December 5th
We embarked the ship at 5.30pm after spending an hour or so with Bub and kids at the port in Hamilton (lovely, lovely shops too).
Once settled in, with security tags around our necks, we wandered through the decks and felt totally and absolutely lost! So many things, places, bars, casino, shops - but at least we knew our cabin was on Deck 7 and if all else failed and we did get really really lost we would find each other back in E42.
Before dinner in the Burgundy dining room we headed to the 'SpeakEasy' lounge for a cocktail (pianist in full flight - too bloomin loud AND fast) - met a lovely couple who we had dinner with that first night. They were just heading to Sydney so a quick trip for them.
Headed to bed and wound our clocks forward an hour to keep up with Sydney time - had a sporadic sleep but no sickness.
End of our first day :-)
December 6th
We woke at 7.30 - looked out the window and what a view - ocean - how exciting! We read through the Pacific Daily newspaper (delivered each night informing you of the following day's events etc) then watched Sandy (Cruise Director) on TV - he does a 15 minute 'morning show' starting at 7am, repeated until mid-day relaying information/funnies and comments from passengers/general stuff. Came to be a daily routine - wake up, get the newspaper, turn the TV on and plan the day ahead :-)We met a nice couple of ladies for breakfast - saw them a few more times before they disembarked in Melbourne.
Of course no matter where you go on holidays there is always washing to be done so found the laundry, checked the shops out, watched dancing in the Atlantis Lounge and then found the computers and logged on to the net. (100 minutes for $55)
Lunch again at Burgundy (3 meals a day, most days in this beautiful dining room) with a family of 5 who were all heading to Fremantle also. 1.30pm - MASSAGE!!! for both of us - lovely - then relaxed on the deck (in the shade! - beautiful and cool). Oh! that morning too we had the safety drill (mandatory)- an old couple turned up thinking they were attending the 10.45am Church Service :-)
Casino was next then dinner at night was in the Bordeaux dining room. It is identical to Burgundy, but smaller so bookings need to be made for that one. I'm sure we were seated next to Mrs. Bouquet and buddy! Gees... Checked the show out at 7.30pm then bed (slept much better).
Monday December 7th - SYDNEY
4.30am and we were up and ready to see Sydney - beautiful breeze - sun was absent but such a lovely entry into this beautiful harbour. I took a lot of photos - docked at 6.30am. We just had a continental breakfast in our room as we were heading into Darling Harbour for the day so would eat something more substantial while we were there. Went to do some ironing before we headed off - laundry not open until 8am - dodgy!
Our day in Sydney went something like this - monorail 'day pass' (air con was dodgy - hot!). We seemed to walk miles, but it was fun. Had an awesome lunch at Cockle-Bay Wharf, shopped in Pitt street - lost Darren for a while...his phone was playing up too - eventually we found each other. Once again took heaps of photos. We were back on board about 2.30pm - woo hoo!! Awesome air con! Was so nice to be 'home'. We did some washing, had cocktails then dinner (early sitting 5.45pm) with a nice bunch again. The show at 7.30pm was Music!Music!Music! and lots of fun.December 8th
7am - arise - watched Sandy and headed to brekky arouund 8.30am - lovely group including an ex-manager of Myer Toowoomba and elsewhere. He and his wife Lorna are retired living at Kawana.
Rain after lunch - heading to Melbourne so that's par for the course. We headed to the casino and played Roulette for the first time ever (fun!fun!). We were too late for lunch in the dining rooms, so headed to the Lido Deck (sat with the two ladies we had breakfast with on the Sunday) - then it was FACIAL time!for both of us. While I was there I thought the gym really needed to see me.... oh well....
Dinner was in the Steakhouse - during the day it is Churchill's games room/library etc then by night turns into this extravagant dining room they call the Steakhouse. (It's just that bit extra special - $25 per person but is worth it). We had tiger prawns... yummo!
Oh!!! wine-tasting earlier in the day in the Bordeaux room - some beautiful wines - some not so beautiful.
Had a few wins at the Casino after dinner and Darren enjoyed playing roulette again.
The show that evening was Pixie Jenkins (fiddler for John Williamson) - bloomin great show. Headed to bed and had a very turbulent night I must say - 2am in the morning I ordered a hamburger and fries - seemed to help the bit of sea-sickness I was feeling.
Wednesday December 9th - MELBOURNE
7.45am docked in the Victorian capital - brekky in Burgunday with Ron and Lorna (ex Myer)again. We headed into the city by tram - checked the Casino/Southbank out then Collins street and Bourke Street Mall. I bought a lovely black top from David Jones. Lunch at Southbank then headed back to the boat. Chilled out for a while.... casino for a few hours.... slumberland....December 10th 
Turbulent overnight again - this part from Melbourne to Adelaide was the only rough part along the way.
Lunch in Burgundy and swapped recipes with some people - two ladies were very seasick and could not WAIT to get off the boat in Adelaide. Darren went to see the show at 7.30pm (they had cancelled the dancers and Pixie performed again). I had a big win in Casino :-)
December 11th - ADELAIDE
We docked at 7am - quite an ordinary port really but a beautiful beautiful morning. We took the shuttle into the city - took about 35 minutes. Darren checked the museum out while I did the shops over - had lunch opposite Miller apartments where we stayed this time last year. Headed back to the boat about 1.30pm - last night of casino tonight as we would be hitting W.A. waters where gambling is illegal.
December 12th
We woke at 7.30am to a clatter in the next cabin!! Once again watched Sandy (he read out Darren's letter regarding when the Formal night would be. Would be Sunday night - so off I went to book my makeup).
We, once again, had breakfast with a few 'sick' people then about 11am headed to Atlantis to see Sandy's interview etc with the Captain. It was very interesting and entertaining - afterwards we went through the galley - fun too, huge!
Then came Horse Racing.
Wooden-horse racing is huuuuuuuuuge on Pacific Sun cruises. (Horses line up - dices are rolled - whoever gets to the end first is the winner). On our cruise the race consisted of 6 horses - people bid to win a horse. So we thought we could do this and ended up winning one of the auctions and we were the proud owner of Horse 4 who we named 'Sea Biscuit. The following day Darren had to do a speech at the start of the race as he was the 'proud owner'.
After the auction we headed to the laundry and met a couple from Toowoomba then headed to the show at 7.30pm. The group called 'ENCORE' were awesome - 3 singers - brilliant entertainers. Off to bed - but before that, once again, we have to change our clocks.
December 13th
Today is the 'big race' so we spent an hour or so decorating 'Sea Biscuit' - came 4th in the race but was so much fun! 6pm dinner in the Steakhouse with Mike and Leonie who we met yesterday (from Adelaide) - was lovely AND we both turned up in the same dress :-) After this we headed to the Terraces Lounge and danced for awhile. Awesome! The Pacific Entertainers performed in the Atlantis for the last time so the show was super spectaculor - lovely way to end the night.
December 14th - ALBANY
Absolutely beautiful docking in Albany this morning at 7am - even had a lone piper piping us in :-)
At 9am there was a plaque exchange between the local authorites and the ship as it was the first time the Pacific Sun had docked in Albany - also we heard that our ship hadn't been to Fremantle before either, so we were definitely on a 'historical' voyage :-)
Did a bus tour - beautiful - bought a few things too at Rivers. Albany is so lovely and rich in history. First settlement in W.A.... first church and also site of the first farm in the state. We had the best scallops/prawns for lunch at Sea Salt restaurant.
Once on board again, our cabin is spotless - towels made into different animal shapes most days :-) Today - swans....in the shape of a heart... we had a few hours snoooooooooozing then headed to Smugglers - had a few wines, listened to a guitarist for a while then checked out our formal photos from the night before.
December 15th - BUNBURYBunbury was not a bad town - we just checked out the main streets and surrounds - did not take a tour as such, which we probably should have. Met Leonie and Mike (along with Joe, another guy we had all come to know along the way) and decided to have dinner with them again that evening.... final farewell dinner. Well, our final dinner included (for Darren and I) snails. Not too bad - the parmesan, garlic and sauces really smothered the almost scallop-like texture. Headed to our cabins after our beautiful meal to sort things out for disembarkation the next morning.
Goodbye Pacific Sun - it's been fabulous....
