11th November
There was a choir at the dock and more groups of singers at our other stops during the morning. We had a quiet afternoon, then went to trivia after John went to the gym.
The shuttle picked us up about 10.50 am on Saturday to take us to White Bay to join the Sun Princess. I didn’t have a lot to do earlier as we had bags packed etc in good time. The shuttle made it to the cruise terminal by 12 or so and we had a quick check in before boarding in time for the buffet lunch after a quick look at our cabin.
White Bay isn’t the prettiest of spots to sail from but it gave us a different aspect of Sydney Harbour and this ship sailed under the Harbour Bridge so John and I were on our balcony as we sailed to enjoy the late afternoon bustle of small and large vessels coming and going. It’s quite exciting to watch the tugs do what they do best and people wave from the boats as we sail past them.
Safety drill is mandatory and is held before we sail, even though we had an easy afternoon both of us were tired. We ended up ordering room service and having an early night. Telstra reception continued well after we sailed but when it was still operating this morning I was a bit hesitant to use it as my roaming was off but I read that some people were getting charged anyway from service providers. I’ll make do with no internet as the ship’s internet is expensive and we need a few trips to get it free.
12th November.
John was up early as usual, 4.30 am but lucky for me he went back to sleep, before going out to the buffet for toast and juice, then going to the gym. He joined me later in the dining room when I had breakfast. We filled the morning looking around the ship🚢
I skipped lunch as I had morning coffee and cake. We attended a meeting for first time travellers on the Princess and had a snooze then decided we will go to dinner before the show later featuring a comedian.
Dinner was lovely, we shared a table with four couples and enjoyed their company. We missed the first show in the theatre and sat in the bar to listen to a female singer guitarist until it was time to attend the second show. Unfortunately I only lasted for about ten minutes as I felt sick so decided to call it a night while John stayed. I took a stemital and felt better in the morning although I skipped breakfast.
13th November
Our second full day at sea. We attended a talk in the islands we will be seeing this week. We also went to two lots of trivia during the day.
John decided he wanted to see the War of the Planet of the Apes after dinner ( we ordered 🍕 pizza through room service) while I took photos of the champagne cascade, a tradition on Princess cruises. It was formal night onboard but as John didn’t want to pack a dinner jacket etc I’m happy doing anything and I will have the opportunity during the next cruise with Elaine and Bob to get dressed up if I want to.
14th November
John usually has early breakfast and goes to the gym while I try and get back to sleep. We then go to the dining room for my breakfast and coffee and pancakes for John. We will have room service on the next few mornings before our excursions in port. Tomorrow will be our first New Guinea sighting, Alotau. We went to a talk on Rabaul after breakfast. Rabaul will be our fourth port. We had leftover pizza for lunch on the balcony.
John went to a talk on future cruising which was Alaska, even though we have been there he was interested to hear about this beautiful area again. I decided to spend time in the room.
Trivia was fun, we do so much better playing in a team. Today we played with three ladies, one lady had attended Mount Saint Benedict’s, Kath and Bec’s school, she was a bit older. We did well, our score 17 out of 22.
One question was “what do you call a pregnant goldfish?” The answer, “twit”; we got it wrong. 😃
We both enjoyed the evening, a dinner and a show.
November 15th
Alotau PNG
Our first glimpse of land when we woke at 5.30 am was a low range of hills in the distance covered in mist. Then as the sun appeared, a rainbow, more green hills and a town. Alotau has a population of approximately 75,000 and is the gateway to some of the most remoteisland communities remaining in the world today. It is where the battle of Milne Bay took place in 1942, a significant time in Australian war history. It has a lovely Harbour and waterfront town.
Princess cruises offered an excursion to the cultural festival which John and I had booked on. It was very hot and humid, but a great chance for us to see another culture and enjoy the different dancing groups. The children are very cute and the adults friendly. There were souvenir markets and a cafe, we bought a few souvenirs, but we stuck to our decision not to eat while off the ship. Typhoid, malaria and other tropical diseases are rampant in the tropics. We were off the ship for about two and a half hours. Frequent shuttle buses made sure that we all got back to the ship. It was a long way from the ship to the town, so glad we didn’t have to walk in the heat. Some people started walking but turned back in the high humidity and heat. Alotau is near the Equator, Rabaul will be even closer.
John and I came back into the air conditioning and enjoyed lunch before having an afternoon sleep.
November 16th
Doini Island
Our shared table at dinner was interesting last night. A guy on board, Peter, does war history talks while at sea and he was entertaining and enjoyed roasting the American couple from Kentucky from everyone and everything American. Trump being the main subject. Lucky they weren’t fans of Trump because he could have been in deep water and might have found himself with two less dinner companions. John has his card and we will find out if our Probus group has had him as a speaker before. We couldn’t remember and neither could he.
Doini Island is a little gem. It has a population of about 100 with local tribes coming in from neighbouring islands on days that the cruise ships are in. There is no infrastructure. A short tender ride from the ship bought us to a small wharf and a large shady building with a live local band playing and a cafe. As we strolled along the beachfront we heard local groups singing and dancing. Plenty of handmade wooden bowls, shells and brightly coloured clothing were available to buy and even a cuss cuss possum to have your photo taken with. The local PNG money, Kina,is roughly worth half of our dollar. Local school communities were asking for donations while the children brightly dressed in tribal costumes danced as we past. John had a swim in the crystal clear water, the whole experience on the island was uplifting. We stayed for about three hours until the heat and humidity got to us. Good to get the tender back to the ship and into the air conditioning again.
John and I have discovered that room service has its advantages, especially on excursion mornings, it’s good that I don’t have to battle the crowds at the buffet or get dressed up for the dining room. We have used room service for a quiet afternoon tea on the balcony if it’s not too hot to sit out. Pizza via room service is handy too and we have used it once so far for dinner. Most nights we go to the dining room and it gives us a chance to meet our fellow passengers. We went for anytime dining but one of the other dining rooms have set meal times for ones who want that.
We have enjoyed our balcony. Especially coming into a port or leaving one. So far the seas have been kind, very calm so hoping that’s the case for the remainder of the cruise.
November 17th
Kitava Island
The Sun Princess sailed overnight to Kitava Island another gorgeous part of PNG. With a population of 3,000 Kitava is noted as one of the last places on earth where dietary habits from the original inhabitants are virtually unchanged. Scientists claim that these Island natives have no obesity or dementia. Their diet of fruit, vegetables, fish and coconuts is said to be the healthiest on the planet.
We arrived by tender, just a short ride from the ship to more of the friendliest people we have met. John and I did the short walk to the Skull Caves, paying the guides a small fee. The children have the day off school when the cruise ship comes in. One little guy of about ten carried my bag and helped me up the steep path to the cave where we were told the ancestors were. There were certainly skulls there from the 1920’s onother guide at the site told us.
John had a swim in the clear water, I sat on a log and chatted to one of the local women and her four little girls. They even put a fresh banana leaf on the log for me to sit on. John joined us and I asked the girls’ names. I thought I had heard one was Pamela, Rosaleen the mother said one of their school books had been written by a “Pamela” so she wanted her daughter named that if she ever had a daughter. I told her my name was Pamela but I am called Pam or Pammy so immediately she said she was going to rename one of her daughters “Pammy” instead of her name of Nerrileen because she liked it better 😀 There are only three Pamela’s on the Island. Of the four daughters only two live with her. Her mother adopted one and the mother in law adopted the other. Of course it wouldn’t be done legally as we know it.
Rosaleen is kept busy in her garden, growing yams, bananas, 🍍 pineapples etc. Yam houses are a sign of wealth in the Kitava culture.
These Island tribes don’t believe that pregnancy occurs from sexual intercourse. They believe in some magic intervention.
There are four elementary schools on Kitava, English is taught as the children get older but the little ones with Rosaleen only spoke the local dialect. We were told the children had no paper to write on, they used their hands to record lessons. Groups of children sang and danced alongside donation boxes. Alotau, two days boat ride away is their closest town. Outrigger canoes were carrying passengers over to a smaller island for a fee, after I saw kids bailing water out out of the bottom of the boats I declined any offers to climb in.
There were lots of markets with wood carvings, fabric, woven baskets and of course fruit and coconuts for sale along one of the most stunning beachfronts I have seen. John bought a wooden fish and stingray and for me a bird of paradise necklace, also wood.
We were on Kitava for about three hours, again very hot and humid so it was a relief to come back to air conditioning and enjoy a coffee.
We were both very lazy the rest of the day and stayed in the cabin, ordering afternoon tea and dinner from Room Service and watching a movie.
November 18th
Rabaul
After leaving Kitava, I saw a large bird on our balcony but by the time I opened the door it had disappeared under the gap in the next balcony but appeared again on our balcony in the morning. It wasn’t flying and seem injured. One of the crew removed it. It was white with some black feathers and a long tail. I’ll see if I can find out what type of bird it is.
Rabaul is situated on Simpson Harbor with a large population and over 700 indigenous languages. It is independent but had German and Australian possession before gaining independence in 1975. The city has had two catastrophic volcano eruptions, in 1937 and 1994.
Our guide on our excursion,Willy, was a 20 year old student about to study primary school teaching. He kept saying “excuse me Ladies and gentlemen” when he was about to tell us something on the history of Rabaul. Our driver was Nelson.(Willy Nelson 😀)We were in a small van,
thank goodness it had air conditioning because we were again having a very hot humid day. We visited several interesting sites and views during our three hour tour, including a lookout, hot springs, the old airport and a catholic school.
There was a choir at the dock and more groups of singers at our other stops during the morning. We had a quiet afternoon, then went to trivia after John went to the gym.
We saw a good Scottish comedian, David Moore before dinner, he also plays the piano. We had a good laugh.
November 19th
Kiriwina Island
Another tender port too good to miss was Kiriwina Island, an overnight trip from Rabaul. A bigger population than the other islands, I think everyone who lives there comes out when it’s a cruise ship day. One woman told us she would take us to her village for a donation but after walking in the heat for twenty minutes and still no sign of the village so we turned back. We had a stop at her Aunty’s hut and saw an enormous pig trying to stay cool under the hut. Her estimate was a two minute walk to her village, which we realised was Island time! Again, local school children sang and danced for us as we passed by. We have noticed on each island the red teeth and mouths of the natives. Beetle nuts are ground to a powder and mixed with a couple of other ingredients, it seems to give them the ‘energy’to work in their gardens etc. I’ll google beetle nut when I get home and investigate it further.
John spent the rest of his Kina money on a couple of nice wooden souvenirs and I got a little handmade canoe. Of course it was the last day to use the local money and I had left mine back on the ship 😏Luckily we didn’t change much money into Kina.
We stayed about two hours on the island before the heat got to us and we came back to the ship. That had been our last tender port as our next stop is Honiara in the Solomons on Tuesday. We didn’t book a tour from the ship, but might get a local one. Today is a sea day so we will go to trivia, read, look in the onboard shops, have a coffee and relax. We have a voucher for one of the speciality restaurants we will use one night before we arrive in Brisbane on Friday. It came as a bonus when we booked this cruise.
November 21st
Honiara Solomon Islands
The ship docked at 7am, passengers were allowed off after that. John and I hadn’t booked a city tour which in hindsight we probably should have as we didn’t enjoy just getting the shuttle bus into the town. It’s dirty and lots of traffic along with little to see. We came back and looked at the markets on the pier right where the gangway was to return onboard. We have quite a collection of wooden souvenirs which we hope pass inspection on arriving home.
Tomorrow is one of the sea days before Brisbane, so four border control police are boarding the ship here and processing our immigration during the day. We all have appointments deck by deck to present passports etc.
We have booked our speciality restaurant for Thursday night, we have a voucher which we got as part of our booking on this cruise.
John and I have enjoyed a quiet afternoon, getting too used to this cruising. I’m looking forward to getting my mobile reception back at Brisbane to check on the family. I have survived not being online for most of the cruise, happy though when I see that Telstra symbol come back.
It’s been handy to check tours and account details on the free wifi onboard but nothing else unless you pay a lot for internet.
November 22
Day at Sea 1
A quiet day for us, the ship rocked a bit through the night as we made our way south and continued the same today. John was out of sorts and spent much of the day in bed feeling sick and washed out. I gave him half a stemital which got him over the nausea but made him sleep. We both had to go down to get our re entry immigration checked out, after that John went back to bed. I went out again for lunch at the buffet but read and slept away the afternoon myself.
It’s formal night onboard, of course we hadn’t planned on going but hoping we make it to our meal in the Steakhouse tomorrow night. I’ll order room service dinner tonight.
Another day at sea tomorrow but hoping we get out to Trivia etc.
November 23rd
Day at Sea 2
My turn to feel off this morning but a cup of tea seemed to fix that. John is ok today and had a hearty breakfast but I only had a small piece of a crossaint until I ate the rest of it in the Princess Theatre watching a talk on Brisbane by Dave Upton and the following talk by Peter Sweeney on the Bombing of Northern Australia during WW2 including Darwin, Broome and Katherine.
There is a movie trivia on this afternoon as well as the general knowledge one.
November 24th
Brisbane
We were awake very early in anticipation of our last port, Brisbane. The ship docked at the mouth of the Brisbane River at the Grain Terminal, about 25 klms from Brisbane City. Lovely to be back in Australia and to have mobile reception after nearly two weeks without any. John and I had booked on a city tour with a river lunch cruise. We don’t go to Brisbane usually so after many years we enjoyed seeing the city and lunch was very pleasant on the river. It was a bit of a walk off the ship to the waiting coach, we had an informative guide and driver.
By the time we got back to the ship at 4pm we were tired so had room service for dinner instead of going to the dining room. The ship sailed about 6 pm. We have another day at sea before finishing the cruise in Sydney on Sunday morning.
November 25th
Day at Sea
Bags have to be packed today and outside our room by 9pm. We got into the packing early to get it done. John is happy that the cricket is live on the sports channel in the room. We went to trivia after breakfast and had a coffee in the Atrium lounge before the cricket started. I decided to have lunch in the dining room, John to the buffet when the cricket breaks for lunch. We went for anytime dining which has turned out good for us. We usually share a table with others at night as it’s good to mix with other passengers who we probably will never see again. Lots of people come from Sydney and others states, a few we have met live in Newcastle and the Central Coast, closer to us. We have met a few Americans but the majority are Australians. This cruise ends in Sydney, however some are backing up for the next one to New Zealand going out tomorrow night. We have liked the Sun Princess, our next cruise to Fiji in April with Elaine and Bob is also on this ship.
Tonight we will have dinner at the buffet and have an early night. I want to be up at first light for our entry into Sydney Harbour.
New Guinea was a humbling experience in lots of ways to see how the islanders are still living as their ancestors did. A simple lifestyle with little material possessions and a basic diet. The friendliest people you would ever find, but exploited for the tourists benefit too much. We usually asked before we took photos of anyone or donated money for schools as most have no paper to write on. One guy told us he visited a school where the kids were writing on their hands. I was sorry we hadn’t taken some exercise books, I saw some had donated pencils. One school room I went into had basic desks and bench seats that Australia probably had in the 20’s. Along with the extreme heat and humidity, school days would be pretty unbearable but accepted no doubt as the norm for the island kids. These PNG islands are very isolated. When the cruise ship comes in the people arrive in their canoes from surrounding islands with their goods to sell and do cultural dances for the tourists.
We will be happy to be home again but enriched for the experience.
