mr walker

Wow, it was there yesterday as I took a quick look and considered maybe booking after Chilli alerted me. Not sure if we could have gone or not, but will wait and see what maybe pops up for that time - must be some explanation?? OOPS just realised I was looking at Nov 16th departure. Well, it is Sunday today after all 🙂 .

@ NSWP - Les, we are both thinking of you mate & hoping for a positive outcome. Tracey & I are looking forward to another dinner with you at Raymonds! Take care & get yourself the best help. As others have said you've had a bit of a rough trot in recent years, but please keep your sense of humour & get well soon Cheers Neil & Tracey

Strewth Les, take care of yourself mate.

Wow, sounds great - certainly something to look forward to!!

We used to regularly go to the DL for a pre-show/pre-dinner drink during happy hour, but more & more we gave it a miss. People staking out the DL an hour before happy hour to get a seat, then lining up for a drink with a drink already in hand & then repeat again & it was just too crowded to enjoy. We mostly grab a couple of 'voucher' drinks from a nearby bar and relax on our balcony & get dressed for show/dinner at our leisure. We regularly use the DL at non happy hour times for a quiet relax, a coffee & a snack & we actually get to sit and talk with some guests we meet.

With the A$ going down so much vs USD, & the drinks pricing increasing onboard, those C&A benefits are becoming more value every day!! 5 drinks will cover me pretty well most days. I like a drink, but also like to remember my cruise 🙂 If the drinks costs keep rising, the 5 drinks will end up covering the daily fare, and we will start travelling for free 😦

It was my understanding that ‘white shoe brigade’ was a generic term from a few years back that referred to retired folk who lived in retirement villages in Florida & Arizona, & perhaps Gold Coast, as they seemingly all wore white shoes??

I travelled to NZ on business with a colleague from Vietnam. He was sold on the health benefits of Manuka honey & brought a whole heap of it in NZ. When we arrived back in Sydney airport, he disclosed he had honey & the officer was amazed at how many jars he had. The officer asked my colleague “do you have any more food” & he replied yes. The officer asked “what do you have” & he said “more honey”😳 The officer just shook his head & let us through. He told me that commercially packed honey from NZ is fine 😁

I worked with a bloke for many years, who's wife showed Red Setters around the Sydney & surrounding areas. He would always say that the judges judged the handlers rather than the dogs. He claimed that they would turn up to a show and see who the judges were, and knew immediately that they had no chance 🙂 I guess the ones that didn't win each time would have had a similar story.

Rolf is looking really good - life at sea must be doing him good 🙂 Cheers

Well you can’t take it with you mate. Life is for living Cheers

Les, that's my go to drink for when I want a special drink - nectar of the gods I call it. I had a quiet drink at the end of the night after the Panthers GF win - a tradition I started last year & hope to continue for a good many more 🙂

I’m confused. Here in Penrith, today is Mon 10th 😳

Strewth Gut, sorry to read of your health problems. I truly hope that they can do something for you to give you quality of life once again. Having Maxy must be a real blessing for you mate. Take care - we are all cheering for you. Neil

Uncle Les has a standing invite to visit our place & I'll even chaperone him to Panthers

That's the place - home of the mighty Penrith Panthers!!!

I may have exaggerated a little on the distance - it's about 11km, out along the Northern Rd, so not a walk with luggage 🙂 . The flight paths have not been released as yet, but visiting the site, it is clear the direction of the runways, and so it will be from the east &/or west. We are basically north of the site, in the southern part of Penrith. Les can park here anytime he wants & it's not far to Panthers 🙂

Strewth. Best of luck mate.

I’m almost close enough to walk there 😳

Yes Les, I’m very happy. The boys & I enjoyed our day/night at game & came home and enjoyed a quiet celebratory drink. Quiet day today including lunch with friends, including my mate who is a Parra supporter 😁 Penrith Panthers B2B!!!

Cheers mate - hoping for the boys to win. our sons & I are going to the game to cheer them on!

Always a thinker eh Les 🙂

We received some excellent advice on a land tour, including particularly from Julie @OzKiwiJJ , ahead of our cruise (AKL to SYD) in Jan '19. We planned around visiting places we wouldn't visit on the cruise. Based on the advice we flew into Christchurch & picked up rental. We stayed in ChCh , Mt Cook, Queenstown (3N), Franz Josef, Westport, Picton, crossed Cook Straight to Nth Island on the ferry, & stayed at Tongariro (2N), Waitomo & then Auckland ahead of the cruise. All accommodation & car rental was arranged thru a NZ tour company, which worked well for us. So 12N for maybe 2/3 of Sth Island & 1/4 of Nth Island. We made the most of the time, but another week at least would have been better. Good luck - it is a wonderful place to visit.

Another recommendation for Zealandia from Tauranga.

They’ve put on a public holiday for your return 😳