Cruise - Day 16 - 18 Sep

Our last day at sea before we have 3 days in a row ashore – Fremantle, Bunbury & Albany. And I must say Gary is getting a bit bored. His highlight of the day was taking our washing off to the laundromat.

I attended a very nice service this morning on the main deck to commemorate the sinking of the H.M.A.S. Sydney during WWII and the loss of all lives on board. The wreckage of the Sydney was discovered a couple of years ago and we sailed within 3 nautical miles of that site sometime in the early hours of this morning. As a sign of respect the Dawn Princess organised a service, including casting a wreath overboard, playing of the last post, recitation of the ode etc. 

It was quite moving with all the veterans on-board invited to take a place of honour at the service. A passenger whose 2 uncles were lost aboard the fated Sydney read the ode. I think it was fitting that many of the passengers attended to show their respect.

I also halted a very alarming trend which has emerged over the last 2 days of total sloth and donned the gym gear once again, spending some time on the treadmill and with the weights. This meant that my day was only partial sloth rather than total sloth! Notting Hill was on the TV and you know it's my all time favourite movie so I HAD to watch it again. Gary did not seem particularly impressed that I was able to recite, word perfect, the entire dialogue of the movie...OK, I've seen it more than a few times and worn out multiple videos and DVDs. But seriously, you can't beat Hugh Grant AND Julia Roberts on the same screen!

While we're on the subject of exercise – I went to the gym...remember – I thought I'd let you know how Gaz & I are approaching this important health issue. As you know I have tried to go to the gym most days, combining some cardio with weights while Gaz prefers the ambiance of the Promenade Deck where the serious walkers/joggers and the sometime perambulators fight it out as they continue in a dizzying anti-clockwise direction. This can be extremely pleasant on a lovely day, though my enjoyment level does decrease exponentially with an increase in the wind speed...and we've had a lot of wind over the last few days. This has meant that at times the Promenade Deck is actually closed, thus robbing the Gaz of his exercise opportunity. The gym does not hold similar perils and I have tried to convince Gaz that although the treadmill does rock a bit in these moderate seas/high winds, all you have to do is “hold on tight”. As yet, he remains unconvinced. The other major opportunity for exercise is the stairs. I have made it a policy to always use the stairs and have stuck to that with only maybe one or two exceptions. We are on deck 11, the buffet is on deck 14, the dining room and shops on deck 6, and the theatres etc are on deck 7. This allows for a fair bit of climbing up and down throughout the day and could explain why there are no stair machines in the gym! Gaz, however, has employed a policy of using the stairs to go DOWN and the lifts to go UP...slacko! Invariably I beat him anyway as he has to navigate through passengers on walkers, in wheelchairs, pressing wrong buttons, changing their minds...you get the picture. Regardless of the forms of exercise I undertake I fear that at best I will return home very fat...but moderately fit. I think there is an energy in/energy out equation that is not in sync at the present time. Oh well, dinner anyone?

So after an extremely lazy day we headed off for dinner and then spent a pleasant 40 min or so listening again to Trevor Knight (who leaves us in Fremantle) before we adjourned to the cabin to witness the final throws of Penrith's loss to the Roosters. Oh well, at least St Kilda won the AFL earlier – James should be happy.

Frank & Lee asked me about Jimmy's towel folding prowess and I must admit, although he does try, Jimmy could take a lesson or two from the stewards on the Nile Cruise who managed to concoct the most amazing creations every day. Jimmy sticks with this simple little number.

We have a big day tomorrow – tour of Fremantle & Perth including a couple of free hours in Perth to shop and finishing with a cruise along the Swan River back to Freo. I have seen it before but Gaz hasn't – I think he's looking forward to stepping on dry land again after 3 days at sea.

Thanks to everyone who has been leaving comments & sending emails. Sorry if I don't have time to reply – the satellite internet I'm using costs an absolute fortune (and is often slow) so I write this before I go online and then quickly copy it to the blog, check emails & face book and then get out as fast as possible. Even with these tactics it is likely to cost me in excess of $300 for the trip! Hope everyone is well.