BY REQUEST ...

Before I get to detailed blogging about our recent cruise - which shall await the sorting of over 2,000 photos ... hang on ... I'll give the overview now, then get to the details/photos/videos in a later post.

We left home at 4:20am on Friday two weeks ago (I'm on leave - surely you don't think I know what day it is).
Drove to Sydney and spent the night with Donna and George.
Boarded the ship.
Party party party!!!!!
Two weeks and five islands later we got back to Sydney, spent another night with Donna and George, drove to Lakes, spent a night in our apartment there, and arrived back in Traralgon on Tuesday.

I didn't miss a day in the gym on the ship - which I'm quite proud of. I also didn't miss a buffet breakfast, 3 course lunch, scones with jam and cream for afternoon tea, or four course dinner. So, for those who've been waiting some years for the grand reveal of my abs ... keep waiting kids.

Connick spent much of the cruise in the cabin watching movies.

I postulated and subsequently disproved the theory that too much karaoke is never enough.

Highlight of the trip (for me) - singing with Jesse Banez, piano player extraordinaire, who had also been on our last two cruises. In my mind everyone on the cruise wanted to hear me sing every time a microphone was left unattended. That audible groan you may have heard all the way from Australia every time I made for the stage was just the Pacific Dawn battling some pretty fearsome weather (and there was a bit of that too!).

But lo, it ended all to quickly, so if anyone has an unused prescription for any manner of anti-depressant medication - send it to me ASAP. I'll be needing to increase my dosage substantially until the next cruise. I hereby postulate that, when on land, too much medication is never enough.

I did check with the Purser's desk (or Percy's desk, as Jesamine prefers) on the last night for any empty cabins going cheap on the following cruise - but the boat is just too damn popular.

Met some great people, drank too much (mostly against my better judgement and at the expense of the aforementioned great people), and enjoyed every second. I shall now spend the remainder of my leave sitting by the phone awaiting a call from P&O with a great offer to return.

Further details and photos shall follow in due course - but for now, back to the matter at hand.

I have made a commitment to do a gig at the Star Bar in Traralgon in September - can't recall the date, but I think it'll be the Sunday after the AFL Grand Final. I'll be supporting the Beer House Dogs (at least I think that's what they're called). Mike, who plays guitar with the band, is a fellow FOB United team member, and this may be his last gig before he returns to the land of the long white cloud.

Anyhoo - given that I'm no longer in a band, and haven't played for quite some time (excluding quite copious servings of Karaoke on the Pacific Dawn), I have no idea what to play. So, If you can make it to the gig, then how about leaving me a comment with a request, and I'll attempt to play it for you. The quality of my performance shall be entirely at my own discretion, and I make no warrants in that regard. In fact, I don't even promise to do my best - just to do.

So leave me a request - get to the Star Bar on the afternoon of the Sunday after grand final day (or at such other time as I subsequently advise), and join me for all the fun of the fair - but without the fair ... and with less fun.