Cobh Ireland

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15/07/14

Cobh Colleen had a good nights sleep her ear burst during the night so that is a good sign, she still has a hacking cough so is resting up today. Today is Australia Day in Cobh apparently they love us here, and have a full day of activities planned to coincide with our visit, from Irish bands and dancers, an Irish Baritone and the Army band of the 1^st Southern Brigade. A fellow passenger told me to make sure we are on deck for the sailaway as it is fantastic.

Cobh is the third largest city in Ireland behind Dublin and Belfast, and one of the reasons we are so popular is our past links with the 25,566 female convicts who were transported to Australia from 1788 to 1853. Today a ceremony called Roses from the Heart took place at the Cobh heritage centre this is where the local women folk dress up in traditional bonnets from the time as a memento to the female convicts. The bonnets also act as a memory to the women and children who died aboard the Neva which was shipwrecked off King’s Island.

A great day in Cobh I went to the Titanic museum and departure point from where the ill fated passengers left in 1912. There is still a part of the original wharf in place, where they had to catch the tender out to the ship. It is an interactive museum and when I was given my ticket I was listed as passenger James Kelly aged 42 3^rd class passenger, once you have been through the museum you can enter your passengers name to see whether they survived or not. I drowned. I then spent the rest of my free time in the park listening to all kinds of entertainment, and when I arrived back to our cabin there was a nice little surprise waiting for us in the form of the final account from the onboard medical centre, an account for $404.67 being the consultation and medication for Colleen. A complete and utter rip off, they must assume most passengers have travel insurance, and therefore can charge whatever they like.

What an unbelievable send off, the photos don’t do it justice, the amount of people waving Aussie flags and cheering seemed to go on forever. As we were leaving they even had a band on the wharf and they played Waltzing Matilda, and the national anthem, the last song they played was Anchors Away. We have been to some amazing ports on this trip but never have we seen a send off like this.

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Photos

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One of the many residents giving us a great sendoff

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Another view of the wharf on our departure

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Ladies in traditional dress from 1912 sending us off

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This is what is left of the original pier where the passengers caught the tender out to the Titanic