Thursday, November 11, 2010

Cairns

This morning we woke to a MUCH better day than yesterday - the sun was actually shining. You could feel the enthusiasm amongst the passengers, all waiting to get off the ship to go to their various tours or to catch the P&O provided shuttle bus into Cairns. For a reason unknown to me, P&O have been using large chartered catamarans (instead of their own ship's boats) to tender people ashore. This all seemed good - until there was a problem yesterday. Allegedly, one of the catamaran Captains was unhappy about the arrangements for coming alongside Oriana. Anyway, this delayed our departure off the ship until 10AM and caused at least one organised shore tour to be cancelled. There was a bit of vocal unhappiness amongst some passengers - but no point in upsetting yourself about something beyond your control. If this is the worst problem we get on the cruise, I will be happy.

The bus trip into Cairns was short - and we were very pleased to see how nicely the city had changed since our last and only visit about 10 years ago. This was especially evident along the foreshore, where a beautiful swimming lagoon has been built adjacent to the seashore. Older men with heart problems should probably avoid this area because of the very many young and beautiful bikini clad backpackers sunbathing on the grass. Christine has told me to add that there is plenty of eye candy for the women too.

For beer lovers - the shuttle bus dropped us off right outside the Blue Sky brewery in Lake Street. I can highly recommend their wheat beer - and they have fast and free Wifi. I can also recommend the Yorkey's Knob boat club for a beer on their balcony - I was surprised that more of our Brit passengers did not take the opportunity of a having a drink on the balcony overlooking the water. Perhaps that they do not realise that, here in Australia, you can simply sign yourself into these type of Clubs as a day visitor.

You can view a Youtube video of our visits to the Whitsunday Islands and Cairns here 

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