Tuesday 21st February

Welcome to winter. We awoke to a morning of sharp showers in the low 20s, not quite your normal February day in Perth.. A very genteel start for us though as we didn't have to check in at Fremantle until mid day. Jane had us up early though & had the unit looking ready for inspection by 9am with our 3 bags all packed to go. Anna picked us up at 11 & we drove into Fremantle to cast our early votes in the State election as we will be away on Polling Day. After a very cheap but unimpressive coffee she dropped us off at the terminal, a rather disappointing structure of 1960s vintage which has hardly improved with age.

To be fair it looked slightly less decrepit than on our last visit when we left for Portugal in the 'Athena’ & the service had improved. Check in took about an hour during which time we caught up with Robin & Freya, who we are travelling with to Southampton. The Aurora looks quite smart, in the manner of a latter day liner, rather than a floating block of flats, which the later cruise ships tend to simulate.

We are on ‘F’ deck which is just about ‘Steerage’ but our cabin, although small has a large picture window & the furnishings are neat & very practicable. In comparison with its sister ship ‘Arcadia’ it has a far less gaudy style of interior decoration, somewhat muted Art Deco in style. The ship is immaculate, internally & externally & the Restaurants & bars seem quite pleasing. In contrast to other ships the buffet layout is in the form of smaller themed 5m crosses rather than one long linear works canteen style, so that the diners don’t have to form a queue passing all the possible food stuffs regardless of their needs. The range of foods is extremely comprehensive & is well presented so starvation is definitely an unlikely outcome on this voyage.

After a well earned lunch we explored the various decks & then at 4.30 had the compulsory ship’s passenger drill in the theatre. After 3 attempts we finally received our instructions on what to do in the event of an emergency & very grateful we were to be able to escape. The theatre is a bit disappointing as it looks somewhat tired in contrast to that on the ‘Arcadia’.

Dinner, in the Medina restaurant, was very pleasant & the menu was very extensive. It is situated amidships rather than at the stern which was a nice change for us. The passengers appear predominantly to be English but there are quite a few Australians to leaven the mix.

After dinner we bolted to the theatre to see William Caulfield, a Northern Irish comedian. It was packed & we stood at the back to see his act, an interesting mix of acute observations & gags which went down well with the mainly geriatric, apart from ourselves, crowd.

A lecture on the links between Fremantle & P & O completed Dick’s day whilst Jane & the ladies awaited the ships departure at 10.30pm.

The biggest surprise to us is the lack of vibration & noise on this ship. Our cabin is quite well forward but even further back on the ship the smoothness & quiet atmosphere is notable.

Wednesday 22nd February

Woke up at 6am to a fairly grey day at sea, off the coast at Busselton. Had a great breakfast & Jane did her route march around the deck whilst d*** resorted to a more leisurely life style in the cabin.

The number of activities offered is totally overwhelming. On a normal day at sea there are 6 between 7 & 10am, 7 at 10am, 12 between 10.30 & midday, 3 until 12.30, 5 before 2pm, 17 between 2 & 4pm, 5 to fill in the 4-5.00pm timeslot, 5 between 5 & 6pm, 9 from 6-8pm, only 2 from 8 – 9.15pm, then 6 from 9.15 – 10.15 & finally 10 from 10.15 – 11.15pm. After that one has to entertain oneself which seems positively unfair.

Jane chose ‘Party dancing’, ‘Line dancing’ 5 circuits of the deck, a P & O lecture & in the evening, after the Black Tie dinner went to a Diva concert. At 11am d*** took up Spanish, which was a tough call as most of the class were well ahead of him. He was even more shaken when there was a second class at 3pm which built on the morning one. The teacher is a Spaniard who keeps up a good pace but it is going to be a hard slog.


Thursday 23rd February

Woke up late & after a very solid breakfast, went to our classes. Jane took up ‘Bridge for Beginners’ & d*** plodded through 2 Spanish lessons. After lunch we attended a lecture by a former press secretary to the Queen very anxious to emphasise his knowledge of how the Royals operate publically & privately. In the evening after dinner d*** went to see William Caulfield’s second show & then on to a recital by a duo of violin & piano playing a range of pieces. Jane went off with Robin & Freya for a drink at one of the bars & we met up again at about 10.30 back in the cabin after another hard day.

Friday 24th February

Another hard day at sea. d*** only had his Spanish lesson in the afternoon as he overslept in the morning & he paid the price trying to catch up. After dinner we went to see a mildly funny film about a set of geriatric English bank robbers.

Saturday 25th February

The ship arrived in the harbour at about 7am having turned to berth facing the harbour mouth. The Adelaide outer harbour has long low boulder filler break waters & the channel is long & fairly narrow. We tied up at the terminal which seemed to be deserted & is quite isolated, about 2km from Port Adelaide, the original harbour. After breakfast we were bussed into Adelaide, about an hour away to arrive at Rundle Mall in the centre of the city.

Adelaide is a very handsome place where the central city is surrounded by parks & greenbelt. Most of the buildings are less than 10 storeys & quite a few of the early buildings are beautifully preserved. In many ways it reminds us of a large country town.

We walked along the Mall & down through some Arcades to the Art Gallery which was in a cultural precinct & found its coffee shop. Here we checked our internet business & then wandered round the beautiful Victorian galleries filled with a very eclectic collection of paintings, aboriginal artefacts & some interesting Asian Buddhist material. We crossed to the State Library which also had a magnificent Victorian hall as its centrepiece.

Here Jane had a call from Fay, a former fellow college student from her Geelong days, who lives in Adelaide & had emailed yesterday. She agreed to meet us down at Glenelg, Adelaide’s seaside resort. We walked down to the huge Metropolitan Markets & wandered through the masses of impressive food stalls which reminded us of the Vic Markets in Melbourne.

From there we took the tram out towards Glenelg, travelling through the suburbs south on our way to the beach. Alighting at the last stop before the end we then walked along searching almost in vain for a reasonable cafe for some lunch. Eventually we found one & after a passable meal we rambled on again only to find a plethora of cafes & bars as we neared the beach. We caught up with Fay & went for a coffee & ice cream whilst we heard about her life in Adelaide where she helps her daughter, a widow with 3 children. She travels extensively & was great company.

Watched ‘Sully’ a great film about the inquiry into the landing of the jet plane on the Hudson River when its engines failed from bird strike.