The Hard Sell

The good ship Pacific Dawn is a very commercial enterprise. Just about everything is for sale. Joan and Dorothy went to an auction of artworks yesterday. The idea is that artists give their work to P&O ships. P&O is also in an alliance with Cunard and Star ships selling art works on 34 ships worldwide. The auctioneer told us that the artists get a better deal and the buyers get a better deal than on land based auctions. Not many pieces presented yesterday interested me much.

Before the auction the auctioneer ran a little art quiz with prizes of bottles of Champagne. Joan and Dorothy won all three bottles answering pretty standard questions such as ‘Who painted waterlilies?’ Another was ‘Who was famous for dropping paint on the floor?’, and “who was famous for being the artist for the Saturday Evening Post?’ If you don’t know those; Google is your friend!

D&J went back for today’s auction and although they yelled out the correct answer to “Who was famous for painting melted watches?’ They were ignored and another person won the bottle. Only fair I guess, as most people would have thought it was a set-up if our team won for a second day running.



Saturday:
Noumea: We have been ashore and done the city and surrounding hills tour. It is definitely a French colony. As we toured many people waved to us I guess we must be a bit of a novelty, as I doubt many Australians wave to tourists in Aus.

On one of the hills, Notre Dame de Pacifique, there is a statue of Our Lady of Fatima. It does seem a bit tacky with a circular fluorescent tube for a halo. I’m sure the Anglicans wouldn’t do that!

The architecture is like other South Pacific/S.E. Asian towns and cities. Unfortunately there is a lot of graffiti on walls and buildings and quite a few windows on shops have been broken. I am not sure whether the locals (kanaks) are disaffected with the colonial masters or if it is just bored youth.

Our cabin steward is going all out for a gratuity at the end of the trip. Here is a towel left out on our bed.

Here is a pic of the ship. 70,285 tonne; 245 metres.