We are now all at sea having left Alotau and are  headed for Kitava tomorrow morning. Alotau is the capital of the Milne Bay Province.  After a big formal dinner last night and having earlier slumped to second place in the ‘cruise along’ trivia we arrived in Milne Bay around 8am.  At dinner Russell had  the opportunity to expose his new formal outfit, a marvellous accompaniment to Marie’s little black number. It was  a great dinner in the Waterfront restaurant.

Milne Bay

What a grand pair! At the formal night!

After arrival,  the morning was spent at a cultural ‘exchange’,  a mini Kenu and Kundu festival. It was just for us! “Kenu and Kundu’ is code for “Canoe and Drum’  festival! I get the Kenu bit but not the Kundu! This event would seem to be a pale imitation of the real thing that happens a bit later in the year when there are many more participants.  Anyway, there is much dancing and prancing (almost an indigenous Macarena or Nutbush dance, occasionally with spears and clubs) and canoes being paddled around. It is very interesting and colourful.

Back to the ship for lunch and a little later we returned ashore for a tour around some of the WWII sites. Milne Bay had seen a fairly spirited resistance by the allies against the Japanese onslaught. Before leaving for this shore tour Russell had pulled out his walking shoes only to  find two left ones, it seems events had conspired to leave the two right ones at home in Brisbane! A small complication! There was some confusion as to who was responsible for this confusion in packing. Leanne cleared this up fairly quickly and we headed off.

‘Cruise along trivia’ tonight  saw us falling at little bit further behind on points. Hope still remains for the final run home in a few days time. We just have to stay close to the leaders and try to simplify the questions. Need some dinner.

Until we meet again………..