Rowkin Rovings Blog

Well we made to the other side of the South Pacific in one piece though both with horrific bronchitis.

We got up super early and in fact so early it was before sunrise!! It was cloudy and overcast as we came into the bay as well as a little chilly.

What we found when we came under the bridge was just how narrow it was. Maybe four lanes in width altogether.

It is one of those iconic harbours like Sydney, New York where you make that extra effort to extricate yourself from your warm cosy bed.

At long last the sun decided to peek through as daylight appeared and proof could be shown that we were really there.

We berthed at Pier 35 in the downtown sector of San Francisco and were stunned as to the manoeuvrability of the ms Maasdam to squeeze in between these finger wharves.

Ah, but then we discovered they had two of these attached to us which would have made operations a heck of a lot easier.

Couldn’t get the best of shots of the city skyline so we will just have to cope with this one.

A very good panoramic shot of the harbour area where all the cruise ships come into. We had a Princess cruise right behind who was at least a third as big as us and watched as they very effortlessly berthed it into the tiny areas.

We want to share with you all a couple of details which we think you might be impressed with. As you know, we were at the bottom of the ship right at the rear end. This meant that everywhere we had to go involved steps and not once in the 25 days on board did we use the elevators which we were supremely chuffed about. Secondly, we did not overeat as we stayed away from the buffet (pigs trough) and ate in the formal restaurant. Here you were given small portions and even for the main meal. We also did not order or eat any deserts until the last night. Fraser went to the gym every day whilst Di did a few gyms but mostly walked around the promenade deck. We can confidently say that we did not gain weight and in fact did lose some as our clothes felt less tight when we got off the ship. So all in all, a good outcome.

We made our way to the airport with some other guests who were from Canmore and on the same flight as us. We asked at the counter if there was a chance we could get an earlier flight home rather than waiting until 7.00pm. We were really stunned, as Air Canada obliged and we got one six hours earlier than our previous one AND she didn’t charge us for the change – time to buy a lotto ticket.

It was that final last leg home and it just seemed to take for ages but we made it, complete with our sore throats and hacking coughs to be picked up by Joannie and Simone. Toque had been left at home as we thought it would be less stressful for her.

On our arrival in the back door Toque clicked into who we were very quickly and went beserk, licking our faces with a very Pooh smelling tongue and crying. After a while she settled down but you could see that she was perplexed.

Joannie and Simone had done such a wonderful job of looking after our girl and home and without these guys we could never do the travel we have been doing over the last few years.

We also need to thank all of those people DownUnder who took care of us and gave us a bed for a night or in some cases many nights. Many thanks to all of you.