Hovell Rock

We both skipped breakfast as Bob is trying to stay off his foot.

We cancelled our excursions for the day so Bob could rest his foot.

We re-watched the presentation on the itinerary change. This morning, we were leaning towards staying on the cruise.

Our son, Rob, said, "Dad, you are already there...you should just stay".

We feel like we need to evaluate the type of vouchers and their limitations.

Mara called and said that she had answers to my questions which I posed to her yesterday.

I got ready and went downstairs and met with Mara for about 30 minutes.

I then went back up to the room. When open tender was called for, I headed down. In route to the tender, I got some messages from Jenni regarding discussion times on the topic of new itinerary. I told her that I was heading into town if she wanted to join me.

She got on a tender and I waited for her as a rain squall passed. Jenni told me that I should just carry on without her but I was happy to update this blog and wait out the rain as I forgot my umbrella and rain poncho. I didn't want to get my camera wet.

By the time that Jenni arrived, the sky had cleared but it was very warm and humid.

Jenni and I began our walk. We passed by a map outlining three possible walks around the island. We chose a route that stayed close to the water.

We saw many birds, mangrove forests, and black cliffs.

The island was very clean with exceptional infrastructure. We walked on well maintained sidewalks as we toured beautiful housing developments, schools, and recreational facilities.

We had walked quite a distance when the first car stopped with a couple of gentlemen in the vehicle. They inquired if we were okay. This happened several times. The residents of Thursday Island are so helpful and frankly, we were looking like we might stroke out at any moment because it was so hot!!!

We walked a bit farther when a truck pulled over. By this time, Jenni and I were both sweating up a storm, had beet-red faces and our feet were screaming. This truck was driven by a women who would end up becoming our guardian angel. She asked if we were okay and if we knew where the shortcut back to the port was. Clearly, we were showing signs of heat exhaustion. She told us how to get to the short cut. We thanked her as she drove away.

Next thing we see, she is stopping and pulling over by the dirt road which was the short cut and waited for us.

We finally made it to her location. She got out of the truck and gave us a detailed explanation on how to get to port. We introduced ourselves and thanked her profusely. She gave us a history of the island, the details of the school system, and history of the cemetery which the shortcut meandered through. She bid us farewell.

We made it maybe 500 yards when Auntie Liz pops up again at a branch in the road. She said that she could not just let us go without making sure that we knew which way to go. We chatted with her a bit more and she gave us more directions and said goodbye.

We made our way through the cemetery only to hear a truck driving ahead of us. Here, again was Auntie Liz. She said that she really wanted to make sure that we made it to our next turn. We chatted again and bid her goodbye for the fourth time.

Auntie Liz said that she was heading to the port because her sister had a stall where she was selling items from the island.

When she drove away, I said to Jenni, we had better pick up the pace or Auntie Liz would spend her whole day tracking us down.

We finally made it to the water. We immediately removed our shoes and waded in the water. We wondered why no one else was in the water. Come to find out, the port talk mentioned that it was dangerous to go in the water because there were salt water crocodiles all over Thursday Island.

Clearly, Jenni and I should not be left alone because we tend to put our lives at risk from heat stroke and crocodiles.

We met Auntie Liz at the port. She asked us if we would bring a package back onboard. She was supposed to meet another passenger at the port to give them a purchase that they made. But Auntie Liz had spent all afternoon making sure we didn't get lost so she missed meeting our fellow cruiser. We said not problem. We bid Auntie Liz a final goodbye.

We loved Thursday Island. The inhabitants were so lovely.

Bob and I had dinner at the Chef's Table by ourselves.

I doused myself with lavender oil to treat my sunburn.Read more