Blue Book of Boats

Dear Missy:

The ship sails up the Brisbane River to the heart of the city. The last time I was here, in 1988, it struck me as a pretty but sleepy place with a lot of lovely Victorian era cottages. There has been simply tremendous development since then and Brisbane is now a vast modern metropolis. It has many tall buildings, parks and gardens, sophisticated culture, shopping malls and freeways. It looks affluent in an upper middle class way. I didn’t see any slums or signs of poverty, but not much sign of really high end wealth either. There are far fewer expensive cars like BMW and Mercedes than we see at home, and I saw only one Bentley.

We were picked up at the ship by a friend of Peggy and Mary, Aussie Dave, who they met on their Antarctic cruise. He is a tall, jovial guy with a bald head and a ready smile. He picks us up in a 1964 Holden Estate. It has about a million miles on it, but it is his daily driver.Later he tells me it has been restored twice, but it looks pretty original to me. Rough. It has 4X100 air conditioning. Roll down all four windows and drive 100 kmh. It works. Except the car is so old the speedo reads in miles.

From left to right:

Peggy is my mother and the second oldest member of our group.

Mary is Peggy’s sister and my aunt. Once doyenne of the Black Cat Ranch, she is now retired and live with her sister in my basement.

Philip is Peggy and Mary’s friend, whom they met on their previous voyage aboard the Fram, 66 days from Arctic to Antarctic. A bit eccentric, claims he had his last haircut in 1966. Never goes to formal dinners, because they insist on a jacket and tie.

Tom is the oldest member of our group at 89, Tom is a family friend for 40 years or so. He is saddler and harness maker which explains his connection with the Black Cat Ranch. He was born in Germany but his Jewish family escaped to Canada before the war.

Hazel is my mothers best friend, they met when my sister Hilary and Hazel’s daughter Shirley went to school together.

David is Hazel’s husband. Hazel and David were on the Fram trip as well, and have shared many other adventures with the Shannons and Bonds.

Grahame – Last, and definitely least, there’s me, whom you all know already. This is my first long trip on a cruise ship.

Missy’s image is required to balance out the photo sizing.

We invite you to join us – a group of cruising Canadians called Table 29, named after our table aboard the ship MV Amsterdam. Our ports of call include Vancouver, Los Angeles California, NukuHiva, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia, Papeete, Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, Raiatea, Pago Pago, American Samoa, Suva, Viti Levu, Fiji Islands, Port-Vil Vanuatu, Cairms Australia, Brisbane Australia, Sydney Australia, Melbourne Australia, Hobart Tasmania, Dunedin New Zealand, Christchurch New Zealand, Wellington New Zealand, Napier New Zealand, Tauranga New Zealand, Auckland New Zealand, Bay of Islands New Zealand, Nuku’alofa Tonga, Apia Upolu Samoa, Honolulu Oahu, and back to Vancouver.