Local Wildlife Viewing in Darwin

 January 25

Here in Darwin it was just as hot and sticky as it had been in Cooktown, even though they are separated by 2 days at sea across the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Arafura Sea. More on the sea days and the ship in another post, as usual.

It was Australia Day and a Sunday, so we weren't sure there would be much to be able to do in Darwin. We chose to visit the Territory Wildlife Park where, in a similar fashion to the Toronto Zoo, birds, fish and other wildlife of the territory are showcased as much in their natural habitat as possible .

On the way, however, we passed some Australia Day celebrations. In Darwin there is an annual tradition of dressing up their 'Utes', or old style single cab pickup trucks, with flags and the like, and making a huge parade along the highway through town. We had to take this highway to get to the park. Even though the parade had finished a while earlier, groups of parade viewers had brought picnics and were having 'tailgate' parties with friends and neighbours.

A Ute, dressed up with the Aussie flag

Cars and trucks were clustered along the roadway
to watch the parade, and stayed on for tailgate parties

At the park we climbed aboard a road train that drove around and made stops at the various exhibit buildings. Because we had about 100 people from the ship at the park, they had even changed the schedule for the train so we could see more of the park in our limited time.

The entrance to the Aquarium exhibit at the park

As we walked through the tunnel, we noticed
a Pig-Nosed Turtle having a rest on the
plexiglas. Larry couldn't resist this one

Nemo!

And in the aviary:

A Red Finch

This little guy was watching everyone that passed by

Barn Owls

The outside trails included a walkway that started
higher up in the forest canopy and gradually
dropped to ground level

In the Nocturnal House we saw this
small Wallaby

In a couple of the buildings we saw the effect of the 'reuse and recycle' philosophy. There were a couple of beautiful depictions of a coral reef in the Aquarium building, all made of crocheted and knitted pieces sewn together:

And another in one of the other exhibit buildings showcasing the butterflies in the ecosystem, all made of felted wool. We had to look very closely to realize that they weren't real.

The park staff had a really good way of making sure that all of us cruise guests came back to the main building on time to leave the park - one of them brought Lady Gaga out to see us....no, not THAT one, but this one -

She is a 17 year old Darwin Carpet Python. She is albino, but earlier in her life she had orangey rings along her body instead of the regular brown shades of a python. She's lived her whole life at the park, and is quite comfortable around people. The same can't necessarily be said for the people, although these kids didn't seem to be scared.

And finally we met a Black Chested Vulture who has been in the park since she was hatched. She's about 30 years old now, and also comfortable around people, as long as we give her space. 

While we were visiting with these two a rain shower passed over us, and it continued to look threatening. Our very informative and helpful bus driver and guide, both women, made a slight detour in the downtown area to drop some of our fellow guests off at the Shuttle Stop, which wasn't so bad in itself, but that delay in getting back turned into a longer wait.

As we were walking through the cruise terminal building, which included a covered walkway to a tent right in front of the ship where the security check would take place. A group of us from the bus was walking down this walkway when there was suddenly a flash of lightning and a gigantic crash of thunder right above us. And then it started to pour like the proverbial bucket turned over. It reminded both of us of our stop in Papeete, Tahiti a few years ago when the same thing happened as we left for a walking tour. And it kept raining, for a good 20 minutes, before it started to let up. In the meantime ship's crew had brought umbrellas for everyone, but the Security official of the port refused to let us through the screening. He deemed that the pier and gangway would be too slippery because of the volume of rain. Someone finally overturned his ruling and, as the rain lessened but didn't stop, he started to let us all through.

It did finally stop raining at some point before we left, but it remained cloudy. 

The Top of Eastern Australia - Cooktown

 January 23

Cooktown's claim to fame is that in 1770 Captain James Cook, on his first voyage around Australia, damaged his ship on a nearby reef and limped in to the mouth of what he named the Endeavour River to repair her. He and his crew stayed for a total of 48 days before continuing along the coast.

Aboriginal tribespeople had already been in residence here for many years when Captain Cook arrived in June of 1770, and there were a few skirmishes between the two groups. After one of these, when a tribesman was injured by a musket shot, Cook followed him and his friends who had been damaging his encampment to a spot now known as 'Reconciliation Rocks', communicated with an elder of the tribe and apologized, thereby immortalizing the first reconciliation between Europeans and Aboriginal Australians that ever occurred.

Cook named the river after his ship, and while they were repairing the ship Joseph Banks, the botanist who accompanied him on this as well as other voyages of discovery, found and classified more than 200 species of plants that had never been seen before. He also spent time with the Aboriginals, even learning some words, including names for animals no European had ever seen before. One of these was 'kangaroo'. Captain Cook made the first European sighting of one on Grassy Hill, which overlooks the town at the head of the river.

We have been here before, and on our previous visit we took at very long and rainy bus ride to a quirky bar in the middle of nowhere. This time we stayed closer to home and had a boat ride on the Endeavour River. It was already quite hot and humid when we left the tender at the pier. We took a walk along the main street of town while waiting for the excursion and found the Bicentennial Park. This park was officially dedicated by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Cooktown was not established as a European settlement until 1873, when it was a supply outpost for the gold rush in the Palmer River. There is a statue of a gold miner in the part, representing the thousands who came through Cooktown to find their fortune panning for gold in the river.

Off behind the statue of the miner is a set of steps leading nowhere. These are known as the Queen Elizabeth Steps and were built for Her Majesty, who came on a visit in April of 1970 to commemorate the bicentennial of Cook's landing. It was easier for her to come by sea, apparently, so the Britannia was anchored about where our ship was, and she took a small boat to town. She was supposed to arrive at the spot where Cook first set foot on land, according to descriptions left in his notes, where the steps were built. She was to be helped from the boat to the steps and walk down them to meet the dignitaries. Great plan, except that timing for the visit changed and the tide was out, so the steps were totally unusable. She came ashore in a different spot and was driven (in a Rolls Royce sent to Cooktown specifically for the occasion) to the park instead. According to our boat captain who told us this story, she spent a grand total of about 47 minutes on land in Cooktown.

 

One of the highlights of the park is the 'Milbi Wall' or
story wall that tells the story of the first encounters
between Cook and his men and the local Aboriginals

The Monument to Cook's stay
in Cooktown. It was only named Cooktown
a long time after Cook himself had been here.

Flowers of a Plumeria tree in the park

Captain Cook

Other tile mosaics set into the walkway commemorate other aspects of Cook's stay. The first one here is of a kangaroo, giving the spelling that Cook and Banks used as well as the Aboriginal name. The second shows the months of the year and what fish and animals the local tribespeople used for food in each season.

The best thing about our boat cruise was that the moving vessel provided some natural air conditioning. Otherwise, it was very informative, but we spent the whole time in the mouth of the river and sailing by the mangrove forests on the shoreline. I had imagined going a little further up the river to see more of the inland scenery. After all, our tender ride of 25 minutes already brought us through the mouth of the river to get to town.

'Grassy Hill' where Cook climbed to work out his
plan for leaving with his repaired ship. This is where
he saw his first kangaroo.

A small part of the mangrove forests that line the
river and the bay

One of our fellow passengers is this young lady
who was allowed to drive the boat for a few minutes.
When we were boarding the tender to return to the ship,
she wondered if she could ask the tender driver
to let her take the helm. Her mother's answer
was a shocked 'NO!'

The Barrier Range mountains in the
distance. It was obviously low tide while
we cruised around the bay.

When our cruise around was over, it was so humid that we only walked from the boat dock to the pier and waited for the next tender back to the ship. If we are back again, we'll probably just stick to the historical museum, which is supposed to be very good, and similar places in town, properly prepared for a walk in the heat.

As we were leaving the sun began to set. It has been quite cloudy the whole time we've been on the ship, so the sunsets have not been spectacular, but sometimes the cloud formations made some really great effects. Those white blobs in the distance are silica sand, which is mined extensively in this area. It is a very fine white sand which is used in production of computer and cell phone screens and similar products.

Townsville and a Walk in the Rainforest

 January 21 

(Editor again - we're finally getting some good internet connectivity here in Bali, so hopefully we can catch up before we get home!)

No matter where we've been so far, there has always been the threat of 'passing showers' or full on rain. And it was no different here in Townsville. 

Our excursion was a walk in the rainforest at Palumba Range National Park, with a stop for morning tea and a barbecue lunch included. It was looking quite nice, although a bit sticky, when we left, so we didn't take an umbrella - we thought it might be a little difficult tramping along a track in the woods with one, never mind looking silly.

Sugar cane fields

After learning so much about mining in the south and central parts of Australia, we heard all about the agriculture in the north east. Sugar cane is one of the staple products grown here and they still use the method of burning the field the day before harvest to get rid of the outer husk and excess leaves. There are lots of other tropical fruits grown here and exported to the rest of Australia and abroad.

Townsville has a vibrant economy in processing minerals like zinc, nickel and copper, is a military headquarters and is the base for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Australian Institute of Marine Science. It looks like a lovely city from the photos we've seen; next time we're here we'll explore the city.

Back to our drive into the hills. It took about an hour to reach Palumba, and we found out why we needed to use small buses. It is a narrow, winding road up to a small community that could barely be called a village - in fact the residents have to drive down that same winding road to the main highway and then to the local shopping centre a few kilometres away just to buy groceries. We had our 'rest stop' and a chance to sample some homemade scones with cream and strawberry jam. 

After another 10 minute drive we were at the starting point for our hike. Not long after we started out and took photos at the first overlook spot, we had our first sprinkles of rain. But as the forest canopy was quite thick, that didn't concern us at all.

It was a comfortable walk along clear paths for the most part. The park service had also put in some heavy rubberized 'tiles' in some inclined areas to keep them from getting muddy and slippery in the wet weather. We only encountered one spot where a tree had fallen over the path, which meant we all had to climb over the trunk to get to the viewpoint, and do the same on the return journey. This was, of course, the point where it started to rain enough that it was coming through the trees and getting us all pretty damp. At least we weren't soaking wet! But as Larry says, it was truth in advertising: they sent us to the rain forest, and it rained!

Our guide explaining how the Strangler
Fig wraps around a tree and eventually
kills it

This was our goal. A spectacular view to
the west. As you can see, it was raining when
we got there. And look how low the clouds were!

Our walk back. It was as if the clouds
had come to meet us in the forest.

That was a nice bit of exercise! We reboarded the buses and began the drive to another part of the park for lunch. This was the Hidden Valley Cabins, a family owned rustic retreat. It looked like the perfect place to get away into nature. Although it didn't look like there were that many cabins and rooms, the dining room where they served lunch was large enough for the 60 people or so on the tour.

Our lunch included beef sausages, chicken
skewers, grilled onion and salads

One of the cabins

After lunch we loaded up again and headed back to town and the ship. We made one last stop at Crystal Creek, a gentle waterfall with pools that is a favourite swimming area for the local kids.

There were a couple more showers on the way back, but nothing to hamper our return to the ship.

Our next stop was in Cairns, but as we had done most of the excursions that were available, some more than once, we ended up staying on the ship and taking advantage of the pool deck lounges. That's not always possible on sea days, as people tend to dump things on them before breakfast and come back at their leisure to use them. Don't think people who sail luxury cruise lines are any different than anybody else in that respect.

A Short Stay in Sydney

 We were in Sydney from January 15 to 17 before boarding Regent Seven Seas Explorer.

Yes, we're way behind on posting. The internet has not been the greatest in Australia - StarLink may be great where there's lots of coverage, but where they have limited capacity it really isn't very good. Hopefully it will improve as we head further north. (Editor's note - January 29: we are now arriving in Bali and the service is much better!)

I have been able to keep up the sketching; here's the the sketchbook for the train journey:

Once we arrived in Sydney we dropped our luggage with the bell staff at the Shangri-La Hotel and did the paperwork for our check-in. As expected there was no room ready, so we headed out for a walk around The Rocks and Circular Quay and some lunch.

We wondered how well the local restaurants had weathered COVID, as we had last been here just as the world was starting to shut down in March 2020. As the quarantine restrictions in Sydney were about as stringent as they were at home, we thought that some of them may have had to shut down. But that wasn't the case. Even the smaller restaurants in The Rocks were still there and going strong.

Larry was looking for a hamburger, but as we approached the Munich Brauhaus he changed his mind.

No that is NOT one long sausage, but
2 with the ends covered in onions

A Skillet with pork, potatoes and
a fried egg

The weather was as expected, sunny and hot, and we were glad to get to the hotel and checked in. Our room did not face the harbour or the bridge, but rather to the west, over Darling Harbour. That ended up being OK as the ship would be in White Bay, which is on the inside of the bridge.

As our lunch was a good size, we had a plate of charcuterie in the hotel bar on the 36th floor instead of dinner.

As we sat in the bar, we could see dark clouds and lightning in the distance, and watched as a huge rainstorm made its way over Sydney. It was quite the spectacle! Once we were back in our room the rain started pounding on the windows and there were some pretty heavy crashes of thunder. We were hoping that the storm would pass by morning as we had a lunch reservation at Doyle's in Watsons Bay and would have to make our way to the ferry to get there.

That hope was not meant to be. We opened the drapes and found grey skies, fog and the evidence that it had been raining recently. After a light breakfast at the buffet, we donned our most appropriate clothes, picked up an umbrella and strolled off in light drizzle and wind to the ferry terminal.

We arrived at Doyle's at noon, about a half hour before our reservation, but it seemed that more than half of the people leaving the ferry at Watsons Bay were going to the same place we were. They had no trouble giving us a table, and we had a very nice lunch. Not the huge seafood sampler platter like we used to get. They only have one platter and it is way too large for us to finish nowadays. If we had one or two others with us we would have given it a shot. We did see one go to another table where it was being shared in a larger party. We ended up with barramundi and chips, with a stuffed prawn appetizer plate.

Stuffed Prawn appetizer

Barramundi and chips

The view toward downtown - foggy and rainy

Cheesecake with passionfruit sauce

Is this a big enough bowl of ice cream?

The restaurant from the boardwalk

The weather was only slightly better on the way back - no rain, but windy. Once we were back downtown, we walked up to the local pedestrian shopping area and then back down to the hotel. At least we managed to walk off some of the calories we'd consumed in the past week.

We found these two Lorikeets as
we strolled in The Rocks area

We were surprised to find that Regent Explorer was already at her berth in White Bay, along with another ship. We didn't think there was an overnight in the schedule.

Friday arrived - boarding day. Hotel staff had already collected our bags and stored them overnight to take to the ship. There was quite a large group of Regent guests at the hotel, so buses were also arranged to transfer us for the 20 minute ride to White Bay. We didn't realize until we were outside just how windy it had become, and this was even more evident when we reached the cruise pier at White Bay. The wind was literally howling, shaking the huge tent that served as the waiting and check-in area for our ship. 

Once we were on board we found out that the storm we had had, plus other rough weather in the Tasman Sea, had forced Explorer to cancel her call at Hobart and come straight to Sydney, which was why the ship arrived on Thursday. The wind gusts were so high that the captain announced that we would be staying overnight again as the wind was expected to die down somewhat by 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. It got so bad that the Harbour Authority closed off exit from the ship for passengers or crew; not that it was easy to get from the construction zone of a harbour into downtown to start with. It was just dangerous to be going anywhere.

Saturday morning at 11:00 we did finally leave the pier, and for the first time sailed under the Sydney Harbour Bridge on a cruise ship.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge from the other side, with
Baranagaroo Park in front

Part of the Rocks and skyline from the
ship's library

About to cross under the bridge. The bridge climbers
were all stopping to wave at us - and we waved back!

Passing by the Opera House

The captain wasn't kidding when he said the seas were going to be rough as soon as we left the bay - 20 foot waves and a howling wind. We had already missed our stop at Newcastle to go into the Hunter Valley, but they were having exactly the same kind of weather there, both on land and at sea, so it would not have been a pleasant excursion anyway. We now had an extra sea day on our way to Townsville.