CURRENTS

Greetings from Deck 12, sundeck — and at precisely 07:00am this morning, my 65th birthday officially kicked off. 🎉

Now… it didn’t exactly start with fireworks. More like a mild heart attack at 7am. We were jolted awake by an announcement from the Captain informing us that, due to high swells, we wouldn’t be anchoring off the coast of Mooloolaba. Apparently, attempting to tender in those conditions would’ve been “unsafe”… and, reading between the lines, probably involved a fair bit of tender cleanup.

So, not quite the birthday morning I had in mind. A real shame too — we had Australia Zoo booked (privately, so no refunds), plus a surprise meal planned by Lorna. Cheers, ocean. 🌊

Since we were wide awake anyway, I thought I’d try and upload the Sydney video. Big mistake. After a heroic hour tethered to my phone’s hotspot — somewhere off the coast with what can only be described as “optimistic” 5G — it crawled its way to 90%… and then gave up on life entirely. As we drifted further from shore, the signal followed suit. So, I did try — technology simply chose against me.

Plan B? Simple. We got ourselves sorted, headed up on deck, and secured — yes, you guessed it — our sunbeds (some things in life still require strategy). That was followed by an early fry-up and a couple of mimosas in Waves. From there, it’s a relaxed poolside day… at least until the guys inevitably arrive and begin what can only be described as a coordinated beverage assault.

If we somehow dodge the early rounds (unlikely), we’re booked into Red Ginger later for dinner, followed by a few drinks in Martinis.

If anyone onboard fancies joining, we’ll be about from around 9–9:30pm — would be great to see you.

Right, that’s it for now — more updates as the birthday unfolds… and depending on how many “celebratory” drinks I survive. 🍸
We’ve spent the whole day chilling by the pool, and honestly, it’s been perfect. Sunshine, calm seas, and best of all — loads of people have been stopping by to wish me a happy birthday. The funny thing? I don’t even know most of them, which means they’ve clearly been following along on the blog. That alone makes the effort totally worth it.

We’ve got a couple of hours left before we need to start getting ready for tonight. No more photos just yet — apologies — but don’t worry, they’ll start appearing soon enough.

A big thank you to Craig and Joyce, who’ve kindly invited us — along with a few of our new ATW friends — to their rather swanky suite for some pre-dinner birthday drinks. That should kick the evening off in style… and quite possibly derail the rest of it.

So after a relatively lazy, and very agreeable day, we headed back to the room where I got a lovely surprise: birthday decorations in our stateroom and some brilliant messages on the door. A really thoughtful touch. Thanks Lorna for arranging that. X

Once we’d smartened ourselves up, we made our way up to Craig and Joyce’s suite. Speaking of doors… they’d gone the extra mile and put together a full collage of photos of me on theirs as a welcome. Hilarious and heart-warming.

The rest of the gang were already there — Kyle and Virginia — with Chuck and Lori joining a little later. We spent a couple of brilliant hours chatting, laughing, and generally soaking up the hospitality. Before we knew it, we were heading down to Red Ginger, where they’d set up the centre table for all eight of us. Champagne flowed freely, and the food was excellent and the company was even better

To top it off, the staff (and pretty much the entire restaurant) joined in with a full rendition of Happy Birthday, and Craig delivered a cracking toast. I’ll get him to remind me of it so I can share it here — it deserves a second outing.

After dinner, we wandered down to Martini’s, where Lane, Jackie, and LeAnne were waiting.
Alan and Randy also popped by. We grabbed seats by David the pianist and promptly took over proceedings — requesting songs and then absolutely murdering them with enthusiastic singalongs. There’s nothing quite like a slightly wobbly group effort at Wonderwall to really elevate a classy venue.

Eventually, the evening wound down, and we all drifted off to bed happy, tired, and possibly a touch over-served.

It was a genuinely brilliant day — made so by great company, new friends, and the incredibly kind and friendly staff.
Thank you to everyone who made it so memorable. ❤️