Cairns

Oh boy, didn't Cairns turn on the weather today.  It was a balmy 32 degrees with hardly a cloud in the sky.  I was so pleased for our fellow travellers who would see Cairns in its best light.  Most of the people we talked to were either going to the Great Barrier Reef or to the Rainforest.  I was talking to a couple that we had dinner with a few nights ago and they dived on the reef.  There were beside themselves with joy when they returned as the coral display was absolutely beautiful (their words).  So many people think the reef is dead or dying (shame on the doomsday media) and that is not the case at all.  It is just as spectacular as it always has been and with two of the best coral spawning's on record on the last two full moons we can look forward to an even more spectacular coral reef.

We didn't chose a tour (surprise, surprise) and chose instead to meet our friend Kate for lunch.  We had organised for Kate to come on board the ship to have a look around but the Concierge didn't sign off on it unfortunately.  Our Darwin friends said that they tried to organise for their grandson to come aboard in Darwin and the same thing happened.  I just wish Regent would say that they can't (or won't) do it rather than give you false hope.
Once we met Kate outside the cruise ship terminal we made the short walk to the restaurant precinct on the pier.  As we entered our chosen restaurant (Italian) we were greeted by our new friends from Darwin.  They invited us to sit with them.  We chatted over a couple of glasses of wine before devouring platefuls of delicious pasta. It was a lazy lunch spent shooting the breeze and just the sort of lunch I adore.
Our departure from Cairns was 4.00pm so we all had to be onboard by 3.30pm.  It's funny to watch from our balcony those late comers - usually staff - running like crazy to reach the ship in time.  It's even funnier to watch on a wet day (forgive my warped humour).

At every port we pick up a Pilot to guide the ship to the Port. These two photos are the Pilot leaving the ship.  It's quite the manoeuvre to get the Pilot from a moving ship to his boat.

My head cold has moved to my chest so it was a visit to the doctor this evening.  After my $1500 medical bill on the last cruise I am now more aware of the charges so when the doctor said he would test for Strep, Influenza and some other obscure thing I flatly refused the tests.  He looked at me with disdain and said,
"Well, you will have to sign a waiver to say that you have gone against your Doctors advice".
Pass me the pen.
He actually give me a half smile at that stage and said
"Yes, the tests can be expensive".
You're not kidding.
So I am now taking antibiotic tablets the size of horse tablets and hopefully will start feeling better once we reach the Whitsundays tomorrow.