Showing posts with label Noumea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Noumea. Show all posts

Friday, February 15, 2013

R&R


A pleasant breeze wafted through my balcony door as I spent the morning polishing my final three presentations for the Unlock the Past 3rd History and Genealogy Cruise. As it was another day in port I was able to sleep in and wake naturally rather than answering the call of the alarm app on my tablet (it works!).
Fellow genealogists enjoying quiet time in the library
View from my balcony
I did enjoy my breakfast of smoked salmon in the restaurant - there's nothing like being waited on at brekkie time. For lunch I wanted to put my feet under a table so, as the formal restaurant was closed, I opted for Johnny Rockets, an American hamburger joint on board, where I was waited on and had the accompaniment of singing and dancing waiters.

Dancing waiters at Johnny Rockets

It seems as though there was a bit of interest in my afternoon talk, "Flip-Pal and Picasa" as I was scheduled to talk in the main conference room again. Thanks to those stalwarts who came to hear this talk and contributed to the conversation in the session. The audience was full of Flip-Pal owners while a coouple who weren't members of the Flip_Pal brigade purchased them after the session.

Paul Milner once again educated us after dinner. His topic "Irish Land Records" gave us details of many resources that might hep us in our search for our Irish ancestors. My brain was overflowing with information by the time Paul completed his talk.

Having set sail from Noumea we now have four full days of learning ahead of us - my brain will surely burst.

Earlybirds eager to learn
You need to arrive early to grab a good seat


Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Touristing takes over


 As we were in port today genealogy education took  back seat to touring in Noumea. For those who are wondering about my non-genealogy activities please see my jillballau blog post: http://ballau.blogspot.com/2013/02/noumea.html.

At 3:50 pm I was set up and ready to present my Gadgets for Genealogy talk but thought I may not have an audience as the room was nearly empty but when 4:00 arrived a healthy group had gathered. As this was a small group of only about 20 I was able to ditch the microphone and prance around the room interacting with my fellow learners. I really enjoyed the collaborative nature of this talk and thank those who chimed in with suggestions and anecdotes.

Visiting US lecturer Paul Milner was again our after dinner speaker. Paul shared "Tips & tools for navigating the English Probate system"; it is a benefit that Paul is such a lively, engaging and knowledgeable speaker as, after a relaxing dinner and full day of tourist activities, many of our group are in danger of nodding off.

Our departure from Noumea has been delayed for 24 hours so we will only be having two lectures again tomorrow.

Our ship moored in Noumea

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Trove Tuesday - Pacific Cruise

Together with around 150 family history enthusiasts I will be setting sail on a Pacific cruise next Sunday when the Unlock the Past cruise leaves Sydney on board the Voyager of the Seas. We will be calling at Noumea and Fiji.

For today's post I turned to Trove to see what I could find out about cruising in the Pacific.

1934 'MOONLIGHT IN THE PACIFIC.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 3 January, p. 14, viewed 4 February, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17037404


1933 'No title.', The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956), 5 January, p. 5, viewed 4 February, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4517829


1906 'MAIDEN CRUISE OF THE SUVA.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 5 July, p. 8, viewed 5 February, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14783871


1937 'CRUISE TO FIJI.', The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956), 18 August, p. 14, viewed 5 February, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11116959

I wonder how our experiences will mirror those of these journeys in the past.

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