Journey’s end and a truly magical experience

Our 28 day voyage from Barcelona in Spain to Perth in Australia on the Queen Elizabeth was almost over – just one more stop to go – the beautiful island of Bali.

Our fellow travellers and boat buddies Sue and John were meeting their niece who was on holiday in Bali so we decided to have a quiet beach day.

Unlike all the other stops – where we came into port – in Bali we anchored out some way from land. This meant that the passengers going ashore had to be transported via lifeboat to the wharf.

Inevitably this took quite a bit longer than if we had disembarked at a cruise terminal so we didn’t get to shore until late morning.

After a wander around the area we’d been transported to we caught a taxi to the lovely beach in Sanur.

We literally just had a walk and a late lunch with a couple of beers and then it was time to pick up a taxi back to catch the boat back to the ship.

The sea had become quite choppy by this point and it took several attempts to get the lifeboat that we were in safely tied up alongside the Queen Elizabeth.

It was very hot and the big swell was very uncomfortable- some of the passengers started to look a little green!

Eventually after trying a number of times we were made it and we were all relieved to be safely on board again.

One of the things we most enjoyed on the cruise were the talks given by a variety of amazing individuals who had made a mark in the world in one way or another.

The last one of these remarkable people was the Olympian gold medalist and politician Nova Peris.

Nova Peris was the first Indigenous Australian to win an Olympic gold medal and the first female Indigenous federal parliamentarian.

Her story was very moving and inspirational and coming on the heels of the Voice referendum very topical. I wish those who had voted No had heard her speak – I think at least some would have been persuaded otherwise by her powerful “can do” mentality.

To hear how she felt so wretched after the No vote (she said she cried every day for two weeks) was painful – especially when she spoke of some of her young indigenous friends who had asked her why people had voted that way. “Don’t they like us?” one had said. Sadly not it seems.

However, Nova Peris told the audience that now she was looking at the positives – more than six million people voted Yes which means she and her fellow indigenous people have six million friends, six million people who “see her”.

We had a lovely celebration on the last day of the cruise – it was my birthday so we arranged to have lunch in one of the restaurants where you pay extra to have a more elaborate and special menu.

The service was very attentive but we were quite upset when the Maître D’ substituted a bottle of wine on the menu for a much younger vintage (without saying anything). It was particularly annoying when he insisted that the price would remain the same. We later looked on-line and found there was a very significant discrepancy in price – the replacement bottle being much cheaper than the bottle we chose from the menu. Big raspberry for Cunard!

However, we didn’t let it spoil the last day celebration – the birthday cake ordered by Jonathan was absolutely delicious and the waiters serenaded me very sweetly with their rendition of “happy birthday “!

One last game of Scrabble was played (the contest between Sue and me ended in a draw at ten all), and suddenly it was all over and we’d arrived in Perth.

What an incredible experience the cruise had been. So interesting and stimulating, indulgent and relaxing, we felt so grateful to Sue and John for inviting us along!

Sue and John had decided to spend a few days in WA but we opted to fly straight to Queensland to be with our son Ben and daughter-in-law Sarah.

It was wonderful to be back on Ben and Sarah’s 100-acre property and to be with them and the grand dogs again plus a delightful new addition – a rolly polly gold/red border collie pup named Indie. She’s just the cutest and cleverest little thing!

We had another celebration for my birthday and for our arrival which was very lovely.

More new additions at Ben and Sarah’s included four rescue ducks which due to their propensity for moving totally in sync with each other, we named the Spice girls (forgetting that there were actually five of them in the original group!). Poor Scary was left out but Posh, Sporty, Ginger and Baby settled in well with the seven other ducks in the family.

The duckies are so entertaining to watch. Each one has their own personality and idiosyncrasies and are very comical.

The run up to Christmas was a whirl of catching up with friends, family get togethers and celebrations.

One evening we went to a stunning light-fest at the Roma Street Parkland in the CBD of Brisbane. Called the Enchanted Garden, a captivating story about a mischievous Possum unfolded as we walked through the gardens with clues scattered about for children to follow.

The magical story was told using custom-made lighting, audio, special effects, light sculptures, high-powered lasers and interactive projections and holograms.

The photos don’t do these wonderful effects justice but it was a really fun and a truly magical experience!