 |
| secret WW II tunnels under Darwin |
Darwin
You might remember that Jeff and I spent a couple of days in Darwin before our Kimberley Coast cruise and Darwin is on the small size. We have decided to skip the couple of excursions the ship offered - nah we don't need to see more crocodiles and not dying to go on the WWII tour around town. We docked in the middle of the afternoon so after we went through immigration we headed on a pedestrian passage to the other side of the harbor to a different dock where the Royal Flying Doctors and the Darwin WWII Museum is located. We were told the museum was good from our earlier cruise's fellow passengers. We also have a sunset cruise booked for the evening; thus, we had less time than ideal for the museum. Having said that 1 1/2 hours would have been more than enough since it is not big.
One of the things we learned when we started planning this trip was how much Darwin suffered during WWII. The same Japanese mastermind who planned Pearl Harbor also planned the first attack on Darwin 10 weeks later. It too was a devastatingly attacked, but that was not the end of attacks on Darwin. In fact, there were over 65 attacks over the next year or so. The first attack completely obliterated the dock that had been used for fueling ships and I might add many ships. The museum is now built on the rebuilt dock close to where the fuel supplies had been. While small, the museum was well done. It had a several short movies and some virtual reality spots. One of the "movies" is on the wall as you come in and is a recreation of the attack that happened right there on the fateful day. Nearby in a theater we watched a hologram of the U.S. naval officer in charge of a ship talk about the attack and how he had left his ship ready to try and escape which it did while he was on shore.
 |
| Harbor was also a base for a fleet of Catalina Sea Planes and their tendor |
Then we quickly wandered to the back of the museum which was geared to the Royal Flying Doctors. This organization is very important to the rural areas of Australia, and I believe a non-profit. This group has small airplanes designed to pick people up in rural areas and get them to medical care. There was a plane there we could walk through, and Jeff did a virtual reality of flying over the outback. Then we needed to get a move on to get to our sunset cruise which was in a different part of town.
 |
| Room for two patients plus 3 medical perssonel |
The cruise was from Cullen Bay and we got there with time to spare so we wandered for a couple of minutes. This is a nice area. There are some very nice houses right on the bay and several enticing businesses. Jeff tells me that there is a lock protecting this bay and we will go through it on the sailboat. Our guides for the ship show up and we head to it. Much to Jeff's relief it truly is a sailing catamaran and even more to his joy we would really and truly sail tonight not the halfheartedly put up a sail and motor: we really sailed some. The sunset was nice and there were 3 friends we have met on the ship with us so a good evening.
 |
| Beach near the Mindil market we attended on our first visit to Darwin a few weeks back |
 |
| "A lovely day" |
 |
| once again at home on a sailboat |
 |
| We think bush fires are partly responsible for the gorgeous sunsets |
Next morning since we are docked and it is a nice area, Jeff and I went out for a short run. The terrain was flat the temperature was cool and no humidity so a nice short run. We took a shuttle bus up to town (yes up a steep embarkment) and did some shopping and errands. On our way back, the driver was nice enough to drop us off at the WWII oil storage tunnels. They are at the base of the embarkment. We learn when they were built the land ended pretty much right there rather than the land for apartments we see now. Remember we are in a place with crocodiles so one military guy was stationed at the entrance with the job of killing any crocodiles who came to the area. They would have come because around 200 men were digging and building these tunnels largely by hand. It was miserable work and the project had several problems including collapses from the soft dirt and heavy rains during the rainy season to just water challenges in general. There were several massive cost overruns, but they kept building them. They were not completed before the war was over. Instead of just shutting it down the project continued but smaller. Eventually 3 or 4 tunnels were built and a pumping area. In the early 50s it was used by the Royal Air Force for a short while, but then there were heavy rains and the water caused the fuel to leak out and into the bay. End of tunnels. They were refurbished for the 50th anniversary of the bombing and is a tourist attraction now. The tunnels are metal with an inner concrete coating which you can see from our photos.
 |
| Amazingly long fuel storage tank/tunnel |
 |
| Darwin is a modern looking city due to Cyclone Tracy destroying most buildings in 1974 |
Thursday Island
Unfortunately, Thursday Island turned into a bust. We sailed to, we saw it, but they would not let us off the ship. Said the waves were going to get too high later in the day for the tenders to being us back. So no most northern Australian pub, no dance ceremony just a slow sail by. I will admit for most of that day the weather was kind of grey and miserable. It meant though that we had 3 sea days in a row because Oceania did not try and come up with an alternate port for us.
 |
We passed many islands as we traveled from Darwin in the Northern Territory to Queensland
|
 |
| Luman, our cabin steward would pose Seabee each day |
Cairns
After 3 sea days we were all happy when we got to Cairns. Jeff and I had booked an all-day Great Barrier Reef Snorkeling trip so it was a get up and get moving type of day. We knew the boat we had booked was full because a friend could not get a spot on the trip. Turns out there was a school group of around 20 or so tween age girls which was a big chunk of our 76 guests (they counted us several times). Years ago, Jeff and I had gone to the Barrier Reef with Cierra on a much smaller boat and we think it was a shorter trip too but that would have been from a neighboring town (Port Douglas). I was glad I took a sea sickness pill because while it was a catamaran and should be more stable. My that boat moved in all sorts of directions while we were sailing to and from the reef! It was almost 2 hours of sailing time till we got to the first spot - we would visit 2 reefs. The Great Barrier Reef name is a little misleading since it is actually a collection of many reefs. Being a big boat this was a very organized operation. There was an option for a snorkeling sea safari which I sent Jeff on; there were rings out in the water for break spots while you were out snorkeling; a couple of people on lifeguard duty, a scuba diving group and they provided wetsuits for us. Before we went on the trip, Jeff and I thought the wet suits were for sun and jellyfish protection. Um no more like for warmth. When we got up that morning it was only mid 50s. Um say what? I had looked it up before we left home and while not as warm as I would have liked it was not supposed to be that cold! Happily, it did warm up to the mid 70s and the water was in the upper 70s so while you would shiver when you got out of the water and until you could get in the enclosed part of the boat, it was fine while in the water.
The first spot Norman reef. Jeff went out with the safari group which ended up taking all of our time there. He saw a grey reef shark and said the guide stopped and talked a lot along the way. I should add that there were a lot of waves/choppy. The waves slapped you in the face some and the first stop was a little further away from the reef than the second spot. At the end of the first stop, most people slipped out of the wet suits and into towels or some dry clothes for lunch while we went to the 2nd spot. I liked this spot much better. Because the reef was closer to the boat although it still took some work to get out to the reef itself. Jeff and I were together a lot here and saw some very colorful fish, ended up joining in the middle of schools of small fish a couple of times and did see a lot of brightly colored coral. I came in earlier than Jeff and of course after I left him he sees a turtle under water. He followed it and pointed it out to some of the school girls. They got to see the turtle come up for air and then go back down again.
At the end of our snorkeling, the crew said time to feed the fish some. They had a bucket of small fish, and one member started throwing them out into the water. Obviously, they do this regularly, because fish immediately appeared. I believe she said most of them were a type of red fish and said how you could tell their age by the rings around their eyes. She also explained how they change colors during the day. Then we had a big guy come by and I do mean big! I think he was a priacanthus (just looked it up). He seemed friendlier than the others - mostly a bottom feeder she said. After that it was time for the 1 1/2-hour ride back to the dock.
 |
| free food draws a crowd |
 |
| priacanthus |
We chose a tour group called Dreamtime which is a common Aboriginal name in Australia, and we are suspicious that the tour company is aboriginally owned. We think that because there were some talks throughout the day on helping rebuild the reef and then on the local tribes in the area. We learned about fishing with spears, how they had clay bottoms to their canoes so they could build a fire in them and cook their fish there and then at the end of the cruise they did a musical presentation with 2 types of wooden blocks and a didgeridoo. It was a good day. Happily, even though we didn't put sunscreen on we did not get sunburns!
 |
| these crew brought the aboriginal story to our day |
Townsville
Last stop in Australia. Felt weird to us to think that way since we have been back and forth to Australia for over a month now! This was a hard port to figure out what to do. We weren't impressed with the ship's excursions so we had passed on that and several others were planning on taking a ferry over to a neighboring island called Magnetic. Then one of their speakers did a talk on Townsville and made the town sound nice so we decided to just hang around the town. Personally, I am glad I did not plan on going to the beach at Magnetic Island because it was again only in the 50s when we woke up. Happily, the ship provided a van to town from the port because we were most definitely in an industrial port! Watched some cars get unloaded from a nearby ship. The strand had sounded like a great place to wander from her talk so we took the stop there which means we were walking along a nice sidewalk by the water. There were lots of people out enjoying the weather because while this is their winter it was in the 70s (both of us were wearing pants and long sleeves).
 |
| Townsville |
 |
The Ocean Siren
This lighting sculpture changes colors based on the temperature of the water at Davies Reef catching the daily variations. It's purpose is to inspire reef and ocean conservation as coral reefs are threatened by rising temperatures. |
 |
| The ocean lacked any waves due to the wind and surf shadow from Magnetic Island |
The strand ended in an area that had been a military barracks at one time, so we walked up there too and saw a big outline of the routes naval vessels from the allied and Japanese had taken during the war of the Coral Sea. It was also a nice view. Then we backtracked on the strand to a restaurant Jeff had spotted when we first started because we were both hungry and ready for lunch. The place looked nice and it had a good crowd which are usually good signs for a restaurant. Well, this time it did not quite work out as well as usual. There was a big crowd because the kitchen was so backed up; very few people were eating most were waiting for their food. We too would wait almost an hour before our fish and chips would arrive. Unfortunately during that time the wind picked up and it is an open-air place - happily they moved us to a less windy spot, but we were still chilled by the time we left. The head waitress felt bad about how long we had to wait for our food and offered us a coffee each - yeah no thanks. Then she offered us a traditional Aussie drink which we tried and liked. I think it was lemon lime with bitters. There was a ginger taste in there too. We walked a little bit more to the other end of the strand and then headed back to the ship. It was a nice relaxing day and a good walk.
 |
| Our restaurant for lunch |
Oh Magnetic Island was named by Captain James Cook who explored in this area a lot. When he was by that island, his compass would not work so he thought there was some magnetic energy in the area. Today is is a lightly populated suburb of Townsville. It was also what we were passing as our ship left the area during sunset.
 |
| 4 sea days ahead as we prepare to sail east |
0 comments:
Post a Comment