Which was our first time cruising and hopefully not our last! Left Sydney on a Thursday and cruised to Moreton Island (just off Brisbane) spent Saturday on the Island, which is a National Park. Welcomed onshore by lifeguards, Band playing, tropical feel, sunshine, and holiday mood all round.
Had a Quad bike ride... (definetly not my thing) Michael enjoyed this and was in his element.
Also had a go at Segways, and travelled on them along the beach to where a natural breakwater had been made using old ship wrecks to provide a sheltered harbouring point for smaller craft.
The staff on board Pacific Pearl were wonderful and there was so much to do. We attended Art Lectures, Health and Lifestyle Information Sessions. Won a couple of small artworks.
we had won a rather large scene of a small township, which although it was lovely, was a piece which had been passed in at an art auction we attended that afternoon... it was ours and just had to be framed and shipped to us $550+ so we declined, as we do not have much wall space with our home being open plan, so we were offered these two smaller prints, and went to Big W on our return and framed them for around $25.
The shows on board were fantastic, we spent an evening Running away with the Circus, watched Gymnast and Acrobats with an amazing Laser Light Show. Listened to the Blue Brothers, there were big screens outside with movies, you could just lay on loungers and relax. We discovered the Lounge and reading room (I set a couple of bookcrossing books free there) The Meals were fabulous, it was truly a wonderful and relaxing time. Our Cabin Steward Rico was a delight, we were surprised to find a dog in our cabin on return from the Island trip.
Very creative our Rico, such a lovely person lives in the Phillipines and is actually an accountant, but the job with P&O is better paying, so he does several months on contract and then returns to his family for a short while before accepting another contract.
We arrived back in Sydney on the Monday and disembarked ship around 9am, took our cases to the airport and then did a bit of sightseeing around Sydney. Went back to Circular Quay and had a look around The Opera House concourse, The Botanical Gardens. Truly enjoyed our relaxing break.
