Australia
Sandridge Beach

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    • Day 75

      Ca va, ça vient

      March 19, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

      Oui, ça va, ça vient, car d'un jour à l'autre, d'une heure à l'autre, les infos nous arrivent - ou pas - ce qui ne fait qu'augmenter notre incertitude pour notre avenir. Non pas que nous craignions quoi que ce soit, mais nous aimerions quand même savoir où nous allons.

      En fin de matinée, nous sommes arrivés à Melbourne. De notre balcon, nous pouvons admirer un front de mer avec une très belle plage, des immeubles ou maisons classiques en première ligne, puis une ville moderne au nombreux gratte-ciels.

      Egalement un vaste port sur la partie ouest de la ville. Moins sympa que Sydney. Voilà, vous avez fait la visite de Melbourne, comme nous! A entrée du golfe, à droite comme à gauche, nous avons pu voir à l'horizon de grands nuages jaunâtres qui rappellent beaucoup la fumée des feux de forêts. Peut-être y en a-t-il encore?

      Revenons à nos moutons. Ce matin, sur internet, une déclaration d'hier du PDG de MSC qui déclare, entre autre, que tous les bateaux du groupe actuellement en mer poursuivraient leur navigation jusqu'au port d'arrivée prévu. Donc Marseille???

      Comme d'habitude, pas de commentaire.

      Bien sûr ce serait un peu long, mais c'est ce qui était prévu au départ et cela nous arrangerait de pouvoir garder nos baggages et de récupérer la voiture à Grasse. Et pendant que l'on est en mer, on a pas d'attestation à remplir pour naviguer et on est protégé. Donc priorité dans nos pensées à ceux qui sont dans des zones à risque.

      Donc, comme tous les jours en ce moment: A SUIVRE!
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    • Day 1

      Melbourne - Spirit Of Tasmania

      December 5, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

      Border closures rear their ugly head again! Well, threats of closures anyway. The South Australia Premier has been making noises about closing the border to Victoria because of the Omicron variant situation. We still want to head west on this trip so the decision was made to try to get to SA first and keep our options open. We could find no official advice about travelling through Victoria after leaving the Spirit so we dutifully filled out the entry permit information truthfully and were surprised to get the approvals back almost immediately.
      An overnight on the Spirit and this time everything was open on board. We pretended we were on a cruise again. Probably the closest we will get for a while. Dinner in the restaurant before heading off to bed for an early rise. Arrival in Melbourne at 6:00am Sunday morning to try to avoid traffic.
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    • Day 1

      Set Sail

      January 27, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

      It feels like we've been counting down this cruise forever, and here we are at sail date hardly able to believe we're off.

      It's our first overseas family trip. A 12 day cruise on the Carnival Spirit, departing at returning to Melbourne, touring four islands in New Caledonia. The allure of a flight free trip was heightened by our newfound baggage... a 20 month old and all the things he comes with. We'd be replacing our usual backpacks with four suitcases/duffle bags, a pram and two carry on backpacks.. so.much.luggage.

      We were dropped at the pier by my parents in a relatively hassle free affair.
      This was my ninth cruise, but first from my home city so I had no real idea about our port.
      This is our second experience with Carnival having traveled the Mediterranean on Carnival Sunshine back in 2013.

      Early impressions were honestly a little underwhelming. Spirit is a bit smaller and less grand than Sunshine, and notably less spectacular than Royal Caribbean ships - our usual preferred cruise line. Decks 2 and 3 contain the majority of bars, restaurants, the main dining room and theater and variety of shops.

      Decks 4-8 are generally state rooms and 9-10 the pools, buffet, gym and bars. There's a couple water-slides on the back of the ship as well. The pools are very small and kids under 4 aren't allowed in them so we'll see how we go with that.

      Our Balcony Stateroom is 5225. I'm actually really happy with it. It's spacious enough, with a largish, relatively secure private balcony. The doors are heavy to avoid little escapees. The bathroom is actually bigger than expected.

      It's been a big day for little fella with no naps.. We boarded around 2.30pm.
      He was happy as a clam and overwhelmed with excitement on boarding.. running around greeting everyone and pointing enthusiastically at everything. By the time the 5pm safety briefing rolled around he was getting grouchy and tired.. By 6-7 he was feral.. that worked alright in the end as he was sleeping in his pram by 8 so we could eat out at the restaurants which we intend to do as preference over the buffet bistro.

      The ship was delayed several hours (from 5pm to 8.30pm) for a broken lifeboat, so we started moving just as we were polishing off our steak and half a bottle of red.
      We chanced our luck at the 9.30 welcome show at the theater, Ryland snoozing in a wheelchair space but had to abandon that idea after 10 minutes when he woke and the show had started slowly anyway. We've now got a few days at sea to get Ryland adjusted and adapt to this new-style adventure.
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    • Day 12

      Disembark

      February 7, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

      Pulling open the drapes of our cabin today was less inspiring. Melbourne presented a dreary, foggy, overcast welcome. We were mostly packed and ready to go, just Rylands cot and a few bits and pieces to throw together.

      Time enough for one last breakfast, just, after how long and sketchy it was with service. The disembark process wasn't one of the best... slow, congested, disorganized. At least it gave Ryland some exercise time to have one last run around decks..

      Eventually we were off.. but with no trolleys or pick up access to the terminal I had to enter hulk/beast mode to pack-mule bags and Rylands cot to where dad was waiting with our car around 10am.

      We've enjoyed the trip overall, and glad we did it. Travelling with a young one was a real challenge and eye-opener but also very rewarding. We wouldn't prioritize cruising with Carnival again, nor prioritize the pacific/ same ports again. I feel like I need a holiday to recover from this holiday! (Though I've said that before!).

      We're proud and happy though that we can confidently say Ryland enjoyed himself. It was a great test/learning experience for him and I'm proud how adaptable, open, inquisitive, excited and fearless he was about everything. I feel things will get easier with him as he grows older. Overall trip review, probably a 6/10.

      Until next time, I'll look forward to our next adventure, when/wherever that may be.
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