February 22, Cairns, Australia

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Wednesday, February 22, 2023 – Cairns (pronounced CANS) 

I’m going to touch lightly on yesterday as well. Yesterday we were in Airlie Beach which is on the mainland of Australia but is considered part of the Whitsunday Islands. It is a jumping off point for The Great Barrier Reef. Once again, we were at a tender port with about a 30-minute ride. We took the included tour which was a drive around that was pretty unimpressive. Our driver/guide was nice and enjoyable, there just wasn’t much to see. And it was raining. We were driven to a town north of Airlie Beach and given time to wander. Not much to see, very little shopping. We did find a cup of coffee in a motorcycle shop. And there was a small grocery store. It was fun to see what they were charging for things and we did buy some local ginger beer. 

We had rain much of the day and many of optional tours were washed out. We were a couple of hours late leaving as someone on one of the tours didn’t return. (Rumor) Our tender ride back to the ship was one of the rougher ones. We can not compliment enough the Viking crew that assists us getting on and off the tenders. They do a wonderful job.

 

CAIRNS 

We started out with a lovely sunrise and rainbow. Good omens for the day.

 

We are at a dock! Yea! Off on another included tour this morning. We were allowed to wonder in the botanical garden for about 20 minutes. We could have spent a great deal more time there.

 

 

 

Then another 30-minute ride north to Palm Cove. A tourist beach. We were given an additional 30 minutes to wander here. Not sure why. Heading back towards Cairns, our driver did pull over at a spot he knew would probably have wallabies. They were in the shade of trees for the most part, but we did get to see several.

The beach at Palm Cove

These are along the beaches. 
Anyone swimming/snorkeling on excursions from
Viking was provided a "stinger suit". Head to toe
like a wet suit. Due to jellyfish and an insect in
the water that can send you to the hospital.

A wallabie, just at the tree line center

Several resting in the shade.

Mama who came out to check on her baby.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once back in Cairns, we elected to get off the bus in the downtown area and walked back to the Cairns Aquarium. We had a very enjoyable couple of hours in the Aquarium. All the animals in this Aquarium are native to Australia. We then walked back to the ship along the esplanade (beach park).

A wee snake

His other end

Long necked turtle

shorter turtle

I think these were called Forest Dragons

Just a little lizard

An eel

An employee at the Aquarium was talking about the Great Barrier Reef. Covid was actually a huge boon to the Reef. With no visitors, the reef has begun to recover. They were amazed at how much better it was after only a couple of years without people.

We had missed lunch, so had a beer and a small open-faced sandwich and retired to our room. When we got up this morning, rain was forecast for much of the day. Their weather guessers are about as good as ours. It cleared off early and turned into a mostly sunny day. As we were enjoying a toddy on our veranda in the late afternoon, it started to rain again. 

We are in the wet season. And as we progress north and west, we will continue to be traveling during the wet season for this region. So far the rains are light and showery, not heavy deluges, and although we have seen thunderstorms in a couple of the forecasts, we have not seen or heard anything that resembles the thunderstorms we are used to. It is a late departure tonight so the ship is fairly quiet as many people are enjoying time ashore. 

Tomorrow is a sea day followed by our last stop in Australia. We will be anchoring at Thursday Island which is at the very tippy top of Eastern Australia and a stone’s throw from Papua New Guinea.