• Australia 2024
    Entering the port
    With all the cameras looks like a charterWith the help of a tugboat they turned the ship around 180 degrees!!What was cool is all the vehicles were running !The fees to ride in an assortment of actual WWII vehicles ... how cool is this?!They truly had an assortment of all the WWII tanks, jeeps, and transport vehicles.If your on a budget, you can get a ride in a jeep. It felt like hoggens harrows show.This German tank was re assembled from the remains of 6 destroyed tanks.We left and went further north and checked out some local beachesThe weather was nice, but super windy; so it was a blessing we weren't able to do a Reef tour today.The harbor near our cruise ship was like every other harbor, making you want to get a boat.We returned to the ship for the folklore show by a local band.Latter that night, they had a fantastic singer

    Cairns Australia

    August 24, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    After 2 days at sea we arrive at Cairns at 11am, the home of the Great Barrier Reef. We're ~1,500 miles north of Sydney, & ~1,000 miles north of Brisbane. Therefore the Australian winter weather that was 55 to 70 degrees in Sydney changed to 65 to 80 degrees weather here.

    Pulling into the narrow Cairns Harbor was a pretty interesting experience. With the help of a tugboat they turned the ship around 180 degrees!! It felt like we occupied 90% of the width of the channel; & we had a full land-based audience watching the 'spectacle'!

    At first we couldn't figure out why we didn't arrive/dock until 11am: that ruled out any Great Barrier Reef tours or going on the Rail and Cable car ride in the mountains. However we later learned it was tide-driven -- there was no way a boat our size w/h been able to enter the harbor until the tide rose sufficiently.
    Every day's a school day....

    Luckily for us we attended the Cairns ship presentation and were told about the local Armory. What's better is that this weekend they were having the live 'show' where they pulled out a number of tanks and had 'rides' in them with a ticket purchase. With 1-Sept being Fathers' Day in Australia, there were plenty of tickets sold and thus opportunities to see these tanks actually MOVE. So we rented a vehicle and off we went to the armory.

    Afterwards we went to a local beach, then walked on the boardwalk back to our ship for a folklore show by a local band, followed by a fantastic singer.

    After a full day, no light piano bar tonight :)    Read more