I had an early start again today. Not really from choice, the traffic noise from 8 feet from my head was a little too much to sleep past around 5.30am. At 8am I was in the car, far earlier than planned. I passed Lake Taupo, larger and more protected than Lake Rotorua, line along its […]

My body woke me up just after 4am. Last night’s dinner was a zero calorie meal and I’d woken up to assure the dessert wouldn’t count either. It’s one form of weight loss, although hard to plan around. I stayed awake to track the football online. Going to be a tough second half to the […]

Having a shower this morning was surprisingly difficult. I’m not used to looking down at the water leaving from the shower head at its highest extension. I’d slept well, the neighbours quietening by 10pm and waking again at 6.42am. At least, that’s the time they started talking again. I’d been awake a couple of hours […]

Rolling green hills covered in farm animals. Quarries in the distance. Overpriced fuel and roads moving too slowly past empty roadworks. Incessant excessive rain and a passion for rugby. It seems I travelled half the planet to visit Wales. The day started brightly. Actual sunshine, dry concrete below the car, a chance to view the […]

Halfway through my holiday! I woke up, sent an email, then the keyboard broke. The x and c keys started giving me both letters from a single press. The 1 and 2 keys did the same, but with 1 and 2, 3 and 4 also being generous. The more interesting combination was V and the […]

I woke up early today but a comfortable bed and knowing that my day would start with laundry made it easy to snooze back into dreamland for a while longer. When eventually I did rise I went hunting for the hotel laundry. A single washer and dryer it was hiding on another floor only accessible […]

The problem with sensibly early nights is that they lead to stupidly early starts. At 6am I was admiring Sydney. Stood on the aft deck I had a strange sensation the world was overtaking us, but it was just the 90,000 ton ship I was stood on reversing through a harbour. At 7.30am I was […]

I have vodka. I just don’t want to drink any today. Which is a shame as it means I’ll have to carry it around with me instead, after disembarking tomorrow. I collected the vodka just after failing to attend the kitchen tour. To get on that you need to fill in a small medical survey, […]

The stupidest thing is that Thursday evening could have been the best night of the cruise. Definitely the best meal I’ve had for a month, tomato and fennel soup an excellent prelude to the Chicken Scaloppini, supposedly ‘regionally inspired’ but quite clearly Italian not Australian. It’s not even the name that gives it away, the […]

I returned to the ship. The air conditioning in my room drove me mad, constant noise. I went for a walk, to find coffee. The lift makes noise, someone upstairs was hoovering, lots of people in the Lido chatting. On deck there’s music, on every deck the air conditioning exhausts blow loudly. I walked off […]