The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel then walked down to the train station. We must have looked a sight with all our bags. The kids liked the trains in Sydney because they are 2 levels. As we pulled into Circular Quay the kids began to get giddy with excitement as they saw the ship docked. It was just like the one they had been looking at on the computer for the past few months they could hardly believe their eyes!
I was smart and had preprinted bag labels and attached them to our bags so we were able to drop our luggage off early. We then headed over to Mc Donalds to fill out our forms and wait awhile. Soon enough it was time to board.
The lines were a little long and it took about 40mins to make it through immigration and get photos etc taken and our ship cards printed. Once on board we were able to enjoy the first of MANY good meals and explore the ship a little.
We left Sydney right on 6pm. The next two days were spent on board. There were plenty of activities going all day and night. The kids enjoyed going to the kids club for a couple of hours each day and we all had daily naps. We had two interconnecting rooms with balconies so often in the afternoon we would just sit out there to read or talk.
The food was always fantastic. Every night we ate in the restaurant which was just below our rooms. It was really flash, think a million different knives and forks and people who put napkins in your lap. The kids got a little too used to all this service. I must admit they were some of the most well behaved children there. Half way through dinner they would call out "It's show time!"and all the staff would put on a show and everyone would get up and dance it was lots of fun.
By the time we had finished dinner and got back to our room our room steward had been in and tidied up and made some cute towel animal. We often would try guess at dinner which animal it would be that night and were always surprised when we got it right. I think our favourite was the monkey hanging off the wall.
Finally after 2 days of sailing we woke up to see land as we were pulling in to Noumea. We had booked a tour to do here so we were up early and ready to go. We got off the ship around 9am and headed to the market where we bought a couple of souveniers and the kids bought "zip bags" We then quickly headed back to catch our little open air train to have a tour around the city. Noumea probably wasn't our favourite city to stop and would probably do it a bit differently next time but we really enjoyed seeing a different culture. We got back on the ship a little after 2pm went and got some lunch then went swimming onboard.
The next day we woke up to RAIN! but that didn't stop us. We left the boat again this time on little tender boats (the call them tender boats when it't not an emergency...otherwise they are just life boats) to go to a small island called Mare. Once there we boarded an old bus with a CRAZY driver who took us to a beautiful pristine, clear blue beach which had the most amazing snorkelling ever. The water we beautifully warm and we stayed there until about 3pm. Auron and Lili finally got the hang of using their masks and snorkels and were mesmerised by the fish they could see. My favourite was the zebra fish. By the time we got back to the ship we were cold wet and miserable but nothing a hot shower couldn't fix.
It was still raining the next day....But we got off the boat again to go to the island of Isle of Pines. This was another beautiful blue beach with the softest sand I have ever felt. When we got off the little tender boats the locals had woven flax headbands with flowers to give to us. Lili was so excited to have a crown. We stayed and had lunch here which was a traditional Bougna which is like Hangi or Umu. It tasted just the same,
Now that we had visited all our ports it was time to head back to Sydney which took another two days. Once we arrived it was all rather sad and we really really didn't want to leave. They had the whole ship emptied by 9am ready to have the new lot of people boarding at 11am. Lili wasn't feeling well and slept in the pram the rest of the day, We dropped our bags at the hotel and went to the movies to wait for check in time. Lili slept the whole way through Star wars then once we got back to the hotel she slept until the next morning.
The following day we walked to the Museum and saw the Wiggles exhibition and the DC comics Lego Exhibit which was AMAZING. We then quickly picked up our bags and headed to the airport arriving home just in time for dinner...which was toast.
It was once of the most wonderful trips we have ever been on and we will be going on a cruise again with out a doubt. As soon as we got home we were looking for which ones we would go on next.
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