Day 44 23rd February 2011

At one minute past midnight we crossed the International Date Line and moved from GMT-11 to GMT+13 which meant that we went to 23rd February and missed out 22nd February. This is obviously a bit puzzling and confusing. We will cross the line again in about three weeks on our way back and then we will have two 12^th March. Thus, we balance up the changes in the long term. The ship published a spoof newspaper, “The Day That Never Was” to mark the missing day.  

The news is full of the earthquake in Christchurch which we are due to visit on 8^th March. It seems likely that we will now not go there. The Captain announced that P and O are considering the options and are seeking information from Christchurch before making a decision. It would seem wrong to me to go there. They have enough to do without 1800 tourists arriving to look around and perhaps get in the way.

Today, we are sailing towards Noumea in New Caledonia. On the way we are passing through the Fijian Islands. We saw several and they are all similar in shape being long with high cliffs and surf showing along the bottom to indicate a rocky coast. Although, they are high they seem to be flat on the top. A bit like Table Mountain which is in South Africa. It is a warm afternoon (i.e. about 30c) so we sat on the balcony and watched the islands go by.

Chris attended a talk on Aboriginal art and was so impressed she bought an original painting. We will need to get it framed when we get home. Tonight, we are giving the main restaurant a miss and going to a theme night up in the self-service area. It is a Tandoori night and we are going with our table companions Gordon and Janet.