During the night we had sailed inside the Barrier Reef and up the coast. The ship arrived early in Trinity Bay and down Trinity Inlet to …...Trinity Wharf. and tied up starboard side to town. That put our veranda above the terminal building and a view of the town, that is, when the torrential downpour left up enough to see. Our plan for the day was to take a ferry to the reef, board a large pontoon “station” and thefre spend the rest of the day snorkeling and scuba diving. With the heavy rain and dark skies we reluctantly canceled the reef trip and instead walked into town armed with raincoats, and umbrella and a Visa card. Finding an outfitters I acquired a replacement Tilly hat, a waterproof satchel for cameras, a kangaroo leather belt and a pair of socks. Practical. (My beloved Tilly hat is in Sydney Harbor, having taken its final trip borne by a gust of wind across deck 6 forward during our departure .I am told people thought it was a frisbee and it may have made it all the way back to Circular Quay.) We sloshed our way to a mega mall in the city and searched the bookstore, bought photo paper, Aussie seasonings and a dozen bags of pretzels. Just the sort of thing one travels half way around the world to do, right? All was not lost for we engaged in a dry lunch at Ochre Restaurant at 43 Sheilds St. (www.ochrerestaurant.com.au). It was a plate of breaded fried bugs on a lemongrass stick, Barramundi spring rolls and spicy calamari rings; with three sauces, asian salad, a coleslaw and an arugula mixed green salad. A stubie (beer) to wash it down, mate. If lunch was so good as to earn our 4 star rating, dinner would be even better. But, alas, that would not be. The heavy rain kept us onboard for dinner.
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| view from our veranda toward esplanade |
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| view from our veranda toward city & mountains (between downpours) |
I managed to secure a few bottles of AU wine on the way back to the ship, just in case cocktail time should come about some afternoon. I heard from those who had continued on to the reef that no one went snorkeling and two who went scuba diving didn't see much, it being so dark. Julie and I agreed to return someday. I'll bring my raincoat just in case. To see what we didn't see, visit www.cairns.com.au .
Actually, we have been fortunate in weather so far and cannot really complain about being rained out. Whine a little, but no complaining.
About 0230, the wee small hours of the morning, we slipped the hawse and quietly moved out of the harbor and under the protection of the reef, sailed up the coast.
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