A Cruise and an Island... No we weren't shipwrecked..

This is a little picture of us in front of the Ship Pacific Jewel.
It was very exciting to see how big the ship really was.
(We were, I'd say, at least "half a mile" from the ship to get
 at most, half of the ship in the photo.)

This is my photo journal of photos from the P&O Moreton Island Cruise! (Photos are more or less in order.)

To find out that we were going on a cruise, was, well, I'm not sure but it definitely beyond exciting! We had seven days notice by the time Dad sprung the surprise on us. On Sunday we travelled to Sydney were we slept over at my Aunty Leanne's and Uncle Dan's house and then the next day, we caught two trains to Circular Quay ('Quay' is pronounced 'Key'). On arrival at the Quay, we found the Pacific Jewel (wasn't difficult.) we dropped our luggage off at the 'Luggage Drop-Off ' and then proceeded to join the really, really, REALLY long line. After a while, we finally boarded the ship. I was practically trembling with excitement, We were on a Cruise ship! A big giant Cruise ship! Before boarding I had been issued an ID card (in case I forgot who I was. Very handy) and an we purchased a Lanyard so I didn't lose my new card. We then proceeded to go to the lunch buffet. I love buffets! This is what I had the first day;  Caesar Salad, pasta, two jellies and a few pastries. Is your mouth watering yet? No? At dinner I had, one bread roll with butter, veal tortellini with pistachio purée and last but not least! Cherry Crème Brulee!  I bet your mouth is watering now! (mine is...).

Thing Two dancing like a Maniac.

We were summoned from lunch for the mandatory emergency drill. I was forced to pay attention in order to answer Nana's quizzes. After the emergency drill there was a 'Sail Away Party'. There was blasting music with nearly everyone dancing (especially my little party-girl sister). After the party some of us continued exploring while the others headed back to the cabins. If you look at the picture closely, you will notice that the water in the pool is higher on one side than the other side due to the ship rocking slightly. I remember wanting to swim in it while it was doing that.

Thing One and I acting like posh ladies

This was my very first Crème Brulee.
And by far it shall not be the last.

At 6:00 pm we gathered for dinner at the 'posh' Waterfront Restaurant  and I was slightly baffled when I was told to order my own meal and that I could choose anything that I wanted (e.g, I could've ordered 3 pumpkin soups and 20 crème brulees...). Thing One and I pretended to be posh ladies while ordering and eating  our meals. Until, that is, the Crème Brulee arrived. Then it was all hands on deck, I was not, I repeat, was not; letting anyone have it.... For it was MY Crème Brulee!

THE NEXT DAY.....

The next day I woke up to seeing the waves out the circular window (aka, porthole). I was about to fall back asleep when it clicked in, "I wonder what treasures were held in the buffet for breakfast?" turns out, I only had; one piece of bacon, a bread roll and maybe a thousand delicious pastries or so. 

After breakfast I decided to go to the HQ program for tweens and teens. It was slightly boring at first but then I noticed one the the ladies was making a crepe paper rose, it looked like fun so I asked her if she could teach me to make one. So I sat and watched and copied, sadly, I didn't finish it before Dad came and took me to the jewellery sale where I bought a very pretty little dragon-fly necklace. I also liked the ladybird and dolphin necklaces, but Dad and I both thought the Dragon-fly was the nicest one there.

The pretty Dragon-Fly necklace.

Afterwards, we headed back to the cabin to meet the others so we could all go to lunch together. During lunch Thing One, Thing Two and I were all trying convince Mum and Dad that we needed to go swimming (because there was two pools and a two spas on the ship.) We kids won the debate and hurried to the cabins to get our togs on. We stopped for a moment, our attention caught by the the sight of dolphins playing in the waves, when they left, we headed to the top deck for our swim, sadly the pool water was below freezing. Never fear! We'll just go to the warm spa! It turned out there was already kids in the spa. Now if you were reading this properly you would have said "Hang on! You said there was two spas!"  You are correct, there was two spas but only one was working. Luckily though, Thing One knew one of the girls in the working spa so things weren't as awkward as I presumed.

(Right to Left) Thing One, Thing Two, Zach and I in the warm Spa.

Some of the boys would be in the spa for a short time and then rush out and jump into the freezing water, after watching them do this numerous times, I decided not to let them hog all the fun (as boys often do.) and jumped into the freezing water myself... It was very cold. After that I raced back to the warmth of the spa. I found if you would jump in more than two times in a row you would not be able to walk in a straight line... I also found in doing the cold water/warm water routine, I wouldn't be able to feel my legs as I walked back to the spa (I had to keep looking down to make sure my legs were still there.). As soon as I got into the spa, my legs would start stinging... But it was a good kind of sting.

Juggling Expert

Afterwards at 6:00 pm we all headed to dinner at Waterfront, I ordered Crème Brulee again etc....

He was spinning a table on his feet! 

After dinner we went to a circus! Sadly it wasn't one with a real elephant, it was just acrobats in the circus. It was really entertaining though!

Probably the most interesting trapeze act I've ever seen.

THE NEXT DAY AFTER THAT......

Us kids waiting for the 20 minute ride to shore. 

And again I woke up to see the waves going past (it was a slightly overcast day) only this time, there was an Island! Excited to board a small boat to Moreton Island, we quickly had our breakfast and went down to get our tickets to go to the Island.

______________20 minutes skip____________

Two of the many Starfish on the Beach.

As we were disembarking I could see the fish through the water as clear as clean blue-green glass.We also saw starfish on the sand and lots of pelicans and pied cormorants!

Me posing in front of the Wrecks with my Butter-Brim

We met up with Aunty Claire and the cousins and made our way have lunch at a little cafe. Mum had a plate of oysters ('cause she likes them) while everyone else had pizza. After we finished, Dad Zach and Corey went to go and hire out a tinny (little motor boat) so we could go snorkeling and fishing over at the Wrecks. We walked around two hundred metres to get to 'the Wrecks' but it was a fun walk, I saw five puffer fish (deflated of course) and 3 little crabs which I wanted to catch but was held back by the fact that they do pinch. When we reached 'the Wrecks', I boarded the tinny with Corey, Dad and Zach and we headed out to snorkel. At first I thought snorkelling was going to be the best thing ever (and I still think so too!) but it turns out, you have to have a passion for deep water. I, (as I found out) do not. I was just getting into the water and swam a "metre" away from the boat when I made the horrible mistake of looking down. I could just barely see the bottom! I practically leapt out of the water and clung to the outside of the boat, bringing my feet as close to me as I could. Zach and Dad tried to release my 'limpet-hold' on the boat while telling me to 'give it another go.'... Nope I wasn't going back in. There was no possible way to coax me back in.They soon gave up and I got back into the boat and started my best fishing experience yet.

My one and only rainbow Zebra-Brim

I caught seven Butter-Brim fish and one Zebra-Brim plus Dad...

Corey and I in front of the Wrecks

3:00 pm came and we had to head back to the Pacific Jewel. We said good-bye to Aunty Clare and our cousins and started to walk to the jetty. Dad, of course steered us all towards the Souvenirs store to buys something to remind us of the Island... We girls bought a snow-globe each with little fish inside it (not real, of course).

This was a very brave act... You would have
to get your knots right, or you would be on the floor!

Being wet, cold, and sandy while on the little boat was really uncomfortable. Waiting in line was worse. But we did get back to our cabin eventually... I had a nice warm shower and changed into some decent warm clothes. We then went to dinner where I convinced Aunty Leanne to try the Crème Brulee. Afterwards we got to see the Circus's last act which was very interesting to watch.

The Table- Master became the juggling - Master.

Again these two were an interesting act.

The Juggling Expert became the Hoop Expert.

Another perfect ending for a perfect day....

AND THE DAY AFTER THAT....

I woke up to -once again- the waves and to my happiness it was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. After breakfast I decided to go to HQ again so I could make an short stop-motion animation... I had to write a script, take a picture of every single movement (and mouth movement!).. It not perfect, but I like it anyway.

I spent the whole day there just doing that one animation. During the day I could feel the ship rocking more and more, it turned out that we 'just happened' to be in rough seas (not really a surprise... The Captain had given everyone a heads up the night before. I was fully enjoying the rocking and loved going up and down the stairs in tune with the rocking. I was even more amused when I saw these photos:

The Perfect Pool... Stare at the picture for a few seconds and concentrate on it...
Does it look as if it is rocking?? 

Zach being such a awesome brother by
 actually smiling for the camera...

 And again we rallied at the cabins to go to dinner. Everyone (except me) was slightly sea sick. Poor Thing One was the worst, I wanted to have a photo of her looking absolutely tired and worn out -plus sick-, but I would then have to fear for my life... Everyone had something like soup, while I feasted upon a "mountain" of spaghetti plus a crème brulee (Mum only had two bites of a sticky date pudding.). It wasn't a very eventful night so I'll close here and hope you enjoyed this journal because the next day our holiday was over and we disembarked in Sydney.

Have a great day!

~Fanvedhil