Days 35-37: Sea days: homeward bound

Day 35:
The morning began with the Final of the Rugby World Cup being broadcast in the Princess Theatre. The ship put on coffee and pastries, so I was up and seated by 8.00am while Emma dozed.
Me up, Emma sleeping. This reversal of roles continues to astonish us both.
South Africa defeated England, which pleased me as I figured the Brits on-board would have been insufferable if they’d won. Of course if the Aussies had made it through we would have been even more obnoxious, so I shouldn’t make too big a deal out of that. Most amazing was the grace and total lack of obnoxiousness shown by the South Africans on board. I didn’t think that was possible.
More importantly I returned to winning form with my chess game again. I’m now 4-1.
As noted in yesterday’s entry, we were meant to be on the way to Milford Sound, but instead sailed up the east coast of the south island and through the Cook Strait. This made for a pleasant day’s sailing as it turned out, if a bit on the windy side.
That night we caught a show with a performer named Dave Stephens, an Australian Lebanese-Irishman who doesn’t have the best voice in the world, but largely compensates with truly manic energy.
Day 36:
Cruise ships suffer from a strange time dilation effect. Everything takes about an hour. If you go to play chess it takes about an hour. Lunch takes about an hour. Shopping takes about an hour.
Next thing you know it’s 11pm and you’ve only done three things all day. Very odd.
I had another chess game, this time a draw, largely through a technicality. I’m too damn proud to admit my opponent could claim I win, so I’ll put myself on four wins, one loss, one draw and call it quits.
On the level 12 they had the Scrapheap Regatta, where six teams had to build ships out of junk found on ship, load them up with two dozen cans of beer, and navigate the pool. Amazingly none of them sunk, so they managed to get the Assistant Cruise Director into one of them to see how it would hold up under her weight.
Answer: badly.
(pix to follow)
We also found a lovely little wind-break on the back deck (it’s only taken five weeks). While we were there two partially-sighted women showed up with their seeing eye dogs, who were allowed off their leads and allowed to play. As you’d guess, Emma and the dogs became instant friends.
That woman’s an animal-magnet. I’m surprised we don’t have dolphins sticking to the hull of the ship.
And then there was the food. Always food. Too much and too often.
Still, it gives us a chance to chat.
We managed dinner with two Canadian couples we’ve become friends with, who will be joining us for a BBQ at our place on Saturday (note to Simon: the place better not need much cleaning…)
Then we caught the comedian Marty Brill again, who put on a fabulous show. Immediately after that we came back to the Atrium for the Champagne Waterfall organized by Rui, the maitre’d, drinks, and dancing.
(still more pix to come - exciting, huh?)
Day 37:
And so the trip draws to a close.
Apart from a couple of lectures it was mainly socialising and it was time to pack (my role being thrown out of the room so I wouldn’t get in Emma’s way) and start saying goodbyes.
I managed to attend two more lectures , we spent the obligatory (if all too short) time on Deck 7, caught the final production show “Save the Last Dance”, checked our bill (thank god we don’t need to leave an inheritance to our children).
We’ve done as many good-byes as we can (you meet a lot of people over five weeks), and are now about to call it a night at 10am Sydney time so we can get up at 4.30am tomorrow to catch the sail-in to Sydney Harbour.