Movin' on Up... Townsville and Cairns

7AM view from our balcony, Cairns

We are heading up the Eastern side of the Australian Coast. In the last two days we visited Townsville and Cairns.  Both days included tours.  My brain is about to explode after 9 hours of information overload by all our knowledgeable guides.

The Floods can only throw a curve...

Australia continues to surprise me in a positive way.  It just keeps growing, changing and getting better.  People are friendly and it has a laid back ease about it.  I enjoy being here.  Brisbane is a delightful place to visit.  It is the largest city and capital of Queensland.  It has a small town Chicago feel to it, celebrates and preserves its past and moves toward the future with wonderful modern glittering high rises built in its center.  It has a lazy meandering river running through it with Venice like boats for transportation.  Life seems easy and good here most of the time. What doesn't excite me is the heat, subtropical weather and the threat of floods and cyclones. Nothing is perfect.

It's All About Arriving and Departing...

If ever you have an opportunity to be on a cruise with Sydney as one of your ports of call, I would say always wake up early and sail in with your eyes wide open. At 6AM I was out the door and headed up to deck 12, camera in hand.  Although still dark, the sun was cutting a sliver in the sky.  Nature never fails to awe.  A new day was beginning.   

Melbourne

Moon over Melbourne

As the weather crashed in around us, our Captain did a full speed ahead .He wanted to avoid being out in the open where the winds were high and the sea was rough. We arrived in Melbourne at 11 PM, a full 9 hours early. I missed the gentle rocking of the ship putting me to sleep.  The full moon guiding us into port was a beautiful backdrop as we entered Melbourne's Bay.

A Good Thing For Speed ......



Richmond, Tasmania
Oldest bridge and Catholic Church still in use in Australia

Security Beagle Greets me Once Again

 After we left the Fjords, we were on our way to Hobart, Tasmania.    We had two glorious sea days ahead.  There is a slight problem in this naive thinking when you say two glorious days ahead and add Tasman Sea in the same sentence.

Milford Sound .... Day 34

Who knew this 'stop' was on our cruise itinerary?    I did not pay attention to the itinerary. I did not know.  I am so glad we did.

Filipino Dinner

Tonight we had our second Trivia group dinner.  Sadly one of David's team is leaving in Sydney.  His name is Ian.... :)  He will be missed.  Well, dinner tonight, just for our little group,  (Valentine's Day) was Filipino.  We had a Filipino roll, much like Kings Hawaiian Bread.  We had soup with shrimp and veggies.  We had a fried spinach appetizer. I opted out of the sweet and sour fish.  I took a piece of chicken with a garlic-soy sauce.   Then we were served a deep fried pig knuckle.  This I did not understand.   I use the smoked hocks for my split pea soup.  I was thinking 'not much meat here', but OK.  I tried to pull a bit of meat out.  I learned from table mates that the DELICACY is THE SKIN...deep fried pork fat skin....OK,  (politely to myself) I think ewww... so I pulled a bit of skin off to try it.  It crunches crisply in your mouth.  I will say it is crunchy and has a nice taste, but I could only think FAT, lots of thick fat.   This part I toss at home. I was not keen on the idea of this.