Last day. Arrived at Philip Island around lunch time. Tender was 30 min to shore so we decided not worth the time. Got some things done as I have internet access now.

Woke about 7.30. Breakfast at 8. Cloudy and misty – low visibility. No Internet so couldn’t do Fitgenes import.

Day at sea. Didn’t do a lot. Had left over cake of Mum’s at 3.00 with everybody on Deck 14. Dinner and show.

Woke about 6.30. Breakfast just after 7. Met family @ 9. Dad organised a mini-van to take 11 of us (Hunters / Hawkes, plus Aunty Lynette and Uncle Ray) for the day. Went to Richmond (old town) – I had us stop at a cheese factory on the way (tasted nice Whisky). Walked around Old Hobart Village (mini replica of Hobart from 1820’s). Pie at bakery for lunch. Went to Mt Wellington. Stopped enroute to eat lunch (cheese I bought from factory, bread I bought from bakery and ham and salami Julie bought in town). Beautiful view from top of Mt Wellington. Photos. Back to boat. Couple of beers and a swim. Watched push off from Hobart. Drinks @ 6 for Mum in Players Bar – all 19 of us. Then dinner at Crown Grill. Bed about midnight.

I slept better last night, but still not too well. The boat was rocking a lot, and whilst I wasn’t feeling sick, it was waking me up. We arrived at Port Arthur about 7am.

Kaoru and I got up and went for breakfast. We didn’t have a window view this time (must remember to ask for that) and were sharing with two other couples. I had much the same breakfast as yesterday.

Port Arthur – tender to land. Walked around.

Back to boat 12.30. Dining room was closed so ate at the International Cafe. Yummy pie and beer. All of us. Happy Birthday to Julie.

Kaoru and I went to 14th floor for cup of tea and back to our room. Had a sleep.

Went to trivia @ 4.
Mum and Dad’s room @ 5 for drinks and watched most of the sail in to Hobart.

Dinner @ 7.30. Same restaurant but extra table as Aunty Lynette and Uncle Ray, Leanne and Peter, plus Julie, Darren, David and Izzy joined us.

Watched the Hobart police force bagpipe band but no seats. Went to see a band in the room at the back of the ship, and then went to bed.

I didn’t sleep well during the night. I had continuous bad dreams which is strange for me. We got up, had a shower, and then went to breakfast. I ordered eggs benedict with salmon instead of bacon. It was a nice start to the trip. We were on a table of 4, so just 2 other people sitting with us. We barely got a word in, as she was quite a talker.

We wandered around, and went back to our room to do our teeth. Kaoru wanted to watch the movie under the stars – “Big Fish”. So I took her up to deck 14 and got her settled. I then went to the casino, as you get a $5 credit if you sit through the course. I saw Darren en route so he joined me. I then just passed the time until the draw at 12.15. By then I had found most people.

We wanted to go to lunch but couldn’t get in to the restaurant. There were no decisions really happening so Kaoru and I just headed off to get Pizza. Izzy came with us, even though we went the stairs (from Deck 5 to Deck 14). We found a table and not long after sitting down the others arrived. So we enjoyed lunch and had a chat. The others came up not long after, so once we had finished eating we went back to our room for a bit of a lie down.

At 2.00 I woke up, in time for Wineglass bay scenic cruising. We sat on our balcony and enjoyed the trip in, and were amazed at how the ship did a 540 degree turn, pretty much on the spot! It gave a chance for everybody on board to see the beach and both sides, and was quite an exercise. There was a roudy group on the balcony one deck down from us – that was Mum and Dad’s! It must’ve been terrible for other guests yesterday with all of us there.

We went to 4.00 trivia (Dad, Julie, Darren and I). Aunty Linda and Lorraine came a bit later to contribute, but we didn’t go well enough (14/20). There was more scenic cruising so we had some great views of the coastline as we sailed around. Kaoru and I went downstairs and had some cakes as a “pre-dinner” snack. These were free at the International Cafe. We assessed whether we would get a coffee card but decided it wasn’t really worth it for just us – unless Dad would be interested in some. We got a message from Dad that they were meeting for dinner at 6.45. So we went to our room, where I did some Japanese studying (not a lot) and we got our formal clothes on, in time to meet them outside the restaurant.

After getting to the front of the line, we were given a buzzer, and we got a drink to pass the time. By the time the drinks were served the buzzer went off so I paid and we went to our table. We had the same waiter as the previous night, by coincidence, which was great as he was an entertaining fellow – Michael. We had a great meal, and finished the wine from last night. With dessert we had irish cream shots, in collectable glasses.

After dinner we met Julie at the comedy show. He was a very entertaining comedian, and (luckily) we weren’t picked on being up the front row! After the show we rushed to the other end of the ship, in time to see the stage production “Born To Dance” – a show put on by the dancers which had interviews of famous dancers on it.

It was now 11.00 and we were pretty warn out. So Kaoru and I went to Deck 14 to get our cup of tea, and back to the room to call it a night.

We woke up this morning on the floor of our office. We had picked Aunty Linda up last night from Southern Cross station, and she stayed with us, due to the “surprise” to follow… so we had given her our bed and we slept on our camp mattress.

We started the day with our usual cooked breakfast and I got a bit of work done before Aunty Linda woke up. We pottered around the house until 12.30 when the bus pulled up with Mum, Dad, Julie, Darren, David, Izzy and Ethan. We put our bags in the trailor and Aunty Linda snuck around the front to say Hi to Mum. She was extremely surprised! We put our suitcases in the trailor, and off we drove to Port Melbourne.

Darren had arranged a wheel chair as he was still recovering from his recent strokes. So he was at the handicapped check in rather than the never-ending line. We asked if we could all check in, but when we said there were 10, they said No. Mum said “What about if one of us has a suite” – that changed their answer pretty quickly! So we were saved probably half an hour of standing in line!

Once checked in Kaoru and I walked towards the ship while the others sorted their things out. I heard a “Darryl”, and turned around and saw Aunty Lynette and Uncle Ray. They were two rows back so I rushed back to warn Dad, to try to get him to bring Mum through straight away so she didn’t see them. We then went through the Xray, where they queried our bag as it was full of drinks (2 champagne, 2 soda, 2 lemonade and 2 dry giner ale’s, plus a few loose cans). I said there were only the two bottles of alcohol and they let us through.

Once on board we found our room – we did the stairs, even with the heavy case of drinks. We were on Deck 11, and the entrance was Deck 5, so a bit of a way to go. We put the champagne in the fridge and then went for a wander around the ship. During our travels we bumped in to the other surprise guests (that Mum didn’t know about) – Barb and Geoff, and Rod and Sandra. We said g’day to them and then found the all day buffet for a nibble, where we found Darren, David and Ethan. That pretty much took us to “muster time”.

We went back to our room by 3.15, bumping in to Leanne and Peter Kelly on the way. Mum knew they were on board but we hadn’t seen them yet. We got our life vests and made our way to Muster Station C. We found Mum and Dad, and Julie and the family, so squeezed in with them. I could see Barb, Geoff, Rod and Sandra but only as I was looking for them. I didn’t see Aunty Lynnette and Uncle Ray so was confident Mum wouldn’t see them either. After our briefing Dad went to find the Matre’ D to arrange dinner for Mum’s birthday, while Kaoru and I kept Mum company. I saw Aunty Lynette leave the muster station but kept Mum looking away. After a while I got an “all clear” from Julie, and Dad had returned, so we walked up the stairs to Deck 10, to Mum and Dad’s room. Julie had decorated with “Happy Birthday” stickers so Mum had a bit of a surprise with that. But then she went out on the balcony where the others were, and she had yet another shock of her life!

We stayed in the room for an hour or so, enjoying a few champagnes and looking at the sail away from Melbourne. Barb, Geoff, Rod and Sandra left as they had booked for 5.45 dinner every night. The Hawkes left to arrange kids club, etc, and the rest of us stayed behind for a chat. Eventually we got changed and went to dinner about 7.00. It was just Mum, Dad, Aunty Linda, Lorraine, Kaoru and I, but even for 6 we were waiting in line for about 10 minutes, and then another 10 minutes for a table to be ready. By the time we were seated I was getting pretty hungry.

We ate dinner. I got a bottle of Pinot Noir to go with my steak, which was delicious. I had an apple strudle for dessert which was also great, and light. After dinner we bumped in to others, and went to the welcome show. We were introduced to the tour director and the dancers, and one of the acts (The Blues Brothers). But it was only about a 30 minute welcome. Everybody decided to call it a night, but Kaoru and I had a bit of a walk around the ship, ending up at the night club. We could see a ship off in the distance in the dark, which I’m presuming was the Spirit of Tasmania. The music at the night club was too loud though, and there wasn’t much of a crowd, so after a walk around we left. We got a cup of tea on our way back to the room, which we enjoyed on our balcony, and then called it a night.