We didn’t wake up till 915 this morning!!! That’s very unusual! Anyway, it meant we had to leap up and get ready quickly. Bob hived off to breakfast and I gathered up the art stuff and had a cup of coffee in the cabin.
Met Bob at art and we were a bit early so we took the opportunity to go off and have our face to face meeting with the Australian Border Force officers who were on board. 4 got on in Mauritius and are travelling aboard to Fremantle, processing all the passengers and crew. It should make for a faster arrival in port. And it must be said, a pretty nice gig for the four of them. A cheery bunch, as a result, and we were quickly through. You have to declare on the customs declaration form if you are in possession of a whole raft of food and beverage items mostly. We had a brief discussion with our lady about one item which was a declaration if you were in possession of more than 2.25L of alcohol. Which we are….. She gave us a look under her lashes. “Well….. you’ve got till Sydney to get down it”…. True…..
Art was interesting today. The first hour we had a lecture from Viv on how to “read” works of art. That was interesting. Then we had two exercises in quick sketching. She put a photograph up on the projector and we had 15 minutes to draw and paint it, a simulation of sketching things we might see while ashore. It was pretty speedy. We did two. I was quite surprised and pleased by one of mine which was a country church yard. My other, which was a collection of colourful boats in a Maltese harbour was dreadful….. Bob’s were the other way around.
After art we had lunch. I’d forgotten that today was the Chocolate and Ice buffet so I also forgot to take my camera upstairs. I still have another chance en route to Sydney. The pastry chefs create an absolutely amazing array of dessert options featuring chocolate, all arranged so beautifully. They also display huge ice carvings, some coloured, to decorate the displays. I tried a couple of the handmade chocolates rather than a dessert. They were delicious.
Went along to the spa to enquire regarding getting my toenails “did”!!! I have shellac polish on them at the moment and its been about 6 weeks now since that was applied and it needs a refresh. I pay £30 at the nail bar in Folkestone for a full pedicure with shellac. The spa on board wanted $130 for the same thing. Ridiculous. So, I will wait to Fremantle and find a nail bar there. We have a very long day ashore so it ought to definitely be possible. Really, some of the prices on the ship are ridiculous.
The weather today was very warm but there was more cloud about. No matter, I pegged out on the back deck for a couple of hours and read. Bob wanted to work on his Japanese lady painting so he did that. Coming along beautifully.
We also listened to Michael Howard talking about his life and times in government. A very witty and amusing speaker, and he comes across as a very decent, honest man. Of course he is a Brexiteer which endears him to me 😊 but then, I doubt many people living in Kent and experiencing the reality of the sharp end of our relationship with Europe would be anything else.
We are still very much in the middle of nowhere. Nearly a thousand miles to land in every direction. Apparently today we’ve been going through the centre of the area where they are still searching for the wreckage of plane MH370. Some of the wreckage has, of course, washed up in Reunion, drifting west in the current. Anyway, so many conspiracy theories around that one. Our Captain reported that recently the searching ship turned off its MARSAT transponder and effectively went off the grid for 3 days. Lots of speculation as to why but the company have refused to comment at all.
Tonight, a good dinner with our tablemates and then the comedian, John Evans, did a second show. He’s really funny. A little bit of an Eric Morecombe thing going on at times, the way he delivers the jokes.
Don’t think there’s anything else to report. Someone aboard is seriously ill, dangerously ill. The Captain put out a request tonight for all blood donors with a card, and Type O- blood to report down to the Medical Centre. We are too far from anywhere to divert or for an evac to take place so they must, I suppose, keep this poor person alive until we get to Fremantle