It's been a while, hasn't it? Let's go back to our day at sea after we left Sydney. At the Captain's Welcome Reception, Captain Manzi told us that it might be a problem getting into Mooloolaba. It's a tender port and the conditions of wind and swell did not look favorable. Sure enough, as I was on my morning walk, the announcement was made that we could not have safe tendering there. We were quite sad as we sailed away.
At least we had yet another good sunset.
Sunday Linda had another bingo win!
And guess what - another great sunset with Venus even making an appearance.
Monday, we were in Airlie Beach, Australia. It was a tender port but no problem getting in!
After the tender ride to Shute Harbor, it was a shuttle bus ride to Airlie Beach where we stopped to talk to the kids.
You may have noticed that there was no one in the water in the beach photo. That's because it is stinger season as the sign warned.
And they have a nice, safe man-made lagoon for swimming.
Our plan was to do a good walk along the waterfront, but Linda was hungry so we had to stop for lunch first! We found a good restaurant in town. The coral trout fish and chips and the barramundi ceviche were very good.
Then it was time for our walk.
It was then time to take the tender back to the ship. That's the Assistant Cruise Director, Robbie, in the photo.
Tuesday, we were in Townsville. We decided to take the ferry to Magnetic Island. After a shuttle bus ride into town, we took a nice walk along the waterfront to the ferry terminal.
The 20 minute ferry ride was a good one - not too rough.
You might be asking, "Why is it called Magnetic Island?" Apparently Captain Cook named it that because he thought that the Island was interfering with his ship's compass. The first thing we did when we got there was to find a path that led to a point where there were supposed to be rock wallabys. Sure enough, they were there.
We then went for a long walk, once again along the waterfront.
We did have to make a stop for a snack before turning around and heading back.
Along our walk, we heard and saw many interesting birds. We've found that to be very common in Australia.
And lastly, today, Wednesday, we were in Cairns. This was the fourth time that we've been here. The weather was lousy so we had no big plans. In the morning, we went out for a walk in the drizzle. We went a short way before Linda had had enough so she turned back while I continued on.
Along the way, I saw a guy bring in a net with prawns.
It turned out to be a good walk even with the off and on drizzle.
And there were, of course, birds!
After I returned to the ship, Linda decided that she would brave the drizzle and we went to a restaurant which was about a 5 minute walk from the cruise terminal. Linda even enjoyed an Australian beer! (NOT)
After lunch we were able to walk a bit. before returning to the ship.
As I write this we are sailing away from Cairns on our way to Darwin our last port in Australia. It will take 2 sea days to get there. After Darwin, we'll be heading up to Indonesia.
Peace and blessings,
Linda and Larry
