Why are ships always regarded as 'she'? They always show their tops but keep their bottoms hidden, they need constant applications of paint, they need a good man to steer them in the right direction and when in port they always head for the boys (sic). That's today's contribution from the Officer of the Watch.
We are now sailing south
through the Coral Sea, looking forward to 2 days in Sydney. Today marks the half way point in our trip - we have been at sea now for 48 days. The anticipation of a new place to explore every few days keeps us enthused. We have gone through a range of feelings but it is the complete lack of having to take responsibility for anything, which has made a big impression on us. A busy day constitutes going to a couple of talks, going to the gym for an hour, enjoying a concert or show, deciding what and where to eat, reading, typing the blog, trying to complete the daily crossword and sudoku and maybe even a bit of washing and ironing - world cruises are so tricky!! We have fleeting conversations about whether we need to get main or late crop potatoes for the allotment, whether we will remember how the hoover works and that we will have to prepare our own meals!! These conversations tend to be very brief. There is a noticeable change in the climate now we are moving further south - humidity is much lower and today the temperature is only 24c (I wish we hear you say). Brisbane, however, was not 24c. Well over 30c with extreme humidity, but we are not the sort of people to complain about the heat, the empire was not built on complaints.
Cap'n Bob managed to steer our little bucket under the road bridge on the approaches to Brisbane, which is actually a few miles inland of the coast, consequently we were only about a ten minute shuttle ride from the city centre. Makes a change from parking up in container terminals or 3 miles off shore. So we were actually off the bus and raring to go before 9 o'clock, how early is that! Main priority was to visit the Lone Pine koala sanctuary on the outskirts of the city. An excellent transport network services Brisbane; we had passed on using the Citycat ferry system which plies the Brisbane River, in favour of the quicker shuttle to get into the centre, and once in the centre quickly located the bus station, which runs along a road system under the main pedestrianised shopping zone of Queen Street. We had a quick wander round the Mall area whilst waiting for the bus' on time departure.
After around 45 minutes we were at the Lone Pine Sanctuary. There are quite a lot of free range lizards at Lone Pine; not all of your correspondents are entirely comfortable in the company of said reptiles, indeed some of our readers may recall moments approaching mild hysteria when little lizards and frogs wander through buildings. So, there was the occasional yelp, shriek etc as we moved around but great fortitude was shown, possibly related to the fact that the lizards, and in fairness they were of a decent size, tended not to move much, well trained we reckoned.
High point of the day? Possibly of the trip? Janey got to cuddle a little hairy mammal, Vinny by name. She, Vinny that is, because she was a lady koala, did not seem to be greatly impressed with the process, remaining pretty laid back throughout, but it has been recorded for posterity and you can,in fact, go on line at http://ikoala.net/2102809801.htm, (you may need to type a space between the forward slash and k of koala) for the next 60 days only, to have the opportunity to go "ah, isn't she sweet". No, both of them! Koalas spend a lot of time apparently, fast asleep; this is not because they are drunk or stoned. It is because they eat so much eucalyptus leaf which is of virtually zero nutritional value, and no, I haven't been eating eucalyptus for the last 40 years, so they've only got enough energy to reach out for another eucalyptus leaf and then go back to sleep. They haven't even got the energy to open a can of Red Bull, then they'd be more like the Duracell Bunny.
You don't just get koalas at Lone Pine. The emu are a bit dozy, just standing around doing nothing, although they did show a tidy turn of speed when I flexed the fingers of my left hand and whispered "here comes Rod Hull" in their ears. The kangaroos were finding it a bit hot also, much to the aggravation of one Japanese visitor who kept dragging one 'roo to its feet so he could have his picture taken with it. Eventually the kangaroo got pigged off with this and hopped off leaving lots of very disappointed caucasians who had been hoping said kangaroo might be one of the boxing ones. All in all Lone Pine was really something special.
We were back in the city centre for lunch at an ethnic food court in one of the malls, can recommend both the thai curry and the chinese honey chicken. Whilst these were good, and reasonably priced, we were increasingly coming to the view that whilst Australia has much to recommend it, it is a long way from being cheap; in fact we reckon it's pretty expensive, but that's perhaps the price you pay for the standards they quite clearly have.
After lunch we crossed the river to the South Bank, a cultural zone with museums, art galleries, theatres and much more, unfortunately we could not linger, seeing as how we int cultured like, well one of us int. There was even another beach with a lagoon, very similar to Airlie Beach of a day or so ago, with playgrounds for little ones and much more. No graffiti, no winos, no litter, no abuse, what is wrong with this place? You can see why people want to stay here. The Citycat ferries were shuttling along and across the river but we took a pedestrian bridge back over, passing over the chance to visit the Gabba cricket ground where India and Sri Lanka were playing.
Back to the centre for a bit of retail therapy, some bits and bobs to bring home, and quite likely an extra bag/suitcase to bring them all home in, and a quick raid on MacDonalds wi-fi, which rather like their offal burgers is of dubious quality, promising much but delivering frequent electronic indigestion.
And so back to the boat, where there is much excitement in many quarters, notably excluding your correspondents, due to the arrival on board of P&O's Managing Director and a film crew from ITV to film a feature related to the companies 175th anniversary this year. Count us out.
As we write this en route to Sydney we are busily planning for 2 days on shore, more car hire beckons, the Blue Mountains we think, before Ian heads for Bondi; the possibilities are endless, the sharks have apparently already taken themselves off in fear and as for the beach bums....... I know you can hardly wait for the details.