Croc or Rock???

Took so many photos and I can't tell which ones are crocs.  There is a prize from our sponsors for the people that correctly identify the crocodiles in these pictures.

                             

 

                            

Day 29 - 14 June - Cairns

Up early.  Joe finished packing and got ready to go.

The bus arrived about 7:50, so we loaded Joe's bike and bags on and got him on his way to get his flight to Melbourne.

I did a bit of email, and then packed up and headed off for Ellis Beach.

Day 28 - 13 June - Cairns

Slow start to the morning.  Pancake breakfast provided by YHA was good.   About 10:00 am we went looking for a bike box for Joe and bike gloves for me.

At the Jardine River, my gloves were sopping wet with sweat and so I took them off and put them on a rail while we waited for the Jardine ferry.  Unfortunately, I forgot them when we went on the ferry.  Didn't notice for a few Kms but it was too late to turn back.  Bike shops to get gloves are few and far between on Cape York so I improvised when we were in Bamaga.  II bought some gardening gloves and cut the fingers off.  I reckon I am the most stylish bike rider around.  Pretty poor quality though and they disintegrated on the way back from the Tip.

 Stopped of at Cairns Central on the way and Joe had an interesting chat with this guy.  Joe will talk to anyone and as it turns out, anything..

 We ran into One Direction and they wanted to have their picture taken with Joe.  He reluctantly agreed.  I think Joe and Harry styles is the new bromance.

We eventually found the Giant Bike shop and they were happy to give Joe a box.  We took it back to YHA and Joe boxed up his bike. 

Had a lazy afternoon.  We had decided to go to Salthouse a restaurant at the marina for our last meal of the trip.  We went there last year as well.   Great food and wine.














Loved the view from the urinal.

Day 27 - 12 June - MV Trinity Cairns

After lunch there was an emergency drill. We had to go to the muster deck and put on life jackets. Couldn't help but smirk that the very large, loud, know-it-all had trouble because his shape meant the life jacket was in his face. He is annoying, sharing his opinion with everyone. Unfortunately everyone is too polite to tell him to piss off. I have noticed other passengers tend cluster on tables at mealtimes possibly as a mechanism to avoid getting caught by him. Must be hell on a tour bus!

Apart from Mark from Yorkshire, Tony and I are the youngest passengers. All the others are retired. Some are actually doing this trip both ways without a break. The trip is good and I am glad we did it, but more than 2 days and you would go loopy.








 Estimated departure and arrival times are posted up so we know when we will be docking.  Roll on 16:00.



 Got to Cairns a bit after 4:00 pm.  Good to see it from the water.  A bit late because some yachts had gone into the shipping lane and there was not enough wind for them to move out quickly and we had to slow right down.
















This boat apparently belongs to a friend of Bill Gates'.  A monster craft with its own helipad and helicopter.  It is rented out for research expeditions.  Anyone want to do some research with me?


Eventually docked and cycled off to the Cairns YHA for the night.


Bought some fish and made a salad...FANTASTIC after the cafeteria food on the boat.

Day 26 - 11 June - MV Trinity Bay

Not much happening on board. Meal times come around regularly. We have been reading books and wandering around on the muster deck.

This is the meals area.

Did a tour of the Bridge with Josh who is the watchkeeper at the time. The Master, Will was present too. Josh is 25 years old and has been at sea 8 years. He is just completing his Mate Level 4. He also drives the big crane. It is impressive to watch the crew at work. They all know their role and are constantly working.



Turns out it's not so hard...anyone can drive it ;-))

I liked the Master's mug.  Reminded me of home.

 We stopped off at Lockhart River where we were met by a barge at sea. More containers and a trailer were loaded on to the Trinity Bay.

 Pretty bored at this stage, they don't even have coits on the deck.  Where's the beach volley ball????

They do have a TV room where you can watch DVDs, but there is not much of a range and most of them seem to be scratched.  There is also a wide range of board games that the oldies seem to get into at night.

Day 25- 10 June - MV Trinity Bay

Finally the boat that will take us back to Cairns arrived about 4.00 am. I heard it from my tent.

We got up, about 7:00 am packed our bikes and had breakfast with the kayak guys. A couple of them lifted our bikes to test the weight and were surprised how heavy they were.  We headed down the jetty at 8.00 am despite not boarding until 10.00 am and watched them unload.

 Lots of containers and cars on board.  This is primarily a cargo vessel, so cargo operations come first, passengers last.
 Unloading was fascinating, the way they manage the crane and the limited space on the jetty to get containers and cars off.

We waited for a while and wandered down to the supermarket. Not because we really needed anything but because we were bored. After that we went back to Simone's shop to say goodbye and thanks.  Simone has been great in letting us sit in her shop and use her power while we were accessing the internet and doing the blog.

Finally back at the jetty Jude the Purser came down to escort us on board the Trinity Bay. We left the bikes on the jetty so they could be loaded and carried most of our panniers on board. 

 We received an induction briefing for about an hour, were allocated our cabin and given a tour. Being a cargo ship there aren't many areas to see.

Stairs are steep and narrow.

 No carpet on the floors here.

Our cabin is small but comes with its own male model.

 While all this was happening, loading and unloading of freight had commenced. We were keen to see the kayaks the guys were using for their trip to Saibai being unloaded so we could check out their configuration but unfortunately that happened during the induction. While freight loading is going on passengers are confined to the ship.

They left our bikes on the jetty until everything else was loaded and we were keen to see how they would manage the bikes.  As it turned out they just passed them across to the boat.  you could tell as they did it that they weren't expecting the weight and we were a little concerned as we were watching them that we might have to pull them out of the water, but all went OK.






Freight was completed about 4.00 pm. The ship had to wait until high tide about 8.00 pm before departure so we were free to wander about Seisia. Given we had already spent too long there we only wandered as far as the freight yard but the kayaks were already gone. A short turn along the beach and then back on board.

 Most of the passengers on board seem to be in their 60's.  Here is a picture of a few of them.

 We had been been told the meals were very good on board.  Lee from the Croc Tent had described it as the "5 kg trip". Certainly the meals come around rapidly .  Cooked breakfast, morning tea, cooked lunch, afternoon tea and dinner...it all revolves around mealtimes.

I would describe them as good cafeteria food, good variety with a good mix of protein and vegetables. It would be easy to eat too much. We are having to be disciplined. 

I didn't request vegetarian food in my booking so I am eating everything but I am looking forward to getting home and cooking my own meals.

Once the ship is underway it is noisy!!!  There is constant engine noise and vibration and a slight vibration.  Most of the times the seas are small and the ride is smooth, but occasionally there is a bit of movement, but not much. Jude gave us ear plugs to help with the noise, but we didn't need them.  The noise and vibration was quite rhythmic and rocked us to sleep.

Day 24 - 9 June - Loyalty Beach - Seisia - 6 km

Joe had told me about the frogs in the showers.  Of course I couldn't see them because I didn't have my glasses on.  Thought they were insects or dirt on the wall.  Anyway took some photos when I had my shower this morning.  They are tiny.  Would be good on a biscuit with a bit of dill ;-))

Groundhog Day! Although Loyalty Beach is nicer than Seisia Holiday Park there isn't much to do there if you're not fishing. We skipped breakfast and rode back to Seisia.  Lots of wild horses roaming around.  S

at around Simone's shop so we could access the Internet in comfort.

After a while we booked into the campsite and were to set up our tents in front of the Seaview Lodge as we did previously.

 We went down to the wharf and had a look around...again.  Lots of cars packed up ready to go back on the cargo ship.  We were told that 3 of these cars had died trying to make it up the Old Telegraph Track.  Soft...get a Motobecane (that's our bike brand).








While we were down there, a massive barge came in from Cairns with about 4 pre-fabricated houses on board.

We watched them muscle it into the dock and tie up.  Took them ages, but very interesting.

 We then watched them unload.  Very skilled operation moving the modules on the barge with the forklift, backing the semi onto the barge, loading the semi and driving off.

Once they are off, they are stored on the wharf until another semi comes and takes them to where they will be set up.  Part of a government initiative worth millions.  They were shipping about 70 homes to Siesia.  Creating lots of employment.  Plenty of builders, sparkies, plumbers up here all pulling in big bucks.

We were talking to a local, and apparently the allocation process is a bit dodgy.  The mayor (who has been in jail twice) allocates them.  good if your his buddy.

In the afternoon a group of very fit looking blokes arrived, at first we thought they were service personnel. It turned out they were a diverse group including a neurosurgeon, doctor, lawyer, firemen  and others who were going to paddle 7 metre 2 man kayaks to Saibai Island, 3 km from PNG across Torres Strait.  still part of Australia, but closer to PNG.

They seemed to have connected through Adventure Racing which is a hybrid combination of mountain biking, paddling, running and rogaining. We thought they were mad! It made a bit more sense when it was revealed the kayaks had a sail as well as paddles. Even so we were mightily impressed.

We had dinner with Gavin who is a fireman at "Grumpy Pants cafe" the Seisia Kiosk. We call it Grumpy pants because the proprietor is a very anal prickly individual. The food there is pretty good though so we enjoyed our meal with Gavin explaining more about the kayak adventure. 

Early to bed again.