Resting on Our Laurels 2014

Wishing everyone all the best for 2015

David, Anne, James, Tatham and Andrew

A picture of "The Laurels" taken by a travelling photographer around 1906. In those days "The Laurels" was a boarding house with several buildings and a tennis court.  The horse and buggy collected visitors from the Cables sidings railway station. George Johnson, the man who originally owned the property, is relaxing in the wicker chaise lounge. Unfortunately this house was completely destroyed by fire in the mid 1930's.
The photo is from a postcard held in the Australian National Museum and discovered in 2013 by Penrose historian Keith McNemony.

Below are some photos of what we have been up to at "The Laurels" this year.
All the photos were taken in their respective month. Photos can be enlarged by clicking on the image. Descriptions are clockwise, starting at the top left of the picture.

JANUARY  

A Gang Gang cockatoo samples an apple growing in the old orchard. 

Maygold peaches, ripe for the picking.

Redhaven peaches, freestone fruit, very sweet and juicy.

Angelina plums, dusky, dark skin with sweet yellow flesh.

Veggie pick for the day: tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, capsicum, silverbeet.

Japanese plums with red/green speckled skin and tangy yellow flesh.

Narabeen plum with bright red skin and firm, yellow, flesh.

Cleopatra apples protected by a green snake decoy to scare away birds. 

Pickled peaches, (centre) infused with star anise, allspice, cloves and cinnamon. 

FEBRUARY

Blueberries, sweet and juicy with a dusky blue blush.

Cleopatra apples, rescued from the birds and brought inside to sweeten up.
Golden zucchini, easier to find in the foliage than its darker cousin.

Satsuma plums, delicious steeped in red wine vinegar with scant sugar to make Plumbrillo.

Fern glade, (centre) a shady spot beside the dam. 

MARCH

Autumn pickings, a day’s pick of blueberries, lemons, grapefruit, tomatoes, hazelnuts.
Quince, soft yellow globes ripening on the tree

Hazelnuts, roasted and shucked ready to be dipped in chocolate.

Turks Turban, an heirloom variety of Buttercup Squash with a distinctive green and gold pattern.

Yellow pear tomatoes, (centre) picked green and ripened slowly inside. Perfectly ‘paired’ with fresh basil.

APRIL

Garden path, meandering under the grape arbour and along a border of brilliantly coloured pineapple sage.

Daily pick from the garden of radish, tomatoes, eggs, salad greens and herbs.

Lime, the first fruit from our new tree.

Pineapple sage, with vivid red flowers that attract honeyeaters.

Last of the tomatoes: Yellow pear, Kumato, Tarago round and Torpedo, picked green to ripen inside after the temperature dropped to 3 degrees overnight.

Cleopatra apples in background

Australian star fuschia, (centre) a native Correa used for soil erosion control with delicate pink star shaped flowers. 

MAY

Kiwi fruit, with over 40kg of fruit picked this year it was a bumper harvest.

Kiwi, skinned and sliced and ready for drying and preserving.

Brown Turkey fig, ripening on the tree.

Roadside apples, picked and juiced for a taste test prior to making cider.

Medlars, picked slightly under ripe then simmered in mulled wine and dipped in chocolate to make comfits.

Autumn leaves from maple trees in the background.

Pineapple sage, (centre) flowering for the last of the season before hunkering down for winter.

JUNE

Scotch bonnet chilli, a gift from a Sydneysider that survived our cooler weather and rewarded us with some very hot seeds.

Persimmons, picked when ruby red and ripened inside till the aromatic translucent globes are soft enough to scoop out the delicious, sweet flesh.

Strawberry guavas, with fruit that taste like strawberry with a dash of allspice.

Pomegranate, with ruby red pearls of fruit that melt on the tongue.

Water chestnuts, (centre) iridescent crunchy red corms used in stir fries and salads.

JULY

Garden path, under the walnut and copper beech and past the bunyan pine and rowan tree.

Anniversary harvest: a selection of FRESH veggies picked for a meal to celebrate 23 years of living at “The Laurels”: silverbeet, pomegranates, persimmons, beetroot, leek, hazelnuts, salad greens, calamondins, grapefruit, cape gooseberries, chillies, kiwi fruit.

Winter Jonquils and snowdrops blooming near the tulip tree and brightening up the garden.

Anniversary harvest 2: extras picked for our celebratory dinner: prickly pear, ugni, strawberry guava, nasturtiums, kale, herbs.

Lemon sorrel, (centre) defying the cold, with its tangy, lemony, brilliant green leaves

AUGUST

Magnolia, welcoming the spring with a heady scent and drift of pink petals. 

The Courtyard, with a miniature windmill, bird bath and wooden benches; a shady retreat in the hotter weather.

Violet, is an old fashioned variety with heavily perfumed flowers that make an attractive garnish.

Gum tree in the old apple orchard beside a small dam filling with water for the first time this year.

Alexanders, flowering in a bed of snowbells and adding a crunchy celery flavour to soups and stews. The dark black seeds can also be ground for a spicy pepper.

Blueberries, (centre) the rarely seen delicate, pink, bell shaped blossoms that develop into blueberry fruit.

SEPTEMBER

Cherry laurel blossom, the honey-sweet scent of the flowers and the drone of buzzing bees is a heady promise of spring.

Plum blossom, showers of delicate white and pink flowers bursting from trees in the home orchard, looking down towards the dam and the windmill.

Plum blossom from an old variety rootstock tree in the home orchard.

Lavender flowers, attracting bees with numerous bushes dotted around the home orchard and providing a blaze of healing purple all year round.

Grove of cherry laurels, over 100 years old; a perfect picnic spot beneath the heavily laden, honey-scented blossom.  

Wood anemone, (centre) cheerful daisy like flowers emerging from the ground every spring.

OCTOBER

Garden view from beneath the box elder and looking north towards the walnut tree, and the house. A lovely shady place to sit and enjoy afternoon tea.

Bluebells, planted in cheerful clumps around the Cleopatra apple tree, and with windchimes above. 

Browsing bed 1, bursting with salad greens and bordered with the edible flowers of calendula and sweet rocket.
Browsing bed 2, with lettuces, cress, rocket, parsley, mustard greens and mizuna smothering the soil and ready to be picked.

Garden seat beside the honey bush (melianthus major) and next to the path leading through the food forest.

Broad bean flowers, (centre) with their white hoods and black throats are an attractive addition to a salad and taste just snow peas. 

NOVEMBER

Globe artichoke, with its architectural beauty of tights heads supported on long thing stalks.

White yarrow, attracting hoverflies and bees, easing bleeding and a great compost activator.  

Walnut, with fruit slowly emerging from the flower. The nuts will ripen in autumn, if the cockatoos can be distracted from attack.

Pink climbing rose, tumbling over the pergola in the courtyard.

Grapevine with grapes and apple trained against an Espalier fence.

Oyster plant and Wedding bells, flowering in unison. Blossoms flutter to the ground like confetti
Strawberries, (centre) freshly picked from a wicking bed that protects them from snails, lizards and birds.

DECEMBER

Frog pond, where the sound of mating frogs on a hot summer’s night can be quite deafening.

Apricots, swelling in the summer sun and usually ripe just before Christmas.

Grapevine and espalied apple, looking down towards the dam.

Raspberries, sweet, juicy and irresistible.

Maygold peach and Black Walnut, with the walnut steadily growing towards being at the top level of the food forest canopy. 

The Dam, after a rescued tortoise was released into its cool, deep depths.
Marionberrries, (centre) ripening in time for Christmas and in considerable quantities. 

Resting On Our Laurels 2013

To celebrate 2013 at "The Laurels", we are posting a photo gallery of images with over 100 photographs of life on the land. Each line represents a month of the year.  You can download these images as a PDF file, and view them as big as your computer screen will allow. A mouse hover over each image will reveal a caption, describing each photograph. The image below gives you some idea of the bigger picture.

Click here for the PDF file. NB. You will need to DOWNLOAD the file (File > Download) to see true colour and the mouse hover captions.

Wishing you all the best for the festive season
and the New Year.

David, Anne, James, Tatham and Andrew

New Year Message

    Wishing everyone all the best for 2013

Some of the fruit and berries that we pick this time of year at “The Laurels”.

Red Currants | Gooseberries | Raspberries
Peaches | Blueberries | Plums

New Year Message

Wishing everyone all the best for 2012

David, Anne, James, Phillip and Andrew

This year we have bowed to pressure to revive our traditional "Resting on our Laurels" calendar card - now with images to match each month!

RESTING ON OUR LAURELS 2011

JANUARY
David plays for the New Years Eve dance in Canberra with Southern Cross Bush Band and Anne spends 4 days with her Dad at Sans Souci. James minds the family farm for a week so that David and Anne can do a road trip down the coast to Victoria and up through the Snowy Mountains. The temperature tops 35 degrees on Australia Day and musicians gather at the Connor's home at Bowral for a music session. David goes to the Numerella Folk Festival while Anne recovers from camping with some intensive physio and hydrotherapy. David and Anne, the Connors and Gary Tooth donate their musician skills to an Indian charity fundraiser. With warmer temperatures, we optimistically purchase avocado, macadamia and banana trees and passionfruit vines to create a new tropical garden - to be trialed next summer, after the plants have wintered in the glasshouse.

FEBRUARY
The warm weather continues, with temperatures of 30 degrees plus for 9 days in a row, followed by a freezing 10 degree day. Anne works at Goulburn TAFE library 2 days a week and David teaches at Crookwell on a Wednesday. David also maintains web sites and creates databases and commences the implementation of his Permaculture design for a share house in Bowral. He continues his involvement with Permaculture Goulburn and a new Welsummer rooster joins our hens. Paddy's River Band performs at the Kangaroo Valley Show and in the evening play for a wedding. David's brother Andrew and his son Tim stay overnight and they all visit the War Memorial in Canberra. David and James dig footings for the windmill and we skype with Tatham in Canada. Paddy's River Band plays for the annual Bundanoon Pre-School Bush Dance and lantern parade. James helps us to pick apples and blueberries and we harvest calamondins, raspberries, hazelnuts, ugni and wild blackberries. David, assisted by Andrew, installs a ram pump on a property at Robertson and Anne makes jams and tries riding her new 3-wheel tricycle. (Let's hope the video never makes it to YouTube)

MARCH
An earhquake hits Japan but thankfully James is enjoying WOMAD in Adelaide and not in Tokyo. David does some panel beating on the Holden (we won’t go into details about why it needs it).We enjoy a St Patrick’s night music session at the Bowral Folk Club. Andrew develops a passion for photography and borrows David’s Pentax camera. The Penrose Community Association reforms and David is appointed unofficial ‘stirrer’, We help friends celebrate a 60th birthday. Paddys River Band play for the Landcruiser Club at Taralga and we get a ride home in a tow truck. David starts looking for a new Volvo (we won’t go into details about why he needs a new car). We scrump wild roadside apples, pick the last of the tomatoes and light the first fire of winter.

APRIL
We attend a Bowral house party with String Contingent performing. David designs databases and web sites. Anne enters short story competitions, with a spectacular lack of success. We attend a friend's 80th birthday party. Andrew does a LOTE course in preparation for travelling overseas and teaching English. Anne stays with her Dad for a few days and has more mouth organ lessons and they plan Tom's first book: Write It Down. David and James spend Easter at the National Folk Festival at Canberra and Anne runs an unscheduled Easter B & B for people visiting or passing through. David buys a newer Volvo to replace the old one (we won't go into why it needed replacing). Anne and her sister Debra pick Brown Turkey figs, quinces and persimmons and they plan to take a mid-winter cruise. We scrump more roadside apples and rose hips and pick quinces and Anne makes Quince Paste and Rose Hip Jelly.

MAY
David rehearses with the Heritage Ensemble In Sydney. Paddy's River Band plays for a bush dance in Goulburn. Frosts start in earnest. The Heritage Ensemble, with David as Musical Director, plays for the Heritage Ball at Parramatta Town Hall. Anne quietly turns 60 and enjoys a relaxing dinner at Solar Springs Health Resort with David, James and Andrew. David gives Anne a 24 bass Scandalli piano accordion and Anne begins to take her revenge for all of David's violin practising she has endured over the years. We pick kiwifruit, medlars and over 10kg of green figs. Anne makes Persimmon Chutney, Spiced Figs, Candied Figs, Fig Jam, Fig Chutney and Dried Figs. We DO care a fig!


JUNE
David launches his mammoth Big Book of Australian Folk Song (the 'Orange' book), which quickly becomes the Bible for the First Friday music sessions at the Brewery in Goulburn. We are saddened by the loss of a friend's teenage son. Frosts become more frequent and the wombat takes up residence again under the house. David co-ordinates the 3rd Bundanoon DanceFest (affectionately known as Bunders) over the Queen's Birthday weekend and discovers an ingenious bush crafted chair left on the deck, in appreciation. Paddy's River Band plays for a bush dance in Sydney, with Don Richmond calling. We continue to enjoy the 3rd Friday Celtic music sessions at the Goulburn Brewery, as well as the 1st Friday Bush Traditions gatherings. Autumn leaves fall and we dig into gardening during the day and play music in front of the fire at night.

JULY
Anne and her sister Debra and James and Andrew take a 10 day cruise to Noumea and New Caledonia - going from minus temperatures at Penrose to 26 degrees at remote tropical islands. David and the Brewery Bunch play for the Winterfest Bush Dance at Bundanoon. David takes on permaculture garden commissions as well as continuing with website designs, database projects and primary school teaching. We enjoy cosy nights in front of the fire playing concertinas and nibbling mulled figs.


AUGUST
David plays with Folklines (musicians playing collected music) for the Bush Music Club bush dance at Beecroft. The local community get together for a fun Penrose Mid-Winter Party. Daffodils, jonquils, magnolia, snowdrops plumcot and cherry burst into blossom. David continues to expand the food forest with more plants and David and James build a waist high garden bed for Anne to plant out her veggies. David celebrates his 60th orbit of the sun with more than 60 family and friends at a Birthday Bush Bash at the Goulburn Brewery. The next day, David, Anne, James and Andrew skype with Tatham in Canada and unwrap presents while we have an online family birthday party.
SEPTEMBER
David plays for the Colonial Ball in Canberra with the Heritage Capital Band - a magnificent medley of musicians from the Heritage Ensemble and the Bush Capital Band. Anne's father, Tom, turns 89 and we celebrate with a family picnic at Sans Souci and launch the limited 1st edition of Tom's first book - Write It Down - a collection of over 350 sayings. Paddy's River Band plays for the Sustainable Living Festival at Penrose Public School. David plays with the Emu Creek Band for the Monaro Bush Dance in Canberra and for a dancing demonstration at Government House the next day. Over the October Long weekend The 6th Bush Traditions Gathering at the Brewery happens, with increased involvement with the Goulburn Lilac Time Celebrations. We pick the first of the asparagus and the garden blossoms into spectacular colour.

OCTOBER
David and Anne attend a poet’s session at Laggan and the Laggan poets attend the First Friday session at the Brewery. Paddys River Band plays for the Wirrimbirra Fauna Concert and the Mt Eymard Retirement Village Anniversary. David performs with Southern Cross Bush Band at the Merry Muse Folk Club in Canberra. The Penrose Community web site, designed by David, is launched http:www.penrose.org.au.The Brewery Bunch musicians play for a bush dance at Laggan and we stay overnight and explore the Crookwell countryside. David builds a second waist high garden bed for Anne and the first bed is planted out with salad greens and herbs. Butterflies appear everywhere and the bower birds (and rabbits!) become more active.



NOVEMBER Andrew leaves for overseas with plans to teach at a college and coffee plantation at Honduras then travel overland to Mexico then on to Vancouver for Christmas. James and Anne plant out the second waist high veggie beds with radish, beetroot, carrots, tomatoes, basil, cucumber and squash. Everything thrives!! David takes photos for the Penrose community web site and the village roadside is resplendent in golden coreopsis. We celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Celtic music sessions at the Brewery. We enjoy a BBQ with new friends and farewell an old friend who is heading back to Sydney and David plays for a party at a nursing home. David teaches a horticulture course one day a week at Moss Vale TAFE and Fridays at Penrose PS. Our old merino sheep dies. Queenie the pig continues to increase in girth. She’s now over 300kg! We enjoy a progressive dinner at Penrose on a delightful candle lit alfresco evening. David plays for the Monaro Bush Dance in Canberra with Folklines. The Jordan’s Crossing Gazette features an article on David and his musical career (see the previous post). James and David create a Tower of Power to concentrate positive energies in the area of the food forest. James leaves for Tokyo. A crane is used to raise the windmill into position and after 15 years of preparation, it is finally commissioned. We pick red currants, strawberries, English gooseberries and radishes.

DECEMBER
Summer officially begins but we have weeks of rain and cool weather. The dam fills to capacity and snake necked tortoises enjoy the deluge. The tropical plants bought in January are planted out and miraculously survive! David continues to expand the food forest, clearing cypress trees, pruning vegetation and planting over 30 different main plants plus numerous herbs and ground covers. Folklines play for a private party in Canberra. David’s nephew Tim stays for a week and they share interests in reading, riding and rockets. We pick yellow plums, lemons, Redhaven peaches and over 10kg raspberries David dusts off the Vacola kit and we bottle peaches. Anne makes raspberry jam and cordial and dries raspberries, peaches and lemon zest for fruit teas.

As we write this New Year message, the boys are all on the other side of the planet.

James is working in Japan, acclimatising to a Tokyo winter and enjoying snowboarding. He has developed quite a flair for writing tunes but has had to leave his piano accordion and recorder back home in Australia. He has a personal business 'project' that is doing quite nicely and he can work on it virtually wherever he has an internet connection. He has plans to further develop his business interests when he returns to Australia in the New Year.

Tatham is living in Canada and programming computer games with Klei Entertainment, where employers were given a Christmas bonus in the form of an Android Tablet! One of the games he has been working on, Shank 2, is due for release soon. In his down time, Tatham enjoys blues dancing and is experimenting in creating his own personal blends of teas. He has entered the 48 hour Luddum Dare software game competition with “Realistic Desert Survival Simulator” http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?action=rate&uid=7246

Andrew has been working and touring in Honduras in central America. He was initially engaged to teach at a coffee plantation/school in the mountains at Comayagua. After witnessing his photographic talents (see Andrew’s time lapse photos at http://youtu.be/P9yiG-v7vkI) he was asked to make a promotional video for a tourism project to raise funds for the school (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT8PXJpqOOw). He was then persuaded - in exchange for free alcohol - to make a fast paced promo featuring river tubing for the D.D.Brewery north of Comayagua http://youtu.be/1FGMSfXAOHw. Now on to a winning combination - free food, grog and accommodation in exchange for a short promo vid - Andrew made a very professional promotional vid for the Maya Vista Hotel http://youtu.be/gkjYxVbHbn8. At this rate he could be touring the world indefinitely, armed with a camera and laptop.

We are missing our boys but we know that they are enjoying the opportunity to see the rest of the world and we skype with them often.

Our Australian Song and Dance Man

An article about David was featured in the December 2011 edition of the Jordan's Crossing Gazette, a glossy local magazine produced in Bundanoon. The text of the article is reproduced below.



Our Australian song and dance man
Penrose Musician David Johnson is passionate about "bush music" - our rollicking Australian bush songs and dance tunes. Singing with guitar or banjo and taking up the fiddle or concertina for dance tunes, he presents a diversity of material from the Australian repertoire: from convict ballads to contemporary songs about environmental issues: from colonial dance to newly composed dances and tunes. He shares this passion by organising events. In just three years the Bundanoon DanceFest, run by Bush Traditions Inc. and held on the June Long Weekend, has become a major item in the folk dancing calendar, bringing over two hundred keen dancers into the town, and filling all the available accommodation. David explains, "It is based on my main interest, Australian bush dancing, with the added flavours of English, Scottish, Irish, American, Ballroom and European dance." There is a full programme of day-time dance workshops followed by an evening dance or ball. This "dancing nirvana" (to quote one of the regulars) is matched by the enthusiasm of the 30 or so musicians involved.
David acknowledges the debt we owe the folklore collectors, such as John Meredith OAM, who interviewed and recorded the older performers including Stan Treacy from Crookwell and accordion legend Pearly Watling from Goulburn. "If it weren't for the work of dedicated collectors, we'd have lost the old songs about shearers, bushrangers, drovers, cane-cutters, gold diggers, bullock drivers, and our pioneer women, and our uniquely Australian style of dance music." He encourages younger performers to explore and extend the older repertoire, and especially to sing with an unaffected natural Australian voice. David is known in Australian musicial circles as the bloke who compiled The Blue Book, the folio of music for bush dances simply called Bush Dance. For its 25th anniversary in 2008 some 20 musicians played the book from cover to cover at the National Folk Festival in Canberra. An updated version with a thousand tunes is currently in preparation.
In the context of bands, David's associations read like a Who's Who of bush music - The Rouseabouts, Reedy River Bushmen, Pinchgut, and Southern Cross Bush Band. As Musical Director of the Sydney-based Heritage Ensemble, he has conducted the music for over 20 colonial-style balls in grand historic venues such as Sydney Town Hall.
Since moving to the Southern Highlands about 20 years ago David and his wife Anne and their three sons have performed together as Paddy's River Band. They have played for many functions - dances, parties, schools, weddings, festivals and markets. They boys no longer live at home so Anne and David now perform as a duo or bring in other musicians for larger functions. Occasionally, James their eldest, returns to perform with them, bringing the magical fullness of his accordion playing.
During 2005 David recorded his settings of some bush poems, playing on fiddle, concertina, banjo, viola, banjo-mandolin and guitar and vocals. The resultant CD "Rough Sawn" has won acclaim in folk music circles and can be sampled and purchased securely from the website: http://www.davidjohnson.id.au/.
With a new line-up, FolkLines, David has been performing recently at bush dancers in Canberra and Sydney and leading sessions and dances at the National Folk Festival. He says, "There is currently a huge resurgence of interest in Australian folk music and dance music, with local musical groups flourishing in Goulburn, Kiama and of course the bigger cities - Wollongong, Newcastle, Sydney and Canberra. If there are any local musicians and singers who would like to have a session in Bundanoon they are welcome to call me on 4884-4214 and perhaps we can make it happen."
The Heritage Ensemble at the Parramatta Town Hall 2010.





Dancers enjoying the evening dance at Bundanoon DanceFest in 2011

Pacific Island cruise

In July 2011, Anne and her sister Debra, together with James and Andrew, took a 10 day cruise on the Pacific Jewel. We visited Vanuatu and New Caledonia. It was a first time cruise for all of us and the general consensus was that it was an 'interesting' experience. Here are some photos to give you a snapshot view of what life was like on the high seas.

On Day 1 we arrived at Hickson Wharf and boarded the Pacific Jewel and settled into our comfortable balcony cabins, with amazing ocean views.




Leaving Sydney just on sunset was an unforgetable sight, with the Harbour Bridge illuminated by the setting sun and the moon and stars twinkling in velvet blue skies.




On Day 2 on board ship we checked out the facilities - gym, spa, library, bars, shops and food......lots of food!



On Day 3 we were still at sea and we prowled the decks enjoying the magnificent 360 degree ocean views and breathtaking sunsets.




On Day 4 we arrived at New Caledonia and docked at Noumea. We took a tour through Noumea and as we left at sunset we marvelled at how an ugly industrial port could co-exist with such glorious ocean panoramas and tropical beaches.



On Day 5 we touched Vanuata at the beautiful Mystery Island. Debra and Andrew went ashore by tender and James and Anne stayed on board to view yet another magnificent sunset.



On Day 6 we arrived at Lifou Island, a tropical island and photographer's paradise. We were warmly greeted by the natives - both animal and human - and we swam and snorkled in crystal clear aqua blue waters.









Anne took photos of the numerous flowers along the seashore...















......and the ferns and foliage.













On Day 7 we made our last port of call at the Isle of Pines, another French colonial outpost, with interesting relics and a friendly people and lots to see. The landing jetty and the market square were all surrounded by dense tropical vegetation, with paw paw and coconut trees growing quite happily alongside the ubiquitous mothers-in-law tongue.


Intricate wood carvings were used as fences to define anything from a monument to a simple front yard.







As this was to be our last port of call we waited until the last tender arrived before reluctantly leaving, just on sunset.




Day 8 and 9 were spent at sea, with nothing to see but the horizon and clouds and seabirds.





On Day 9 we caught sight of the Australian mainland, just on sunset. After 9 days at sea it was wonderful to see the Queensland coast again. Rough seas made for a rather restless night but it was good to know we would arrive back home the next day.



On Day 10 we arrived back in Sydney and sailed through the Heads just on sunrise. Standing on deck and seeing the Opera House and Harbour Bridge glide by, we were struck by the immense beauty of the harbour that many Sydney siders take for granted.












After 10 days at sea we were grateful to arrive home, although it did take several days for us to stop swaying from side to side! During the cruise we had seen musical productions, comedy sketches, magic shows and circus acrobatics as well as relaxing with martinis at the piano bar and indulging in trivial pursuits. The highlight of the trip though was still the amazing unspoilt tropical islands that we had visited. All in all it was an amazing journey with time spent with some wonderful companions and I think we've all been bitten by the travel bug. Andrew and James have already taken off overseas and Anne and Debra are likewise itching to do some more travelling.