Days 56 thru 60 of our 138 day World cruise from Fort Lauderdale to London.
After leaving Cairns we had a sea day and stopped at the northern tip of Australia in the North Queensland state at a very small Island named Thursday Island. The stop was a tendered stop since the ship and any ship for that matter cannot get close to shore. Considering the weather which was mostly overcast and the area had been subject to rains for the last week, the water was this aqua torquois blue water that was clear, but as inviting it may look, there is NO swimming on this island since in the water lurks crocodiles and jelly fish ready to get you.
After a 30 minute tender ride through 3 foot waves of water, we arrived on this small island where we were warmly greeted by the residents and directed to their social hall where the aboriginal natives and their teenage children played music and danced in traditional outfits telling the story of their culture.
This stop was not your luxurious port of call, it was a cultural out reach in which the residents are teaching their children the business of tourism and while the infrastructure is not quite ready for thousands of tourists, they are working towards building for them. There was a few tables of arts/crafts/tee shirts for sale and we promptly supported the residents efforts. Weather was rolling in (a large rainstorm was brewing) so we headed back to our ship to do some laundry. A fortunate decision, since the weather did rile up the waters with a rainstorm and friends who had stayed on the island for awhile, said they had a very rough ride back and few tender passengers got sea sick and had to be escorted off the tender boat.
It was Valentine’s Day on the ship, and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Chef’s table then the chocolate extravaganza poolside.
We spent 2 sea days sailing the Arafura Sea (connects Indian and Pacific Oceans) to get to Darwin Australia the cultural hub at the northern coast of Australia’s Northern Territory. One night, the lightning storm at sea was spectacular – or so I heard because I slept through it.
Darwin was a strategic military outpost, and bombed rampantly by Japan in WWII, (more bombs than Pearl Harbor got). Recently, the city celebrated its 50 year anniversary of the 1974 cyclone Tracy that completely wiped the city and caused 30,000 children and families to be airlifted while they rebuilt the city. The rebuild allowed the city to incorporate tourist amenities such as cultural museum and botanical gardens and well as a vibrant pedestrian friendly city (read: a shopping district). We really enjoyed the City and what it offered. The art painting on buildings was phenominal and was weather was perfect for Floridians like ourselves (although a Canadian may comment it was too hot). The relatively newly constructed cruise port which is a 12 minute walk to the downtown was noteworthy. The area’s history of Chinese influence, established many good Chinese restaurants (yum yum!). We really enjoyed the stroll and to memorialize our Australian section of this trip, we bought colorful aboriginal painting to get framed when we get home. We took to the Timor sea in the evening heading towards Indonesia the next area of our exploration.
Overall, we were pleasantly surprised by Thursday Island and Darwin Australia and we found the areas enlightening for very different reasons.
