Colleen Watt

redwatt

Colleen Watt

My blog is a record of my memories that would otherwise be forgotten. They are too precious to be lost. It’s also to reassure our children that we are alive and well, exploring the world.



Oceans and Seas » Southern February 19th 2024

Cruise Day 3 - Mon 19 Feb Slept in till well after 7 - what a shock! We went downstairs for breakfast and requested, and given, a private table for 2. Tom had cereal, eggs Benedict and a Danish. I had smoked haddock poached in milk, smoked salmon on a beautiful bagel (not super dense like our supermarket ones), and a Danish. After brekkie we went up to the library and read the newspapers and did sudoku until it was time to go to the Carinthia Lounge for trivia. They decided to do riddles instead of general knowledge this morning (e.g. what is the end of everything? What do Winnie the Poo and Alexander the Great have in Common?). We were pleased with 15/20. After Tom attended a talk on the Australia II (Americas cup, decades ... read more
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Oceans and Seas » Southern February 18th 2024

Cruise Day 2 - Sun 18 Feb We slept really well on our gently rocking bed! When we awoke we were just south of Margaret River, rounding Cape Leeuwenhoek lighthouse just after 7am (so we were told). We had taken the quilt/doona out of its cover for the night, as is our usual routine, and left a note for Larry asking for a light blanket, so he remade our bed with a top sheet and light blanket. He’s a champion. We decided to select our brekkie from the buffet this morning - King’s Court. Beautifully cooked bacon (the way we like it Chari), eggs and tomatoes followed by some pineapple and melon pieces. Things are done so differently to minimise germ transference - they pass everything to us, including our utensils. They even squirt the tomato ... read more
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Oceans and Seas » Indian February 17th 2024

Today we boarded our ship, thanks to Sophie and Cory driving us to Fremantle docks. We offloaded our large suitcases and went upstairs to the waiting area. As we entered they called for all people with cards #18 to proceed to checkin - the lady at the door gave us #18, so there was no waiting. The checkin lady was a Perth lady who used to work for Qantas, but then she retired and she and her husband do this for Cunard about 12 times/year. From checkin we went to the next room which was security and X-ray machines. We were all ready to hand over the newly purchased Margaret River gins and Shiraz that we had EXTRA to our allocated one bottle of bubbly each (plus our bubbly stopper and two plastic crystal-look flutes). But ... read more
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Asia » Singapore » Changi March 28th 2023

We landed in Singapore at breakfast time and eventually got ourselves through immigration and security and all of that, with Shannon keeping a text checkup on our progress. We emerged from the airport just one hour after arrival, and caught a cab to our hotel, which is just down the road from Shannon and Aaron’s apartment. Shannon came down and joined us and we sat and chatted for a couple of hours before taking the time to shower and freshen up. Shannon took us to the area behind the buildings across the road, where we found a food market. We decided on spicy duck with noodles for lunch $3. Then we trundled down to their home with our cabin bags where we chatted some more with Aaron until the children came home from school. We all ... read more
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Well, all of our problems seem to come to the surface at Heathrow. After a lovely breakfast we tried to get the lift down to the Heathrow transfer trains - the lift wouldn’t work. So we found another lift that did work, only to find that the train platforms were closed and a bunch of security men standing around chatting, taking the time to briefly tell us the transfer train wasn’t working. I had the temerity to say “well how do you get to Terminal 2?” And they said the Piccadilly line, underground. So we turned and muttered a few choice words about Heathrow. One of the security guys must have realised we were strangers in a strange place and followed us, asking if we knew the way. We said we had no idea so he ... read more
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Well, what a HUGE day. We were up early this morning. We had told Sheila not to worry about brekky but that just distressed her, so she left a tray of cereal, fruit, yoghurt, toast and scones for us. We left at 6:30am and drove through ALL weather conditions to get to edinburgh airport to return the car before 1pm. We had rain, sleet and snow as well as brilliant sunshine requiring sunnies (Tom’s broke ages ago so he was wearing mine). it was a 6 hour drive with two stops for petrol. I guess because it’s a hybrid they figure you don’t need a big tank. We added up the kilometres Tom drove in the two cars - a total of 2642 kilometres! The Hertz lady thinks we covered everything and everywhere. Today was a ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Caithness County March 21st 2023

What a sad day, our last day of exploring in Scotland, for tomorrow we drive to edinburgh and fly to London. Caithness was bright and shiny. We drove through and around more town lands of my ancestors. Just Kirkstyle and Canisbay. A number of our Davidsons, Dunnets and Cormack lived in Kirkstyle over the years, and so many of our cousins are buried in Canisbay The Canisbay Kirk is the most northerly church on mainland Britain, and it looks out to the Orkney Islands. From 1959 until her death, the Queen Mother worshipped here, as her local parish church for her holiday home, Castle Mey. Now it belongs to King Charles (and is currently closed). Jan de Groot, the man who found John o’Groats is buried here, as are many, many of our distant cousins. We ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Caithness County March 20th 2023

We had another amazing breakfast by Sheila today (included in our tariff) - the food is delicious, but she has such a sense of style in the plating up. Her sons wedding happening in 3 weeks time has an amazing story. It was supposed to happen 3 years ago, but then they went into lockdown and it was postponed indefinitely. During the covid lockdowns they decided to continue with their plans for a family (hence the highchair at our table last night), but first off, Sheila tells us, during the lockdown her husband said “Sheila, I need you for an hour or so today”. She asked if she needed to get changed and he said no, we’ve got to go now and they drove off. She thought it was to see her son’s plot of land ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Caithness County March 19th 2023

Today was unexpectedly and very happily turned topsy turvy. We were about to head out this morning when Shannon instigated a full family face time, which was just lovely, especially as it is Mothers Day over here. So we all chatted for over an hour, catching up on everyone’s goings on. Then Sheila came in and offered us a chance to have a real meal with lots of vegies. We’d had a conversation about the lack of veggies in pub meals and all the local dining places are booked out for Mothers Day. Sheila’s son had a booking for today at a buffet, but his fiancée had her hens night last night and is not feeling up to dining out today, so they offered us their booking. So lucky!! So we abandoned our plans. Tom wanted ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Caithness County March 18th 2023

This accommodation includes brekkie delivered to our suite - and what a brekkie it was! We both chose porridge as a starter, then Tom had pancakes with bacon and maple syrup - I had smashed avocado on sourdough with smoked salmon - it was delightful. And we met Sylvia, a local who met and married John. She is just lovely and was so delighted that we’re on a family history jaunt. Our first engagement today was a gin distillery tour and tasting at the gin distillery 500 metres up the road at 11am. It was great. This distillery was started by a chemical engineer who wanted a change from working at the nuclear research station. They gave a gin and tonic to start, in the most elegant glass, and it was soooo smooth and lovely. Then ... read more
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