One thing about myself: I probably should have written the whole blog at one sitting because I am now losing interest …
However, Kimberley Coastal, York Sound and Prince Frederick Harbour are worth writing about – how amazing to see this remote coast from a cruise ship – the elevation gave a brilliant view of contrast between the red cliffs and blue ocean.
The ship, True North, was anchored toward the lower end of Prince Frederick Harbour. We towered over that ship – although we didn’t really get very close. You can see it in the centre of the photograph. My camera is not really adequate to the splendour of the scenery.
The islands and reefs we passed coming into the York Sound have interesting names – Robroy Reef, Maret Island and Naturalist Island on the north-east of the mouth of the Hunter River. It was difficult to take photographs, people kept popping up in front of me and I got some wonderful shots of fat tummies and bald heads. Eventually I gave up and just enjoyed the sensation of viewing the sunset in this beautiful place.
The moon was waxing (full moon just after we left Benoa in Bali). The light of the setting moon woke me up – me thinking it was dawn – it shone so brilliantly. I would like to have photographed it but, in the event, I didn’t get to do that although on a number of occasions I stood for ages (at 4.00AM) on the balcony gazing into the eyes of the moon until it disappeared behind clouds low on the horizon. No wonder Roland thinks I’m … odd!
Now the Sun Princess headed south-west along the coast of Western Australia, toward Broome. We had one day at sea (think NO laundromat, lots of swimming etc.) before we arrived in the Port of Broome “situated on the North shore of Roebuck Bay”. For me, I was looking forward to this port-of-call more than the others because my dearest friend Robin lives in Broome and I was going to see her in her own habitat! How exciting!
Broome Pier, very long and spindly looking – we weren’t allowed to walk along it but had to wait for buses and coaches to fetch and carry us. We knew we were back in WA when our bus driver had his mobile phone glued to his ear making plans for the evening. There were Broome people fishing along the pier and I hear that the fishing is very good! The tides in Broome are huge – it is a tidal port with shallow water and strong currents. Our arrival and departure was governed by the tides and that meant we had a longer stop in Broome than in some of the other ports we visited. According to the Captain’s Log, there was a tidal range of 2.6m during our call to Broome.
I’ll tell you about Broome in the next instalment.
Meanwhile, here is another laundromat story. I was walking past the laundromat and overheard two older men (late 60s) having a chat. The one man was showing his friend his Princess Cruises complimentary carry-bag which, he said, “I thought I’d try it out.” His friend looked him up and down and retorted, “You look like a bloody old shiela!” OK, not pc I know but it tickled my funny bone and I still chuckle when I think about it.
Eavesdropping is one of my favourite hobbies.
thoughts and memories 