Day 32 - 11/03/22 - Cairns, Australia

 Today marks the end of the first half of our cruise.  We woke up pretty early at 6:30am and showered and got our normal Lido breakfast.  Mine is 2 eggs over broken, not well done, 1 sausage patty, one potato hash brown, a bowl of cream of wheat, green tea with sweet & low, and a glass of cranberry juice.  Except that today there was no cranberry juice so  I had apple juice.

We had to go through a mandatory face to passport inspection in the terminal building.  For us that met meeting in the Main Stage area to get our shore excursion number (RED 14).  A large group of Great Barrier Reef snorkelers were dismissed first and about 20 minutes later we were dismissed.  We walked to the center atrium of the ship and scanned our key card off the ship after the front office personnel checked everyone's passenger card for completeness.  The major issue was that their instructions were incorrect for those of us who are continuing on further segments (two in our case).  In any event, we walked the gangway to the Passenger Cruise Terminal, formed a queue, and eventually saw a border protection officer for the face to passport inspection.  From there we were free to depart the terminal for whatever activity we were going to do.  In our case we found our tour bus and boarded it.

The bus was a new appearing Huyong with great air conditioning.  Huyong is a Chinese bus manufacturer and reportedly the largest bus manufacturer in the world.  The only thing wrong with the bus was that there was no mid or back of the bus speaker and the guide's commentary was pretty much worthless.  We could catch snippets, but that was about all.  I did report it to her and the driver and they said it would be in the report.

We drove out of town and joined the Captain Cook Highway which runs north along the coast.  We passed by the international airport, and 45 minutes later we arrived at Harley's Crocodile Adventures.  The present location replaced an earlier one just up the road which had become too small. Essentially our visit at the crocodile park was to visit a koala demonstration and pet the koala (we couldn't hold them), go on a short boat ride in an artificial lake filled with crocodiles, and then have about an hour of free time to explore the rest of the park.  The koalas were cute and soft to the touch.  The boat ride was fun but having windows blocked the experience for us as we've done other similar tours with no windows.  But I appreciate their concern for their guests safety.  

On our walk around the park, we saw numerous species of local birds, lizards (including a Komodo dragon), cassowary, more salt and fresh water crocodiles, an American alligator, some Colombian monkeys, a very realistic and giant fake but very real appearing snake. There is also a well outfitted gift store.

Back on the bus, we headed on up the Captain Cook Highway to Port Douglas.  The driver did a loop through town and 4 of us requested to be dropped off at the north end of town at 4 mile beach so we could walk one way along the main road back to the pick up point near the history church.  At the beach we were greeted by two signs:  the first warns not to swim because of year round poisonous stinger jellyfish with the greater appearance between November & March.  If the first didn't terrify one, then the second one warns of the presence of salt water crocodiles.  And that's why nobody swims in the ocean except in closely marked and guarded swimming areas.

We walked through town and found a Coles supermarket where we purchased some lunch fixings and 2 cases of Pepsi Max for about 51 cents a can or half the price we can purchase it onboard.  We enjoyed our lunch of pre-made sandwiches, Mediterranean olives, and sodas in front of the store watching people.  Afterwards we continued our stroll down the Main Street.  We found a jewelry store and purchased some opals as gifts, and also found an ATM to get some Australian cash.

At the east end of the business area is an ANZAC monument honoring the fallen in WWI.  Right next to it about 100 yards away is the St. Mary by the sea historic church.  It's been rebuilt at least once, and is now a historic structure.  It's quite plain, but has some nice stained glass.  Nearby is a public restroom which we were encouraged to use as it's an hour and a half drive back to the cruise terminal at Cairns.

It was a pretty drive back to Cairns and we enjoyed a brief tour through downtown before being dropped off at the terminal.  We learned when we said our goodbyes to our guide that the trip today was an inaugural trip.  Normally they only take guests to the crocs or to Port Douglas, but never both.  We thanked her profusely for doing both in one trip.  It was a perfect sized excursion for a day trip.  We re-boarded the ship about 4:45pm and went to deck 3 to watch the remaining passengers (principally those on the Great Barrier Reef excursion) arrive.  Just after our 4:30pm onboard time, the Captain came on the PA system and noted that the 1st officer would be driving the ship to leave the dock and head for the open sea.  He also indicated that our COVID count was down 7 cases to 43 (40 passengers and 3 crew).  That's good news!

Angela and I watched the sail away from deck 9 forward before adjourning to the Lido pool area for dinner with Erick & Marilyn.  We enjoyed a very leisurely dinner as the only Main Stage entertainment started at 8pm.

The Main Stage entertainment was the Crew Talent Show, hosted by Rachael, our Cruise & Travel Director.  The show was outstanding (probably the best we have ever seen) and featured singers and musicians plus two acts of juggling bartenders.  But the highlight of the show was Rachael and Thommy singing.  They each sang solos and then sang a duet.  Rachael sings in musical theater when she's not on cruise ships.  In a prior discussion with her, she mentioned that contractually she's not permitted to sing except in crew talent shows.  

We ended our evening watching the movie Captain Webb about the first person to swim the English Channel.  It's really good.