Our cruise ...

Thought I might get some pictures up of our recent cruise - this is the condensed version. 

We did 14 days - 13 nights aboard the Celebrity Solstice from Sydney around New Zealand and back.  It was the first cruise for Celebrity in Australia. This is no ordinary cruise ship - more like a floating 5 star hotel.  We had a sensational time !!

Our first glimpse of the Celebrity Solstice berthed at Circular Quay - Sydney.

It was overcast and drizzling rain.

Our room on the 11th deck.

At the very top is lawn - real lawn.  The only cruise ship to have a green keeper and lawnmower on board.

Out door pool

Central atrium - looking down

Sydney skyline

Helipad

Indoor solarium

Explorer Lounge

Kids on their balcony

Sydney heads -  we are off !!

Sun glistening on sea

Milford Sound NZ - windy, light rain and heavy mist - needless to say we couldn't see much

Room service breakfast

Dunedin

Dunedin Botanical Gardens

Inside Dunedin train station

Dunedin port - timber and wood chips

Christchurch Antarctic Experience (we'd rather not thank you!)

Mucking about at the aircraft museum

Akoroa - so very, very pretty

Rotorua - Maori carving

 

Thermal activity

Family activity

She's one BIG ship

Auckland from sky tower

Its a long way down !!

Now which is the ship and which is the building?

Bay of Islands

Bay of Islands - traditional welcome

Historic township of Russell

NZ fush and chups and milkshake

and yes there was scrapbooking on board the ship

Now who is this smart couple?

Dawn over Sydney

Boo Hoo - I want to do it all over again

Childhood memories coming in 2013 ...

Next year I will be working on a year-long class called Childhood Memories for Soul Scrappers.

Do you fancy making an album full of your childhood memories to pass onto your children and/or grandchildren?  Want to show them how different things were when you were young, pass on interesting family stories (or scandalous anecdotes) or just relive your glory days?

This year long Soul Scrappers class will be for you !

For further information and pre-class instruction please visit Soul Scrappers and follow the links.

ARTastic December ...

The December inspiration for ARTastic challenge blog is up and ready for your interpretation.  We'd all love to see what you make of it so plase play along with us this month.

The December inspiration will come to you from canvas and body artist, Emma Hack, and is hosted by our creative team member Sarah.

Added Criteria - large, bold patterned paper or paint

A little about Emma Hack

Adelaide-based artist, Emma Hack, has been exhibiting extensively throughout Australia since 1999. Through a combination of painting on canvas, body painting and studio-based photography, Emma's works evoke a rich array of visual narrative and magical realism.

Emma's recent collaboration on Gotye's 'Somebody That I Used To Know' has seen her profile skyrocket with the single in UK, Europe and US charts and over 100 million hits on YouTube.

http://www.emmahackartist.com/artist.php

There are some delightful layouts from the creative team - please stop by and check them out.  Here is my page, bright and bold as requested :)