Cooktown, AU: It Does have some History

Rev. 2/2/13.
Today, we landed at Cooktown, Australia the northernmost town on the east side of the continent.  Although the weather was in the high 90's, most folks were just glad to set foot on terra firm again!  

Cooktown's claim to fame:  It is where James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavor, in 1770 for repairs and, fortunately, the aboriginal natives just watched and didn't stop him.  Cooktown is at the mouth of a river, now named the Endeavor River.

This is a pic of the city map.  Yes, it is a VERY small town with only a little over 2000 total residents.  The pier where we came in is toward the upper left, the little black line that sticks out into the river.

Looking off our balcony, we see a tender making its return from the pier.  It was about a 20 minute ride each way from where the ship was anchored.

Our tour left the ship at 10:15am.  Tom and I were fortunate to have a seat right at the door, fortunate insomuch as we could feel the slight breeze and it offered some clear photo ops!  Looking back toward the ship's tender dock, we see another coming in for the next load.  Tenders are rated at 100 passengers as a tender, 150 passengers as a lifeboat.  I think our tender had over 100 people and with the size of today's people, there is no way on this green earth that it would hold 150!

Looking back at the ship, we can see our current "home", actually, our home for 66 nights.  22 down and 44 to go!  Tonight will mark our 23rd night and the longest we've ever been on a ship before!  Ironically, it was this same ship!  Tomorrow, we'll celebrate our new record of 24 nights!

Photo of the pier as we arrive.  It truly gives an idea of the small size of the town.  Some folks have personal boat docks larger than this!

Our first stop was at the James Cook Museum.  There were quite a few artifacts from the 1700's related to what the area was like at the time.  For some reason, I was totally fascinated with the dental equipment… maybe because of spending sooo much time in dental chairs.  I will not bore you with those pictures!

It was actually a beautiful old home.  I don't remember the history of the house itself but, I shall ALWAYS remember that it was not air-conditioned!

The view from the second floor porch was gorgeous and, from up there, we could feel a little breeze.

From the museum, our little 20 passenger bus (with 16 passengers), headed up the switchback, steep (45° incline in places) road to the top of "Grassy Hill", height ~800' above sea level.  From there we had a beautiful view back down to the mouth of the Endeavor River.

After our visit to the top of the hill, on our way back to the pier, we stopped at the Botanic Gardens for a 30 minute visit.  The gardens were not great, it was miserably hot, now over 100°F with no breeze so we headed to the nicely air-conditioned "interpretive center".

After our visit there, we headed back to the pier and boarded a tender back to the ship.  This time, we had fewer passengers, perhaps around 90, YEAH!  We secured a seat near the front and at first, the window was open but, as we got closer to "home", the waves picked up and were splashing over the bow and into the boat.  They closed the window but not before I got this picture!  Yes, it is water splashing up, NOT snow coming down in 100° weather!

 Happiness was being back on the ship!  I told Tom I'll never again complain about the cold in some of the public areas of the ship!

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PS:  Cooktown was a nice little town but, it is NOT on our "must go back to" list!
Additional note - 2/2/13:
Looking down from our cabin, we see the last of the tenders pulling away from the dock of the ship.  He then went out and around the aft of the ship for his hoist into his berth.

And a look to the west, a thunderstorm rapidly approaching... we couldn't have been out of there too soon!  After we were underway, bound for Darwin, the rains came down hard.  We were safely back on board!

From here we would spend two days at sea before reaching Darwin.  We sailed into the Coral Sea and through the Torres Strait into the Arafura Sea.

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Cruisin' the Great Barrier Reef!

Well, we aren't actually on or in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), but, we are between it and shore.  A few days ago, we had an onboard lecture by Capt Wallace Cray, a GBR pilot and, if I understood correctly, he is our pilot as we traverse the area from roughly Brisbane to Torres Strait at the tippy top of Australia closest to New Guinea.

One of the things Capt Cray talked about was an ever growing / flourishing golden brown algae that thrives in the area just inland from the GBR.  Our ship, the Voyager, certainly got up close and personal with it!  At first, there were just streaks off in the distance and we thought it to be perhaps oil but, as ew got more into it, it was obvious that it wasn't oil as it was just slightly below the surface.  When the Captain (of our ship) made his noon announcement, he reminded us of what it was.  

Photos below were taken from our cabin balcony.

The algae was so thick, it made the water look like a muddy river delta.

When the wake of the ship caught the mass, it reminded me of the boiling mud we'd seen back on our excursion from Tauronga, NZ.

It is not yet known what effect it is having / has had on the coral of the GBR.  Capt Cray did tell us it does absorb / process a huge amount of carbon dioxide!  That could be a good thing.

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Off the East Coast of Australia: Finally On Our Way Again!

8am came and went and there was no announcement from the Captain as to when we would be cleared to be underway again.  We all wondered what was going on and of course some speculated the worst!

Finally, late morning, around 11am, the Captain announced that we had been cleared to be on with our journey, however, we first had an emergency to deal with.  One of the passengers was in need of a hospital with capabilities far a beyond what our on board "infirmary" could provide.  The Captain advised that a med-vac helicopter was on its way and asked that we all stay off the decks until after the helicopter left.  Of course, most of us wanted to know / see / watch what was happening and headed straight to places where we would have the best vantage point to see.

The ship does not have a heli-port so it had to be a hovering procedure.  First step was to get a rescuer on deck, that happened.  The winds from Oswald were still strong so it was quite a precarious procedure.

Passengers and crew alike were "at the ready" with cameras just under the glass where the helicopter was hovering.  One good thing the helicopter props did was to blow all the water off the pool deck!  Saved the crew some work!

Lifting up a rescuer and the passenger.  Tom had been at the other end of the pool deck with his video camera, wish I could figure out how to post video here, and in reviewing the video, we did see that the passenger was standing, without support as they prepared him for the lift.

All the rescuers and the passenger on the helicopter, off it went.

That taken care of, the crew went back to more important work, feeding the rest of us!  Today was the Australia BBQ on the pool deck.

Finally on our way around 1pm - 1:30.  YEAH!  The Captain had already broken the bad news to us that, because of the two day delay, we would be skipping Whitsunday Island and Cairns and heading straight for Cooktown.  LOTS and LOTS of unhappy campers cruisers!  This meant the tours for snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef were cancelled.  Folks talked to the Captain, wrote e-mails to corporate asking that we go to Cairns instead of Cooktown but, alas, all to no avail.  We would have two more sea days before stepping on good old terra firma again!

Seeing blue sky and green hills was quite a treat!

We chose to have lunch in the Compass Rose (main dining room) on Deck 4 and from here could see the swells almost up to the windows.  This is about 2 1/2 decks above the water line, thus probably 20-25 feet!

Desert was SOO pretty, I just couldn't resist including a pic:

Out on the deck, we can see just how choppy the seas are as we pass by the not-so-sunny Sunshine Coast towns.

Really, truly hate missing the Great Barrier Reef up close even as we pass between there and the mainland.  There were folks on this segment (Sydney to Singapore) for whom this was the most important part of the trip.  But, most importantly, we are all safe and Oswald will soon be fully behind us!  NOTE:  Word came out, unofficially, that the air-lifted passenger had some heart issues.

rf

Moreton Bay: Anchored in the "Calm"!

The port of Brisbane is on Moreton Bay.  Due to the high winds and swells out in the open water, we spent the night docked at the port.  At promptly 6AM, we pulled away from the dock and out into the bay.  We learned an hour or so later that we'd come ~8 miles out and were anchored until the next weather update!

This weather, we learned, is the result of ex-tropical storm Oswald!  I've not been able to find a tracking map like we have for the Atlantic storms so we're depending on the Captain.  As I write this, it is 4:15PM (1/27) and the Captain just announced that the port AND all traffic in and out of the bay are closed.  We are anchored here at least until the next harbor master update at 8am tomorrow!  This probably means we will miss our next scheduled port (Whitsunday Islands)!  

The pool bar, as well as the pool deck, is quite lonely.  The bar is open!

Water dances where just a couple of nights ago, people danced!

The captain announced winds speeds in the 80 knots with gusts to 90 knots.  That sounds bad enough but when converted to MPH, it sounds worse!!  92-103!  The mountain range along the east coast of Queensland and the islands to our east must be providing the protection that is actually keeping us relatively calm!  Here's a view off the stern of the ship.

Another from the stern.

Party on!!!  

Speaking of "party", tonight (6pm) is the traditional Regent "block party" when guests grab a wine glass from their cabins and meet in the hallways to meet their neighbors.  Crew will be pouring bubbly and serving canapés.  The Captain, the Hotel Manager and the Cruise Directory will "run" the length of each deck greeting all the guests.  It's usually  the 2nd night out but was delayed on this leg of our trip.  It's always a fun event!

Another update tomorrow!

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Brisbane: A few hours on a bus in the rain!

Interesting how the locals pronounce the name of their town versus the way the Americans are absolutely sure is the correct way!  Brisbane, as pronounced by Americans is typically "briz bane (rhymes with vane/vein)".    The locals pronounce it "brizben" with little emphasis on the -ben!

All full-day tours (8+ hours), one of which we had, were cancelled and only the shorter ones, 4 to 4 1/2 hours were available.  We chose "Leisurely Brisbane".  As we looked out from our balcony on the port of Brisbane, we noted, yes, it is a cargo port, not normally used for passenger ships, however, because of the drought, the channel up the river was too narrow for us to pass.  Little did anyone know the amount of flooding that was to come and then the river would be too high!

The tent was erected just for us!  The buses and cars will be our transportation into Brisbane some 20+ miles away.

Three and a half hours, of our 4 hour trip, was spent on the bus.  Driving by this corner, we saw this sign.  Makes one wonder how liberal Brisbane may be!!  In reality, they were selling advertising!!!

Our one stop was at Kangaroo Point for a look down on the river and the main part of the town of Brisbane.  Our guide told us it is called Kangaroo Point because folks were reminded of a kangaroo's pouch with joey inside.  That may be stretching it a bit!

Looking STRAIGHT down to the ground just the other side of the "keep people back"  wall we saw this little fella.  He/she was perhaps 15" long and there was another smaller one not too far away.  That one didn't pose as much for the camera!  Hmmm!  Wonder if it is a run-away Komodo dragon!  We'll compare when we get to Komodo sometime next week!

Some of the folks on the bus wanted some shopping time, so the guide was accommodating and dropped them for a half-hour shopping spree in the heart of the shopping area, yes, rain and all.  Tom and I chose to stay on the bus.  There were half a dozen or so who stayed on.  After we dropped the shoppers, we headed to a place where the bus could park.  We passed this bar on the way there.  LOVED the name!  I have now decided what my career will be in my next life!!

Back to pick up the shoppers, there was a native all decked out for the big Australia Day (1/26) events happening that day!  Couldn't resist a pic.

So, that was our day in Brisbane!  It was so windy and rainy, we wondered if the scheduled big events would be postponed!

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Brisbane: Arriving

It's now the 18th day we've been on the beautiful Regent Seven Seas Voyager.  Where we are, it is January 26th, back home, it is still January 25th!

Seas were quite rough last night so we were rocking' & rollin' and pitching' the night away.  Fortunately, we love it and slept like babies!!

We were scheduled to arrive in Brisbane at 8am, however the winds and swells are high and it is raining off and on so we've had to travel some extra distances and will arrive at least two hours late.  See the map below.  Once we got to where the dark blue line is, we should have followed it straight into Brisbane.  With any kind of luck, we'll follow that route on our trip out and north this evening.

We hd planned a full day excursion, however, because of the delay, Regent cancelled that one.  We've signed up for another, shorter tour to at least get off the boat and say we were here!

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Out of Sydney: The Quiet Before the Storm!

Friday, Jan 25th was a day at sea before our arrival in Brisbane.  We spent a very leisurely day and, as is usual, the 2nd night of the cruise was the Captain's Reception.  This is oriented primarily toward the guests who'd boarded the day before.  Tom and I were quite interested as we knew we had a new Captain (wanted to see his stage presence), and, we had a news group for the orchestra (wanted to hear them play together in public for the first time).

All of the key officers are on stage with the Captain on the left.  He introduced himself, made a couple of whimsical comments then passed the mic to the gentleman to the right in the picture, the General Manager, or Hotel Manager as he's called on some lines.  Introductions ended up with the guy all the way to the right, the Cruise Director, Paul Reynolds.

After the reception, we headed up to the Observation Lounge on Deck 11, the highest enclosed area on the ship.  Deck 12 is purely jogging / walking track and a few other outdoor activities.  Oleg at the piano in the Observation Lounge provided perfect music for pre-dinner cocktail hour!

We walked across the pool deck to Sette Mari (in the daytime it is La Veranda) for dinner.  The sunset was beautiful!  Little did we know this was the harbinger of the storm to come.

From Sette Mari, a beautiful sunset view through a porthole like window.

Yum!  A bowl of cioppino a la Voyager for dinner!  It was superb! 

After dinner, a walk across the pool deck in the open air, we found the pool drained and covered.  This told us something was up weather-wise but, there had not been a reason yet to talk about it!

More evidence of the pending storm:  all the furniture had been moved to the side of the deck and strapped down!

'Twas one of many lovely evenings we had shared on our trip.

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Sydney: Sail-away

We'd had a nice, lazy day in Sydney that was followed by one of those "to die for" sunsets and sail-aways.  As mentioned before, it was a "turn day", a day when one voyage ends and another begins.  We now have part 1 of our journey complete, 3 more to go!

We were down in the Horizon Lounge listening to members of the new Regent Signature Orchestra (the Orchestra changed members in Sydney) play their first set on this cruise.  When they finished, it was just about time to cast off so, back to the cabin we went to get cameras and change clothes.  The sunset through the sheers from our cabin was gorgeous!

Back up on deck 12, the top deck, we have now cast off, turned around and are headed for the Harbor bridge then on out to sea.  This area that is now a parking lot with tents for terminal buildings is being built up as a regular cruise terminal.  Word is it will open later this year (2013).  Maybe the Australians are more industrious.  It would take 4-5 years in the US!

Passing Luna Park just before we turn nose in toward the bridge.  Developers had wanted to destroy the park back in the 90's, however, locals protested so strongly, the government passed a act protecting it.  It and Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen are the only two parks in the world protected by law.

Lots of folks lining the railings as we head toward the bridge.

  

Folks on the sunset bridge climb wave to us as we pass under!  We talked about making the climb, however, when we learned we couldn't take cameras, we declined.  That's our excuse and we're sticking to it! <wink>

Passing Circular Key, the city center port for the hundreds of Ferries and tour boats.

And the famed Sydney Opera House!

So long to a beautiful city on a beautiful night, perhaps we shall pass this way again.

Headed on out to sea, the breezes were warm, the moon was beautiful.  It would have been a beautiful night to sleep on deck.

But, that was not to happen, so off to dinner we went.  It was nice to not have to spend the evening unpacking and finding a place for everything like the folks who had boarded in Sydney!

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