Tag: vacation

Posted in Nature activities, Queensland

Diving the Great Barrier Reef

Posted on by Oliver

As we wrote in one of our earlier posts, diving the Great Barrier Reef was one of the items that were on my Things-To-Do-In-Australia list. And, over the past three days, I have been able to do just that.

The one luxury accommodation we had booked on our Good-Bye-Australia trip was a 5-night stay on Heron Island. Sitting towards the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, it houses a luxury resort and a research station, as well as being home to a lot of coral, mantas, rays, sharks, turtles and a huge variety of other marine and avian life.

It was here that I was able to enjoy five dives – the first dives I have done in almost 10 years. Continue reading “Diving the Great Barrier Reef” →

Posted in Daily life, Pacific Ocean

Eat-Sleep-Cruise-Repeat

Posted on by Oliver

Eat-Sleep-Cruise-Repeat. That’s the motto on one of the T-shirts they sell in the gift shop on board and which a couple of people on board are wearing. And that’s pretty much what we are doing on any of the five days at sea we have on this cruise.

Our usual wake-up time for us is around 8am, which is pretty early by ship standards. – I actually managed a 7am once to go running around the promenade on deck 3, but that, I have to admit, was the exception rather than the rule. Another one for the “do better in 2017”-list.

Continue reading “Eat-Sleep-Cruise-Repeat” →

Posted in Daily life, Pacific Ocean

Noumea – first Landfall

Posted on by Oliver

After two days at sea with lots of food, a bit of rest and pretty good weather, we made our first landfall in Noumea, the main city of biggest island of New Caledonia. This was the first landfall of the cruise and also the only one without tendering (i.e. anchoring the ship out at sea and shuttling the guests in on some of the lifeboats).

But if we expected a big cruise terminal, we were mistaken. Instead, we got a piece of the quay wall in the container terminal. Continue reading “Noumea – first Landfall” →

Posted in Daily life, Pacific Ocean

Christmas vacation 2016

Posted on by Oliver

When I grew up, Christmas always followed the same rituals and traditions. The Adventskalender, the food on the 23rd, setting up the tree, the Christmas room being locked on the 24th, fondue and presents, everything was following the same script every year. And, since I really liked it that way, I was determined to follow the same path when I had kids.

Well, apart from the Adventskalendar, that didn’t really work out. Out of the last 5 years, I think we’ve had “the same” Christmas maybe twice. Instead we’ve been at my mothers place, been skiing and spent the day at the beach. And this year we’re doing something else again: we’re out on a cruise. Continue reading “Christmas vacation 2016” →

Posted in Daily life

Christmas 2016

Posted on by Oliver

A (just slightly late) Merry Christmas to everyone!

Christmas time is usually the time for family traditions, visiting relatives and eating lots and lots of food. Oh yes, and presents.

Not so much for us this year, as we only made it to 1 out of 4. And, no, it wasn’t the presents.

This year, Christmas for us happened on a boat, somewhere between New Caledonia and Australia, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We were on a cruise. (More about that later.) Continue reading “Christmas 2016” →

Posted in Tasmania, Travel

Tassie Day 1: Arrival

Posted on by Oliver

With the kids having their quarterly two-week break and me having an unexpected gap in my planing at work, we decided last minute, that a short vacation was in order. One of the places that was on our bucket list was Tasmania, and with flights being relatively affordable, the choice was an easy one.

So we booked the flights, added a camper-van, packed our bags and off we went.  Continue reading “Tassie Day 1: Arrival” →