NORTHERN & WESTERN AUSTRALIA PRINCESS CRUISE
We've only just returned from a fantastic cruise on Sea Princess going from Sydney to Fremantle - 17 wonderful days then 3 days in Fremantle and Perth. So many experiences and so many photos.
We sailed out of Sydney on a warm, sunny day bound for Brisbane.........
Not having been to BRISBANE before, we took an open topped tourist bus so we could see as much as possible.
Looking down at South Bank from our tourist bus
This is the war memorial which we walked around and had lunch in a nearby restaurant.
CAIRNS was our next port of call and what a day we had there........an experience we will probably never have again. We boarded the Reef Rocket to go out to Green Island on to the Great Barrier Reef
On our way, the crew spotted a whale so the captain stopped so we could all take photos.....when suddenly, alongside the whale we'd first seen, appeared MIGALOO the white whale. The crew said they had never seen it before even though they've been sailing that route for years. Everyone took photos and video. MIGALOO stayed around the boat for about 15 to 20 minutes coming in close to have a good look at us then going around the boat before finally going beneath it. It was amazing.
After all that excitement, we finally reached Green Island where we went for a trip on a glass bottomed boat still in wonder at what we'd just seen on the sail over to the island. We saw many beautiful fish and coral from the glass bottom boat and also turtles but there's nothing to compare to seeing a pure white whale.
When we got back to Cairns, we had a bit of a wander and visited the casino to give them a "donation" then headed back to the ship
A few days later, we docked in Papua New Guinea at ALATAU. It was raining when we arrived, but that soon cleared to a sunny (hot) and humid day. We went on a ship's excursion to a festival where the villagers put on dancing, singing and drumming displays. There were also 2 long war canoes on the water.
As if we hadn't had enough excitement, we next arrived in DARWIN and went on the Spectacular Jumping Crocodile Cruise on the Adelaide River. These enormous crocodiles are wild and were tempted to jump to reach meat on a long pole held by one of the ladies who crew the boat. We weren't able to get a seat on the upper deck but I think we had a better view from downstairs even through the glass. These creatures are not something you'd want to mess with. Needless to say, you can't swim in the river.
As we sailed out of Darwin, there was a glorious sunset.
We next docked in BROOME where the earth is so red. We'd arranged for a Harley-Davidson Trike tour of the area so off we went with Frank, our driver. He took us all over the place pointing out places of interest and stopping on the beach water's edge to take photos of us on the trike. We also tried some bush tucker along the way. The trike went really fast at times so it was quite a ride.
The town itself isn't very big but looks interesting.
Next on the itinerary was a call into GERALDTON which is a really lovely town. A shuttle bus met us off the ship for a hop on, hop off trip around the town. For only $5 each, it's a real bargain. I took the shuttle up to the memorial to the HMAS Sydney, a ship sunk during WWII with the loss of all hands. This memorial is really well done. Volunteers were there to give us a free guided tour which is well worth doing.
Afterwards, I got back on the shuttle back to town and had a walk before having a lovely fish and chip lunch.
I walked back to the ship via the marina where the museum is also situated. It's a very lovely place.
Leaving GERALDTON, we then disembarked at our final port in FREMANTLE. We stayed at The Esplanade Hotel which was very central to everything. Fremantle has a lot of beautiful old buildings which have been so well maintained.
My aunt and uncle, who live in Fremantle, met us at our hotel and took us to ROCKINGHAM where we had lunch - another lovely place with a great beach.
We spent another two days in FREMANTLE taking a ride on the "tram" where the driver pointed out all the places of interest including the statue to Bon Scott, the original lead singer of AC/DC who lived and started his musical career in Fremantle and is now buried in Fremantle Cemetery. He was originally born in Scotland but came to Australia with his family when he was around 6 years old.
We had lunch at the wharf in Cicerallo's
We also went to the Fremantle Markets which has such a variety of interesting items for sale.
Another day we went into PERTH on one of the Captain Cook cruises which goes up the Swan River. We took the Explorer double decker bus to get around the city to see the sights. The bus took us up to the botanic gardens and the view from up there was magnificent.
This was the end of our holiday. A 17 day cruise on Sea Princess then 3 days in Fremantle and Perth. We had a 3.1/2 hour flight back to Melbourne and on the way lost 2 hours. It's been an amazing adventure and will take us a while to get back to normal.
We've only just returned from a fantastic cruise on Sea Princess going from Sydney to Fremantle - 17 wonderful days then 3 days in Fremantle and Perth. So many experiences and so many photos.
We sailed out of Sydney on a warm, sunny day bound for Brisbane.........
Not having been to BRISBANE before, we took an open topped tourist bus so we could see as much as possible.
Looking down at South Bank from our tourist bus
This is the war memorial which we walked around and had lunch in a nearby restaurant.
CAIRNS was our next port of call and what a day we had there........an experience we will probably never have again. We boarded the Reef Rocket to go out to Green Island on to the Great Barrier Reef
After all that excitement, we finally reached Green Island where we went for a trip on a glass bottomed boat still in wonder at what we'd just seen on the sail over to the island. We saw many beautiful fish and coral from the glass bottom boat and also turtles but there's nothing to compare to seeing a pure white whale.
When we got back to Cairns, we had a bit of a wander and visited the casino to give them a "donation" then headed back to the ship
A few days later, we docked in Papua New Guinea at ALATAU. It was raining when we arrived, but that soon cleared to a sunny (hot) and humid day. We went on a ship's excursion to a festival where the villagers put on dancing, singing and drumming displays. There were also 2 long war canoes on the water.
As if we hadn't had enough excitement, we next arrived in DARWIN and went on the Spectacular Jumping Crocodile Cruise on the Adelaide River. These enormous crocodiles are wild and were tempted to jump to reach meat on a long pole held by one of the ladies who crew the boat. We weren't able to get a seat on the upper deck but I think we had a better view from downstairs even through the glass. These creatures are not something you'd want to mess with. Needless to say, you can't swim in the river.
As we sailed out of Darwin, there was a glorious sunset.
We next docked in BROOME where the earth is so red. We'd arranged for a Harley-Davidson Trike tour of the area so off we went with Frank, our driver. He took us all over the place pointing out places of interest and stopping on the beach water's edge to take photos of us on the trike. We also tried some bush tucker along the way. The trike went really fast at times so it was quite a ride.
Next on the itinerary was a call into GERALDTON which is a really lovely town. A shuttle bus met us off the ship for a hop on, hop off trip around the town. For only $5 each, it's a real bargain. I took the shuttle up to the memorial to the HMAS Sydney, a ship sunk during WWII with the loss of all hands. This memorial is really well done. Volunteers were there to give us a free guided tour which is well worth doing.
Afterwards, I got back on the shuttle back to town and had a walk before having a lovely fish and chip lunch.
I walked back to the ship via the marina where the museum is also situated. It's a very lovely place.
Leaving GERALDTON, we then disembarked at our final port in FREMANTLE. We stayed at The Esplanade Hotel which was very central to everything. Fremantle has a lot of beautiful old buildings which have been so well maintained.
My aunt and uncle, who live in Fremantle, met us at our hotel and took us to ROCKINGHAM where we had lunch - another lovely place with a great beach.
We spent another two days in FREMANTLE taking a ride on the "tram" where the driver pointed out all the places of interest including the statue to Bon Scott, the original lead singer of AC/DC who lived and started his musical career in Fremantle and is now buried in Fremantle Cemetery. He was originally born in Scotland but came to Australia with his family when he was around 6 years old.
We had lunch at the wharf in Cicerallo's
We also went to the Fremantle Markets which has such a variety of interesting items for sale.
Another day we went into PERTH on one of the Captain Cook cruises which goes up the Swan River. We took the Explorer double decker bus to get around the city to see the sights. The bus took us up to the botanic gardens and the view from up there was magnificent.
This was the end of our holiday. A 17 day cruise on Sea Princess then 3 days in Fremantle and Perth. We had a 3.1/2 hour flight back to Melbourne and on the way lost 2 hours. It's been an amazing adventure and will take us a while to get back to normal.
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