A very slow start to the day as Martin has just made a huge discovery. He was happily drinking Coors light beer thinking that light meant 2.5% alcohol volume like Fosters light Ice, Hahn Premium Light or Cascade Light which is what he drinks at home. Almost water, he can sit on these all day. However Coors light is 4.6% and after a happy hour or three at Lulu's, plus a six pack in the evening over cards and tea, his judgement and inhibition was all gone by 10pm so heavy beers, shots and whiskey followed until 11pm and curfew. Suffice it to say today he is a little worse for wear and activity had not commenced until 12-30pm today. The Honolulu zoo is almost opposite Lemon Road on Kahalulu Ave, so we wandered over the ... read more

Sunday funday all day. Another leisurely start to the day with a late breakfast of cereal, the company of Paul a young English soldier and a quick dash to St Augustines for 10am mass. This church sits right on the Waikiki strip nestled amongst the high rises, restaurants and shops. Stunning music delivered by guitarists, 3 male voices lots of harmony and all the hymns were ones we do at home too. Lots of beautiful congregational singing. The priest was a Hawaiian native, and gave the final blessing in Hawaiian. Returning along the avenue on the beach there were lots of police cars and traffic diversions, an enquiry told me it was going to be a parade. No one seemed really confident about what sort so I grabbed Martin and we found shady seats. Cars drove ... read more

Today was huge in fact it was 30 hours of huge. Getting up at 5am Australian time Friday 7th, driving the 1 hour to Proserpine airport from Mackay, waiting for our delayed Jetstar flight to Brisbane and then the hanging around until 6pm to depart Australia direct to Honolulu. Gotta love airport food and drink, almost $100- spent today just hanging out and eating and drinking. Pick the terrorist today, 2 gunpowder swaps in Proserpine, and a full body scan in Brisbane. So after a 9 hour flight we arrived 7-30am Friday the 7th USA time. ( this was 3am Saturday Australia) which is no problem when you can sleep on a plane, and a huge problem for Martin who only sleeps luxuriously tucked up in a real bed.And guess who got pulled aside for a ... read more

Thursday-Day Six Muroran- near Sapporo Setting the alarm for 7am feels all wrong on holidays but it's a shore day so best not waste it. We dined in the Carmen dining room deck 3 with 2 other Australian couples who complained about the terrible coffee on board, the terrible service when they had to get to the ship from Beijing, and the terrible tours they have taken. Some people are hard to please. We really had no idea of what to expect today, people were saying there was nothing to see and best get the train to Sapporo, and others just walked around the quay area and surrounding countryside unwilling to spend on either a tour or a train to somewhere. We shared a taxi with a German solo traveller and got to the ... read more

Wednesday- Day Twelve Sailing from Busan South Korea to Tianjin China in the Korean strait and Yellow sea. 2am this morning our clocks went back an hour to get us back to China time, so at 7am I had run out of sleep and we were ready for breakfast before 8am. We thought dining at Carmen's today would be nice with fresh pastries, tomato juice, omelets, and nice fruit on offer which is not available in the casual dining area. Little did we know we were to experience something akin to Fawlty Towers. 45 minute wait for cooked food, all without some ingredient we had ordered, and the waiter wiping his brow, looking harassed and finally telling us "the kitchen had fallen to pieces". Not sure what had happened but by 9-30am we gave ... read more