Darwin

We were due to dock at Darwin around 7am as our next port of call on the cruise. When the phone went off with notifications of emails, messages or voicemail missed calls at around 5:30 am we knew we were close to land as our phones reconnected with the phone system and came back to life.

We were able to walk easily (around 15 minutes) to the main city area of Darwin despite the tropical heat and humidity from where the ship docked.  It was no hotter than mid summer at home but the humidity was a little higher. Though it was similar to a mid summer's day on the  Sunny Coast, there wasn't the coolish north easterly sea breeze during the afternoon to temper things.

There were older buildings in Darwin beautifully maintained and now in pristine condition (photo above). There were modern hotels and some of the big stores you would see in any modern Australian city. It certainly isn't a large city but looked a fun town to be in.

We found a Telstra Air WiFi point and added photos to earlier posts and did all our updates. Trish even helped an older fellow traveller upload 4 or 5 photos to her Facebook page for her.

By 1:30 we were back on board with my clothes rinsed and drying on the balcony. I did have an icy cold beer in hand as well.

The following 4 days at some sea followed a familiar pattern. Wake, eat, chat, short walk, trivia, cards, eat, chat, relax, drink, sit on our balcony and drink, eat, show, trivia, bed. A quiet one on the balcony was always enjoyable.

The weather continued hot and steamy as we sailed from Darwin across to Milne Bay in New Guinea.  Upon our arrival in Alotau were instantly reminded of our time in Penang, the humidity, the heat and the threat of a storm.