The final ship....or is it, well for now it is definately!!

Well, wow, what can i say for once i'm bordering on speechless. You see 8 months ago i had an idea, well more like a thought about venuring further than i'd ever journeyed before. I suppose in truth the thoughts of travelling have been there since i left to join my first ship when i was 17.

So here is the break down for those of you who didnt know, realise or actually care that i'd done 10 years at sea!!

Carnival Cruise Lines 2000 - 2001
Festival Cruise Lines 2001 - 2002 (No Longer Trading)
Celebrity Cruise Lines 2002 - 2003
Spirit of Adventure Cruises 2005 - 2006 (A Subsidiary of Saga)
Fred Olsen Cruises 2006 - 2006
Thomson Cruises 2006 - 2007
Fred Olsen Cruises 2007 - 2009

In truth i actually signed onto the Carnival Victory a few days short of my 18th birthday, but looking back it's been an amazing journey which has seen me visit more countries than i've actually eaten hot dinners since September (Thats only because the mess on the Braemar takes pride in it's cold food haha)

So back to that thought i was waffling on about - well as you're probably aware myself and laura, well we are going down under for a few months - and no it has nothing to do with copping out of buying xmas presents haha, it might though have a little to do with everyone who has birthdays around xmas - what gives!!!!

So i enjoyed my last night of comfort in my own bed last night and i'm taking advantage of the last bit of wifi i'll have for a little whilst!!

Actually the title is slightly misleading as i'm mainly uploading this blog to bring you the last set of European images for some time now.

Still we leave tomorrow from Sheffield, heading in some style i might add on the mega bus for London Victoria, and ultimately the Sheraton Hotel at Heathrow. We have a night in London before we head to the airport and fly to Hong Kong where if all goes well we will have 7 hours wait until our connecting flight to Auckland.

Well we will be in New Zealand until the 5th April 2010 which is when we make our return journey to good ol' blighty.

In the mean time, we have the awesome trip to Sydney on xmas eve, where we will stay until Jan 3rd - exciting stuff, seriously sydney bridge, the harbour, of course we wanna see kangaroos and koalas.

Soooooooooooooo we will be in Auckland for those of you who are over there from the 9th - 12th and staying in the quadrant hotel before starting the journey upto the bay of Islands and ultimately the northernmost point, Cape Reinga....

After that we'll head back south again most likely stopping in the bay of islands again before heading to the bay of Plenty and to see my good old friend Tina Taylor!!!

Bring on the adventure - see you all soon and enjoy the new pictures from the last couple of cruises on the Braemar. It was nice to go back to where the Fred Olsen adventure began 2 years ago, but i'm looking forward to the next adventure......

Laters for now JD (and Laura)

I almost forgot to give a mention to Greg out in la coruna - it was good to see you bubba oh and to explain about the images in Santander - it started raining not even half way through the shoot and with weather not improving at all i decided to call it a day after only really shooting the bull ring. Its the way it goes sometimes - but that cruise was hampered by bad weather and itinerary changes and as such i didnt manage to get a great deal.

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