For The Love of Travel

Surrounded by reef, rainforest and macadamia, sugarcane and pineapple plantations and dating back to 1876, Cairns originally served as a port for the shipping of gold and tin, mined inland. Now the industry is tourism – visitors coming to explore the rich marine life and wilderness beyond city limits – ancient forests at Cape Tribulation, the Artherton Tablelands, Great Barrier Reef and Barron River Gorge to name a few gorgeous spots previously traversed. We are very lucky, rain is holding off and a hazy morning turned in to a glorious afternoon!

This is the view from our ship at port…the boats are moored in Chinamen’s Creek and the background hills are Trinity Forest Reserve.

Today we travelled to Yorkey’s Knob, a coastal suburb approximately 15 kms north. Passed by Kuranda skyrail and iconic Queensland farm scenes on the way.

Half Moon Bay Marina has an intricate jigsaw pattern – the contrast between the sleek white boats and the dense tropical green hills framing the marina makes for a nice shot.

Then some shopping in cool comfort back in Cairns Central before Ubering back to the ship. A late lunch – yummy beef bourguinon with mash and delish piece of pineapple.

Kathryn Relf, hailing from the UK, was our crooner last night, paying tribute to Queen’s legendary music. A good attempt, but no wow factor for me unfortunately.

Sailing through the Timor Sea and then the Torres Strait and its islands, just south of Papua New Guinea to get to Cairns. Strong wind gusts as we go.

Getting up late, watching movies, and exploring lunch and menus at the buffet on level 15. Lynne has lots more vegetarian options here than in the restaurants.

This was an entertaining quiz game between officers and guests…where a wrong answer made teams take a piece from the jenga tower…they were evenly matched contestants, yielding a draw result.

Tropical sunsets around 18.30….

There’s a 5km zone across the city where it’s illegal to fly drones. So researched nearby locations and discovered Cullen Bay Marina as a target. The Hop On Hop Off bus got us there, with Lynne continuing on the tour while I got off to explore. Located in Larrakeyah, natural mudflats and mangroves were transformed into a $120M prime waterfront precinct, housing over 250-300 marina berths, high-rise residential units and a ferry terminal to Mandorah. The complex features an engineering lock system to control water levels and manage vessel access between the enclosed basin and Darwin harbour.

Little island just off Mindil beach…

Back onto the bus to explore the CBD….humidity has increased to 78% so I walked for about another 1km, saw these lovely street art and then returned to ship. 

Jason Dean – a high energy celebration of Billy Joel’s great hits performed with piano mastery.