A few hours in Townsville

Enough food!  Time to get on with what we came for – discovering new places and the joy of opening the curtains first thing and seeing somewhere new, just waiting there ready to be explored.

Actually, it wasn’t quite Townsville this morning, since we weren’t scheduled to arrive till 11am.  But the Queensland coastline was looking lovely in the morning sunshine and after a day at sea we were ready to get going.

But at the same time, the warmth of the sun drew us outside, to sit for an hour on the balcony and do a little drawing, read a magazine and simply watch the world go by.

As we approached Townsville we were buzzed on several occasions by this noisy little boat, a chap appearing to film the ship as he went by.  We got our own back by taking several photographs of him!

We were a little early into port, arriving just as the inhabitants of the city were getting up and about their Sunday morning business.  The catamarans were toing and froing to Magnetic Island, small jetskis zoomed out to sea and small groups of people stood on the breakwater, watching the ship come into the harbour.  Once again we did one of those turns on our axis – a remarkable manoeuvre really, and with a small tug alongside our berth was secured.

(I think I could post a blog focused completely on photos of tugs of the world, but for now, I’ll spare you that!)

We were booked to visit the two museums in town and to drive around the city, so turned up on time and joined a crowd to be led by a rather vague and slightly dotty guide.  First call was a little orientation tour of some of the suburbs, which looked, errmmm, rather like suburbs of many small towns – that is, slightly scruffy in places, a bit sleepy on this Sunday afternoon and for an outsider, not especially interesting.

After a while, we turned up at the Palmetum, one of Townsville’s main attractions, particularly so because of the old building which had been imported from another location to be used as a tea room here.

Sadly, there wasn’t time for us to get out and take a look, so we simply sat in the car park and listened, in much the same way as losers on a game show are told all about the prizes they might have won…if only!

From there we drove along the Strand, which seemed to us to be a most attractive promenade, created after the cyclone a few years ago.  Here, in the sunshine, families were out and about, enjoying the fresh air and the thoughtful amenities which had been planned into this new construction.

The children were having a great time at a water playground and I could imagine that the children of Townsville have to be dragged away from here when it’s time for home.

Our next stop was Reef HQ, a large aquarium and research establishment for the Great Barrier Reef.  Thankfully, a most capable, enthusiastic and energetic guide took over here and the ten of us heaved a sigh of relief as we were taken on a whistle stop tour of all things aquatic.  Not only could Lyn name every fish, every coral and other sea creature, she was able to communicate her knowledge in a way that captivated us all – what a contrast!

I know this is a lousy photo but I particularly liked these patterns formed by a kind of sea anemone (sorry, Lyn, I forgot already!)  As we stood watching, they were pulsating gently.

I took loads of photos and though some of the most colourful fish came out ok, others remain best recorded in my head.  This little magenta and yellow fellow stands out nicely, though, doesn’t he?

Above all, there was a feeling of calm.   We stood and watched these amazing creatures hardly move a muscle as they slipped silently through the water.  Such bright colours, beautiful patterns, elegant forms.  Altogether magical.

Mind you, there were menacing faces too.

We loved the place and could have spent longer there, perhaps taking out paper and crayons to draw and paint?

Because in every little tank, there was something lovely, interesting, beautiful and gracious to see.  But of course, we had to move on, regroup and make our way to another place.

At least it was just next door.

The Museum of Northern Queensland is another newish building right next door to the Reef HQ.  After a short introduction by another enthusiastic volunteer, we were able to explore the place independently, although like everyone else, we began with The Pandora.

This ship is the focus of the museum and indeed, in Townsville’s history.  Unsurprisingly, I’d never heard of Pandora, but soon learned that this ship was sent to trace the mutineers of the Bounty and bring them home to undergo trial.  It was shipwrecked just off this coast and discovered by divers relatively recently.  The treasures and the story of the ship and the people aboard are all here to see.

As is this very cleverly constructed replica/interpretation of the vessel.  I loved the way it had been envisioned and as an exhibit in its own right, it was fascinating.

Looking down from an elevated walkway, the shape of the ship was worked into the carpet and it was easy to picture the size – actually rather smaller than one might think.

Also in the museum were replicas of the curious prehistoric sea creatures, the remnants of which have been found in the North Queensland desert and a huge number of corals – the largest collection in the Southern Hemisphere – which made me want to get out my drawing things again.

Great place, super afternoon which turned out so much better than we feared when we started.  As always, we could have spent longer here but indeed, we felt lucky to have visited it at all and took away good memories of two fascinating places.

We jumped on our bus again and just made it back to the ship in time for Trivia, but found ourselves on our own since the rest of our team were still cuddling koalas or something.  Never mind – with the assistance of Ron from Toronto and Judy the Pilot’s wife, we missed out on a surprise win by one measly point.  Never mind – we didn’t know that Jerusalem means “city of peace” and the winning team did.  Better luck next time, eh?

A fine dinner tonight, Cordon Bleu style in “Signatures” but you’ll just have to imagine the deliciousness that we enjoyed this time!

The Block Party

One of the most memorable events of a cruise such as this is the Block Party.  We first came across it last year, when just a few days into our cruise, everyone was invited to step outside their suite door with a glass and meet the neighbours.  I’ll admit that this was a scary prospect to begin with, but it really did turn out to be quite the key to a whole lot of fun.

Tonight was our “block party” night.

At 6pm, the captain sounded the cocktail bell and, regardless of dress (or state of undress) everyone opened their door with glass in hand to find someone there with a bottle and a plate of canapes to share – oh, and all the neighbours too!  It’s funny how we can “live” next door to someone for a couple of weeks or more and never see them – the block party is a great way of making introductions and in some cases, finding that the neighbours here turn out to be neighbours at home too!

At some point during these shenanigans, the captain and a couple of senior officers made their way through the ship and shook hands with every single person on board.  No time to stop of course, but again, good fun and a good way to ensure that everyone gets to know a few more people around the place.

It also meant the bar was especially noisy this evening and as we sat enjoying our drinks before dinner, we noticed how spirited everyone was!  We had fun company for the evening – even if they did forget where we were meeting and needed to be tracked down…

We hadn’t made special plans for dinner tonight, hadn’t booked a table at one of the premium restaurants or anything but had simply arranged to meet our friends.  Even so, the menu needs careful consideration and there are difficult choices to be made.

Will it be salmon or dumplings?  Salad, soup or risotto?

One of our favourite salty breadsticks helps the decision making process! 

We’ll have a sorbet, for sure, and then will it be fish, pork or beef?  Difficult decisions!!

Of course, talking twenty to the dozen means that before we’ve even realised, the first course has been delivered – dumplings Shanghai-style were the most popular on our table

washed down with a great Orvieto wine tonight.  We were off to an excellent start, for sure.

Sorbet time – a different flavour each evening.  Tonight’s pear variety was particularly good, I thought.

Next, I chose the Malaysian Beef which was served with a mild spicy sauce and rice - very good, I thought (though someone not so far from here would have liked it to have been spicier)

Finally dessert, on which most decided to pass.  I chose a simple scoop of vanilla ice cream and an espresso to make an affogato.  Sorry, it disappeared too quickly to make it into the photograph!

Meanwhile the petits fours were disappearing fast – and sadly, one of our friends had to attend to her responsibilities elsewhere and we couldn’t detain her any longer.

Comfortable though we were, easy as it was to continue talking and nibbling petits fours, it really was time for bed.  We wished everyone goodnight, thanked our super waiters and made it upstairs in rather calmer seas than last night, thank goodness.

Tomorrow we’ll be in Townsville, but not until 11am, which means we’ll have a relaxed breakfast.  How can I even think of the next meal right now?  Heaven knows!!

What an evening!

We’d arranged to meet Laurie and David in the bar at 7pm.  Now, we’ve never met before but Laurie and I have chatted online and it seems, Laurie had gathered enough information to recognise me by my toes!  Not being quite in the same league of detectives, everything I knew about her was of no use in guessing who she was, there in the busy pre-dinner drinks rush.  So it was a good job she came over and introduced herself and before long, we were a group of eight for dinner.

Waiting for our table to be made up, we gathered another new friend – Judy planned to dine alone as her husband was busy (piloting the ship).  So, there being no other one large enough, we found ourselves at the Captain’s table, centre stage.

What a lovely evening we had.  Great conversation, funny coincidences, shared experiences – and of course, terrific food.  We scanned our memories for our social diary status – could we do this again, maybe?  Hope so!

Anyway, the Captain wasn’t in dinner last night because he was making announcements.  He seldom – almost never – makes announcements, and I’ve never heard him interrupt dinner in this way.  It just had to be important.

It was. 

The Weather.

Seemed like as we left the Brisbane River, we were likely to hit some very strong winds and it was going to be rather a rough ride for an hour or two until we got into the ocean proper, but all would be fine and we were simply to take care, safe in the knowledge it wouldn’t last.  We went to the theatre as planned, made dinner arrangements for tomorrow evening and finally came back to our suite just as things began to get a little jumpy.

Fortunately someone had prepared our room ready for the ride, with the important things (flowers, champagne, wine and gin) secured by tucking them down the back of the sofa!  Thanks Bobby

For sure, we did roll about a fair bit and the ship moved around and creaked more than usual, but we were soon out of it and tucked up in bed, comfy and warm, we didn’t really mind too much.  This morning, the sky is brighter, though still cloudy, and we hope for calm.

In the rainforest

There was land right outside our window this morning as we opened our curtains.

In no time at all we were making one of those remarkable turns on a sixpence in the middle of the Brisbane river and thought it was time we went and gathered our things, because we were off early on a 4WD jaunt today.

The weather didn’t look too promising and in fact, as we left the ship,we felt the first drops of rain.

We were headed for Mount Tamborine and the Hinterland, an area of densely forested hills and a variety of experiences during the day which we very much looked forward to.

Our driver Darren had a lovely turn of phrase, was a true professional who knew his customers and who took every opportunity to inform and entertain.  No sooner had we taken the turning for the mountain than we were stopping to view first this Kookaburra sitting on a wire, but then gum trees, nut bushes and anything else he felt we should take a closer look at.

His ability to spot things was marvellous –”look to your right” said he, there’s a small wallaby there in the grass.

Is there?

Well, yes, there is!  Of course, we’d all been on the lookout for kangaroos and koalas and hadn’t seen a thing, but he seemed to have the eye for such creatures and time and again, we were happy to have them pointed out to us.

The ride up the mountain was bumpy and on an unfinished road, so rather fun.  But we never feared for our safety and loved Darren’s banter with his father, who was driving the vehicle behind ours.

When we reached the top of the mountain it was time for morning tea – with home baked scones still warm from the oven and oodles of jam and cream.  Yum!

A short way further and it was time to leave the vehicle and take Shank’s Pony through the trees on a pathway to the waterfall.  By this time it was pouring with rain and though Darren had said that we’d be sheltered from most of the rain by the canopy of trees, in fact he was wrong – it was raining just as heavily in the forest as it had been in the car park.

We didn’t mind, really.  Most of us had come prepared with raincoats and kagoules, umbrellas and suchlike and we didn’t mind getting wet.  Darren stopped from time to time to point out things of interest and we were a fairly jolly crowd throughout, although by the time we reached the falls we were absolutely soaked through.

He shared his knowledge readily – here pointing out a spider’s lair under what looked like a small tree stump.  As he lifted the top, he asked the young woman by my side if she’d like to see the spider.  For sure, yes, she would – though when he then asked for her finger, she soon changed her mind!

I could upload endless pictures of our bushwalk through the forest, of the waterfalls and the beautiful trees and ferns which lined our pathway.  But there’s just one picture which will stay in my memory

Wet feet.

Yes, they did come clean later, as did my shoes, but oh my goodness, it didn’t make for comfortable (or elegant) walking!

A short stop in Canungra offered some touristy shopping opportunities and having taken a brief look inside just one, we chose to take Darren’s recommendation and head for the Heritage Vineyard shop, where Michael was doing a spot of wine tasting.

Much more fun, especially when we reached the “Moonshine” stage!

From there it was on to lunch in the and a little more kangaroo spotting on the way.

These chaps were happy to stand watching and before long we were getting quite blase about “another kangaroo”.

Lunch was a fine Aussie barbecue, washed down with wine or beer and followed by a couple of opportunities.

Who wants to learn to crack a whip?

Throw a boomerang?

Several did, and most did very well indeed!

But more popular still was the next stop, “real” wine tasting at the O’Reilly vineyard down the road, which had suffered considerably in the floods a couple of years ago.  A beautiful Queenslander homestead set in a lovely valley, it was hard to imagine the place under water.

Having tasted and savoured, Darren headed for home…with one last stop up his sleeve.  Just down the road, he knew of one further place which would interest us; a place where we could see something we were unlikely to see anywhere else.

A colony of 15 – 20,000 fruit bats hanging in the trees!  Amazing and rather horrible all at the same time (and rather smelly as well!)

Leaving them there, we headed back to the ship.

In the rain.

A day at sea

A sea day begins with a leisurely breakfast.

Continues with intriguing views, sometimes including dolphins swimming alongside, but always requiring consultation of the map.

Fun activities, some we win….

and some we don’t (even if we come a very close second!)

Our day was filled with fun and friends and finished with the most delicious dinner and a show.  We laughed until our sides hurt and came back to our suite feeling weary but looking forward to a day in Brisbane tomorrow.