I finish my watch at 2 am and apart from a couple of large vessels in the shipping lane, there is thankfully nothing to report.
Climbing into bed, I have to fling off one of the blankets – it’s certainly getting warmer as we go further north. I sleep through the night not waking until 8 am – unheard of when on passage – wonderful, although I manage to miss all the excitement of a whale heading straight for the boat before diving back down It doesn’t surface again until it’s too far away to be photographed.
We have good, pretty steady winds all morning allowing us to sail at 8 knots and arrive into the marina at Cairns around lunchtime. Immediately Mike hooks the internet up and pretty soon all four of us are sitting around using our individual PCs. How sad!
Brown Eyed Girl arrives but they get berthed right over the other side of the marina to us and we don’t see them once they are in.
Heidi makes lunch then we go off to explore the town. It’s actually very pretty with an esplanade and promenade and a man made lagoon for people to paddle in – complete with imported sand etc. These are pretty popular because people don’t seem able to go into the water due to the jelly fish and the salt water crocodiles, not to mention the bloody sharks!
On the subject of crocodiles, let me introduce the ‘salties’. These are the huge salt water crocs that grow to about 20 feet long and hang around the river estuaries where they meet the sea. They love hiding in the mangroves and can jump 10 feet up in the air to snatch their unsuspecting prey from the decks of boats. There have been reports of people losing their pet cats and dogs this way. I won’t be dangling my feet overboard anytime soon! We will be going on a river trip to see if we can spot any of them soon. How sensible is that?
Heidi and I walk up one road which is in the shade of lots of trees. We can hear loads of birds until, looking up, we see that they aren’t birds but literally hundreds of fruit bats. It’s a real case of ‘spot the tourist’. No sensible Aussie is walking along this stretch, just stupid people like us looking up taking photos. Well actually, stupid people like me. Heidi has the sense to put the map of Cairns over her head so that she doesn’t get covered with fruit bat poop!
We turn down a side alley and suddenly find the most amazing street art which reminds me so much of some of the stuff you see around central London.
The town has a sort of colonial feel about it. The buildings are mainly white in the city centre, and there is a backdrop of mountains. There’s the usual assortment of tourist tat shops mixed in with decent ones (and a very upmarket ‘Galleria’). Everything is very clean and orderly (apart from the bloody fruit bats!).
We stop at an art gallery showing Aboriginal art. I have to say I do like the more abstract ones (never been keen on any art that depict animals and such like). The work all seems to be based on dots. Blocks of colour are made up of hundreds of them. I would like to buy a small painting or something for the apartment back home but they are very expensive.
On the way back to the boat I keep my eye out for the lovely Ugg slippers that I saw in Sydney. Yes, I know I already have a pair which I bought in Fiji but they are the fushia pink clog type and the ones I also like are baby pink with little ribbons on and are sooooo sweet. I should have bought them when I saw them. Sigh.
As we walk along the esplanade, there are people doing an aerobic exercise class in the park. They are copying, well sort of copying, the woman on the stage. It’s all very strange.
The marina and bay are bathed in golden light from the sunset as we return. It looks quite beautiful.
We go out for dinner in the evening, looking at all the menus along the marina before deciding on the first one we saw. I have a Japanese steak dish – wagu or something (that’s not quite right) – not what I expected but a really good piece of steak all the same.
Back on the boat I see that Victoria is on line and call her using Skype. She is in floods of tears as she tells me that she has passed all her exams and is now a fully fledged dispensing optician. I am so proud of her and the news finishes off my day nicely!
Our position is: 17 deg 36 min S, 146 deg 46 min E
Distance so far: 10953 nautical miles
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