Tuesday, February 25, 2020

February 25th - Darwin Day 2



This is what Fred and I felt like doing all day today!  This kid had the right idea.  It was another very hot and humid day today although the breeze was up and that helped as long as you weren’t in the sun.

Sun protection becomes a big part of your routine down under.  We use loads of sunblock and also wear hats whenever we’re outside.  I noticed the locals don’t necessarily follow suit but maybe they’ve built up a tolerance.

Today, we took the shuttle into town, about a 10-minute drive or so.  We could have walked in and we did walk back but we decided to reserve some energy in the morning.  Before we could board the shuttle, we were cornered by Australian customs.  A number of us were lined up at random for an inspection by the sniffer dog looking for agricultural products and the like.  They asked me and another person to hold a tote bag that was being used to test the dog.  He did stop and sniff longer at the bags but I’m not sure what his reaction was supposed to be.  At any rate they thanked us for helping out and we were off.

Of course, the ship offers all kinds of shore excursions, like the one we did yesterday.  Among the offers for today: a trip to see the Jumping Crocodiles($104pp); a leisurely tour of Darwin($69pp); visit a local wildlife park ($98pp); ride a Segway through the botanical gardens($146pp); take a harbor cruise($94pp) or go to a National Park($154pp). 

Our plan today was to walk along the town’s esplanade in a beautiful park we saw yesterday.  There was a bike trail going the length of the park and several plaques with information about the town and the Japanese attack in 1948.  This included a memorial to the USS Peary, the only American ship to be sunk during the attack.  It caught fire and unfortunately most men on board died.  President Obama was here in 2010 and participated in a memorial service.  Some of the ships have been salvaged and this gun was brought up from the Peary and stands as a memorial to the men.


We got a good view of our ship from the cliff.  We were about a mile or two away (this picture is zoomed) but we could hear the distinctive tones broadcast by the bridge before they make an announcement.  We are trained to those tones now.  When we hear them, we stop and listen!  Cunard has a policy where they don’t bother the guests with announcements except for a noon broadcast by the Captain that generally lasts a few minutes and provides information on our location, depth of the ocean, etc.  If we hear the tones at any other time, it’s generally a big deal and we all listen.  Today while we were at the park there was a crew drill going on so we knew what the tones were about.  It was just funny to hear them from so far away.



I forgot to mention yesterday that we saw several Wallabies while we were out at the Defense Museum.  These are like smaller Kangaroos except their noses are more rounded.  Very cute.  Some on the tour also saw a dingo but we didn’t see it.

Upon returning to the cruise terminal we were asked to complete a survey.  These are really helpful to the tourist bureau and I was glad to spend the 5 minutes or so to do it.  They wanted to know how you liked things of course, but also how much you spent on food and then souvenirs.  We really aren’t buying souvenirs on this trip so our ‘food’ amount seemed very large by comparison.  We know we could go back to the ship and eat for free but it’s great to get something different and try out the local eateries.  A lot of places had kangaroo on the menu, we did not partake.

So now we have three days at sea and then we’re in Cairns for a day although Fred and I will be going to a seaside town an hour or two away instead.

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