Tuesday 26 February 2019

Cairns to Darwin

Tue 19th Feb 
Mega hot - mid 30s to 40.

We arrive (anchor off actually) in Cairns at 10am to the announcement that tenders to take us ashore will be on a club member basis. That is; people booked on official NCL (the cruise line) excursions first, platimum+ and platinum go second, then gold and silver members, then everyone else (ie us) queues up on a first come first served basis. We have an unofficial (ie. non NCL) snorkelling excursion booked to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) as the official NCL one was fully booked and also it was more than twice the price of ours. 

(To be a platinum+ member you have to clock up a total of 700 nights cruising with NCL. Now that’s a lot of cruising!)

We go at 1pm, so we have lots of time. However, there are other people on the same excursion who are platinum and gold members so we “buddy up” to get everyone off together. Truth be told, we just do as advised by the excursion organiser and more experienced cruisers, with the result that we are one of the first off the ship. A 30 min shuttle bus into Cairns and we are well early for our trip. We wander round the lagoon and marina area, which is exceedingly hot and humid, take a coffee and sandwich and then we’re off to board Skedaddle, our fast boat to the GBR.






Skedaddle travels at 30knts, which makes it one of the fastest boats and capable of offering half day scuba and snorkelling tours. We go through registration which involves assigning everyone a number, a stinger suit, a medical questionnaire and an embarcation signature. Then we are strapped in and endure a 1 hour high speed voyage to Hastings Reef. You cannot get up as the boat is too jumpy at this speed.  Once there we don our stinger suits and line into three groups: scuba divers, snorkellers, amd glass bottom boaters. After half an hour the glass bottom boaters and snorkelers can swap over if they want.

We are moored at a buoy, one of several in the area and also in the locality are a couple of glass bottomed shallow boats moored up seemingly in the middle of nowhere for the use of any tour company.

The snorkeling is (for me - G), amazing. All sorts of colourful fish and coral. Blues, yellows, black and whites, reds, all sorts of shapes and sizes. Our leader spots a reef shark but by the time the news is shared it swims off - I missed it. Visibility is good down to 3m but a bit hazy after that so I stick to the reef and shallow canyons. The fish tend to hang around in groups and are completely oblivious to us above them unless you get too close. I do see a jellyfish but only a small harmless purple one, not the big dangerous ones with trailing stingers we are wearing the stinger suits for. I wish I had an underwater camera. The snorkeling gear is very good, much better than Fiji as I don’t need to empty the goggles once, and the stinger suits don’t impede, as long as you are under 20 stone that is. The assistance for non confident snorkelers is maybe not so good, but that doesn’t affect me.

My experience (- C) as a first time snorkeller (- having tried it for a few minutes in calm waters in Fiji) was a little different. There was a strong current and although I wore a bouyancy aid I had difficulty keeping up with the person from the boat leading our group. Initially I managed to see some coral reefs and many fish but soon I became tired and a wee bit scared. The guide had a buoy attached to him by rope for persons like me to hang on to for some help, but once I managed to catch up and hang on - with another struggling swimmer, we were told off because the current was strong and heeding his progress so we had to let go! Hence I was pushed by the current onto the reef, my bouyancy aid hindering my attempts to get away - I valiantly tried to avoid sitting on the coral reef -eventually the guide saw me and dragged me off ,but as he guided me towards the boat he saw a reef shark and excitedly swam off notifying other snorkellers leaving me to ungainly splashy swim/ doggy paddle back on my own! Ah well at least I tried it...Perhaps the trip in the glass bottom boat may be more productive....

Sadly the glass bottomed boat experience was a bit of a disappointment as the weather was turning and Laura the diving instructor driving the thing struggled to move it against the current. We saw some coral reef and then an argument/ heated dicussion took over between a climate change denying American and an enviromentally aware Canadian. “ The world has always gone through change - how do you know it’s man made this time”, “The theory is that as well as plastic the coral may be affected by all the sun products used by swimmers” “And he’s a Trump supporter” “Let’s get back to the coral” With someone muttering “ I thought we’d see some fishes” we returned to Skedaddle..




We really should have a caption competition for this pic!

Slowly I notice each time I pop my head up the weather is worsening. The current is stronger and the sea choppier. The little red translucent floaters I could see in the sunlight have disappeared, a bit like dust you see in the sun’s rays disappear in shadows. After another half hour or so we are called back to the boat. I guess we had around an hour and a half in total on the reef. A quick cup of tea and biscuit and we have to sign the registration form to confirm we are back on board.

This registration process could have something to do with the fact that a scuba tour once left an American couple, the Lonergans, on the reef and didn’t notice they weren’t back on board. By the time a search party was organised a couple of days later there was no sign of them. Eaten by sharks is the general assumption.

We once again strap ourselves back in, and hurtle back to Cairns at 30knts. It starts to rain and we see a storm is lashing the mainland over 30 miles away: lightening bolts and heavy rain. The sea is really choppy now and every so often the boat jumps into the air and lands rolling onto the next wave with a crash and a childish and scared “whoopee” from the loud Americans at the back. We were sat in the first few rows so enjoyed/endured the roller coaster ride!

At last we’re back on dry land and shuttled back to the boat for 6pm. We hear that others, booked on a skytrain ride over the Kurunda rain forest had their excursions cancelled due to storms, whereas as we were completely unaffected out on the reef. Back on the cruiseship it is as hot as ever with the storm passed, although the sea remains choppy.

Wed 20th Feb
Mega hot again, sunny 40 degrees

We decide to visit Cairns again, to the aquarium to tick off some of the fish we saw snorkeling. The tender operations start on the deck below ours so we wander along our deck and find the queue for the tendering snaking up the stairs, we join it on our level, near the front and kind of blend into the background. The sea is very rough this morning and they have trouble tieing up the tenders to take us ashore. The tenders are the ship’s lifeboats and they are too small and light in rough weather. Eventually, they manage it and we’re on, oblivious to the fact that they stopped tender operations after ours due to rough seas.

The aquarium was good, brand new and we learn interesting facts about stingrays and try to tick off fish we saw, or thought we saw whilst snorkeling, but we can’t remember there were so many. However, it was interesting to go round the aquarium with a new perspective now we’ve seen many of the fish in the wild.


A reef shark - one of which proved more interesting than Carol to our group leader yesterday


An idea of a bit of what we saw yesterday.

We head back to get the last tender back to the ship. Whoa! there must be over a thousand people in the queue, what a cock up! The weather is still causing problems and they’ve hired bigger boats for the tendering operations, but it’s still difficult and time consuming and worse, it’s low tide so the bigger boats can’t take their full capacity. We adjourn to the yacht club for beers until the queue starts moving. It takes ages and there is a lot of complaining. It takes us two and a half hours to get back to the cruise liner. Not good enough.

Thurs 21st Feb
Sunny 32 degrees

Today is one of two sea days as we head for Darwin.
However we awake this morning to discover that the ship had to return to near Cairns in the night - a complete U-turn due to a medical emergency resulting in a helicopter lift for a passenger to hospital. The helicopter couldn’t land due to high winds so the ship returned to the shelter of Cairns where the winching up of a body bag (with a living person inside we think) can proceed. This has put our arrival in Darwin back a whole day - instead of an 8am arrival we will not arrive until past 5pm on the 23rd Feb. We had a full day excursion booked for the 23rd which we are able to move on to the 24th but as the ship leaves that day it will be a shortened version. 

Yesterday as we waited in the queue to board an elderly man was carried off accompanied by medical staff and his suitcases -we presume en route to hospital. A day before an elderly woman collapsed in the dining room and was stretchered out. We hope that will be the unlucky 3 medical incidents out of the way on this trip - but looking at the age and condition of many of the passengers can’t help but think that there may be several more before the trip is over. Rumours abound over the state of the person helicoptered off and we hear horror stories from people who have visited the doctor; $800 for 2 sleeping pills, $1,700 for a consultation with blood tests, antibiotics and an inconclusive outcome (if whatever it is doesn’t get better, come back and see me - yeah right!)

After 2 days (almost 3 actually with the U-turn) we have fallen into a bit of a routine: light breakfast, one hour sunbathing on the top deck, 40 minutes in the gym - Graham .Carol walking a over a couple of miles around the promenade deck - just under 3 laps around the ship equal a mile - to work up an appetite for lunch. After lunch a sleep and bum around until a respectable cocktail hour before dinner followed by too many drinks after dinner. Wake up with a headache and start all over again. Sunbathing on the top deck is challenging for our reserved senses; winds of minimum 20 knots (our speed), ultra annoying loud Americans, and a really distasteful array of fat bodies which really should belong in clothes. How some of these people got on an aeroplane defies belief. The two pools are full of bodies which makes it impossible to swim until the sun goes down by which time the pool water is more than cloudy with sun tan lotion and God knows what else. I don’t think we’re cut out for the cruising life.

Sat 23rd Feb.
Sunny periods, 32 degrees 

We arrived in to Darwin cruise terminal at around 5pm. The heat and humidity is sweltering and we can see that across the bay a storm is gathering. We walk up some steps to the town centre and already Grahams T-shirt is wringing wet. We make it to the town centre just as the rain comes down in buckets with thunder and lightening. Sheltering from the rain in the epicentre of the city’s free wifi we catch up on emails, download photos onto the ipad etc. There is nothing else to do as all the shops are shut. Evidently a welcome committee had been planned but no-one informed them of our late arrival so they packed up, shut all the shops and went home or into the bars.

Darwin looks brand new and like all the northern cities we’ve visited has lots of building going on; roads, buildings, waterfront walks. Cyclone Tracy demolished most of the city in 1974. The cyclone caught everyone by surprise because there were warnings for a previous cyclone which never materialised. When Tracy came along people thought it was another false alarm, with the result that when it hit in the early hours of the morning 9,000 homes (admittedly low quality) were flattened with the loss of 60 lives. The waterfront is especially impressive with a sea water lagoon for safe swimming surrounded by bars and restaurants, childrens playgrounds and posh apartment blocks. These lagoons are common in North and Eastern Australia, as, although the sea looks very inviting you cannot swim in the sea. A combination of deadly box jellyfish, sharks and crocodiles makes the beach a no go area.



Moments later the Darwin Cathedral about to get a soaking


Sun 24th Feb
Sweltering again , 40 degrees

We gather at 06:45 for our all day excursion out to Lichfield Country Park with Off-Road Dreaming tours to see some countryside, fauna and swim in waterfalls. It’s already getting on for 30 deg and the sun is only just up. Along the main Stuart highway running for 60km or so are two water pipes. “These carry the drinking water from the Manton dam into Darwin. The water from the tap is never cold in Darwin” jokes Dave, our guide for the day. We drive for an hour and a half to a coffee stop at the park entrance and then another 20 mins into the park. The road (single carriageway now) continues for another 4,443kms to Alice Springs.

An interesting noticeboard not only contained useful information but amusing anecdotes such as...



 Our first stop is at a series of particularly large termite mounds. We’ve seen numerous termite mounds from the minibus on the way but these are the largest. There are two types; magnetic and cathedral. Magnetic is a fancy word for thin mounds which are orientated North-South. No-one knows why but it is assumed, because these are situated in open countryside, that it is to minimise the heat from the sun. Cathedral mounds are any old shaped mounds and are created by termite colonies very very slowly, a centimetre or two a year. The mound shown in the picture below is 50 years old. The mound consists of workers, soldiers, a queen, and reproductive termites and is made from mud and excrement. Compare to the size of tourists!




Magnetic Termite Mounds


Our minibus contains a few Americans from the New Jersey area. It’s like listening to a load of Woody Allen characters arguing and discussing facts they have forgotten five seconds after being told by Dave, our guide. Dave says “so termites are blind and live underground. You’ll never see them because if they were to come to the surface they would die from the heat and light of the sun”. One of our Americans says “Oh my gaad - is that a termite?” pointing to an ant scurrying along the ground. 

Our next stop is a waterfall which spills water gathered from a large (in square miles) sandstone table top down into the valley below. Dave points out different plant species on the way and their uses in the aboriginal world. This one for eating, that one for medicine. One thorny bush, called the firestarter was used to keep fire embers alight when they moved camp. A coal or other ember was wrapped in its leaves and used to start a fire at the new camp. The view over the valley across tropical rainforest is superb and goes on for miles (hundreds of miles actually). The walk of about 100 metres and back leaves our hats and shirts soaking and clamouring for the cool air conditioned bus. This is the format of the day; heat up outside, cool off in the bus.

Earlier we passed over a river made famous by one of its occupants, a 5m male crocodile called Sweetheart. Sweetheart took a dislike to outboard motors and attacked any boat which woke him up. The wildlife officials decided to move him for his and everyone else’s sake but botched the operation. Sweetheart lives on however as a stuffed exhibit in Darwin museum.


The Northern Territories have two seasons as against our four; wet season and dry. We’re now (Feb) in the wet season. In the dry season the ground is scorched brown with hardly any vegetation except trees. In the wet season it floods and is covered by spear grass. Spear grass is as it sounds - used for making lightweight spears which can float. 



Another stop at Wangi Falls where we are not allowed to swim, Dave lays out lunch while we go for a walk. There are signs on how to be “croc safe” - do not venture near water basically.






The waterfall is picturesque but swimming is not allowed so we go for a walk to check out the views. There is a short 500m walk or a longer 1.7km one. Given the heat we go for the short one and come across a Golden Orb spider. This is the female and she is about 10cms including legs. She has a hareem of much smaller males (1cm) which she sometimes eats. The info board didn’t say whether she eats them because she’s hungry or there is another reason.


We catch up with the rest of the group and have a light lunch, then off to another waterfall where we can swim. It’s quite busy, probably because today is Sunday and hot and quite a few locals drive out to Lichfield for a picnic. We manage a swim in the cool waters but cut it short as a trade for a longer stop at the next one.


Our last stop, walkable, but we drive, is Florence Falls, for a walk and another swim. This time the pool is bigger and we have a longer swim in the pool. Graham swims right under the waterfall. The outfall of water makes it quite difficult to reach and once under the fall the force is too powerful to stay there. It’s not easy to stay afloat with a ton of water on your head.


A short walk passing more Orb spiders - they really were everywhere if you walk slowly and keep your eyes open - and we’re back in the cool of the bus and heading back to Darwin. Slowly the skies darken, the wind picks up and lightening flashes hit the ground ahead of us. Darwin is getting lashed again. The rain gets heavier the nearer we get, just like yesterday. A great day out with Dave pointing out different flora and fauna and their uses to the aborigines.

This is the last stop in Australia and it’s been really interesting. The distances are vast, and Darwin, a city of 1.5m people relies on huge road trains, and  also a rail train from Adelaide for supplies. If the rail train is interrupted for weather etc Dave says the shops are soon short of fresh produce. On the way in we passed gas or oil platforms in the Timor Sea and can see lots of gas storage tanks across the bay. Another sea day tomorrow and then we will be in Indonesia.

So farewell from the Top End








































Saturday 23 February 2019

Sydney to Airlie Beach

Thurs 14th Feb.
Sunny periods, 25 degrees.
Happy Valentines Day!

We arrived in Newcastle this am. The port is about 20 mins from the centre and the council has laid on free shuttle buses to take us to and  from the town centre. It seems a real effort has been made to attract cruise ships and encourage tourism.Volunteers man the buses cheerfully giving local information. Also as it is on the Hunter river it is a good base for wine tours to the Hunter Valley - of which quite a few passengers had undertaken today.
A pelican and friends floated by as we walked along the path overlooking the Hunter estuary.




The town is trying to improve its industrial  image - a new tram route is running and there is evidence of new build commerce and housing being built. An Australian band called Silverchair originated from the town  (of whom Ben was a big fan in his teens in the Noughties) - but sadly no reference was made that we could see today...

It is rather delightful - walkways along the sea accessing a lovely surf beach, 




there is a light house, 



an old fort and lots of information boards regarding the site of barracks used to house convicts sent from England to work on the building of the town. As usual there are information boards - here  proudly stating the town was the first to have signage in aboriginal language although the indigenous people were either killed or forcefully moved to make way for the European pioneers!

We had coffee at the old custom house - now a hotel and restaurant which was very tasteful and the coffee was tasty.



And then engaged in some retail therapy - Graham needing some lighter clothing (I knew I should have supervised his packing! - C)
Thankfully the prices here are more reasonable than both UK and Sydney city prices!

Then back to the ship for a quick sunbathe, swim before dinner. Travelling can be such a hardship....

Fri 15 th Feb.
Sunny periods, 28 degrees
.
A sea day today. Lots to do including a meet and greet with the cruise critic crowd, latin line dancing for Carol (more like a Brazilian work out! - C ) a lecture, sunbathing, swimming and liberal sampling of various bars and restaurants.
Tomorrow we are in Brisbane.

Sat 16 th Feb.
Sunny periods, 30 degrees.

Many of the ship’s passengers went on an excursion to a Koala sanctuary today, but as we had had such a great time at the wildlife park outside Victor Harbour in Adelaide we decided to do a city walk. The port is 23 kms away from Brisbane centre so it took just over 45 mins to get in there via shuttle bus.

We walked a circular route - starting in the Botanic gardens - an oasis of calm and greenery in the City centre. With the obligatory ibis - the australian city pigeon equivalent it seems! All very nice with lakes, grassy areas and exotic trees. Some of the trees had plants growing like a fungus out of them, the same plant on different trees.

The parasitic looking tree growths

A series of lily ponds grace one end of the gardens

An area of rather large bamboo


A memorial to policemen who died in service.

Then over the Goodwill Bridge to the Southbank.



What an excellent example of city leisure planning. A city beach, several fresh water pools (called lagoons) with water features just waiting for children to splash in, bars, restaurants, city boat pontoons, a big wheel, loads of benches and picnic tables. (It was hotter than it looks in the photos).





A coffee and obligatory cake in a café overlooking the wheel and Nepalese Pagoda.



Back over Victoria bridge into the city centre



We like Brisbane very much - the best city we have visited we think. The pathways were wide and litter free and it was not overwhelmingly busy. ( Think we may have had our rose tinted goggles on today!)
The walk was about 6kms and took a leisurely 3 hours with lots of bench sitting stops and a coffee break. Followed by more retail therapy - another shirt for Graham - what’s going on!
Back for a very late lunch, sunbathe, swim, pre dinner drinks, dinner, show, post  show drinks etc etc .... and tomorrow’s another sea day so we’ll not go in to that again...!
Monday we will be in Airlie Beach, Whitsunday Isles.

Mon 18 th Feb.
Sunny 32 degrees

After a day at sea we anchored off Airlie Beach Whitsunday.
A tender journey of about 30 mins took us to the Marina. It is hot, hot, hot. 
We had hoped to catch a ferry to one of the islands but time is against us - the last tender to the ship leaves at 4pm.
We walked into town via a new Marina and surrounding appartments - very clean, posh and quiet. Just up Graham’s street!



Here he is modelling his loud shirt purchased from Brisbane, ruined after 15mins in 35+ deg. 

Airlie Beach is a base for travelling to the surrounding Whitsunday Islands catering for backpackers, yachties, up market tourists alike.
The sea and beaches look tempting but it is “stinger “ season and after a lecture yesterday on the sharks, crocs and deadly jellyfish found in these waters we chose to visit the purpose made bathing lagoon.


The Norwegian Jewel in the background of  the lagoon.

We continued on to Abel Tasmin marina and had our obligatory coffee and cake stop overlooking the marina. This one appears to be used for charter boats and trips but we saw a good few superyachts also.


Failing to find a ferry we took the next best thing - a homemade dragon boat/catamaran! A leisurely hour and half paddling but mainly under outboard motor we pottered between small islands into Turtle Bay. We saw several loggerhead turtles - well their heads anyway, popping up and then the almighty splash as they dived - no photos though! We saw them - honest! Graham was given the waterproof camera and he took a few snaps but only of Carol and Penny our fellow paddler from China. The proprietors, (and boat builders) Michelle and Steve  kindly sent them on by email.
And here we are






A lovely girl called Penny from China was a fellow paddler. She had done a skydive earlier in the day and was going on a helicopter trip tomorrow to see a small famous heart shaped island. (We think her parents must have had deep pockets!)
Tomorrow on to Cairns - gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. We doubt it will be as nice as Airlie Beach.

Friday 15 February 2019

Katoomba to Sydney.

Feb 11th.
Sunny 30 degrees.

What a joy to wake up and not to have to travel on somewhere. We had a leisurely breakfast and then walked to Scenic World, a tourist attraction 5 mins walk away.We pay our admission and take a glass bottomed cablecar through the Blue Mountains. We followed a track to the Karoomba Falls to discover we’re almost opposite our campsite from where we had set off!



It seems that there are miles of National Park tracks which the Scenic World attraction cross. We have access to 2 cable cars and a near vertical train ride as part of the paid attraction - which saves a great deal of leg work but you can get the same experience for free without the novelty rides! However after a lengthy downward trail with what seems hundreds of steps we were very happy to take the train back up the mountain!


The famous 3 sisters


The blue mountains - the rainforest goes on for miles...

A

The cable car passing along the mountainside

On the train we met a bunch of New Zealanders celebrating a friends 50th birthday. They all had teeshirts on stating for example - I look 22yrs, I feel 20yrs, I act 15 yrs, I am 52 years.... Graham asked them how old the tee- shirts were - 6 years old? Much hilarity.
They all took the train up and then stayed on to enjoy the ride back! Apparently they’re staying 5 nights in Sydney so we’ll listen out for them tomorrow when we’re there!
 
We had lunch back up at the Cafe and then walked a few more kms along the park trails. Stunning scenery - mountains, rock formations and rainforest vegetation. For such a tourist attraction it was so peaceful off the main tracks.



We took our last opportunity for laundry and a nice sunny evening to dry the clothes before boarding the cruise in Sydney, then early night as up reasonably early to pack our bags ready to hand back the van.

Before dinner we had a visit from the campsite cockatoos - happy to munch on some leftover trail mix.




Feb 12th

Hot, 37 degrees and sunny

Up and off to Sydney, a leisurely drive on main roads.
We approached Sydney via the Anzac Bridge.



 First stop the hotel to drop our suitcases and then on to the Botany Bay area to drop off the van. Botany Road goes on for miles, with the Britz return at the end, close to the airport. After completing the paperwork luckily we spot a couple who look like they are waiting for a taxi, “can we share”, yes say the Swedish couple - we are waiting for an Uber. This is a stroke of luck as the last taxi we got into Sydney cost over $60 (£34). We all get dropped off at the Harbour Bridge which didn’t look too far on the map. Much grumbling from Carol feeling wilted in the heat as we treked through the city trying to get our bearings as to which way to walk to our hotel.

It’s hot in Sydney, 37deg so we break our 40 min walk with lunch in Hyde Park, with a crowd of ibis for company. 


Here’s one striking a pose.

They just appeared, no-one knows where from. After a swim and a rest in the hotel we brave the train system (underground) to get to our rendez-vous for tonight, a meet’n’greet for cruise critic members. We’re early so take in a beer overlooking the Harbour Bridge and Opera House both of which seem smaller than we imagined. A great spot and actually also near the cruise ship terminal. We watch another cruise ship departing sipping our beers. That will be us tomorrow.








The pre cruise meet’n’greet is in a noisy bierkeller, with live yodel band. We meet other cruisers but have to shout to make ourselves heard. Still, we make contact with people of have organised unofficial excursions and also strike up friendships with other cruisers so it was useful.




Views of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.


View of the  Opera House on the way back to our hotel.

Feb 13th

25deg, half sun

Today is a queue day. After a lie in we take a taxi back to the cruise terminal and join the queues: bag drop queue, registration queue, security queue. There are 2,500 people to process but it’s very efficient and we’re on board for 1pm, about an hour later. We head for the restaurant and enjoy a light seafood lunch with white wine, the service reminds use of the business class lounge - impecceable.



After lunch, walk round the ship and then sunbathing and a few lengths in the pool. Luxury after our campervan. Our cabin feels like luxury after the van even though we have one of the smallest on board! We have a small picture window as we got a bit of an upgrade from an inside to an outside cabin so that’s a bonus.



Then up on deck with a glass of bubbly to watch our departure. From the deck the bridge and Opera house appeared more spectacular. The ship sounded it’s horn and with much waving from shore and ship and we glided out to sea. It kind of brought a lump to the throat to witness such an iconic place in such a way. 

Another lovely meal - - dinner   in  one of the restaurants opting to share a table with an Australian couple Roz and Chris to beat the queue - who proved interesting and good company.
Followed by after dinner drinks in a bar  with Sue and George from Altringham UK  who we had met at the get together the previous evening. Seems this cruising lark is going to be real hard work....