{"id":6433,"date":"2025-02-12T23:55:50","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T04:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?p=6433"},"modified":"2025-02-12T23:59:49","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T04:59:49","slug":"world-cruise-whitsunday-and-cairns-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?p=6433","title":{"rendered":"World Cruise – Whitsunday and Cairns Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Day 53 thru 55 of our 138 day journey from Ft. Lauderdale to London.<\/p>

Mother Nature came to our cruise finally. Not roaring but more of a message – “I can make it beautiful or show you otherwise” the northern Queensland coast of Australia has been going through its wet season and over the past few weeks a cyclone hit the coast – it spurned up the lots of rain and made the seas gray and murky. \u00a0<\/p>

We arrive to tender position for Whitsunday on Super Bowl Sunday morning – Photos were difficult to show the views as we just simply did a boat ride excursion where a catamaran pulled along the side of the ship, we (along with 90 other Viking guests) hopped on and took a leisurely 2 hour ride around Whitsunday island – it was very overcast and sputtering small amount of rain but nothing to fully stop the trip. \u00a0<\/p>

So my photos will show you what we saw and then a couple of internet of what Whitsunday is truly known for – beautiful coastlines, shores and beaches (thanks to internet photos)….oh well we saw enough to understand that in beautiful weather why its known as the honeymoon capital for Australia.<\/p>

Arriving back to our ship, we decided to not tender into the small town of Arlie Beach (heard it was not much to do + the weather influenced our decision) We went to the upper pool area to watch the Super Bowl which for us was 10AM on our Monday morning. Eagles won and fans from both sides we enjoying a buffet Super Bowl lunch of chips\/salsa\/hot dogs, queso, quesadillas and enough pastries to satisfy a football crowd. it was wonderful! \u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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What we hoped for:<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\"Whitsunday
Whitsunday with crystal blue days<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"On
On a clear beautiful day, Whitsunday Islands are magnificent<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Unique
Unique Beaches<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Weather
Weather dependent view!! <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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What we got....<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\"Welcome
Welcome to our Whitsunday experience<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"An
An overcast dreary day in Whitsunday for us..bummer<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Overcast
Overcast cloudy day in beautiful Whitsunday, with my favorite travel partner <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Eagles
Eagles score again! - watching the Super Bowl poolside - eating\/drinking too!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Pastries
Pastries were almost gone!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Excellent
Excellent super Bowl food displays!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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That night we departed and headed to Cairns (the R is silent BTW) and arrive the following day at 1PM – where we would have the rest of the day plus an overnight in Cairns to make it a 2 day stop. \u00a0The weather was still a factor as we promptly went to the Cairnes Aquarium for Viking’s included excursion and since the weather cooperated, we walked back to the ship to see some of the downtown to shop the famous night market of Cairns. We arrived for dinner back at the ship and got rested for the next day excursion. \u00a0The aquarium was wonderful and had many fish and creatures from the nearby Great Barrier Reef.<\/p>

the Second day in Cairns, we signed up to do the Historic Train and Skyway ride to the top of the mountain overlooking Cairns – the train ride was about 90 minutes and up to the top we went where we heard of the history of the Kuranda Railway and saw some fabulous waterfalls and scenery at the overlooks. Although overcast, the clouds were hovering over our head and kissed the top of the mountains. \u00a0Arriving in Kuranda, we went to the Rainforest station\/nature park for a lovely buffet and walk around the animal viewing stations to see Kangaroos, Dingos, snakes, crocks and the cutest Koalas on display (but they sleep 20 hours a day).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\"Welcoming
Welcoming Frighatebird, welcoming us to Cairns<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Welcome
Welcome to the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Cairns
Cairns Night market - get souvenirs and a massage!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Cairns
Cairns Aquarium had asesome displays of life from the Great Barrier Reef<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Two
Two story tank at the Cairns Aquarium <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"The
The historic Kuranda Trail station<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"All
All aboard!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Barron
Barron River falls - fascinating!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Kuranga
Kuranga scenic trail stops above the Barron River falls - 300 meter fall, due to all the recent rains, the falls were ragging!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Closer
Closer view of Barron Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Another
Another cute Koala!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Gina
Gina has the touch to pet animals where they smile (right Smoke? - Zachary's and Sedona's cat)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Crock!\"
Crock!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Looked
Looked hungry<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Weather
Weather ceased operations on us..bummer<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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At Stony Creek falls, we could see the back of the train with the falls rushing behind<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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After that we headed back to Kuranda had time to stroll the little village and at 3PM it was time for our group to go back to Cairns via the Skyrail rainforest experience which is a 45 minute trip down the mountain on a gondola that goes 400 feet over the Baron river gorge as you see the rainforest passing below you. \u00a0Those who have done the Skyrail say it’s breathtaking. Unfortunately, storms and lightning in the area required the skywrail to cease operations 30 minutes before we were to board – so the coach took us back down to our awaiting ship – it would have been nice to see but you have to be safe first.<\/p>

We continue up the coast and after a sea day arrive in Thursday Island the very northern tip of Australia prior to going to Darwin Australia which is our final port on this continent.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 53 thru 55 of our 138 day journey from Ft. Lauderdale to London. Mother Nature came to our cruise finally. Not roaring but more of a message – “I can make it beautiful or show you otherwise” the northern Queensland coast of Australia has been going through its wet season and over the past […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230351823,"featured_media":6506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[200,50518550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","category-world-cruise-24-25"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/JMS02912-revised.jpeg?fit=3089%2C1738&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peuwlC-1FL","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6380,"url":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?p=6380","url_meta":{"origin":6433,"position":0},"title":"World Cruise – Australian Zoo! – Port Mooloolaba","author":"Jim and Gina Sumislaski","date":"February 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Day 51 of 138. After leaving Sidney we had a nice sea day traveling up the east coast of Australia - relaxing by day, we had a great dinner with friends in the Chef's Table and woke to being in the port of Mooloolaba which is north of Brisbane about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","block_context":{"text":"Travel","link":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?cat=200"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/img_3017.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/img_3017.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/img_3017.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/img_3017.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6303,"url":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?p=6303","url_meta":{"origin":6433,"position":1},"title":"World Cruise – Sydney, Australia!!! One more time!","author":"Jim and Gina Sumislaski","date":"February 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"After 3 sea days crossing \"the Ditch\" (which is the Tasman sea between New Zealand and Australia) we made it to Sydney arriving on a beutiful morning as the sun rose in the sky. Our boat was to dock in White Bay for 2 days of exploration.\u00a0The crossing of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","block_context":{"text":"Travel","link":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?cat=200"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/img_2825.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/img_2825.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/img_2825.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/img_2825.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6544,"url":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?p=6544","url_meta":{"origin":6433,"position":2},"title":"World Cruise – Thursday Island and Darwin Australia","author":"Jim and Gina Sumislaski","date":"February 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Days 56 thru 60 of our 138 day World cruise from Fort Lauderdale to London. \u00a0After 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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","block_context":{"text":"Travel","link":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?cat=200"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/img_0735-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/img_0735-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/img_0735-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/img_0735-1.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3531,"url":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?p=3531","url_meta":{"origin":6433,"position":3},"title":"Geelong and Hobart","author":"Jim and Gina Sumislaski","date":"February 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Embarking on the Viking Orion from Sydney, our southward journey toward Geelong\/Melbourne commenced with a pleasant day at sea.The highlight was an exquisite spa experience that left me rejuvenated. My therapist, hailing from Bangladesh and trained in India, worked wonders.Later that morning, Gina had a woman therapist who was good,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Australia-New Zealand"","block_context":{"text":"Australia-New Zealand","link":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?cat=50518551"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_7096.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_7096.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_7096.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_7096.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_7096.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7976,"url":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?p=7976","url_meta":{"origin":6433,"position":4},"title":"World Cruise – Tenerife, Canary Islands – So Cool!!","author":"Jim and Gina Sumislaski","date":"April 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"World cruise traveling is getting very busy here with several port of calls coming up with no break and an overland excursion to prepare for so I have fell behind in posts so I will catch up quickly. After 2 days of sailing from Cape Verde to the Canary Islands\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","block_context":{"text":"Travel","link":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?cat=200"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_6418.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_6418.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_6418.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_6418.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2193,"url":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?p=2193","url_meta":{"origin":6433,"position":5},"title":"Our Choice : Viking Ocean Cruises","author":"Jim and Gina Sumislaski","date":"July 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"We have always enjoyed a good cruise - after a horrific 1 day Seascape our first \"real\" cruise was with NCL back in the late 80's on the legendary \"SS Norway\" (originally the 'SS France') a grand ocean liner and we took it on a 7-day Caribbean cruise.\u00a0 While our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Norway-Scotland"","block_context":{"text":"Norway-Scotland","link":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?cat=50518552"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/BERGEN-01-e1727282787344.jpg?fit=1200%2C646&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/BERGEN-01-e1727282787344.jpg?fit=1200%2C646&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/BERGEN-01-e1727282787344.jpg?fit=1200%2C646&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/BERGEN-01-e1727282787344.jpg?fit=1200%2C646&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/BERGEN-01-e1727282787344.jpg?fit=1200%2C646&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/230351823"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6433"}],"version-history":[{"count":78,"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6542,"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6433\/revisions\/6542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}