Part 5 – Auckland to Cairns

On February 12th my ship arrived and Auckland and I met up with Mum and Dad. We had a nice day in the city, we had lunch, shopped and travelled up the Sky Tower. In all the ports we have been so lucky with wonderful weather.

It took us four sea days to get to Burnie, Tasmania. The first couple of days were a little choppy but the following two weren’t so bad. Because we are performing so infrequently we were thrilled that the schedule worked out that we performed our third production show ‘Rhythms of the City’ while Mum and Dad were on board. I’ve included a couple of photos of our opening costumes… I’m dressed as Miss Byrd and my finale costume.

In Burnie, we did a tour to the Ashgrove Cheese Factory, Launceston and the Tamar Valley. I’ve uploaded a photo of Mum and I at the vineyard we had lunch at in the Tamar Valley. That afternoon the Captain had invited us up to the bridge for sailaway which was fun. There are photos of Mum and Dad on the wings that are at the side of the bridge and of myself, Amanda and Nicole who is a singer from Melbourne who got on that day to travel with her partner til Cairns.

One sea day later we arrived in Sydney. I had a wonderful day with my wonderful husband and family. My best friend Belle, my uncle, aunties, cousins, brother and nephew came on for the day and the cast and I performed a show for them and their families that had come to visit them too.

Another sea day later we arrived in Brisbane. A lot of the cast had family come on for the day there too and I had my auntie Annette come on board also. We did a show for them all too. That afternoon I had some Australian retail time at a local Westfields stocking up on Aussie munchies for my cabin while I can.

We have just spent two days at sea. Yesterday Mum and I spent 4 hours watching the Oscars live. How awesome is Hugh Jackman!! I was pleased Heath Ledger got the Oscar for the Joker and really enjoyed Kate Winslet’s speech, she’s beautiful.

Today we are in Cairns, and Mum and Dad are leaving the ship which is sad. I’ve only 2 and a half weeks left onboard this ship now. On March 14 the cast and I get off and meet Chris in Hong Kong where we will spend 6 days there while we wait for the Royal Princess to arrive. On the Royal we are doing the second half of their world cruise.

I might get to update again before Hong Kong but I’ll see how I go.

Lots of love,
Jess xx