Today we attended farewell show. The band was playing the world hits, dancers were dancing:

After the show we had a chance to meet our favorite dancers and singers. I was talking with the charming lady – solist from Wales:

We had a good time, but sorr it was the time to pack our luggage. 🙂

After two days on the island our ship is turning back to Brisbane. Finally I have a time to enjoy unlimited ice cream, fruits and good music.

I had a chance to meet new friends from San Diego, California. We will be sailing together all the way to San Francisco:

In the piano bar on our ship the great pianist is performing every evening. I met him after hours in the restaurant an we had an interesting talk about the music, about our travels and plans. Perhaps I will meet him on the next cruises:

There are dance lessons and different demonstrations all day long. One of them was ice carving performed by one of our Philippino cooks. This was an eagle in ice:

Little Mystery Island belongs to Vanuatu. It is so small that you can walk it around in less than an hour! The island is uninhabited – only when locals expect a cruise ship they are arriving from other, bigger islands. No port, we landed using the tenders.

Mystery Island, surrounded by the coral reef offers great beaches, tourist market, water sports and everything you need to enjoy the tropical island. Around the island there is nice path, with clean toilets hidden under the palms

For those, who wants explore the village located on the bigger island they offer for 25 USD pp boat tour with 30 minutes village walk. I had a chance to see how do they live. We explored also ruins of the church, flowers and plants in the gardens:

Lovely song were performed by local choirs during my stay on Mystery. Massages and hairdressing were offered too. Funny picture in the canibal’s big pot cost 5 AUD.

But the highlight is lovely color of the water and unspoiled nature. The only strange place in this paradise is grassy airstrip built in the middle of the island during WW2. Queen Elisabeth II was here later on…

Even if there are clouds over the high island next to Mystery on this small island the sun is shining!

On the island of Lifou they don’t have a port so we were landing using the tenders (motor boats) from the ship. Crystal clear waters, white beach and locals in the national “costumes” were waiting for us on the coast.

They performed for is drumming and dances. Just nearby under the palms there were few souvenir stalls and a chance to try regional food. There were also taxi operators offering tours to the “city”. I saw this city before – there is nothing special to see so we took the walk to the nearest village. People are friendly, but they speak rather French than English:

We also climbed to the chapel of Notre Dame do Lourdes built on tje hill – 1 km from tje landing place. Surprise: they started to charge entry fee at the beginning of the path – 5 AUD per person is requested… The chapel is small and poor so the best advantage of this walk is the view of the bay with the ship in it.

This was very hot, but interesting day, full of tropical flowers, palms and local songs. People were bathing and swimming on the beach, but no futher exploration – excursions from the ship cost 100 euro pp and more. Not enough time to explore by foot. But Lifou is still a lovely place and under the palms you can still see traditional thatched houses:

Day at sea. It is visible on the monitor in our cabin that instead sailing directly to Noumea we turned far north. Today captain announced that weather situation improved so we can sail back to the New Caledonia’ island of Lifou. But visit to Noumea is cancelled because we lost a lot of time. I have been in Noumea already twice, but my companion will be not happy…

In the morning my friend Waldek took us to the cruise terminal on Brisbane River. Our ship was already waiting there and at 11 am, after smart check-in we were already in our cabin on deck 1. For the first time since years I was staying in the cabin with a window!

We departed in the afternoon and in the evening I had a pleasure to introduce myself to my 52nd captain – Vittorio Marchi. He is nice person. I asked him if he ever had a passenger who visited all countries of the world. No!

South of Brisbane on the bend of the river some hundred years ago they established Lonely Pine Koala Sanctuary. We went there today to show my companion the birds and animals of Australia. They charge for emtry 47 AUD from seniors and 10 AUD more for adults.

We spent there 5 hours wondering around, attending the shows of feeding parrots, sheep herding and falcons. Kangaroos are not shy and you can buy food to feed them. More than 100 of koalas are eating eucalyptus leaves. If you are ready to spend more money you can have the picture with koala in your arms.

This was hot, sunny and lovely day. Tomorrow we will be boarding our second ship, heading to New Caledonia.

Today we docked in Bribane – the capital of Queensland. New passenger cruise terminal is located here far from the city – on the empty space between the mouth of the river and the airport.

It is time to say goodbye to our ship! The officers on arrival select from the line the people to the detailed baggage control – they are looking for forbidden food! We were not selected! It is so good to have the true friends: Waldek, living in Brisbane was waiting for us in front of the terminal and took us by car to the center.

Downtown Brisbane is nicely located pn the river. I had 4 hours to show my companion the city landscape. Nice nature and the elegant river bridges….

We made long long loop walking along the river to the technical university (free wifi) then to botanical garden and onward to Central Business District full of bright skyscrapers.

On the way back we crossed river on the old Store Bridge built almost 100 years ago.

Ala and Waldek – my old friends invited us to their house on the outskirts of Brisbane. We spent hours, talking about traveling the world. Thank you dear friends!

This little port surrounded by green hills and little islands act as the tourist capital of Whitsunday archipelago. The port here is too small to accommodate big ships so we were taken ashore by tenders.

We disembarked in the marina (yes, they offer maps, but no wi-fi connection here). City bus (5 AUD fee) can take you to the settlement. But it is walking distance. On the way you will see souvenir market with clothes and plastic products. Nothing special… The palm- fringed city beach is nearby. It is hot…. Thanks God drinking water dispensers are around.

There are many excursions offers on the motorboats but for me they are too expensive. We took a long walk along the shore enjoying tropical flora. Our ship was visible on the horizon. Last tender will go back to the ship at 5 pm!

Finally I found the Woolworths Shopping facility with a/c and free Internet so I can send you this note and few pictures. Tomorrow we have day at Coral Sea and on the next morning I will disembark the ship in Brisbane. Ahoy from the South Seas!

Lovely sun since the morning… We are docking in Cairns – the main gate to the Great Reef. I have been here sone 40 years ago, during my first voyage to Australia. Cairns is much nicer now. But the cruise terminal is poor – no wifi connection and chairs. I found the access to the net only at Chambers Cafe on the corner of Spence Street.

The city is clean and well maintained. There is museum and few samples of colonial architecture in the streets..

Only 8 years ago they built in Cairns great aquarium. The entry costs 56 AUD for adults, but 46 for seniors. It is still much, but I decided to spend this money and this was a good choice:

So many species of color fish! Corals and underwater gardens… I returned to the ship hungry but happy! :). We leaved the port early in the afternoon to be in the morning in Airlie Beach. The exit from the mangrove bay was very spectacular…