We set sail for Noumea after leaving Lifou and had a few cocktails on deck before the silver service dinner at the Waterfront restaurant.

Had we realized it was Island night and all that entailed we would have joined in the BBQ festivities up top deck as the ship was jumping that night – we later found out.

If you like this acrylic Duck and Cat painting it is available as a free E-card on my website.  Also If you would like to recap on the previous stories of our big adventure, here is some links to my travel and art blogs; “LEAVING SYDNEY HARBOR” and  “CRUISING ON THE PACIFIC JEWEL” and “ART,LEONARDO DA VINCI AND THE ISLE OF PINES

THE ART OF THE PARTY

When we finally emerged from dinner the Island Deck Party was in full swing and as you would have it – it was only me the “party animal” that still had the stamina to boogie on down lol.  But with 5 others to consider and 4 of them half my age I tried to contain myself just for a change!!  Not easily done when you have ants in your pants and love to dance and party!

The music was pumping with Grooveline and the entertainment team got everybody grooving and the Pacific Cirque did a Circus de Solae act which was amazing.  A really spectacular Island Party, so just a hint for you cruise takers – read your daily newsletter and get to the party so worth it.

In the morning the ship entered the reefs of New Caledonia through the Havannah passage then through the Woodin Canal entering the Petit Rade and berthing at Quai Des Longs Couriers in Noumea.  From there we could walk of the ship no tenders required and found our way to a tour bus to explore the island, getting an all day hop on hop off bus ticket.

THE ART OF THE FRENCH PACIFIC

The travel brochure says “Noumea combines all the flavor and ambiance of a bustling, sophisticated provincial French town with the friendly charms, adventure and heavenly climate of the Pacific Islands”.  However I was surprised to see the western influence was much stronger than the Islanders.  I think I was more expecting a New Orleans feel with the French and colored mix, eclectic and exciting.   To me it felt a bit clinical or nouveau riche.

After a market visit and seeing the aquarium we decided to take a water taxi out to Canard Island (Duck Island) This tropical paradise is very small and intimate but had a lovely restaurant and a great reef for snorkelling.  As the day was the warmest to date even I decided to snorkel.

THE ART OF SNORKELING

Hillivi and Brett decided to just chill on the lazy-boys but that was quickly nipped in the bud when they were asked to pay up for the pleasure, at some astronomical rate of $10 dollars per hour per person to lay on a chair in the sun – should one wish to have a sun umbrella for some shade that would double the price!  Lol, so we were met by some rather grumpy faces when we finished the snorkeling.  Added to that we timed our departure from the Island a bit wrong as both the water taxi as well as the ‘you beaute’ hop on hop off bus must have been on “Island Time” as the promised 10 minute intervals was more like 40 minutes.

THE ART OF SPEAKING FRENCH

What impressed me no end on the bus was Hillivi’s normally reserved farmer boyfriend Brett suddenly starting to speak French to the bus driver as the rest of us were panicking when the bus took us in the opposite direction to the cruise ship.  (Not just a little bit of French but full on – could have knocked us over with a feather LOL.)

So it was a rather flustered 6 people who finally made it back to the cruise ship with 2 minutes to spare before cast off.  We were the lucky ones, one other couple missed the ship completely and they had to sail away without them, poor buggers, that would have spoiled the holiday!! I wonder what their excuse was.

Here is a quote I think fit well here by Kimberly Johnson,

“Never ruin an apology with an excuse.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxxx

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

If you have just joined me now you may want to read the travel and art blog “Leaving Sydney Harbor” as this tale is the continuation.   My family and I are now on the Pacific Jewel  a P&O ship sailing from Sydney to New Caledonia and Vanuatu, stopping at Isle of Pines, Mystery Island, Lifou and Noumea.

We departed Darling Harbour and set sail under the iconic Harbour Bridge, passing the Opera house and Fort Denison before leaving the Heads in the evening twilight.  The entertainment onboard was rocking and the drinks flowing as we turned into a long North-Easterly course towards New Caledonia, initially passing Nobo’s Head and Port Stephens before leaving the mainland astern.

PAINTING INSPIRATIONS

Here is a acrylic painting on canvas that I recently painted dreaming of our cruising holiday.

The Pacific Jewel has a capacity of 1915 passengers and 730 crew, it was built the same year my daughter was born 1991, and for you that loves facts and figures its length is 811ft/245 metres with a gross tonnage of 70,310 tons, draft 8.2 meters and the max speed is 20 knots.  Captained by Tony Draper from Scotland and the rest of the senior officers are from England, Italy, Zambia, USA, South Africa, France, India and Bulgaria, so a rich mixture of cultures from all over the world.

The Pacific Jewel can carry the equivalent of five fully laden 747 jumbo jets and is 50% bigger than the Titanic and the same size as the Cunards Queen Elizabeth with a two story show lounge that can seat 800 people.  So it is a big ship – a great ship to work on according to some of the crew who told us that they don’t have too far to go to work as compared to the Queen Mary ll where you need to get up and hour earlier just to be able to walk an hour to work each day!!  Hard to imagine isn’t it.

THE ART OF BEING GREEN

Anyway after we set sail and had a little rest we dressed for dinner which the silver service restaurant required, smart casual today.  Kai’s girlfriend Sam was putting on a brave face and joined us for dinner even though she was looking a little green around the gills – if that is possible for a beautiful Fijian woman!  Poor baby, it wasn’t long before she had to excuse herself and retired to her room with green apples and bread rolls for dinner as prescribed by the crew to ward off seasickness.

Next call would have been the on-board Doctors seasickness injections, luckily Sam found some tablets that seemed to keep it at bay as the injections were $120 a pop we later found out.  Too bad if you had a real bad case and needed a couple of shoots a day!

THE ART OF THE CHEF

The rest of us enjoyed our 3 course dinner and Hillivi and myself were in heaven – we are both Celiac (gluten intolerant) and vegetarian but that was no obstacle as a special menu was arranged and every need taken care of by our wonderful maître de Eroni Vvetibau (Fijian) and Chef Bupendra (India).  It is no wonder that people put on weight on cruises, the food is absolutely magnificent, a wide choice of dishes every night to choose from, everything that you could wish for from every part of the world too.  Oh Chef Bupendra I want to take you home!!

We were spoilt rotten by our waiters Rajesh Dzouza (Indian) and Nathan Legaspi  (Philippine) with our every need taken care of; they were funny as a fit too with all sorts of tricks!  I had no idea that so many things could be made out of serviettes – no idea at all!

THE ART OF THE DIET

There is no wonder that quite a few rather large people were on the cruise – I am not sure what came first though, if they came on the cruise because of their size and leisurely style of holiday or they put on the weight whilst on the cruise because of the wonderful food.   All I know for sure is that when you get home you have to diet for a while – oh how boring I hate diets!!

Here is a quote I like by Woody Allen on the subject;

When we lose twenty pounds… we may be losing the twenty best pounds we have!  We may be losing the pounds that contain our genius, our humanity, our love and honesty.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you,

Love Marie xxx   (c)

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.