April 11, 2012
12 days, y’all!!!!
I posted on my sister’s Facebook wall that it still doesn’t feel real to me, it seems like there are so many days between me and the terra firma of the Cleveland airport! 12 days…that’s not too long, but, it’s long enough, especially when we have 5 sea days at the end of the cruise and sea days go by so slowly because you can really run out of things to do!
Let me think about what has been going on! We had our last day in Sydney on the 5th, which was bittersweet. I had half of the day off, so I got off the ship in the morning and went to grab some brekkie (that’s breakfast in OZ-speak) and made my way to the Sydney Opera House for the last time to get some free internet. It was around 9:30am, the city was bustling with people going to work, school, touring the streets and buying souvenirs and the sun was shining down, puffy white clouds lined the sky, and the warm breeze made me feel insanely happy. I walked around the harbor to the Opera House, listening to music and soaking up the atmosphere surrounding me, feeling truly blessed to be able to say that I’ve been to this magical city more than once—which is something most will only ever dream of. I said goodbye to a guy who had become a really good friend since I signed on, Nick, and when I got back on board I had two free treatments (a skin detox and acupuncture) from the spa on board because they needed people for demonstrations as guests for the next cruise made their way around the ship.
I went up to the outer decks that night as we sailed away from Sydney around 6:30pm and the sky was already dark and the lights of the city were sparkling. Nick and Mark (the PM fill) were on the pier waving goodbye as the ship pulled away from the dock, and I will admit that I did cry a little bit, saying goodbye to Nick and to Australia, a place I’ve more-or-less called home for the better part of 6 months. Nonetheless, the ship carried on sailing, and after two days at sea we arrived in Auckland, New Zealand on Easter Sunday to stay overnight. I got off in the morning, found some internet, but nothing too exciting happened because most things were closed due to the holiday, but on Monday I went back out, did some more “interneting” and some last-minute retail therapy—including buying the 2nd book in the “Hunger Games” series. I know it’s for young adults, but, just like the “Twilight” series—it’s an easy and entertaining read!
We left Auckland and we’ve been at sea now for 2 days, going on our third. We have one more to go after this (making 4 total sea days) until we get to Papeete, Tahiti where we stay from 2:00pm to 11:30pm. To keep ourselves busy on these long days, we’ve been playing a lot of games (Killer Bunnies) and watching lots of TV. A bunch of us from the Cruise Division actually ended up playing in an all-crew game of “The Amazing Race” tonight, which was really fun but too short-lived. Later in the cruise (the night of Papeete) there’s a tug-of-war game organized and our team is going to be AMAZING, then after the Tahitian ports the Cruise division is responsible for putting together an all crew party on the sports deck which will include the Rockwall, the Sports Court for basketball/hockey/soccer and then after midnight it will be a dance floor, and I think we will also have the kid’s water slide open. Gonna be awesome!
So, hopefully this time will all fly by, I just need to keep busy. I’ve put my big duffle bag up in the dressing room and have been throwing things into it that I won’t need for the rest of the cruise (like long-sleeved shirts and such) and I have no clue how I am going to fit everything!!! It is going to take some creative packing and probably a lot of “does anybody want this?” in order to make it work, but, it has to, so, it will!
In the meantime, while I slowly pack and organize things, I am fighting a wee cold, which will hopefully quit me before I get on a plane to come home. Fingers crossed!
I love you all very much!
Xoxoxox
B
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