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.

Next stop on our cruising adventure was Lifou, and if you have just joined me and want to recap on how this P&O holiday actually started here are some links for you to read of our adventures so far and see the paintings and artworks in these travel and art blogs “LEAVING SYDNEY HARBOR” and  “CRUISING ON THE PACIFIC JEWEL” and “ART,LEONARDO DA VINCI AND THE ISLE OF PINES”.

ISLAND INSPIRES AN ARTIST

Lifou is the largest island in the archipelago of Loyalty Islands.  The population is just over 10,000 people who speak French and Kanak dialects and the currency is French Pacific Franc.  It is a beautiful Island with long stretches of white sandy beaches, limestone caves, grottos and cliffs and small coves.  They say time passes more slowly than in other places and are measured by the tides, sunrises and sunsets rather than by clocks.  Not that we could enjoy that part as coming off the cruise you have strict instructions – the last tender back to the boat leaves at 4 o’clock and if you miss that you’re buggered! LOL

However we did have a gorgeous time even so, firstly we took the 25 minute walk through a little forest to the Lady of Lourdes church built by the Catholic missionaries in 1898.  Beautiful white exterior stands out against the green forest with stunning views all around, could even see the cruise ship too.

ACRYLIC PAINTING

This acrylic on canvas board painting shows the underwater experience to come, many of my paintings and sculptures yes all artworks often have a water theme.

THE ART OF STAYING ALIVE

Then we went and had a look at the snorkelling reef which we later returned to before taking another exploring walk heading to the Secret Grotto.  That was really interesting navigating through the rain forest down steep steps (felt like a scene from Tomb Raider) and into a dark dark grotto, where all of a sudden we saw a movement and were met by the white of someone’s eyes.  Turns out it was a gorgeous local man with a speech impediment apart from the obvious language barrier, however he told us all we needed to know with grunts and sign language.  Lucky he was there and had a torch or we would no doubt plunge to our deaths in a crystal clear 10 meter deep pool which was just inside the entrance of this black cave!

Our next death defying adventure was when we went on a tour to the township of We, it is a sleepy town in the bay de Chateaubriand on the east coast and is the main center of Lifou well apparently the whole of the Loyalty Islands.

The brochure boasts “try some of the local cuisine in one of the town’s restaurants or cafe.”   However all that we could find was a take away shop and a supermarket, and we were now on a guided tour mind you so our guide should have known!  We ended up buying some chips and sat on the beach and took a walk instead.

The one hour car ride was more than scary as the female driver was overtaking everything in sight one minute and then kept falling asleep and having to hang her head out the window to stay awake the next.

She delivered us back in one piece where we tried a bit of Kava (not a big hit, lol) and then headed over to the snorkelling place.  We all love snorkelling however there was a little dampener put on this thought after we heard about the “Shark attack in Lifou” which Hillivi then Googled and yes sure enough in the very place where we were going for a swim a French nurse was taken in 2007 by a Great White whilst snorkelling with a friend.

THE ART OF A SHARK-SPOTTER

Still the water was welcoming and the tide and reef provided some good protection so swimming seemed not too dangerous and I was took the post as “Chief Shark Spotter”.

So here is a quote I think fits well here by Ovid;

“Chance is always powerful, let your hook always be cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish”.

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and maybe snorkeling to you all,

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.

Here is another installment about our recent cruise – if you have just joined me for the first time perhaps you would like to recap with these 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 TOUR

Our day on the Isle of Pines came to a close and we caught the last tender back to the boat, time for a shower followed by cocktails!  Tonight was Pirate Night and hubby fitted right in!  You see he has been “Mr Accident waiting to happen” lately, no need for him to wear a fake eye patch oh no he just went with the complete black/blue/purple swollen eye instead. Courtesy of an innocent game of Ping Pong on the ship, the day before, when he smacked head first into the only protruding object in the immediate vicinity.  Just as I was starting to think mmm.. hubby is doing well, no injuries or illnesses lately!

We enjoyed the night with a fantastic dinner and Pirates of the Pacific show then off to bed looking forward to the morning’s adventure in Mystery Island.

THE ART OF A MYSTERY

Mystery Island is at the southern end of the group of islands known as Vanuatu.  It is picture perfect with sandy beaches, palm trees and coral reefs and crystal clear lagoons offering great snorkeling.  The island was used as a World War ll landing strip for the allied forces which cuts straight through the island from one beach to the other even today.  There are no roads or people living on the island, the locals come from nearby islands to sell their shells and goods and set up stalls for food and drink.  There was even a giant pot for cooking tourists, lol as Cannibalism was actually practiced in Vanuatu as recently as 1969!!   Not that I was scared for my own life but it wouldn’t have surprised me to find hubby having tripped and accidently landed in the pot.

GICLEE PRINT

This painting (acrylic on canvas board) is called “Under the Palm Trees” and is also available as a Giclee print and Mystery Island looked a little like this.  We had been told that the island is very small and only takes 20 minutes to walk around so we decided to just catch a tender whenever we got ready and meet the others on the island.

THE ART OF GETTING LOST

Well bad mistake – the island may have been smallish but the terrain, trees, pathways, beach, reef and stalls, tourists and islanders made it impossible to find each other.  Instead we all wondered around for what seemed hours looking for each other till our legs and feet ached.  At least we got some good exercise done.  The Islanders were warm and welcoming and cute children entertained us with songs raising money for their schools.

Just before it was time to catch the tender back to the ship we finally caught up with the kids who also had wondered around looking for us for most of the day!  Oh well we still had a nice time and back to the ship for cocktails and more food and more cocktails.

Here is a quote that fits well here by a mystery author;

“ONE TEQUILA
TWO TEQUILA
THREE TEQUILA
FLOOR !!!”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxx

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.

Today I thought I would continue the story about our recent cruise – if you have just joined me for the first time perhaps you would like to recap in these travel & art blogs “LEAVING SYDNEY HARBOR” and  “CRUISING ON THE PACIFIC JEWEL” first.

THE ART OF EXPLORATION

We first had 2 full days spent exploring every inch of the ship and I mean that literally every corridor the 6 of us like a big snake, lol.  You see we are all into exercise, the kids having grown up with a mother who jumps around like a mad woman first thing in the morning!  Luckily for me it spread to them and their partners are also on the same wave length.  So shorts and shoes on and off we went, through every one of the corridors on the ship from 4th deck to the 14^th, we went up and down stairs dodging the vacuum cleaners and staff as we went.  It was real fun and we had the giggles as we all probably looked like lunatics and took turns in being the leader and deciding the way.  When weather permitted we also went up on the top deck and did our rounds up there in the fresh air too.

THE ART OF NOT MISSING ANY MEALS

Just as well we kept that regime up as we certainly were lining up for breakfast, lunch and dinner even when we weren’t even hungry, but who can resist!  Kai’s girlfriend Sam who was still battling a touch of nausea made us laugh as immediately she sat down she would order “chips for the table” and then proceed to scoff them down to cure the seasickness.  Lol I never saw the table get even one chip and the rest of us would have to fight to get one too!  Not that we went without food either we all had 3 course meals for the most part – oh we lived like kings!

THE ART OF THE CORAL SEA

Anyway during these 2 days out at sea we had crossed the Northern part of the Tasman Sea that merges into the Coral Sea heading towards New Caledonia.  We passed south of the Capel Bank and continued North East across the Lord Howe Plateau and into the Basin de Nouvelle-Caledonie.  In the early morning of Saturday we made landfall and passed through the Boulari Passage, a gap in the coral reefs protecting New Caledonia, through Woodin Canal before anchoring off the Isle of Pines.

GICLEE PRINTS

We had brekky of course and got our tickets for the tender (which is the little boats that can take 100 or so passengers at a time across to the main land).  We were all a bit excited and looking forward to this new experience the Isle of Pines.  No secret of how it got its name, it is teeming with tall native pines as far as the eye can see which to us seemed a bit unusual for what is a tropical environment.  These pines are called Araucaria conifer trees and Captain Cook was the first European to discover the island and named it the Isle of Pines back in 1774.  The painting above is of Captain Cooks first voyage down-under and was a private commission in the style of “If I could turn back time” which was made into limited edition Giclee prints.  The original acrylic on canvas painting was used for the invitation and posters for my 1993 first solo exhibition in Japan.

MORE ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

The population of Isle of Pines is approximately 2000 with French and Kanak dialects as the language and the currency was the French Pacific Franc.  The people we met were warm and welcoming and after a little look around at the handy crafts and stalls we decided to take a tour to the main village where we thought we could find a restaurant and also look in some shops.  Lol it should have been a clue to us the puzzled faces of the driver and tour leader when we told them that we just wanted to get dropped in the middle of the town and do our own thing.  Because when we finally reached the town after twenty minutes on the bus there was no “town” to speak of.  What we found was a closed post office, one town hall, one church and maybe 10 houses all in all.  That would have been fun to wonder around in for hours, haha.  Anyway the tour itself was interesting and we followed that up with another tour for a swim in a Natural Aquarium.  I have to admit I didn’t get into the water the weather was just a touch chilly for me but the others did.  Sam was the first to put on the goggles and flippers and swam out to the middle of the lagoons crystal clear waters to inspect the underwater life.  Then she came up with a flash and screamed, warning everyone there was a rock full of snakes.  The boys of course had to go and check this out and found it was only clams, as they were closed their mouths looked like wriggly black snakes.  Although I am on Sam side here, they sure looked like snakes to me to when I saw the photo!  I still have a vivid memory of my own encounter of a sea snake in this art blog “HAPPY HOUR”.

Here is a quote by Leonardo da Vinci on the subject that I think fits perfectly here;

“Marriage is like putting your hand into a bag of snakes in the hope of pulling out an eel.”

Till next time till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxx

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.

I am back!!  Finally home again after a cruise on the Pacific Jewel to New Caledonia and Vanuatu.  I do apologize for the break in my normal ART blogging and social media routine and thank you for the lovely messages whilst I have been away.

THE ART OF TAKING A CRUISE

This was the first time ever on a cruise ship so a very new experience for the Harrison family.  We had planned the holiday for a while as it was part of a 21^st surprise present for our daughter Hillivi, and she was mightily surprised on the night.

There were 6 of us on this adventure, my hubby and I, daughter Hillivi and her partner Brett as well as our son Kai and his partner Samantha.  We all caught an early flight to Sydney and as there is a train under the airport that according to hubby goes straight to where the cruise liner is docked we jumped onboard.  Hubby is usually pretty good at organizing us however I was having some doubts when he told us to get off at Circular Quay and go to number 5 Warf.   We cracked up laughing at Warf 5 standing next to the ferry to Manly as hubby said:”Here we are now where is the ship? The Manly ferry is rather puny in relation to the size of a cruise liner!!

ACRYLIC ON BOARD PAINTING

This acrylic on board painting is of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the original artwork sold many moons ago in Japan, however there are Giclee prints available here UnionArt .

Luckily we had plenty of time up our sleeve and instead of searching for a taxi that would accommodate 6 we decided to walk, not such a trick these days when suitcases have wheels.  We must have looked a sight as we made our way through the winding roads of The Rocks towards the ships real dock, although the short cut downs some very steep stairs was probably pushing things a bit!

THE ART OF THE VIEW

Finally the ship came into view and it was huge, the by now sweaty six were very pleased to get the ship formalities over with and get onboard and find our cabins.  For the cruise ship novices among you out there (like us) let me give you a tip – book a cabin with a window.  We hadn’t this time and although the cabin was roomy enough and very nice otherwise it made me lose track of night and day and feel a bit couped up.

Next it was time for a “look about” and familiarize ourselves with the layout of the ship, 14 decks in all with lots of bars, restaurants and shops and spa and fitness club.

Then we enjoyed a lovely lunch and drinks before cast off when the entertainers got into full swing and put on a great show as we sailed under the Sydney Harbor Bridge taking in all the sights of Sydney Harbor and wondering what our adventure would bring.

Here is some good advice by Susan Heller that I should have listened to, lol;

“When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money.  Then take half the clothes and twice the money”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

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.