Hi all,

Well it's been some time since our last blog and apologies for that but we wanted to get a few more photos together to put on and then saw the price of the internet facilities on board the ship and thought we would wait a little longer!

Since our last blog we have embarked on The Sapphire Princess and set sail. Our first stop was Melbourne (have never seen so many annoying, disease ridden pests in my life) and was also very windy so I didn't go too much on Melbourne. Luckily, Laura had had a much more pleasant time when she visited Kath and Ron.

We then stopped at Hobart in Tazmania which was quite nice. We had a stroll around the shops and sent a few postcards but both felt land sick! No, we're not joking. Apparently, when you've been at sea a few days and you then get off, you can feel sick from the lack of motion! Very strange feeling walking down the street and swaying WITHOUT the influence of alcohol!

Back on board, we had 3 days at sea which have proved to be quite arduous. The Tasman sea got quite rough as we sailed over towards New Zealand and the motion of the ocean became quite strong at times. Added to that, we were beginning to get a little restless and in only 3 days, got a bit of cabin fever. However, yesterday morning we sailed through the beautiful Fiordland and the scenery was fantastic.....(almost worth getting up early for!) The pictures probably don't do it justice but it is beautiful.

After a few drinks last night, we diembarked this morning and got a taxi into the town centre of Dunedin and some of you will be pleased to know that it's absolutely chucking it down outside as I type. Well at least the internet cafe is dry and we don't feel too sick this time either so at least we're thankful for that. I don't know why, but we've both felt a bit homesick as well as land sick in the last few days so please keep the messages coming. It's great to hear from people as I think we're both missing just talking to other people other than each other. No, we don't expect too much sympathy but it was worth a try!

So, that's bought things fairly up-to-date I think. Next stop is Christchurch before we disembark in Auckland on 21st Jan. Hope you are all well.

Take care,

Jo and Laura xxx