Tag: photography

THE RETIREES SAIL TO MELBOURNE FOR THE CUP – NOVEMBER 2025

Melbourne Cup 2025

I don’t have great fondness for horse racing generally. My Dad on the other hand enjoyed the mental exercise (he did not place a bet other than on the Melbourne Cup) that racing gave him to try to pick winners and he dedicated a lot of time to finding the formula to pick the winners. Now if he had found the formula and shared it with me, I might have had a different view about horse racing. As he did not find the secret my hunger to follow the “Neddies” has become limited to buying sweep tickets in the Cup.

2025 was going to be different.

With an “all clear” from my doctors, we booked plane tickets to Sydney, and tickets to sail to Melbourne with Carnival Cruises on the SS Carnival Adventure for the race day and then return. The thought even invigorated Kerry to make a new dress. By November she had sold the business leaving her with time to draft the pattern, find the fabric amongst the stockpile she had collected in 40 years of manufacturing dance costumes and produce the race day dress. Little did we know the challenges that would come with the planned adventure and beyond.

The flight to Sydney went smoothly, and we found our ship at dock awaiting the weighing of the anchor. On Board we had a large cabin with its own deck. The cabin was very pleasant in fact as the picture below demonstrates. Even the design with the bathroom tucked away behind the hanging space and cupboards was practical and comfortable. The ship departed Sydney Harbour as my photos below show providing us with a grand view of the Opera House, Naval docks, and the Sydney Heads. Outside of the heads, ocean as far as the eye could see. There were two days at sea and then we found ourselves in Port Phillip tying up at a terminal showing its age.

Photos – Departing Sydney, the Ship, farewell Sydney, our cabin and the terminal in Melbourne.

Carnival Cruises have the reputation of being a party ship. Well, there were not a lot of young people on board and the playgrounds on the upper decks were not filled with screaming children. That suited us. We walked the length and breadth of the ship and following are photos giving you an idea of the facilities aboard ship.

Photos – the Pool deck, Restaurant entertainment, the Night Club, the onboard Mare

We spent two days in Melbourne – one for the Cup and the other roaming around Melbourne. Race day started with a bus trip to Flemington Racecourse and the first indication of the massive crowd I would have to contend with all day. First of all we had to find the seats we had booked under cover and a clear view of the winning post. The throng of people was getting to me but I knew I was here for the day. Kerry had sewn a special frock for the event. Some might say it does not look special but she cut it out, sewed it up and looked very sweet in my view. We both had success with our bets which for us was rather unusual but lifted my mood from the maddening crowd. The pictures of the stands don’t tell the story of the crowds. This is very early on in the day.

Photos – Kerry’s frock, the Stands at Flemington, and some of the runners in the big race.

We returned to the ship again by bus so the bucket list was ticked off for the Melbourne Cup. All in all, the cruise and their organisation to get us to and from the course worked well.

We spent two days in Melbourne – one for the Cup and the other roaming around Melbourne. We went to the Crown Casino (professional interest only as a director of a Licenced Club in Brisbane). On the way we discovered a Chocolate Shop and sat down in the arcade to enjoy a delicious hot chocolate. One of the missing things on board the ship was a good hot choclate. Once the time ashore ended, we sailed back to Sydney. Aside from the entertainments on board ship we occupied our selves by reading. Fortunately we had brought books as the ships library was pathetic. Sailing back to Sydney did seem a waste of time, but it gave us time to relax, read and our return to Melbourne for the Formula 1 race in March. Little did we know that fate would dash those plans. It all started with preparations for Christmas – you need to read about it in THE RETIREES PREPARE FOR CHRISTMAS 2025. .

THE RETIREES GO AROUND THE WORLD – SAN FRANCISCO USA

We arrived in San Francisco on time and ready to start our holiday. Our son Ben arrived at the airport as planned and Angus is with him to greet us. It is great to see both and during the ride to their home we hear all the gossip about Felix George our 1-month-old grandson number 9 amongst grandchildren. Angus is a little uncertain as we drive to their home. We are having a brief stay so that we don’t disturb their routine greatly. Part of the plan is to stay at the motel shown below for a couple of days and catch up with them each day. Peet’s coffee is nearby and we make use of that along with Taco Bell which we gave a big swerve. Felix at 1 month.

Jee greets us with Felix in her arms, and it is a great start to our holiday. Angus introduces Felix to us and I share some toast with Angus – peanut paste and honey I recall. Kerry gets as many cuddles as she can with Felix.

The few days fly quickly, lunch with Dad (Ben) at his new work (well a café near work really) and playing with Angus who loves building forts and racing his cars through the fort and knocking it all down, but we now have a game of “lets clean up”. Next is a jigsaw puzzle then cleaning up out in the yard. Kerry is cleaning the leaves off the back deck, and I am helping but Gus wants to help so he gets the broom, and we all play let’s clean up.

And so it goes, nothing special just being together.

We visited the local “Farmers Market”. Angus was somewhat disturbed by the spider on the wall of this house. Whilst there we notice there is a lot of street art in downtown Alameda and we captured a few to show you. Kerry and I took a walk through Alameda and stumbled across a museum of pinball machines from their inception to today. Every kind of machine I have seen and many I had never seen. We took photos to record our visit and spoke with the owner who serves behind the counter and gave us the run down on how it all started with the purchase of some of the earliest machines.

All in all, a couple of special days. On our last day Ben picked us up from the Motel to visit Jee with Gus and Felix for final farewells and then dropped us at the airport with plenty of time to catch our flight to London via Chicago, but it would prove not a smooth transition. Our flight departure is delayed then our flight arrival is also delayed by a plane broken down in the air gate meant for us to dock. Read about it all in my next blog “THE RETIREES GO AROUND THE WORLD – SAN FRANCISCO USA to LONDON HEATHROW UK”