Our Australian Adventure- Brisbane

     Our last port of call was the city of Brisbane (pronounced Brisbin by the locals). This major metropolitan city is located along the shores of the Brisbane River. The river is navigable and is served by a variety of water taxis and tour boats. We disembarked the cruise ship and rode a bus to downtown, near the civic center, where we walked to the river and boarded a boat that would sail up the river to our destination. Along the way we saw Brisbane from the river's viewpoint. 

     Our destination today was the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. This zoo is the world's first and largest koala sanctuary, with over 130 koalas. You can cuddle a koala, handfeed kangaroos and encounter a large variety of Aussie wildlife, all in beautiful, natural settings. Our goal was to get up close and personal with the Koalas. We made the mistake of saying Koala Bears once and were told that they are NOT a bear but a marsupial. Thus, they are referred to as a Koala. Doesn't matter--either way they are too cute. They live in the trees and eat solely eucalyptus leaves. This leaf provides the Koala with its nutrition and its water. The leaf is not very nutritious and they have to consume a large quantity just to stay alive. This explains their rather slow methodical movements and the fact that they just kind of sit around for 20 hours a day. Lone Pine is one of the few places in the world that you can legally hold a Koala. They have a bunch of Koalas and they are available for holding by the public only 30 minutes a day each. They "work" for three days then they are not handled for four days. So we each purchased our tickets to hold one and got into the line. When it was our turn, we were instructed to make a "basket" with our hands. This provided the Koala with a place to sit that simulated the crook of a tree. The handler placed the koala in your simulated crook and then he placed the Koalas arms on your shoulders. The park took the requisite photo for sale, but they allowed your party to take as many photos as they wanted to. 

     I was surprised at a couple of things. First of all, their claws. Since they are master tree climbers, the claws are wicked sharp and long. When the handler wanted to take them away for the next person, if they didn't want to go, they could really hold on! Secondly, the fur is not as soft as you might think. It is more akin to the wool of a sheep. They are cuddly though and really liked to snuggle in to you. 

    With our main goal satisfied, we wandered around and found the kangaroo enclosure. We were amazed that you could just walk right in and come up to the 'roos. They were friendly and enjoyed a good scratch between the ears. Again, it surprised me that the fur of the kangaroo was softer than that of the Koala. Especially the red kangaroo. It was almost velveteen to the touch. We saw a wide variety of other Australian wildlife and sat in on a Birds of Prey show. Here, several of the largest predatory birds in Australia were shown in flight and up close. Below is a very handsome Sea Eagle. 

     But all too soon it was time to get back on the boat for the return sail to downtown Brisbane. We hung around and shopped in the stores a while then back on the bus to return to the cruise ship. 

     So far we had experienced fantastic weather and sea conditions. As we left Brisbane and headed south towards Sydney, the weather began to turn foul. It was drizzly, windy, and the seas started to toss the ship around a bit. In fact, the last night's entertainment was a juggler who tried to juggle very sharp axes while balancing on a board that was placed over a pipe. Needless to say, he scrapped the board idea but managed to juggle just fine... only he used up most of the stage to keep everything in the air! 

     We arrived back in Sydney to clouds, drizzle, and much cooler temperatures. We had planned to stay a couple of days after the cruise, so we hopped off the ship and went to our Bed & Breakfast. From there we tried to tour  between the raindrops. 

     Above is as far as I could get inside the Sydney Opera House without taking the tour. The next day wasn't much better, but we boarded the train anyway and went a couple of hours inland to Katoomba. Here, on a good day, is a magnificent view of the canyons and surrounding mountains. The "Three Sisters" is a famous rock outcropping. Here is what it usually looks like:

     Here is what it looked like on the day we visited...

    Oh well.... the train ride was fun. 

    So the following day we got up, loaded up a taxi, and headed to the airport. The drizzle had stopped but the clouds were still low. As we sat and waited for our plane, surprise! The sun came out. Oh well. We loaded up and after the return flight that seemed twice as long as the flight out, we arrived back in Kansas City where the wind was blowing and the temps dropping. It was a great trip and we enjoyed it immensely. All I can say is, G'day mate!!

Our Australian Adventure- Airlie Beach

   After another full day at sea we arrived at our next port of call, Airlie Beach. Here the harbor is too small for our cruise ship so we have to do what is called "tendering" to shore. You exit the anchored cruise ship and board a smaller "tender" ship and you are shuttled to shore. Once ashore, we met up with our excursion for a breathtaking ride out through the Whitsunday Islands. We boarded a semi-rigid inflatable boat with two 350 HP outboard motors (which gave us an indication as to how fast we were going to travel!) and were off. There are 70 islands that make up the Whitsunday chain and only 7 of them are inhabited. 

    For the day, we rode to two snorkeling sites and then capped it off with a short hike in the Whitsunday Island National Park. At the end of the hike, we had a picnic lunch on the beach. But not just any beach. This beach was chosen as the third most beautiful beach in the world by National Geographic!!! I'd have to agree. See below and in the photo album and tell me what you think...

One of the smaller tropical fish on the reef

Yes! He is that big!!!

Staghorn coral

    Then some shots of the beach...

     We then motored back to the pick up point, but talked our skipper into taking us on around to the dock where we could board the tender to the cruise ship. He very graciously agreed to and we roared over to the harbor using all 700 of the horses in the motor. It was a wild ride, but fun. We then boarded the tender and got a good view of our ship as we circled it in order to disembark. 

     Another day at sea then we arrived at the next port of call... Brisbane.

Our Australian Adventure- Cairns

     Our next port of call was Cairns (pronounced "Cans" by the locals). It seems that we were to be the largest ship that had entered their cruise ship terminal. The details, as I found out later, were that the approach to the berth is via a narrow channel, only 90 meters wide. Our ship was about 50 meters wide so there was not a lot of room for error. Add to that the winds and currents that caused us to "crab" through the channel and we didn't have much "wiggle room" at all. Add to that the fact that we had to wait for the right tide. There was only 2 meters of water under the keel!!!! That means that if I were standing under the boat as it passed, it would clear me by about an inch!! If that wasn't enough, once in the terminal dock area, we had to execute a 180 degree "about face" turn. Due to the narrow channel, we had very little clearance from the dock. The captain told me that it was the most difficult maneuver that he has ever done (but he had a great time doing it!). 

     This is the approach looking into Cairns. You can barely see the buoy markers in the water that outlined the channel into the harbor. 

     Here we are while making the 180 degree turn. Not a lot of clearance. 

     We spent two days in Cairns. On the first day, we took a bus to an aerial tram tour of the rainforest canopy. You boarded a gondola car (like a ski resort lift) and traveled 7 miles over the canopy with three stops to get off and walk through trails. 

     Here is the view looking back as we just left the departure station. 

     Above you can see where the ocean meets the shore as we made our way up the mountainside.

     My opinion, everything in nature in Australia is out to either hurt you or eat you! Look at the needles on this palm leaf and stalk. Like a cross between a Palm tree and a cactus. 

     I don't have a clue what this plant is but it was very pretty and unique. 

     The return trip we took via the Kuranda Scenic Railway. We wandered along through the mountains that we had just crossed over. 

     Anybody remember the song "I Come From a Land Down Under" by Men at Work? There is a line in the song about some guy giving the singer "...a Vegemite sandwich." Well, here Geoff is proudly displaying his packet of Vegemite. He really liked it on toast in the morning. I tried it and, first of all, you DO NOT spread it on like jelly! It goes on very sparingly. Secondly, it may be high in Vitamin B, but it is very salty. Too much so for my taste. But anyway, we had to try some. 

   After an evening touring the shopping markets downtown, we got up early and met our excursion boat for a trip out to the reef. I've never been on a dive quite like this one. There were about 50 folks on this boat. Some were there to snorkel, some were there getting certified to dive, others had just been certified, and some of us were experienced divers. The tour operators gave us the option to dive with a guide (for an extra per person fee) or we could go out on our own. We chose the latter and after reviewing the bottom map and getting a briefing from the dive master, we were off.  We had two dives at two different locations on the reef. It was magnificent!

  This particular spot on the reef presented us with a myriad of coral the likes of which I have never seen. There were some marine life, but the showcase was the coral. 

     The different sizes and shapes were unbelievable. Along the way we passed several "Live Aboard" platforms. Here folks come to stay for several days and dive and play. There were even helipads where folks were shuttled from the mainland to the platform. 

     All too soon it was back to the ship and we made our way out of the harbor. That night, we were greeted by yet another towel animal...