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Alison rang us on the way home at about Bacchus Marsh to tell us that our cat Henrietta is dead. While we were sailing across the Great Australian Bight she was hit by a car in Foote Street. We are devastated.

Day 23 at sea - last day

600 people got on in Adelaide and they're like a blood transfusion - new faces at dinner and livelier feet in the corridors: I think they've lowered the average age to 65. As happens with Adelaidians we have friends in common with our dinner companions.

We were awake early keen to see if Cape Douglas would be visible from the ship - but no, grey fog obscured the shore. At about Robe a cray boat zoomed out of the fog to take a look at us: they travelled much faster than we did.

I saved the best till last - abandoned bridge in favour of a classical concert,  the Duo Avante Garde from Hungary who play violin and piano. They were terrific, the best thing on the whole trip, wish I had ditched bridge for their previous three concerts.

Afternoon tea in the Queen Mary Room was unusually popular - obviously Adelaidians get afternoon tea. Another lovely last experience with our favourite Hannah the harpist playing.

The last variety show was fantastic!  The singers and dancers have enormous talent and energy: this show was only the second in 23 days - you have to wonder what they do all day...

Duo Avante Gard

Afternoon Tea

Hannah the harpist 

Day 22 leaving Adelaide

Adelaide turned it on as we left also. David and I decided to forgo the coveted early dinner in favour of farewelling Adelaide from the top deck and it was terrific when we finally left. We waited half an hour for a late man then after the gangway had been pulled up he arrived and hammered on the gates. The kind captain let him on - how embarrassing it must have been!

People lined the Outer Harbour southern breakwater, cheering and waving and a flotilla of small craft on each side accompanied us about 3 kms out to sea which was bathed in a pearly grey light. 

The magic continued after late dinner as we stood on our balcony with the golden glow of Adelaide in the far left distance, a brighter glow that must be Noarlunga, ashore was the dark bulk of the Fleurieu Peninsula sloping down to a string of orange lights that had to be Cape Jervis. We glided gently through Backstairs Passage with a warm wind in our faces and twinkling stars in a velvet sky.

Day 22 ashore in Adelaide

Son Jon picked us up at Outer Harbour where Adelaide turned on a lovely welcome for QM2 passengers with a bush band playing Australian songs. 

We had lunch in the City Centre and bought blankets for Beechwood - no doubt it will start getting cold soon, but a warm day in Adelaide, lots of people around for the Adelaide Cup holiday. 

Back on the ship for afternoon tea in the Queen Mary Room and there was Ruth Mutton on board with her book group until Sydney.

Day 21 at sea off Port Lincoln

Today I collected my prizes for winning bridge - three Cunard pencils: we certainly weren't playing for sheep stations!

We have achieved a permanent seat at table 222 first sitting in Britannia Dining Room.

I paid another visit to my favourite paintings by Rebecca Lardner in the Clarendon Art Gallery. I'm not buying one because the frames are too heavy. 

Britannia dining room

Day 20 at sea Great Australian Bight

It's rough today, rain lashing the promenade deck and a Force 9 wind to keep everyone inside.

Dinner is at Todd English restaurant on Deck 8 aft for which you have to pay extra for each course - and it turns out to be a delicious meal. The service is over-attentive: I don't need to be asked if every course is OK when I am obviously tucking in to it. My entree called Todd's Potato Love Letters was exquisite ravioli containing potato and truffle swimming in butter. 

We drained our wine bottle to the last drop,  a ritual we learned in Europe last year with Bill and Ann then went off to hear a NZ pianist called  Carl Doy who is very good. 

Todd's Potato Love Lettersgetting Bill's drop

draining Bill's drop 

Day 19 at sea

Bananas are back. The news went around the ship like wildfire - which shows you how little real news there is.  Apparently we couldn't take them on board in Darwin as theirs suffer from brown spot.

The Shirley Bassett tribute concert tonight was well received.

Grand Lobby deck 3

Day 18 in Fremantle

Lovely weather, 26' and the Fremantle Doctor blowing gently. We went ashore - keen for terra firma after three days at sea - and wandered around before meeting David's brother Richard and his wife Ilga for a fish lunch at Cicerelli's on the waterfront. They live in Subiaco and we haven't seen them for a year, so lots to catch up on including nephew Michael's engagement.

After lunch we strolled along the waterfront to look at the Dutch replica ship Duyfken from 1606 where Ilga knows one of the attendants. Then off to Cottesloe for afternoon tea at a cafe on the cliff overlooking a famous shark area and cake to celebrate Ilga's approaching birthday.

Not surprisingly we didn't want much dinner but had to front up because it was our first appearance at a permanent early sitting table, where the 6 incumbents welcomed us very nicely.

Day 12 at sea

A fresh contingent of younger people  got on in Darwin,  bringing the average age of passengers down to around 70. After two days of dining room breakfast we've reverted to healthy corner and fresh fruit.

David went to a talk on Time and was disappointed to find it a thinly veiled plug for selling watches: however the talk at midday was better, a female forensic  lawyer from Perth called Judith Fordham  on the subject of Life, Law and Not Enough Shoes.  She has funny anecdotes and promises to tell us all about the Chamberlain case in future lectures.

We won't talk about Margaret and Helen at bridge: ballroom dancing in the Queen's Room was more interesting if you want to know how to tango. We don't but it is a fairly quiet place to read.

Quiet is NOT the word to describe tonight's entertainer, Ellio Pace,  singer and piano player hot from the UK where he is big deal.  His energy is amazing and backed by the QM2 Orchestra he fairly lifted the roof with his rock and roll numbers.  Best was his rendition of Billy Joel numbers. Late dinner and no sign of the Italians who have deserted us for the early sitting.

Day 17 at sea off Shark Bay

The sea has picked up - now designated rough - and for the first time you have to take extra care walking around the ship but it's very stable really. I haven't noticed anyone puking over the railings. I went through  the Grand Lobby where a steel band is playing and  passengers for Fremantle are collecting their duty free liquor: what an enormous amount! I had a latte at Sir Samuel's coffee shop having given up on iced coffee as no-one knows how to make it and even a latte comes in a flat wide cup.

Tonight's entertainment is an English comedian Jeff Stephenson: we'd been told he is funny: well I've never heard David laugh so uproariously. 

Staff assembling duty-free purchases

Day 16 at sea

Shrove Tuesday and there is a pancake race on deck 13 but it's so windy up there - Force 7 - I give it a miss and have pancakes at lunch instead - proper crepes with sugar and lemon. Breakfast with some nice WAers trying not to think about possible bushfires around their house  in the Perth hills and an elderly couple from Pennsylvania who are travelling New York to New York - six months. I guess it beats doing housework.

As promised Judith Fordham gave us the gen on the mis-handled forensics in the Chamberlain case and an infamous Perth miscarriage of justice,  the Andrew Mallard case. The oceanographer talked about tsunamis and how to avoid being caught up in one - stay away from tsunami-prone areas.

Gossip update: 1000 passengers are disembarking at Fremantle and there are another 5 in the morgue since Sydney.

Dinner tonight with elderly couple, daughter and granddaughter Audrey aged 3 who refused to eat and played a game on Mum's phone. Audrey does reduce the average age somewhat.

Day 15 at sea heading to Oz

We're back in Australian waters in the Timor Sea and have to go through immigration. When we boarded in Melbourne they took our passports in  readiness for Indonesia and charged $50 for a visa  whether you went ashore or not: now we have to collect passports from the purser's office and take them to 4 Australian immigration officers in the dining room. (They were very jolly: I bet this is a popular job.)  Our timing was impeccable, missing any lines and  taking  minutes only. 

Judith Fordham continued her lecture series on forensics and the law and Sir Jackie Stewart talked about Formula One racing and his involvement in improving safety - though I missed that one being too busy trying to get an iced coffee which seems to be a mystery to non-South Australians.

Late dinner with a table of people all from the same retirement home in Sydney. Don't think we'll repeat that one.

Books read and rated

Lots of time for reading

Trick or Treat by Kerry Greenwood ***
Lasting Damage by Sophie Hannah ****
Kind of Cruel by Sophie Hannah ****
Them and Us - Americans in Britain by Charles Jennings ***
The House at Sea's End by Elly Griffiths ****
The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor ***
The Blood Royal by Barbara Cleverly ***
A Perfectly Good Man by Patrick Gale ***
The Saint Zita Society by Ruth Rendell ***
Gold by Chris Cleave ****
The Perfect Lie by Emily Barr ****
Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey *****
A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar by Susan Joinson **
A Willing Victim by Laura Wilson ****
A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny ****
Do Me No Harm by Julie Corbin ***
The Burning Air by Erin Kelly ****
The Sick Rose by Erin Kelly ***
A Bedlam of Bones by Suzette A. Hill **

Day 14 in Bali

QM2 is moored off-shore at Benoa Harbour as she is too big for the wharf which is occupied by the smaller Seabourn Sojourn cruise ship. The view from our balcony is of a flat shoreline - then suddenly a grey fog shifts momentarily and I can see dramatic mountains.

We've been dithering whether or not to go ashore on Bali: by the time we decided yes the official tours were filled except for 6 hours wood carvings and 4 hours at the Grand Hyatt Resort in Nusa Dua. Easy! We chose the Hyatt and have our Bali experience sanitised and Americanized. Gorgeous resort, winding swimming pools overhung with trees and frangipani blossoms floating in the warm water while surf on the ocean beach roars in the background. Attentive Balinese waiters take your credit card away but return it and delicious cold drinks. I could stay here.

But we return at 3pm on the designated tender and go off to dinner at the pop up restaurant La Piazza for a lovely Italian dinner.  The ship is 2 hours late leaving and John at the next table knows why: 1000 passengers were late returning to the tender. I don't know if it's due to traffic jams or reluctance to leave Beautiful Bali.

Day 13 at sea

Let's do a tour of the ship.

Decks A and B are below the waterline and staff only.

Deck 1 is staff mostly: their sleeping quarters with a cabin each, 3 dining rooms where they are waited on,  a pub called Pig and Whistle, storage, medical centre and passenger disembarking into tenders.

Deck 2: the Queen Mary Ball Room, lower level of Britannia Dining Room, Golden Lion pub, art gallery,  photo hard-selling, purser's office, Royal Court Theatre lower level, Illuminations lecture theatre, freezing cold bridge rooms and a maze of rooms of unknown use.

Deck 3 is the most opulent looking as it is the main entrance: on shore days a line of small men wearing page boy suits and white gloves decorates the entrance looking awfully like well-trained monkeys. It would be nice if they held trays of free champagne... Here are impossibly elegant shops including a branch (more of a twig) of Harrods, Sir Samuel's coffee shop, the upper entrances to theatre and dining rooms at opposite ends of the ship, the Chart Room Bar, the Veuve-Cliquot Champagne Bar and round SPACE with nothing in it.

Deck 4 is where our stateroom is - number 4164 aft (at the back) on the port side which means the Australia side as we go around anti-clockwise. We get plenty of exercise traversing the loooong corridors to the bow (front, pointy end) and up and down stairs. There are only staterooms on 4,5,6 and those on the outside all have balconies which leaves an awful lot on the inside without balconies or portholes - ghastly. I like the balcony for drying our washing rather than sending it to the ship's laundry at $40 per bag.

Deck 7 is where it all happens: a promenade deck runs right around where 1.9 circuits = 1Km for walkers or you can annexe a deck chair and look at the sea.  Inside is an endless stretch of buffet dining called King's Court where you can always find a table.  Not quite endless: at the aft is the Princess Grill reserved only for Princess passengers who have paid double what we did and hence have exclusive dining and sole occupation of Deck 11. The class system is alive and well on the QM2. The usual spa and gym takes up a lot of area and there is a swimming pool.

Deck 8 contains the all-important library at the pointy end but to get there you have to walk endless corridors past staterooms.

Decks 9, 10, 11 reserved for Princess passengers,  12 has another swimming pool and open space for Poms adding to their sunburn.

Day 11 gossip

Leaving Darwin and at buffet dinner fell in with some Adelaidians who had all the ship's gossip. 280,000 litres of fuel taken on board today, 8 deaths since Southampton:  you can pay $1000 to have a look in the morgue, says our informant: his mate says if you stop breathing for long enough you can see it for free - pass - 5000 bread rolls baked per day, 1000 bottles of wine per day - we've helped with that score.

Beautiful sunset: