Met up with Lynne at the airport yesterday and we had a restful night at the Hyde Park Inn. Sydney boarding was really efficient today, despite 3,125 fellow travellers needing to be “processed”. Off on our 28 day crusie…woo hoo!

Filipino seafarers form the backbone of the global cruise industry, so it was no suprise that our crew was drawn from that community. Sydney really turned on the weather, and there were lovely views over the harbour from Level 15.

It’s a massive ship, with 19 levels. Only Level 7 runs straight through from aft to starboard; otherwise, you need to use different stairs and lift wells to reach particular areas. For example, Lynne and I had two lift access points from our stateroom on Level 12. The aft lift took us to breakfast and dinner each day, after what we’ve come to call “the Botticelli long walk”.

Groan: dinner time meant a long queue to get into the Botticelli restaurant. Some diners had no booking, while most of us had pre-booked online. You’d think they would have allocated tables to the pre-bookers beforehand, but no — staff were assigning them randomly, on the spot. Dinner itself was relaxed and well paced, with delightful hospitality staff.

At 9 pm, comedian Jeff Green gave an amusing performance in the theatre. A minor crisis arose when we got back to our room and Lynne thought she’d left her bag — with her phone and wallet inside — at the restaurant. So off we went at 10 pm to Guest Services on Level 5, where we waited in a queue for another half hour. Disappointingly, we were told the restaurant staff hadn’t brought up any bags that evening. Back in the room, we discovered she’d left it in the bathroom — which we hadn’t checked before heading downstairs. Phew, crisis averted!

An early-morning 6:50 am trudge to Level 5 to get coffees for us. Breakfast at 8:30, once again with a long queue. Getting off the ship in Newcastle was a chaotic process. We were sent to one end of Level 7 to collect numbered tickets, then told to wait on Level 4, 5 or 6 until our group number was announced before heading to the gangway. Lucky we didn’t have any excursions planned.

We visited the Newcastle visitor centre and did some self-guided walks to see the street art and architecture, then took the light rail to the beach. There was a beautiful Morton Bay fig; Lynne gives you a sense of its size, sitting on one of the sizeable meandering roots.

We caught a bus to Adamstown to meet friend Robin at the ‘Local Customs’ Café. Delicious prawn tacos and a sensational Spring Elixir — cloudy apple, fresh ginger, rosemary, honey, lemon and apple cider vinegar.

Scared Weird Little Guys were tonight’s very popular entertainment.