Noumea, Vila, Mystery Island & Mare' - 5th - 16th March
As everyone knows if there's anything we love more than travelling around in our caravan is going on cruises, so it is no surprise that we jumped at the chance to go on a cruise with Colin, Megan, Ashleigh & Lauren. Our 'farm friends' Karen & Steven very kindly offered to store our car & caravan on their farm. On the day of departure Karen & Steven caught the train to the city with us to ensure we knew where to go to board the ship.
Once we boarded we did what most cruisers do.....went straight to the buffet! We had lunch while
waiting for 'the kids' to arrive who flew in to Sydney from Adelaide. After they arrived & we'd all finished lunch we spent the rest of the day checking out the ship. It even had an ice skating rink!
Eating is a large part of cruising. We had breakfast & lunch each day in the buffet & dinner in the main dining room. It's funny that even though there is just about every kind of food you can think of at the buffet we always went for the same thing each day. My breakfast was Bircher muesli & toast or a pancake for breakfast & a hot dog or burger for lunch. Gary still had WeetBix every morning (heaven forbid he deviate from WeetBix) & he had a burger each day for lunch. Dinner was amazing every night. 3 courses, or four if you're Gary & Colin who would sometimes have 2 entree's or main courses when the couldn't decide. The meals are always quite light so having four courses is not as bad as it sounds The Butter chicken was a hit with Gary asking each night if he could have it. Even if it wasn't on the menu for that night they would still get it for him. Ashleigh took a liking to the Poppadums & wasn't very hungry one night so just ordered a plate of poppudums for her dinner. Lauren had a plate of green beans one night.
The fantastic service can only be understood if you've been on a cruise. The staff literally can't do enough for you.
Day 2 the girls were eager to go to kids club & Colin, Megan, Gary & I had a game of mini golf on
They have various kinds of trivia three times a day & we would always go at least once. There was a group of ladies that went to every trivia & took it so seriously they won just about every time. It became quite irritating very quickly.
The rest of our days at sea were spent playing shuffleboard, checking out the shops on the promenade & just generally relaxing.
Our first port of call was Noumea. We caught a bus to the aquarium which had the usual giant fish tanks full of all kinds of marine life. The highlight was the outside aquarium with giant turtles. We looked around the markets on the dock where Colin & Gary bought some $5 board shorts.
We had lunch at the onboard Johnny Rockets 50's themed burger bar. The waiters danced along to Love Shack which was great fun. The girls had their first ever soft drink float or 'spider'. Don't think they were too impressed, especially Lauren who, halfway through said those words no parent wants to hear... 'I feel sick'
We spent the next day at Mystery Island which is a tiny, uninhabited (unless there is a cruise ship visiting) island surrounded by crystal clear blue water that felt amazing to swim in. The locals from the large neighbouring island come across to make money from the cruise ship passengers by running tours, markets & hair braiding. It is their only source of income & they are extremely poor. The girls had their hair braided, they do an amazing job, so perfect & so quick.
I took 30 beach balls & some stickers to hand out to the island children. It was lovely watching Ashleigh & Lauren give the gifts to the children.
Our next port was Vila. We ran the gauntlet of the taxi drivers who yell & try to convince the
Mare was another beautiful island we visited. We had to catch a bus to the other side of he island to swim. Again, the water was crystal clear blue & warm. We just swam & enjoyed the water for a few hours before heading back to the ship for lunch.
Some of the other things we did were Ice skating, galley tour, volleyball, table tennis, Karaoke (who'd have thought that 'Let It Go' was so difficult to sing)?! Lauren enjoyed it which was all that mattered.
On our last day the girls did the rock climbing wall. They went up & down many times. Michael, the Canadian instructor was lovely & convinced the girls to have a go at boogie boarding on the Wave Rider. They took to it so well, staying on the board for ages. I think we enjoyed watching them as much as they enjoyed doing it.
The cruise was over too soon but we were very grateful to be able to spend this time together & make some fantastic memories. Can't wait to do it all again.Next stop .........Pt Macquarie
