MMDown Under

Which judges may I ask? Wherever you drive around country Australia, every little town has won the BEST PIE Competition. So us punters stop and try them!

That is sad news. I imagine you would have been very good at your business pre pedantic. Your daughters would have appreciated your help. Where to when you are off again?

Hi Eileen, Nobody could come up with that nam except you Good to see you back on CC. I thought of you when I was in Cairns pre cruise and hoped all was well with you.

Fish and chips in Cairns would have been nice. I tried three fish and chip shops in Cairns before my cruise, as I love tropical fish.

That is a shame Julie. It is always disappointing. The only thing worse is when the first group lands and they then stop further landings.

How wonderful for your wife to have a cousin in Finland. You will have a great time in Finland with their saunas, lakes, etc. I always love to visit local people who speak the language. I took a neighbour back to visit her elderly relatives scattered around Poland. It was an experience to remember with everyone speaking Polish. Each family put on a banquet of delicious home cooked Polish food and home made alcohol. You could spend a lifetime exploring Europe. When you are researching cruising Northern Europe consider Hurtigruten and Fred.Olsen who come from that Region. I have cruised with both.

I wish I wasn't a timid traveller, but I am. "Stans are off my to do list!"

Cruise ships are definitely more dangerous as it is the same big group of people mixing. There has to be a reason the length of cruises was shortened (with some passengers catching covid when they left the ship) or in the US passengers with covid were taken off the ship and put up in hotels for a period before they returned to the ship to continue their cruise. I now go to the theatre on land with full capacity and understand the risk, but there were only so many years I could give up live theatre and still be around to enjoy it! Same with cruising so I'm researching small ships again.

Yes, I recall Samoa had a large outbreak. However, there was a more recent outbreak in another South Pacific island with a connection to NZ. Tonga or Fiji ? The islanders were afraid to get vaccinated then a person in charge got publicly vaccinated as an example. The people had to put flags on their houses so vaccination teams could call around. It was big news at the time because people didn't realise just how dangerous measles can be.

What small ships are coming to Australia in 2023? I came across Azamara's two small ships, which are passing by on short visits, by accident. I have done one cruise on Azamara and loved it. Any other small ships? Viking?

There are even cautious countries who won't even left big cruise ships in, for a good reason. It wasn't that long ago that Fiji (?) had a measles epidemic.

I get annoyed when they offer a special at the end of the cruise. Half way through is perfect!

Sorry to hear you have shoulder damage from your cycle accident. Have you had an x-ray to see if there is permanent damage?

Eating Tajine meals in Morocco must have been special. I can't understand it either. I always eat local food, even on flights, as it is the best. When we went to Japan, we ate our first raw sushi at a bar in a fish market, whist our young daughters paid extra over the road for spaghetti. It is funny that cheap cuts like shoulder and shanks got expensive once they got fashionable. We lived well on cheap cuts of meat like hogged, brains, tripe, ox tail, corned meat, etc.

When I flew recently, all the passengers I saw wore masks. My daughter will be flying today so I'll ask her to do a straw pole. All the people in theatres I attended wore masks. As far as I'm concerned, it is for the greater good. I know, when someone close to me sneezes or coughs, I'm glad i have a mask on.

Did you enjoy Morocco?

Thank you What a great photo. I only saw back half of the ship at the back of the photo, from the Ensemble Theatre in Kirribilli. It was a thrill to see the big ship cruising along.

I hope you have a mild case of Covid, Lyle. Hope your wife doesn't catch it on her birthday.

I loved my cruise in the Baltics and to St Petersburg. I feel sad for the Baltic countries which are now under high stress due to war in Ukraine. People in Baltic States told me they were always alert when I was there.

They used to perform at the RSL at The Tweed. It used to surprise me that some performers never lost their ability to sing and entertain, whilst others were a sad shadow of their former selves.

Am I correct in remembering not all ships to Stockholm go through the archipelago?

Having fun finding lots of possibilities but then something is not right. Started in the beautiful Baltics (Fred Olsen) then shifted to a cruise from England to Norway (I get benefits with Hurtigruten). I would love to cruise on an Ocean Liner, QM2 but I don't want to cruise to the US nor across the Bay of Biscay. Then no coronation date has been confirmed yet (2/6 long weekend ?). Are you dreaming of any more travels after this great cruise and land travel?

No wonder my great uncles' sisters waited on him hand and foot when he returned home for an annual visits well into his late 80s. Now the women would go themselves!

Have you been there? It is a beautiful place to visit. The west coast is ruggedly beautiful. Small distances to drive around by car. One time my daughters were shifting from the East Coast to West Coast in the mountains near Calgary when someone was killed by a bear there. So they shifted to Calgary instead. When we arrived in Vancouver Island we asked about the bears (like people ask about our sharks, stingers, etc,) The person replied it is not the bears you should be worried about but the cougars, which was news to me. I raced to the newsagent and sure enough there were lots of stories of people being stalked by cougars!

There is a beautiful sad ballad about a son going away, getting letters about him intending to come to visit, and the last letter the parent had died. Is that enough for someone with a better memory to identify it? I have a huge collection of sad Scottish/Irish/Canadian/NZ songs.