Unfortunately we had been moved into the night club, so it was rather cramped. 

Once finished we emptied the dryers and rushed to our first talk on the birth and growth of Cunard. 

We had seen him back in November, but it was still an excellent talk. Next up was Peter Beckingham on captain cook and his life from modest background to global explorer.

We stay in the illuminations ready for the next talk, only to find that it has been postponed till 3pm.
So we head to iron our shirts, and then up for lunch. An apple and a couple of slices of Emmental. 

Meet up with Chris and Jill, and tell them about the new planetarium programme at 1.30. And also when we can meet up to lend Chris my dinner jacket, along with the meeting time for dinner in the Britannia restaurant.

Bid them farewell and get caught up with Jean and Steve who regale us with their activities over the past few days.
Especially their antic's on the electric scooters, which they are now going to buy back in the UK. 

Then into the shops to buy some smelly stuff, but the offer had ended for the time being. So Judith buys herself a new wedding ring, or at least orders it in her size.
We walk round the decks some more before getting showered for dinner. Another gala night, so it’s a black tie event. Meet with Chris & Jill for dinner in the restaurant. Judith and l had the reduced calorie main course of king prawn mac and cheese with extra prawns and green vegetables. Absolutely gorgeous. By the time that the other two had finished their desserts and coffee, we headed down to the cinema to see “ Salmon fishing in the Yemen”.

It was Australian evening in the Queens room, so we popped down to see the dancing. It seemed very popular, in fact quite packed. Listened to the music for a while , then headed to bed.

Thursday 12th March 22 degrees

Up early and walked for an hour before heading in for breakfast. Chris joined me, then surprisingly Judith appeared, but swiftly disappeared outside for a walk, trying to catch up with her steps.
Met up again for Ti Chi, managed to go through the eight form sequence, but need to keep doing to ensure we get it.

Then a swift run to illuminations to see a talk on Sea Water Crocodiles, from the point of an anthropologist/pathologist who lives in Darwin. She is in fact a dental anthropologist, but her husband is or l should say was the head pathologist in Darwin. She talked about the number of crocs, which are now protected in the Northern Territories, and how there numbers are increasing. The number of attacks on humans is increasing, and normally due to over confidence on the part of locals.
These beasts can easily eat a person whole. She actually showed a photograph of a crock that had been shot, showing the incision with the fisherman inside. Mean buggers. They can lay dormant at the bottom of ponds and rivers, lying in wait for their prey for up to an hour. They can’t live under water, but they can slow their heart beat down to 1 a minute, and close a valve of at the back of the throat to stop water getting into their capacious lungs. Then pounce at tremendous speed to rip their prey into bits, or just roll until their meal has drowned. Eating them whole, because they can’t chew.

After such a pleasant subject we headed into the lounge for a chat with Rose & Ron, Chris & Jill, coffee and then lunch.
Afterwards we all split up, Judith went walking and l set about bringing my diary up to date. Then into the Illuminations again for a lecture on How six Irish prisoners escaped from the Fremantle prison.


Seven British Soldiers had been convicted of treason in the potato uprising and condemned to death by hanging. They had been pardoned from the death centre and been deported to Australia and a life sentence of hard labour.
One had escaped and managed to get to America, joining the Fenian association, called the IRB.
They managed to raise $20,000 to hire men and a whale ship to go to Australia to rescue them. The audacious plan was successful, and all six returned to America on the Cataipa, flying an American flag.


Judith and l left early and raced to the Queens room, where the other four where having a supposedly elegant afternoon tea. It was crowded, and a bit of a scrum. The elegance, had been replaced by ungainly customers filling their faces with whatever was going. The tea was awful. They must have left cleaning fluid in the teapot. So we had a couple of dry finger sandwiches and a scone with cream.
Perhaps they are waiting for all the Aussies to get off before they serve proper afternoon teas. 

Showered and into the Italian restaurant. This time with Jean and Steve making up the eight. Great fun, nice couple of glasses of wine before heading to the cinema. Chris and Jill headed for the theatre.
The film”Hidden Figures” was truly amazing. A story about female African American mathematicians who helped get the space race underway. Brilliant.



Friday 13th March. 26 degrees
Busselton, Margaret River
Arrived early and set the anchor about three miles off Busselton, with the wind blowing and a fairly choppy sea. They started shipping the tour groups off by tender, but after an hour they explained they were suspending the service for a while. It resumed later, but the backlog seemed to be taking forever.
The four of us decided to have an early lunch of fish and chips in the pub, washed down with a pint of beer and wine for the girls. Relaxing environment, good food and a refreshing drink. By 1.30, all the queues had abated and the two of us jumped onto a virtually empty tender. Nevertheless it rocked and rolled its way to the pier head, a 25 minute journey. Dropping us off near the beach and shops. 

The pier was well over a kilometre long, with a train taking people to the end for the underwater experience. We decided we walk it once we had looked around, but by the time we had rummaged around the stalls and shops, we just didn’t have enough time to do it. Especially as the line for the tender was growing in experiential dimensions.