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Train to the Taieri River Gorge

Posted on November 12, 2022 by Jo Johnston

Day 41, South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand Cruise Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022; Port Chalmers/Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand. As I was just about to publish this post, some news broke. The Majestic Princess, with 4,600 guests and crew, docked in Sydney this morning after a cruise to New Zealand

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2022 South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand, Uncategorized
5 comments

Running Out of Words to Describe Stunning Landscapes

Posted on November 11, 2022 by Jo Johnston

Day 40, South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand Cruise Friday, Nov. 11, 2022; Milford Sound, South Island, New Zealand. Today’s destination is acclaimed to be New Zealand’s most famous tourist destination, a world’s top travel destination and the eighth Wonder of the World (the latter according to Rudyard Kipling). And

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2022 South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand
17 comments

A Room With a View, and What a View!

Posted on November 9, 2022November 9, 2022 by Jo Johnston

Day 37, South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand Cruise Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022; Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Our serendipity of docking at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Circular Quay in Sydney was everything I could have imagined. We pulled in at noon and I lucked out, as my stateroom

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2022 South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand, Uncategorized
12 comments

Ports: You Lose Some, You Win Some

Posted on November 6, 2022 by Jo Johnston

Day 35, South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand Cruise Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022; Moreton Island, Queensland, Australia. Yesterday the captain warned us that tendering at Moreton Island might be tricky. I wonder if he knew then it would be impossible and was just preparing us for the news. The seas

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2022 South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand
3 comments

Sometimes A Girl Just Needs a Dress Sale

Posted on November 6, 2022 by Jo Johnston

Day 33, South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand Cruise Friday, Nov. 4, 2022; Airlie Beach, Queensland, Australia. Today brought another new and fun port on the Australian east coast between Cairns and Sydney. On previous cruises I’ve visited the city of Brisbane, the beach resort town of Mooloolaba and the

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2022 South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand
9 comments

What Lies Beneath the Beauty May Be Deadly

Posted on November 4, 2022 by Jo Johnston

Day 32, South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand Cruise Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022; Cairns, Queensland, Australia. It is almost as if God gave Queensland, Australia, a beautiful coast where the rain forest meets the pristine sandy beach and decided it was too much of a good thing. So, God put

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2022 South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand
5 comments

Conflict Islands Truly are Paradise in the Coral Sea

Posted on November 3, 2022 by Jo Johnston

Day 30, South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand Cruise Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022; Conflict Islands, Papua New Guinea, Coral Sea. If your idea of paradise is almost endless light sand beaches shaded by tall palms and other tropical trees, surrounded by coral reefs, then the Conflict Islands should be on

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2022 South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand
One comment

Victory at Milne Bay – Then and Now

Posted on October 30, 2022 by Jo Johnston

Day 28, South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand Cruise Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022; Alotau, Papua New Guinea, Coral Sea. There I was, dreamily sitting under the bright blue canopy of a boat, enjoying the stiff breeze as we swept along through the whitecaps past sandy beaches under swaying palms. Children

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2022 South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand
20 comments

Musings from the Covid Ward

Posted on October 27, 2022 by Jo Johnston

Day 25, South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand Cruise Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022; Noumea, New Caledonia, South Pacific Ocean It is Day 5 for me in covid isolation on the MS Westerdam. I will be tested tomorrow morning. I used one of my self-tests yesterday morning, and it showed I

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2022 South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand
19 comments

Covid Just the First Disappointment Today

Posted on October 25, 2022 by Jo Johnston

Day 20, South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand Cruise Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022; Dravuni Island, Fiji, North Pacific Ocean. I have Covid. In my mind I wrote all sorts of clever ways to lead up to this news, but decided to follow my reporter training and just put it out

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2022 South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand
40 comments

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