Heading to New Zealand

I'm in Sydney once again! This past week I only got off the ship in one of our two ports due to rehearsals on the second port day. But the day I did get off was great - in Noumea, New Caledonia a half dozen of us braved the island's public trans to get ourselves to Duck Island, via city bus and water taxi. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we spent a nice day on the beach and snorkeling around the coral reef. Other than that one day, my whole week was spent on board, keeping entertained outside of work by hanging out with friends, playing board games, N64, and fooseball in the crew rec room. We all seem to be reaching a new comfort level with each other, choosing to spend our free time together rather than on our own whilst at sea. It certainly helps the days go by quickly. I can't believe how quickly Christmas is coming. I've decorated my cabin for the occasion, and even bought an advent calendar so I can count the days by eating a little piece of chocolate each day. Not a bad idea at all. :-)

Today we will begin our 14 day New Zealand cruise, something we've all been looking forward to for quite some time. Not only will we get to be in new places, but the ports and cities have much more to offer than the idyllic but undeveloped places we go in the South Pacific. We can't wait to explore some new cities. A couple of days will also just be spent cruising around some of the most scenic corners of the country, which should be really interesting as well.

A few days ago on board I met 3 people from Peru and we got to talking in Spanish at the crew bar.....somehow by the end of the night I had 3 new peruvian best friends and I had promised to visit them when I go see Machu Pichu someday, and also help all three of them with English. I love it when I get to meet interesting people like that.

Blue Suede Cruise

We just finished our charter cruise today, and it was quite a ride. The ship was full of partying rock-and-rollers, who loved dressing up and adored Elvis. They quite literally drank the ship dry, and a crew party had to be cancelled as a result, as well as bartenders working overtime and being drafted from crew areas to keep the guests happy. The bartenders are exhausted, but happy as they made hand over fist in tips this week.

We did end up having a very easy week, with a grand total of 2 rehearsals, one 10 minute recording session, one big band set, and 2 farewell shows on the last night. Because of bad weather we missed one of our 2 ports, which meant we had five sea days this week. It was a great week to have room service, and I enjoyed it a lot. :-) (I used a crew rewards card to get it for a week) I have been getting to know our new band members a bit more this week. Tim, our pianist, is from Connecticut, 24. Nick, our drummer, is from New Zealand, and is in his late 20's I think. They are both fierce MarioKart and MarioParty competitors, as is my Australian friend Tracy. We had a couple of late nights this week giving my Nintendo 64 a workout.

This week its back to business as usual, and I think we are all ready to be a bit busier again, playing shows and doing big band sets. It was nice to have a really easy week, but now I'm ready to have something to plan my days around. Back to work! This week we will be going back to the two South Pacific Islands we did last week, and then the cruise after that will be our first run to New Zealand. We can't wait!!