Back Down Under

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Hmm…I guess it’s been just a little while since I last updated this thing. To the three of you who actually check it, I’m sorry. I’m down in Sydney again on a different ship then before; here’s a little update about what I’ve been up to the past couple months:

I left the Sun Princess at the end of October after three great months on board. I ended up having a month of down time at home where I didn’t do a whole lot except sleep, play video games and watch the Canucks. Then in mid-November (American Thanksgiving) I headed to Miami for a one week contract on the newest ship in the Princess fleet, the Ruby. We were supposed to visit Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Mexico and the Bahamas but had to skip the stop in Jamaica due to poor weather. There were two main highlights to that trip, the first being on the first night in Miami before I joined. There were about 12 seasonal staff joining and a few of us decided to grab a cab and head to South Beach to look around. Although we got there around 11:30pm/12am, we were there before the night life really got going down there (people were still eating dinner!) but we dipped our feet in the ocean and walked up and down the strip a couple times looking in a few stores, laughing at how much it was for a drink and being in awe of all the neon. Unfortunately the batteries in my camera were dead so I didn’t get any pictures. Second highlight of the trip was in Mexico, where a couple of the musicians on board and I decided to rent a car and head for the beach. The car we ended up getting was an old red VW bug convertible that I got to drive because it was a stick. It was a little scary driving down the nearly empty streets hoping that this car wouldn’t break down in the middle of nowhere.

Once I got back from the Ruby, I didn’t have another contract lined up and figured I was home for a while, including Christmas, and had started to look for some work with the city. Then, about three weeks before Christmas, Princess called and offered me 6 weeks on the Dawn Princess, based out of Sydney, but I had to decide right then and if I said yes, I’d be leaving 5 days later, thus missing the holidays at home.

Anyways, I took it. And here I am. So far we’ve done three different runs all very similar to each other and to my last run with the Sun - a couple stops in New Caledonia, a couple in Fiji and one in Vanuatu. Because I’d seen most of these ports before, there hasn’t been too many new experiences. Now that’s not to say that I haven’t been enjoying myself - once again the people on board have been awesome and there has been a lot of beach time! (which I’m sure everyone really wants to hear considering all the lovely snow that I missed out on) In fact, I got to spend Christmas day on what I consider the best beach in the world - Isle of Pines, New Caledonia. However, today we leave for a 13 day run that will take us to New Zealand; unfortunately this will be my last run before I come back home. But, from what I’ve heard from most of the people on board, this will be the best run of my 4, so I’ll get to leave on a high note and hopefully I’ll have some great pictures and stories by the time I get back.

Until then, here are some pictures from the past couple months. I hope everyone back home is having a good New Year and I’ll see you all soon.
Zach

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Photos

Grand Cayman
I needed a bottle of rum in my other hand

Cozumel
My Mexican Ferrari!

Cozumel
The Ruby at night

The Bahamas
Work was rough this day!

Manly Beach, Sydney
A Christmas tree with the palms

Lifou, New Caledonia
Christmas Eve

Isle of Pines, New Caledonia
Merry Christmas!