We continued our navigation north around the east coast of Australia.

Wed Feb 28

We arrived in Cairns [pronounced Cans] at 10am, and I walked along the dock a little to a Ferry waiting to take 100 of us to the Great Barrier Reef.  I don’t have a bucket list, but this would be high if I did.

It took 1-1/2 hours to get to the reef, where we transferred onto a large pontoon platform. We were issued a full stinger suit, mask, snorkel, and flippers. The platform had an underwater viewing area and a glass-bottom boat tour, all included, but I was interested in snorkeling.

I donned the gear and headed down the steps and into the water.  It was a large area roped off with a lifeguard watching closely and a rescue swimmer handy, thankfully not needed. 

As I swam out in the warm, crystal-clear water, the incredible reef came into sight in all its glory. It was everything I had seen on TV and more. I stayed out for about 10 minutes but did not want to get too tired, as I had signed up for the one-hour advanced snorkeling tour later.

I had the buffet lunch that was included and chatted with more people I recognized from the 2022 world cruise.

I joined the advanced group, and we headed out on a speed boat to the reef's edge.  As we entered the water, the steep drop-off became visible.  Our guide pointed out the many wonders just feet below us, and we enjoyed the plethora of fish, including small sharks and giant parrot fish.  A heavy downpour came over as we swam, but it did not detract from the underwater spectacle.

These parrot fish are about four feet long by 3 feet high.

After one hour, we were all getting quite tired, and the speed boat took us back to the platform. We dried off and changed there, ready for the trip back to shore and the ship.  It was a day I will never forget.

Back at the ship, I quickly showered and joined Merry and friends for a birthday party that had been arranged for Margaret in the specialty steak house.  This wound up a wonderful day.

My turn!! [Merry] 

My day began with a fairly long bus ride and much about the road we traveled.  It seems that we were once again on ‘that road that goes all around the island’ with examples of how far it was from A to B.  Then we crossed another road, and wala…we were in the rain forest.  I began to look more closely at the trees, and about three feet was all I could manage: there were trees against trees, and it was a forest! 

First stop and we were all herded to a “duck”…an amphibious machine made before world war II but still able to travel.  We went further into the forest to look at the trees and guests upon them.  Not all were creatures; some were ferns that grow onto trees, like the staghorn fern; it’s so beautiful!   Spiders were hanging overhead, and we heard all manner of birds but saw few of them.  We then traveled through the water, a large lagoon-type with more trees.

Then we were treated to trying a boomerang—I did lousy—some native spears and playing a digeridoo—they were fantastic. After we saw a cassowary bird, which is very rare, we took a whole lot of photos. We were told this bird can become very fierce and to stand clear. This particular bird was much more interested in its food than us!!

We were finally treated to some dancing by some native dancers who were very good. 

 

Thurs Feb 29

The ship arrived at the anchorage for Cooktown, but the weather was too rough to tender ashore, so the Pilot stayed on the bridge to guide us through the reef, heading to our next scheduled port of Thursday Island at a very leisurely pace as we had time to kill.  The normal sea day activities were arranged.  We attended the very informative lecture about the Australian reef in the morning and attended the art class that walked us through making a watercolor painting,

followed by trivia.  I also had time to review the video I took of the reef.  This was leap day.  We felt we gained back the day we missed when we crossed the international date line.

Friday, March 1

It was another full sea day as we cruised to northern Australia. We had a local lecture, a choir for Merry, an Art class making watercolor paintings, and trivia. In the evening, we dined at the terrace café, where they served crocodiles, emu, and kangaroo with sticky toffee pudding for dessert. 

The crocodile was like beef but not surprisingly tough.  I liked the kangaroo, which was a cross between chicken and pork.  It did not try the emu.  The sticky toffee pudding was delicious.

 

Saturday, March 2, 2024

We arrive about 10 miles offshore from Thursday Island.  The reef pilot stated this was the closest we could safely reach the anchorage due to tides, currents, and sea conditions.  This would have meant 1-1/2 tender ride ashore and there was a change once ashore they could not get us back to the ship, so it was decided to pass Thursday Island.  This was not a big surprise as the rumor is that ships rarely can make it to port here.  

The ship altered course for Darwin, hoping we could secure a berth one day earlier and spend two days there.  Sea day activities were activated with a similar routine: a lecture on the sea animals of this area, Merry when to choir, art class making a clay decoration, and trivia.

In the evening, we had an Italian dinner with an Australian couple.  They are doing the full around-the-world cruise, 180 days.  They are sugar cane farmers with 45 acres, which the husband can manage alone.  His adult children are managing the farm while they are away. 

Sunday, March 3

Another seaday with the normal scheduled activities. 

Today’s lecture is by the reef pilot who got on the ship in Sydney and will stay until Darwin. His duties start two days before he gets on the ship by scrutinizing the planned course the ship has prepared. Using his knowledge of the waterways and the highly stringent aquatic regulations, he checks that the planned course is safe, legal, and will do the least harm to the environment.

Once onboard, he works closely with the ship's master [the captain] to maintain a safe and legal passage.  The passage through the reef area is filled with treacherous perils.  The ship must worm through the channels just deep enough to safely accommodate the ship.  Detailed computer charts [maps] give the necessary real-time information to make a safe passage.  Straying into the red zones on either side of the ship could mean disaster for the ship and all on board.  It is like a deadly serious computer game that the captain controls, with the pilot watching closely over his shoulder and the ‘sea traffic controllers’ watching every move as one last safety precaution.

At 5:45 p.m., it is time for the seasoned cruisers to have a cocktail party. By seasoned, I mean passengers who have completed at least five cruise segments with Oceania. Some passengers have spent a collective years with the cruise line, and it is all very impressive.

The captain attends the event, and all drinks are complimentary, making it a very merry affair. Friends gather in groups and share stories of past meetings and common interests. The show band plays dance music, and the good dancers strut their stuff. Long-serving crew are recognized for their service, and we are dazzled by the number of bread rolls and toilet rolls we consume.

A shout-out to Joyce, who came to meet us.  She has been following our blogs for two years and just discovered we are on board with a new blog.  We hope to have dinner with her and her husband before they leave the ship in Bali.

When dinner is served in the grand dining room, we break off into smaller groups and eat dinner with too many courses and too much sugar in dessert.

After dinner, we adjourned to the theater and watched a polished circuit act from a finalist in Australia’s Got Talent.  Life is good. 

 

Monday, March 4

The ship finally makes landfall in Darwin.  Because we are a day early, we must first dock in the industrial port.  The space we must dock into is just feet larger that the ship and the precision of the bridge is impressive with no tugs in sight.

Because we are in the industrial area, we must take the shuttle buses to take us safely out of port and the 30-minute ride to the center of Darwin.  This did not go smoothly, and we had to wait in long lines for our turn to get on our bus.

Darwin is known as the gateway to Asia.  It exports at lot of lithium to Tesla, also live cattle to Indonesia.

Once in Darwin, we walked around the lovely town center and picked up a few essentials in the shops.  There were a lot of Indonesian and other Asian restaurants, not surprisingly, as we are quite close to Asia at the top of Australia.  We decided to wait for the real this later in the cruise for Asian food and ended up in an Irish pub for lunch, and many of the other ship passengers joined us.

Darwin is hot and humid. Luckily, a light cloud protected us from the harshest of the sun that can be more deadly than the crocodiles and poisonous jellyfish.  We did not stay in town too long and returned on the air-conditioned shuttle back to the ship.

The ship had to leave the industrial dock to allow a cargo ship to come in and transport live cattle to Indonesia.  We anchored offshore, and by morning, we were at the regular cruise terminal.

Tuesday, March 5

Our final day in Australia includes a tour to Territory Wildlife Park, a about 50-minute ride on a bus. This is not a zoo, more of a large enclosure that segments the animals. My big disappointment is that they had no kangaroos, and I never saw one in the wild, so the myth of the kangaroo goes on.

 

   

I was disappointed with the park. There were very few animals to be seen, and the ones we did see were behind small glass enclosures. I may have a different expectation. Merry says she liked the park, so that is all that matters.

We arrived back at the ship minutes after lunch ended, but to our surprise, they stayed open an extra 20 minutes as several tours arrived at the last minute.

After lunch, we spent some time at Destination Services. The itinerary had changed slightly for our three stops in Bali, which meant the three tours were canceled, and we needed to rebook.  All sorted.

Our team did well at trivia. I was the only one who got the only beer question right. I'm not sure if I should brag about that.

At 4 pm, we cast off from Darwin and headed north to Indonesia.  My final impression of Australia is good.  It is a massive country/continent, about the size on continental USA, and we only got a glimpse of the east coast.  There is a lot of diversity and climate zones, so there is something for everyone.  The north of Australia is not for the faint of heart with the wicked high temperatures and even higher humidity, not to mention the deadly wildlife and insects.  Of all the dangers, the most deadly is the sun.  Sidewalks are covered, school playground have large shade area and all school kids wear hats.  Everything is air-conditioned.  I need to remember this is still in the summer season.  It must get better.

We were invited to dinner with friends Janet and Randy and Liz and Joe.  Tonight is a time zone change, but this time is 1-1/2 hours back.  This is quite unusual as a ½ hour offset is rare worldwide.

In the next post of this blog, you will read about our visit north to Asia.  To be notified of upcoming blogs, please enter your email on the left panel and press subscribe. 

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