Christmas cards

I went to my LSS for a midnight crop on Friday night with the girls.  It was lovely to catch up them all - life seems so busy lately.  I wasn't feeling very motivated, so decided to just make some Christmas cards.

A quick and easy card - having a play with my watercolour paints

Cathie and I both made versions of this card (found a similar idea on the www).  I loved how this turned out - so made 3 more of this card.

Another quick and easy card in 2 different colour combos.

Quilled cards

Popping in to share the quilled cards I made on the cruise :)

Thrifty Thursday

I have some Christmas finds to share today :)  Technically I didn't find them - my MIL found them for me at the op shop where she volunteers.  Knowing my love of all things Christmas - she quickly snapped these up for me and I LOVE THEM!!

This train was in mint condition and only $6!  It's a good size decoration - about 40cm and 15cm high.

Some close ups of the train

The bottle opener, corkscrew, bottle decoration and cheese slicer were packaged up in a box for $3!

I'm linking up with Sir-Thrift-A-Lot.

Professional cruise photos

Just popping in to share the professional photos we had taken on the cruise :)

 

Thrifty Thursday

Last week I dropped of some stuff to donate at the op shop, so of course I had to pop in for a quick look ;)  I found this sweet dolphin cross stitch kit for $2.95 and another embroidery hoop to add to my collection for $1.

 

Cruise Day 8-10 At Sea

Day 8 - Another lazy sea day - breakfast, reading / relaxing in the Dome, wandering around the deck watching the various activities / games / deomonstrations.  We had a look at the various displays at the Pacific Fair in the Atriaum - fruit carving, wine / cocktail tasting, shopping, etc. 

After lunch we headed to the Marquee to watch the "Marriage Match" gameshow - hilarious!! Iwent to quilling class.   We went to the Marquee to watch "Let me Entertain You" gameshow (the one I went in last cruise), then off to dinner in the formal dining room.  Cocktails and karaoke in the Orient bar before heading to the Atrium to watch the champagne waterwall, then off to the Dome to watch the Sit Down Comedy Club with Mike Harris.

 

This sweet guy was waiting on the bedside cupboard when we got back tto our room :)

 

 Day 9 - A very busy last day at see!  Breakfast and then off to the Marquee to see the Culinary deomstration with the head chef and maitre de. 

 

After the deomstraion we went on a tour of the galley

 

 

Lunch, then off to the Marquee to meet the Pacific perforrmers and have a tour of backstage.  This was the first time we had done both the galley tour and backstage tour.

 

We then watched the "Celebrity Heads" gameshow.  After that Craig nand Trish stayed to play jackpot bingo and I headed off to a quilling class.  A few gorgeous sunset photos and photos of us at different places around the boat, before heading off to dinner in the formal dining room.

 

After dinner we went to see the Popstars finale in the Marquee, then off to see Live @ Charlies - an informal jam session with crew memebers in the Atrium.



 

Day 10 - We were up early and did some last minute packing. Breakfast in the final dining room and then waited to disenbark. We caught the shuttle bus back to portside parking and picked up our car. From there we drove to DFO and waited for Becca and the kids to arrive.   Bec & the kids were in Brisbane for the week - so it was perfect timing for us to catch up :)  We had coffee, talked non-stop, spent time with the kids and did lots of shopping, beofe hopping in the car and heading hom.

 

 

Cruise Day 7 - Doini Island

Day 7 - We were up early and packed ready for a day on the gorgeous Doini Island.

 

At the end of the jetty is an alfresco eating area with the most amazing murals painted on the roof.

 

We wandered around looking at the markets and watching some locals sing / dance. 

 

There was a big cement container in the middle of the markets and when we peeked in we found this!!  The locals caught it in the nearby river - made me a bit wary about going for a swim!  LOL

 

We decided to go visit the skull cave, but no-one really had any definite idea about how far it was from the resort, so we waited for an hour for a tractor &wagon to come back to take us to the skull cave, but when it finally arrived we found that it was still a bit of a walk up a steep cliff. Unfortunately we weren't dressed for hiking, so were disappointed with the decision not to go. We walked down to the beach and went for a swim / snorkeling.  

 

After our swim we caught the tender back to the ship.  We were going to the Island celebrations on the Lido deck, but it started raining so we relaxed in the Dome before heading to the Marquee to watch "Star Trek:Into Darkness" - great movie!!   After dinner in the dining room we went to the Orient bar and I sang karaoke! 

 

 

 

Cruise Day 6 - Kiriwina Island

Day 6 - Up early for breakfast and pack our snorkeling gear.  We caught a tender over to the island

We spent the morning swimming / snorkeling on a gorgeous beach - it was another hot / humid day, so the cool water was wonderful :) 

 

We caught the tender back over to get changed, have lunch, then back over to the island to see the Trobriand cricket "This curious local game is much like the cricket we are familiar with, and yet dissimilar in nearly every way.  For starters, this game can go for days on end, players are unlimited as long as each team is evenly matched and it is something of a mating ritual combined with peaceful alternative to inter-tribal warfare where participants often break into spontaneous song and dance - all in the name of the game"    It was an amazing sight to see - the bats were sticks and the ball was a coconut. There was so much noise and celebrating - I've never seen so many people on a cricket pitch!  LOL

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There were lots of market stalls - with beautiful carved ornaments, woven bags & baskets, shells and fresh fruit - we brought 2 amazing sea horse carvings.  We spent the afternoon watching the cricket match, chatting with the locals and wandering along the beautiful beaches before catching a tender back to the ship.

An afternoon of crafts - flower making and quilling, then time for pre-dinner cocktails. listening to the band and dinner in the formal dining room.  After dinner we went to the Marquee to see the "Pirate of the Pacific" show.

 

 

 

Cruise Day 5 - Alotau

Day 5 - Up early for breakfast and to get ready for a day on Alotau.  There was much excitement - this was the first time a cruise ship had used this port.  While waiting for customs to clear us - we enjoyed the singing / dancing displays on the wharf and heard the opening speeches.

 

After we got clearance to disembark we went down on to the wharf to watch the dancing / singing.  We caught the Sing Sing shuttle to the Canoe & Kundu (Drum) Festival "The festival sees tribes from all around the  Milne Bay Province come together in Alotau (some after having travelled by canoe for up to three weeks to race for spoils and glory,m as well as to share their culture with visitors and each other.  The best way to get a snapshot of the varied cultures of Milne Bay...an opportunity to view the canoe races, cultural displays and musical offerings of the incredible event.?

 

There was so much to see / do / hear   We wandered around watching various tribes dance / sing.  We went down to the beach to look at all the canoes and walked out to the jetty to watch the races.  We seemed to be as much as a fascinations to the locals as they were to us - we were taking photos of everything and they were taking photos of us LOL The heat / humidity was awful - one lady fainted right next to us on the jetty :( We had a look around the various markets, then headed back to the ship. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we finished looking around we caught the shuttle bus back to the ship and had a very late lunch.  I went to a quilling class, before getting ready for dinner.  Pre-dinner cocktails and listening to a band, before heading off to the formal dining room.  After dinner we went to watch the "international Crew" show - amazing to see so many talented crew members!

Cruise Day 1 - 4 - At Sea

Day 1 - After a boarding and checking our bags had arrived at our room, where we were excited to find out that our cabin steward was a lovely lady we had on our 2nd cruise!  Then we headed to the Lido deck to enjoy the Sail Away party celebrations  and ran into our waiter also from the 2nd cruise - it was like a reunion LOL  We had lunch, then had the first (of many) cocktails to start the celebrations :)

We sat up in The Dome and enjoyed the scenery as we sailed out of Brisbane and along the coast. 

Then it was time for a pre-dinner cocktail and listen to a band, before heading to dinner in the formal dining room.  After dinner we saw the "Welcome Aboard" show and listened to another band efore heading to bed.

Day 2 - A delicious breakfast, a wander around the top deck and then we spent a lazy day reading / relaxing in the Dome.  Lunch, then we went to the Marquee for "Guardian of the Reef" pilot's anecdotes and a PNG history lecture - both very interesting. A bit more relaxing, then it was time to get dressed in our cocktail attire for professional photos.  A pre-dinner cocktails / listen to a band before dinner in the formal dining room.  After dinner we headed back to the bar to hear some more live music, then to the Dome to see "Majority Rules" game show and Sit Down Comedy - Demo Simis.  We came back to the cabin to find this very relaxed looking towel animal on our bed LOL

 

Day 3 - Our first port of call was supposed to be Townsville, but there was a change to the itnerary and we were going to Magnetic Island instead.  We got up early and had breakfast then packed our snorkel gear ready.  Once we got there it was decided that the sea was too rough and dangerous to tender over to the island, so we set sail earlier than planned to PNG. 

 

We enjoyed a delicious lunch, then went to the Marquee to watch "The Great Gatsby" - wonderful movie!  I headed off to a quilling class.  More pre-dinner drinks / live band and then dinner in the formal dining room. 

Snails were on the menu and I was looking forward to trying them - they were served out of their shells and cooked in a Parmesan cheese flavour - they were delicious!!

After dinner we headed to the Marquee to watch the feature show - comedian Mike Harris.   We headed to the Dome for the 50's & 60's sock hop party.

Day 4 - Breakfast, then another day reading / relaxing in The Dome.  We had lunch then we went to see the hilarious "Liar's Club" game show, then wandered around looking at various classes / demonstrations and enjoying the sun deck.  We watched the Pacific Cirque show "Transformation" in the Atrium, before going to dinner in the formal dining room. 

 

After dinner we went to the Marquee to watch "Please don't stop the music" feature show.