Well.

We’re home – yaaay! {what I really mean is “Thank f*ck!”}

We had quite an eventful holiday.
It looked for a day or two like we wouldn’t even make the cruise ship!
My poor little man developed a chest infection which they thought might be pneumonia! It wasn’t thankfully and a course of antibiotics set him on the straight and narrow once again 🙂 *Phew! I can’t stand it when one of my babies is sick!

Sadly it meant we had a shortened trip to Seaworld and the other 2 boys went off to Movieworld without us 😦 We spent the day warm and sleepy in the hotel room {I was sick too, but not as bad as Ryan} And it was far too cold to go to the water parks! There was, however, an awesome water park at the resort and Mark n Harry had a couple of plays in it … Crazy buggers!

Above, starting from bottom left : At the airport – We’re on our way!; Q1 from below; North from the top of Q1; South from the top of Q1; That’s the Qld/NSW border – we crossed over into cockroach country!; Coolangatta Beach.

Above are some bits and pieces from our fractured Gold Coast visit.

We had to be at the port to board Pacific Jewel between 10.30-11am and man! There are some lines you have to wait in to get on those ships!! We finally boarded and were supposed to set off by 3 or 4. We ended up having dinner still in port and after some safety talks, we were at last on our way by around 7pm ish!

Above is a pretty picture heading out on the Brisbane River; Us checking out our cabin and donning our safety vests while learning what to do if the worst was to happen 🙂

We were at sea for 2 days and got into port in Noumea late afternoon. Which sadly left us only a couple of hours daylight to explore 😦 Oh well … We made our own fun in the city and visited a gorgeous old Cathedral, had a quick snack of twisties and coke in the park.

Clockwise from top left : Ryan’s favourite place to watch the ocean {they claim to have seen flying fish one morning and a shark one afternoon haha}; Park fountain, Noumea; Archie, our fantabulous steward made towel animals for the kids a couple of times 🙂 ; Me on Mare; The boys sitting in the window again; Ahoy Captain Ryan!; Some ALOT of DS was played; Ahoy Captain Harry!; And a cute little tug boat I couldn’t leave out 🙂

Leaving Vanuatu at dusk; All of us at a lookout on Vanuatu; We parked next to a kindy and these little ones jumped up to the fence and started yelling “Take my picture! Take my picture!” lol; Harry with a gorgeous Iguana on his hat; We got our picture with the village chief; Coming into Mare; The boys holding a Green Turtle; The warriors were very scary! 😉 ; And the boys on Mare with Jewel in the background.

I, for one have decided I am NOT a cruiser. I didn’t much like it. I was bored and on the last 2 days seasick {despite taking seasick tablets} It was exceptionally AWESOME to not have to cook or clean tho! 😉
And I really enjoyed checking out the islands. The kids loved the kids clubs and the food was lovely.

Walking to the plane we glimpsed our ship heading off on her next adventure! Little dudes look deceptively happy to be on the plane heading home … I say deceptively because on that short flight they both {at different times} had sooking fits of “I miss Pacific Jewel” and “I miss my new friends” haha funny little dudes!

Now we are home, things are getting back to normal. Husband is back at work, kids are still on school holidays for another couple of days and I am getting back into my sewing 🙂
It reeeeaaalllllly helps that I came home to a gorgeous bundle of Kate Spain charms from the swap organised by Ms Midge! 😀 I have chosen the quilt I will make with them and am keen as mustard to get elbow deep in it!
Sew, hopefully I will have a few pics of some blocks for it in my next post … Stay tuned 😉