Sunken Snorkel

 Don't let anyone tell you the Great Barrier Reef is in trouble, as coral can recover and is continally replenishing itself, as we have seen in the Solomons where a reef has grown from a fiery, oil soaked wreck in just 80 years. It seems coral can attach to anything including steel hulls and any ornament within, to form amazing shapes. And all this in much warmer water than QLD. We swam on this wreck a second time between a rest on the beach as we had gone to such trouble to get there. The GoPro filming has worked and I have a lot more than this attached clip. 

Doesn't look much from the shore

From the Deck

 Due to the video camera being pinched, I only have those short phone snippets that most people do.  I will try to combine a longer version from two phones but I have a few snipets from my phone now.   At least we found Debbie's purse wedged between car seats.  We will be submitting an insurance claim for the camera so I will get a replacement at some stage however I could use it right now as there is a huge ship unloading on the Naval pier right now. I cannot wash any more clothes as the line is full but this breeze should dry some. It is cooler here than FNQ but much drier. I have UGG boots on.

Cairns airport

 I have lost count of the number of times the locals make excuses for the weather. Just accept that it rains a lot and leave it at that.  I don't think I have ever had a rain free stay in QLD ever. We finished off at the Mantra Esplanade which we have not used before but they do not have fans in the room just air con which we always have trouble with. Our friendly P&O boat Encounter is still here but leaving soon. They have come via Brisbane so we may use it one day as a combined Brisbane visit.

Babinda Boulder

 We returned to Cairns via the Babinda waterhole. This is where two creeks converge above a gorge and good swimming can be had in the confluence. We stopped at the bakery in the village for a pie and sauce. There were a few Ulysses in the trees but no photo again. I did get a very green bug instead. On arrival there is another cruiser ship nparked here and it looks to be a much newer up market model than the old tub we were on. Not that they did not do their best previously but what is this one called and where is it going.

Ulysses

 The big ticket item was ticked off yesterday but there is another elusive bug we can tick off today which is the big big Ulysses butterfly. What is it with the brightest of vivid blue animals around here?  We saw the butterfly on two occasions but were not quick enough to get a photo. When they are on a mission those butterflies move fast.  When we next spot one we will try to follow. Today we went walking thru some jungle areas but only on a short looping walk. Last year it was raining when we did this and there was plenty of heavy stuff today. No sign of casowaries.

Lacey's circuit

Casowary at last

We were not able to get across to Dunk Island so spent the day lazing around and with a pub lunch thrown in however on the drive back to the unit, there it was on the side of the road. Now previously we had gone to quiet areas of bush, to out of the way walking tracks, always from hustle and bustle. But no luck finding a casowary. This time a casowary just crossed the road in front of us to get to the otherside. It walked down into a backyard. We waited to get a few photos without going down into the yard.

There must be something in the yard to eat

Wongalinga

 This is a suburb of South Mission beach and we have two snazzy apartments here for the next three nights.  Getting off the ship was reasonably straight forward. I had a 15 minute walk to get the hire car then we drove to the Josephine Falls for a natural water slide. Too bad bus loads of school kids arrived just after us. The lunch stop was in Innisfail and we arrived here around 3:00pm to a huge downpour that lastest 2 hours. Hopefully the rain goes away tomorrow.

After the drive

After the swim

after the rain

Specific Pacific

 I have now cruised in Europe 5 times and the Pacific once. On the balance of just one cruise here, I prefer the Mediterranean.  The weather here has forced cancelations and required adjustments that haven't suited but that is part of cruising, rihgt now the water is 3.5 kms deep. I have noticed there is an outdoor crowd and an indoor crowd on this ship.  There are events that don't get advertised but those in the know are always there. Why is hackey sack played in the centre of the main staircase, blocking everything? Why are the pools closed on sea days?  These and other mysteries will have to wait as we are getting off tomorrow at 9:00am, so if our Clancy travel friends read this we might see them then.

This map was auctioned not sure what it went for

The Princess and the Explorer

Once upon a time a Princess was born in a Carnival but all she wanted to do each day was get up early and go and sail the seas.  She became known as the Dawn Princess but as she got older the wear and tear from constant weather, wind and water was starting to show. The Carnival people did not want a beaten down Princess so they started calling her Pacific Explorer but still let her out on sea voyages. This way maybe she would not be noticed as being so old.  Ten days in a leaky boat lucky to remain afloat or so the song goes the same way as the Pacific Pearl.  

Kiriwina

 This is one of the outer islands of PNG in the Trobriand group. The large village on this side is quite well organised. You are expected to run a gauntlet of local produce which goes on and on but we veered off down to the beach with our snorkel gear. Debbie did pay a few Kina to a mother who had her kids done up in traditional garb. We also took a dugout canoe to the outer reef paying a young native 20 Kina to get us passed the high coral as it was low tide.  They love it when it is low tide as they can earn by ferrying to and fro.  We were out there for an hour so could swim back in with the rising tide.  We swam the drop off which was deep and could see all the way to a 100 metres deep. The coral was scarce but the fish plentiful. The boat seemed way out of place in this location.

Yamamoto's Bunker

 We woke up in Rabual which is a volcanically plagued town in the outer islands of Papua New Guinea. We could see the cinder cone that destroyed this town in 1994. The other claim to fame is that the Japanese made it their Pacific HQ. Yamamoto setup camp here due to the great harbour and flat ground for an airstrip.  We walked to his bunker and then into the town for a total of 7km and we werew drenched in sweat. We had an unnerving experience in the bunker. It is a concrete sweat box. The main rooms are not cool but some of the rabbit warren staircases are stifling. We are also much larger bodies fitting thru their openings. We emerged into a higher concrete roofed room and the light on the phone went off. This room was way to hot and now jet black. We retreated backwards down the stairs and got the light back on.  There was also a museum next door with much faded documentation of Japanese atrocities on Australian soldiers. We got back to the boat for a lazy afternoon.

Pandora the Explorer

 Another 'At Sea' day means we can check out more of the ship. We looked in at the onboard shops as there is usually some sort of souvenir. As a general rule avoid these shops but as it happens one of them was a Pandora. We have chased these charms all over the world and today Pandora unveiled their ocean going liner. We also spent $20 in the casino here. Everything on board is tied to your door key from your own casino bank, internet access and ordering a drink to getting on and off the ship. There are 860 staff looking after 2600 passengers, which is almost at capacity. This ship is old by shipping standards at 27 years old. It leaks, it's rusted, there are numerous broken windows and the air con has broken down at least once but it's what happens when you ply the Pacific every day. 

This is bracelet number two

SuperSlide

 We are having a rest day today so can catchup on some parts of the ship we haven't seen, like the waterslides. There is also a waterpark that is more for kids but I did not see many in it as I climbed the tower. The slides are similar and side by side for racing purposes. We only tried it once so far as the water is warm and the tunnels filled with steamy vapour but when you emerge into the pool it is instant cool down.  The weather is better today, if you can call 30 plus degress in a tropical setting better. We have gone from pool to shade, shade to pool, bar to shade, shade to bar, shade to food, food to pool, waiter to shade etc. I am sticking to my one toblerone or mudslide per day. Debbie has gotten out her pencils so we must be slowing down.

Sanctuary

 This boat has a couple of adult areas. The Sanctuary has been closed up until now due to high winds and being at the very top and front of the boat.  It has overhead shade cloth and a very shallow pool almost bathtub like, just to cool off.  The bar was closed though.  It is interesting how beds always seem to be available here. We lounged for 3 hours in yesterday's afternoon Sun. Today is tropical downpour heavy duty rain but our guide from this morning says yesterday was lucky to have no afternoon rain.

Kinugawa Maru

 How do you overnight in a port without overnighting?  You head out into the Pacific do circles for eight hours and then head back in and dock again. When you wake up you are still? in port. Tonight they are doing the same trick but they have gotten sick of the poor water pumping pressure here and are going somewhere else. The answer is that the ship can clean more water than the port can pump aboard.  Today I arranged for a car to take us about 15 kms up the coast to a bombed out Japanese ship. It is a good 45 to 50 minutes driving on this very pock marked pot holed road. The snorkeling here is amazing, swimming thru the hulk of this sunken ship.  It is now a coral reef and teeming with fish. We had excellent visibility to the bottom of ship which was deep. 

Guadalcanal

 We knew what to expect here after travelling to similar locations previously. The temperatutres are filthy and the environment is more filthy but that is the way it is done here. You finish with something then throw it in the ditch. We worked our way uphill to the heights of the American Memorial.  We were the only ones on the ship to do this. Navigation was ok amd we took some of the back blocks which were filled with friendly people with dirty habits.  The memorial is well kept. It is the cleanest thing in the entire town.  We wandered back down and made our way into the local market. Now they do not believe in tourist traps here. This is for the locals and the quality was basic. I cannot describe the smell, the number of bodies up against each other, in this space with fish, meat, clothes and sweat at 30 degrees.   All good fun and experiences.

Pacific Explorer

 We had to upgrade the internet package here to $30 per day for one person one device at a time. The measly allowance we had ran out on the first day but we did not see that usage anyuwhere. This boat is the oldest P&O have but it is still typical of these ships. We  have not located the Black Circus as yet but we have a show there in two days. We have found most things except the Edge as that has been closed due to high winds which is the same as both of the main pools.  There is an adult only pool that has been opened the whole time. The physic's there are different being located at the back and deeper in the ship.  The boat is old but it works. The showers are hot and strong in the rooms and there are plenty of spare  seats and lounges so far. There is no main dining hall but rather they  have largish restuarants. We have had Italian and Asian so far and tonight's is called Waterfront, seafood maybe.  A lot of the people here are into see food, they see food and eat it.

                                                        pool closed for two days so far

Sea Day 1

We have to get the sea legs going in these 40 knot winds. There are people around us not feeling well but we have not had a problem. Our biggest deal is working out the sleeping.  We are not used to a water bed, an extra large waterbed.  We had the standard cooked breakfast but I followed it with a hefty 20 min bicycle machine ride in the gym. There was a lot of spray but we found there are protected areas if you go hunting around. The very aft of the ship was good as the prow sliced the wind at the other end. The main pools have been closed but there is a well like pool in an adult area that we tried.

At the back

The Well

A Toblerone

Underway

 The boarding process was a bit of mayhem but then again when you are herding cats it is never easy. I am typing this in our room so I am not sure if it will make it out. We have just got back from an Italian restaurant three course meal. We have been moving for 30min and there was a bit of rain so we did not go on deck as the Cairns lights retreated. I will leave out photos for now but am told there is better internet in the more public areas. Had to move to the Atrium for a better connection although I am in a thoroughfare. I need to find a lounge with tables and chairs. 

Boarding Day

 We have a half day before being allowed on however we do have an unexpected set of paperwork to do like filling a police report due to me losing my video camera yesterday. Yes we are invoking the nophasement rule into overdrive at the moment.  There is an online form to fill out for a report and to match up if it turns up and also is useful for insurance purposes. It is an older camera and insurance will cover it but I am not sure if these are made anymore. We called into the casino just for a look last night. It turns out the Customs house is part of the casino complex, all glitz and lights.  This morning was another 30 min gym session on the bicycle and a few laps of the pool.

To bad the Giro d'Italia wasn't playing

Night Boat

A Cruiser at the end of the Street

 We only had a few  errands today but before that we tried the gym in the hotel here after the pool laps that is. We are intending to use the cruiser gym for each sea day that we have which I think will be five days.  Also we trialled the brunch idea this morning, eg try to keep to two meals per day, so we had a cooked breakfast at 10:30 am and we are booked in for the Customs House this evening for 6:15pm which I can see below me directly across the street. It looks like a heritage listing has stopped the casino from pulling it down, as the casino building has wrapped around it.  As we were walking the town during the day we spied a cruise ship arriving. That got our attention. I assumed it would come in a 6:00am. We spent an hour and half lolling at the Flying Fish Lagoon and could see the ship approaching. By the time we were back on our deck there was a cruise ship parked next door. we must be in the right place.

Pullman

 We have used this hotel before for bookkeeping conferences and holiday jaunts. It is Grand Empire like but needs an update. The refurb has been ongoing for 5 years. They also own the casino hotel across the way. In there is a famous wildlife dome that we were going to have a look at. We have bypassed it a few times but this time was it. The king croc, the casowaries and the stone fish. We look across from our deck and see it is gutted as part of the reno. Sure enough it is closed and not coming back.  We walked down to the Hemingway Brewery for a dinner meal of shared nachos. This place is an old warehouse and is also on a grand scale.  We found the cruise terminal next door so know exactly the route when we'll be dragging 22kg suitcases. I tried the pool with goggles and breather tube this morning. It is big enough for a few laps. 

Cairns again

 We got here in good time at 12:30 and were sitting down to some lunch on the waterfront by 1:30pm. The nophasement rule is working overtime when Debbie discovered she had left her purse behind.  She has been steadily switching to an all digital payment via her phone but not all of her cards are registered there. I have mine so we can work around it. We are on the 14th floor of the pullman with views looking out to sea. We have stayed at a few hotels in this area but this is high.  We are about to move onto the deck here after trying the pool area for two hours.

Sunny Mother's

 The farewell bash for Park St Pascoe Vale coincided with Mother's Day.   Spitting seems to be the go these days and James has got these cookers turning. Daniel gave it a go and after 4 hours that lamb and chicken was perfecto. Throw in the catered salad and home made cookies and we will not need much dinner tonight. The Sunshine never stopped and that's what we want up North. The cousins ahd some good play time and the newest cousin Hamish put in a call from WA or his parents did.  Now its off to sea we go in a lovely pea green boat.