Our second night aboard the Viking Magni was very comfortable. Our destination on the next day was Cologne. We had visited here before and had not booked any tours. Most of the other passengers alighted at Lons to do a walking tour of Cologne but we stayed on board. We happily read our books in the Lounge, watching the riverbanks slide by. By 12 most of the passengers had returned in time for lunch as we tied up just opposite the famous Cologne Cathedral. The weather was overcast and cool. We wondered where the hot summer had dissipated to, but we enjoyed our lunch on board. About 2-30 we decided to alight and see a little of the city. We were berthed near the huge Hollenzollern Bridge, on the opposite side of the river to the ... read more

On Thursday, after breakfast we waited for rush hour to be over. While in our room we watched as one of the large ketch exited through the swing gates at St Katherine's Docks right beneath our window. Fascinating!! Wethen walked to Tower Hill Underground and went into Picadilly via Embankment. Our main aim was to visit the three main books stores and stock up as books are so much cheaper here. Emerging into Piccadilly Circus made me feel like I was really in London!! We strolled along Picadilly to Waterstones which is huge. Here we found several titles. From there to Hatchard's a beautiful old book shop where we browsed and bought a few more. By this time we were feeling our age and so much walking was getting to us but we soldiered on to ... read more

On Saturday we arrived at our mooring outside Port Douglas. We weren't able to go ashore until after 10am. We went down for the morning quiz, (which we won again) and snaking through the Ocean Bar was a long queue waiting for tender tickets. I waited until it was near the end and then joined. We were still able to go in Group 4. After the quiz we watched as they launched the tenders and then noticed two large ferries coming from the mainland. Then we went into the bar to wait for our group to be called. It was not until about 11am that we got on board one of the larger boats and then it was a short ride to the wharf.It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the sunshine and the fresh ... read more

For the last four days we have not left the ship. The two scheduled stops at Exmouth and Kuri Bay were inaccessible to us. The first, Exmouth, was unable to be visited because the seas were too rough and the wind, too high for the tenders to be launched and then at Kuri Bay, the only people allowed on shore were those who had purchased shore excursions from the ship which were very expensive and we did not like the fact we were virtually held to ransom to buy one. So how have we been spending our time?T Quizzes!! Each day there are about 4 different trivia quizzes. On the first morning Fletcher and I won the first one with the grand prize of a water bottle and a bottle opener. At the second quiz, Janine ... read more

We flew to Perth on Virgin on Monday, 15th. I had booked this over a year ago and we were certainly looking forward to travelling again. The flight was smooth except as usual, they had run out of the toasted sandwiches we wanted for lunch. After arriving in Perth, we got a taxi into the Parmelia Hilton, arriving about 4pm. After checking in we went to the bar for some food and a drink or two. We had two small but delicious tacos and a glass or two of wine. We then walked up to the main street and found a bottle shop to get a couple of bottles for our room.We then rested for a while to watch the news and then went down to the dining room for dinner.This restaurant is called Samuel's so ... read more