SEa Days and MOre sea days

 

Sea Days….when you wake up with no time schedule, no required activities and no expectations ….Are they boring? Not in the least!

yesterday was Sunday for us.. although every few days we put our clocks back an hour, we have yet to catch up with our families on the day. So what did we do for a Sunday?

Well here goes…

Today the culinary team decided we needed to have a Sunny Bruch. The entire Pool deck, bar area and Wintergarden were used to lay out the biggest brunch I’ve ever seen. There was fresh seafood: lobster tails,shrimp, crawfish, scallops, oysters,caviar and crab legs.. Mountains of them! There was a fresh fruit carving station, a juice bar, a cheese table,fresh sandwiches, a roasted lamb station, pasta bar, omelet bar and a waffle bar. Then of course, we needs our greens so there was a salad bar,bread bar, sausages bar, and a cheese fountain to die for.  Of course the sushi bar, caviar station and the veggies put in an appearance too. I thought about taking pictures but then got distracted by eating….So here is just a sample of what different art can be made from a melon….Im telling you there are some wonderfully talented members of this culinary team.

This one was a fountain!

Yesterday’s event was a fortified wine tasting.

And the art classes continue. Now I’m tackling Calligraphy….

So far Ive tried just one alphabet and Ive already decided that while this is interesting, it will not be something I do on any regular basis.  Being left handed is not an asset for this craft.

Anna gave Albert this traveling cribbage board and when Al is done playing bridge for the day we often get in a few hands of Cribbage before dinner.

After diner last night, the Cavalcade of Stars took place in the theatre. This was a talent show from the passengers. It was surprising how talented  the passengers are!

Clarinet, piano, mandolin,guitar,

We were entertained by all.and to end the show: The Neptune Choir. It was amazing there were a variety of passengers who wanted to sing.

Sea DAy #3

Today is another SEA Day..and as usual, it was just as busy as yesterday. I finished my Calligraphy project (the teacher leaves us in Bali)

After lunch today was the big event. The boat building contest.  The boats were judged by the Captain and the 4 stripe officers. It was a lot of fun. Each boat also, besides being creative and

Using recycled materials and having an origin story, needed to stay afloat for at least 20 seconds in water. 

We are having a very windy, bumpy day today. Here’s a look at the pool:

The waves in the pool were higher than me! The float test was held in the hot tub instead.

The creativity was amazing and every single boat stayed upright in the water for the required 20 seconds. The winner was the reed catamaran from the third picture. They gathered over 400 corks to wind together besides the reed they gathered out on tour and processed in their bathroom!!!

My final Calligraphy project. I will not be ordering pens and paper for this in the future,

Thursday Island…maybe

 In 2019 our cruise was scheduled to make a stop at Thursday Island…..cyclones got in the way and we just kept going.

Today we awoke with this view:

Looks like we might actually make it this time. Thursday Island is one island in the Torres Strait Islands . As we sailed here yesterday, we often saw reefs,and sand bars along our sides. This area of the Great Barrier Reef is a difficult navigation and the reef pilot has been aboard the entire trip from before Cairns to now. Thursday Island is also the name for the only town on the islands.  In 1884 the main industry was the pearl industry. There were workers here from Japan, Malaya and India seeking their fortune.  Many of the shell buttons that were used in the US came from here.  Both the shell and the pearl were of value. When the pearl industry steadily began to decline and the synthetic materials for buttons started to be widely available, the industry tanked. Now the islands are pristine wilderness with few inhabitants. The islands take a lot of effort to get to.. but the area is beautiful and worth the effort.  Enjoy these first picture of this area. Here’s a google map to give you kind of an orientation- 

 Look in the center for Thursday Island

We had ticket to leave the ship around 8:30 but slept late and had a leisure breakfast before deciding to leave.. As we finished our coffee and tea, looking at the water and watching the waves start to swell, the Captain announced that no further tender operations could safely be run as he was unable to hold the anchor competently at any spot in the area.. All tours would be canceled.. So guess we won’t actually 

“see” the island this time either! Anyway I have spent the morning watching the waves build and enjoyed the fact that Im not in a tender bouncing across those same waves for 45 minute to an hour….

The clouds are a clue to today’s weather

The water is such a turquoise blue. 

The color gradients are pretty. The sea is turquoise,the sky dark blue and the clouds blue gray

The arrow shows one of the tenders bouncing it’s way back to the ship. The waves were almost as tall as the tender. 

Putting one tender back to bed for the rest of the day. 

What will we do when plans fall through? Well, the bridge games are back playing, lecturers jump in with their informative lectures ready to go and the trivia game is on…. There is no way we will be bored this afternoon. Tomorrow we sail the Arafura Sea on our way to the Timor Sea and our next destination will be Komodo National Park (Rinca) where we will once agin visit with the Komodo dragons.

Cairns (pronounced Cans) home of the Great Barrier Reef and Tropical Rain Forest

It is always nice to wake up and see a city! Cairns looks much the same as it did when we visited here in 2019. On that trip, our bucket list item was to experience the Great Barrier Reef. This time we have decided to check out the rainforest jungle.  Of course that entails getting into a tiny bucket,slinging ourselves into the sky and taking a trip up 600 meters….Those of you who know me know how absolutely frightened of ski lifts and height I am…Well today with the help of friends, I attempted to overcome that fear.  We started our journey to the rainforest by taking the Sky Train  up to first look at a scenic platform.We are visiting the Barron Gorge National Park. The park began to form 400 million years ago under the sea.

We got into a car like this.  I was riddled with fear. But my car mates(Steven, Susan and Al ) assured me this was going to be fun..

This will forever be known as the “smile of fear”. Within seconds we were whisked up the mountainside.

Beginning views..they got better and better the higher we went! 

Our first stop at a viewing platform. We were already very high in the rainforest. What you are seeing is the tops of the vegetation.

Looking straight down at the top of the forest

Symbiotic ferns growing near the top of a rainforest tree

The top of the tree we are standing beside. I couldn’t get a picture of the very top!Now to board the sky train and head up to Barron Falls.  

Our first peek!

All I can say is WOW!

Watching this waterfall is worth every scared moment spent in the gondola of terror.

A view out of the gondola of the river that forms the Barron Falls. (Also proof I actually did ride this sky train)

When we reached the top of the mountain at a community named Kuranda. It was a collection of little stores, a hotel and a butterfly garden,Koala sanctuary and the local pub. 

A lovely shaded walk into the town

Along the walkway. What an interesting tree. 

What goes up must come down but lucky for me the ride down is on a scenic railway! The construction of the railway was an engineering feat of tremendous magnitude. It took 1500 men,removal of 2.3 million cubic meters of earth,15 hand carved tunnels,55 bridges and 98 curves to complete this railway from Kuranda to Cairns.  The lure of Gold was the pressure to find a way from the gold to the sea. This is a narrow gauge track. The heritage carriages were built in the 1900s until 1913. Each carriage is made from Silky Oak timber. There were 15 cars in all. 

See the inside of our carriage? All woo with a tin rood. The benches held 4 passengers. Steve and Susan were happy to model the carriage for us.

All the benches are on one side with the aisle

Along the windows. 

From the train we approached the waterfall from the opposite direction. 

Equally impressive!

We had mist off and on all day. 

This is a 180 degree turn complete with another

waterfall! The cars you see are the engine and the front carriages.

The view as we headed down out of the rainforest.

The Freshwater station. This was the first place you could get fresh water before heading up the Kuranda range.

All in all, today was great! The beauty of the rainforest and the amazing waterfalls overcame my fear of the ride. Well, not overcame, but did made it worth the feeling of impending doom. Since I love train rides, it was good to start the day with the biggest challenge and end the day with a delight. When we got back to Cairns, Al & Steve headed out to explore the city a little longer and Susan and I had a girls night out dinner where we enjoyed:

Oysters Rockefeller A great end to a great day!