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.