DAY 7 APRIL 2 BREWING STORM

A quiet day with the boat starting to pitch but it was rolling very little.  It seems to be well stabilised.  The ship was built in 2001 in China (Taiwan?) and will probably be retired in 2017.

DAY 6 APRIL 1 TASMAN SEA

We have been listening to tracks from the CDs we downloaded before leaving and are happy with the selections there.  There are very few DVDs available on board but we brought some with us and bought 3 more in Melbourne.  We have been watching one each night.  There are plenty of books in the library, including several in French and German.  We have been using an exercise bike, a rowing machine, and a multipurpose muscle developer.  We spent some time on the bridge. Thecaptain predicted 5-10 metre swells coming up soon.  We passed a bulk vessel "PATHEA" on its way to Port Pirie.

DAY 5 MARCH 31 BASS STRAIT

We woke up to see a double rainbow that stretched from sea to sea. Sea was calm all day but the captain warned us we would be running into bad weather in the Tasman Sea.  Watched the coastline of Victoria and numerous birds. Flocks of mutton birds were following the ship just as we had experienced on our ferry ride to Tasmania.  The barred gates that are closed in port were now open so we could walk right around the ship.  The Manet is 190 metres long, weighs 10000 tonnes nett and 30000 tonnes when loaded with 2200 containers.  Two more passengers from Ballarat embarked in Melbourne so we have someone to talk to at mealtimes.

DAY 4 MARCH 30 MELBOURNE

We enjoyed a cooked breakfast in the Mess, served by Ricky our meessman. We spent several hours in Melbourne, mainly in Hungry Jacks and Maccas answering emails and trying unsuccessfully to Blog.

Left Melbourne at 8pm after watching the straddle cranes etc loading.

DAY 3 MARCH 29

We were kept waiting at Melbourne and came through Port Philip Bay as the sun was going down. We passed the Queenscliff ferry on the way.  Docked at 8pm.  Saw a print in the stairwell that was appropriate for us.

DAY 2 MARCH 28 AT SEA

We left Sydney at 4am and woke to see the coast at about Kiama.  Saw dolphins following the ship, as well as gannets, albatrosses, shearwaters.  Quiet, with fairly calm sea.

DAY 1 MARCH 27 BOARDING MV MANET

We got a lift to Woy Woy from kind neighbours Bob and Jan at 6am and managed our 5 pieces of luggage into Central. Taxi to the dock took some finding but found Manet crew waiting to board when we got there.
A little bus took us to the ship where we waited for
customs to call us up to the conference room.  We watched the containers being loaded in the meantime.

Induction to the ship was slow because three stowaways had been sighted on the wharf and it was assumed they had boarded in Noumea and jumped off the Manet at 6am.

We then went to our cabin and were very pleased with the facilities.