Days 59 and 60 - Sunday 8th and Monday 9th March - at sea

Days 59 and 60 - Sunday 8th and Monday 9th March - at sea

(Getting a bit behind again with all these days ashore, so here's another 2 for the price of 1!)

On Sunday morning we did our usual walk, stretch and then line dancing for me. We then went to the port talk about one of our upcoming New Zealand ports - Dunedin. We went to lunch at midday, but it was actually already 1.00, as the clocks went forward at noon (I think they thought there would be protests if they took away an hour of people's sleep so didn't do it at nighttime!) As soon as we had finished lunch it was time for the second port talk of the day (they are cramming them in!) for Akaroa, which looks beautiful. JL went to see Colin Hobbs talking about how aeroplanes fly, and then Diane Simpson talk about why we like different types of music. I went along to a Fab Abs class at 5.00, and then we had dinner. Tonight was the first concert by the new classical duo - Sarah Douglas, a clarinetist, and Amy Wakefield on the piano. They started with a great rendition of Rhapsody in Blue, and played some other lovely pieces. The most exciting thing was they had their music on iPads rather than the hundreds of tatty books and photocopied sheets that most of the performers have had! After this I went to see a New Zealand singer called Ben Makisi, who performed a range of opera and classical songs - very good.

Monday started with a lovely phone call to my family, followed by walking a chilly mile, stretch class, and a cramped line dancing class in a smaller venue as there was a cookery demonstration in our usual room. I then went to my knitting group and made some penguin flippers, while JL went to see a new speaker, TV correspondent Margaret Gilmore, talking about terrorism. We went to lunch and lost ANOTHER hour, and then JL went to see Diane Simpson talking about serial killers (he chooses all the happiest lectures!). He then went to see Colin Hobbs talking about volcanoes, including our favourite honeymoon extending Icelandic one :-) I had an afternoon of laundry ahead of me, thankfully not too traumatic! I then went to an exhausting Body Conditioning class, before getting ready for another formal night. [ JL: and yet another lobster meal...]The evening show was the comedian Jeff Stevenson, who apparently performed at Rodney Trotter's stag night in Only Fools and Horses?!?! (I'm sure Jack will know!)