April 12, Australia

 April 12 Seaday

April 13, Airlie Beach anchor port

We took the posh port catamaran to shore, which was fast, smooth, and held a lot more passengers. 

Once on the dock, we connected with our tour guide/driver.  We first traveled to a nearby luxury resort, Coral Sea Resort, which offered refreshments on the patio.  The location and views are stunning.  At this point, we realized we had taken this exact tour when we visited Airlie Beach two years ago, which is a little silly, but a different tour guide offered a different perspective on this lovely part of the world.  

  

After relaxing for 40 minutes, we proceeded to Proserpine Historical Museum, about 30 minutes up the coast.  It is run by local volunteers and is very well done.

  

I asked the guide why this area is called Whitsunday.  He explained that explorer Cook found this place on the fourth Sunday after easter, so the name stuck.  Someone else asked why the drive on the left, like in the UK.  He explained that Napoleon was left-handed, so jousting is done on the left, and they should drive on the left!!!!  He said all countries that drive on the left are because of Napoleon.  The population of Airlie Beach is 16,000.  The main crop in the area is sugarcane, which is collected by a special train that travels throughout the area.

  

On the ride back, we chose to be dropped off on Airlie Beach's main street. 

This is a map of the world from the Australian point of view.

We walked the length of the streets, as the sun got hotter and hotter, popping into many of the shops before catching the ship's shuttle back to the pier and the spacious catamaran back to the ship to catch the end of the lunch serving.   

Apr 14

We docked at Townsville and embarked on a rainforest tour. 

The trip was 1-3/4 hours, so we needed an early start.  We needed to take a long, narrow, winding road up the mountain.  The road has a one-way system: every hour, going up; every half hour, going down, led by a pilot car.  Once at the top, we first stopped at a lovely tea house at an elevation of 3,000 Paluma Village, which invites us to “Take a walk in the clouds.” We had a light breakfast at a charming tea house, in charming gardens, serenaded by elusive birds.

   

Next the headed into the rain forest and took a two-hour walking tour.  We first stopped at McCellands Lookout, with the sea and the Great Barrier Reef in the background.

On the tour, we learned that in the rainforest, it rains 10 ft per year.  The plants suck moisture from the 80% humidity.  No sunlight reaches the ground. Australia is still moving on its own tectonic plate one inch north per year.  I feel I could write a book of all the things we learned about trees and the rain forest from a fabulous tour guide.

   

 

After our tour, the bus took us to a family-run resort in the mountains for a delicious lunch, which reminded me of Costa Rica.

 

Heading back down the mountain, stopped at a waterfall at Little Crystrtal Creek that flows under an old stone bridge.

After taking lots of photos, we joined the lead car that escorted us back down the mountain.  I had mentioned to the driver how hard it is to see the elusive but world-famous Kangaroos, and my expertise that they really exist.  The driver took this to heart and made a small diversion to a town called Rollingstone and found us some wild Eastern Gray kangaroos.  I was thrilled and got lots of photos again.  Now I can cross that off my bucket list.  We passed some pineapple fields on the way back.

 

Sugar Cane fields.

 We finally made it back to the ship just before cast-off time.

 

April 18

Our last stop in Australia is Darwin, known as “ the top end” in the Northern Territory.  The Northern Territory is twice the size of Great Britain.

Darwin has a population of 150k.  It is hot, with an average temperature of 90 f.  Darwin is closer to Bali, Indonesia, than it is to Sydney.

We arrive near the end of the wet season [end of April]. The weather when we left the ship at noon was hot, humid, and clear skies.

Our tour guide told us about the area's history. 

In 1860, explorer John Stewart made the 3,000-kilometer journey across the uncharted northern Australia to Darwin.  On reporting back, a telegraph line was installed, connecting to the newly installed underwater cable from Java, which connected Australia to the rest of the world.

Because of its brutally hot location, the locals are a special breed of Australians, and maybe a little twisted.  See below the Road Kill Café menu

 

·    We needed to learn some of the local terms

On February 19, 1942, 235 people in Darwin were killed in a Pearl Harbor-style attack by the Japanese.  This event was censored across the rest of the country to prevent panic, and that is why it is little known worldwide.

On Christmas Eve 1974, Cyclone Tracy flattened the whole city, killing 71 people and destroying 70% of the buildings.  It is the worst cyclone in Australia’s history.  The only way to get help was via ship radios, and the country came to their rescue, evacuating most of the remaining population.  The city was eventually rebuilt into the modern city it is today.

We visited the Fannie Bay Galo [Jail] built in 1880.  We saw the prison cells and the conditions.

Next, we visited the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

On our way to our next stop, we saw some wild Wallabies.

Our final stop was the Botanical Gardens for a very short visit.  We spotted a Boa Constrictor in a tree.

On the way out, Merry caught this bat on her camera, and I thought it was well worth showing you…by the way, the boa in the tree is fake….pretty good piece of art!!!

As we headed back to the ship, the heavens opened, and we had to dash from the bus into the ship

Check back next week for the next chapter of the voyage.