Westward Ho! – Week One, 3-8 July
Loving and leaving Moissac; Three Men in a Boat: Poms in Lycra at Pommevic; rainstorms, men at work and Le Carré Gourmand in Boé; time with the Thomsons in stormy Sérignac; fish & chips, football and FOMO in Buzet
Castelsarrasin Revisited, 21-22 June
Daughter Wendy had requested that we “go somewhere on the boat this time” – a clear reference to her last visit during September 2017. That was shortly after Karanja’s epic three-month journey from England to Calais and thence to the south of France – when Roy and I were not keen on going anywhere at all!
South Pacific Cruise – Part Five: Two Wet Islands
Fiji’s Dravuni Island and New Caledonia’s Maré Island were the last two stops of the cruise – and as luck would have it, the one was wetter than the other. Never mind! Tropical waters are warm, and so is tropical rain.
Bula, Dravuni Island!
I’m not sure whether the clouds, drizzle and eventual steady afternoon rain were a blessing or a curse: on the positive side, there were fewer cases of geriatric sunburn.
There’s no electricity here, and no cars; and, according to Heather from the shore excursion team, “they’re as fascinated by us as we are by them”. This is billed as the true remote Fijian island experience.
South Pacific Cruise – Part Four: Lautoka, Fiji
In Fiji,“Bula” means hello, and always gets a smile! Located on Viti Levu, Fiji’s largest island, Lautoka is also known as Sugar City. Like my home town Durban, its important Indian population descends from indentured labourers brought in during the second half of the nineteenth century to work in the sugarcane fields.
South Pacific Cruise – Part Three: Vanuatu
Waking up in Vanuatu’s Port Vila to a sight like this, no wonder I was itching to go ashore. In retrospect, I’d say this was the best stop on the Noordam’s South Pacific Island itinerary.
As you step off the gangway, you either go right to join one of the ship’s organised tours, or left to enter a market maze. Haggling is not part of the culture here: the price you see is the price you pay.
South Pacific Cruise – Part Two: Nouméa and Lifou
Annexed by the French in the 1840s and established as a penal colony, New Caledonia (or Nouvelle-Calédonie) is part of the French collectivity, and feels like a slice of France in the middle of the South Pacific.
Day 4: Nouméa
After two full days at sea, we woke up – that’s never too early, with Roy – to find ourselves moored at Nouméa, New Caledonia’s capital city, on Grand Terre island. Many of our 1,800-odd fellow passengers on the Noordam were already up, breakfasted, and streaming ashore.
South Pacific Cruise – Part One: Sail away from Sydney
After almost three lovely months with the family in Perth WA, Roy and I were ready for our 15-28 March getaway – a 13-night cruise on the HAL (Holland America Line) Noordam, round trip from Sydney to the South Pacific and back.
