Day #6 New Guinea Adventure

Kitava, The Trobriands

There’s a lot of peer pressure on this ship, what with all the great photographers and such but the pressure is the greatest to be up there on the the deck 6, at the bow of the ship for sunrise.

At 06:00 there’s Nick, Mike Moore from the Expedition Team, Peter, and several other guests all set up tripods mounted waiting for the sunrise. Woe betide anyone who doesn’t get up! This morning I’m there and I have the sunrise to prove it.

Sunrise

Overnight we have travelled north from Samarai Island to an area known as The Trobriands and Kitava Island.

Map of the region showing our heading -  Google map link

The Trobiand Islands are a 170 mi2 archipelago of coral atolls off the eastern coast of New Guinea. They are situated in Milne Bay Province and the majority of the population of 12,000 indigenous inhabitants live on the main island of Kiriwana. Other major islands in the group are Kaileuna, Vakuta and Kitava. The social structure is based on matrilineal clans who control land and resources.

We prepare to disembark for Kitava Island at 08:15 however local custom requires that all guest arrive together and stay together until all welcoming ceremonies are complete. This means that those guests in the first zodiac will have to wait by the ship until the last guests board their zodiac. So rather than sit bobbing in a zodiac in the hot morning sun we hang back for the last one. Once we are aboard all the zodiacs head for the island.

As we approach the island we can see that the villagers have created an arena on the beach where we will be entertained by their dancers and performers. We land in a lagoon, formed by the tiny coral cay of Nuratu Island just off the main beach of Kitava Island, and are greeted with garlands of orchids and welcomed onto the island. As we are in the last zodiac all the best seating has gone but we get to sit on rush mats close to the action.

After a welcome by the chief and other representatives of the villagers the entertainment begins. First out a troupe of young men who even though the want to appear intimidating and maybe a little threatening are actually having a great time and hopefully enjoying it as much as we are.
The performance begins

The look on their faces tells it all, a mix of terror at having to perform in front of strangers and remember all the moves but also great joy that we have come to watch them perform.
The young men of the island

Next up it’s the turn of the girls and they are beautifully dressed and decorated with ribbons, feathers and painted symbols.
The young girls

After the girls there is a foot-stomping performance by the young men who use bamboo sticks to beat out the time. These young men seem to be really enjoying it and there is one cheeky young man in particular who throws himself into the performance.
Cheeky Kid

All the while this is going on those who have finished performing join those villagers who have come to watch and sit around the edge of the arena taking in the entertainment.
Spectator
Performer
Helene [Orion Expedition Team Member]

At one stage a group of older women enter the arena to perform and they gesture to the audience requesting we join them in the dance. As we are sitting right on the edge of the arena Kelly and I hop up to join them along with another of the Orion guests. Nick happened to be shooting some video at the time and captured the event. Needless to say there was a lot of hollering and laughter from the villagers as we attempted to match their style and grace!



Video of Kelly and I dancing

After the performance was over we had a chance to walk around and look at all of the beautiful artefacts and crafts they had arranged for sale.
Group of women and children selling woven bags and hats

I think it was all too much for this dog who just slept in the middle of the path where they were selling all their goods.
Sleeping Dog

So after having a look around the market, Justin called us together and we started the trek up the hill to the village. It was incredibly hot and we were told it would take about 40 minutes to reach it.
All ready to hike up the hill with my camera gear

Along the way there were lots of villagers walking with us, some just sitting watching us others still dressed in their symbolic costumes, others carrying their chickens.  We pass local gardens growing crops of taro, yam, banana and breadfruit, the staples of the islanders.
Young boy in feather headdress
Young man with chicken

Just before we got to the main village we came to a flat area where the local primary school is located.
Primary school sign

Close to the primary school is a Yam storehouse. The islanders are famous for their culture and huge yam gardens, yams are more than just the staple diet, and have cultural significance in tribal rituals. Yams are proudly displayed after harvesting and then kept in elaborate storehouses.
Yam Storehouse

We passed the school and kept heading up the hill. At one spot we came to a memorial grave (I think it was someone that Justin knew, I'll try and get the name) that was decorated with a beautiful replica of a traditional canoe bow with splashboard and wavesplitter.  These two are the most distinctive features of the Kula (local) canoes. The splashboards enclose the ends of the canoe and provide a greater overhang on the outrigger and give protection from spray and water surging into the hull and the wavesplitter holds the splashboard in place.
Memorial with canoe bow

A few minutes after passing the memorial we finally reached the village. Seeing it took my breath away, ahead of me was a long  wide path with huts down either side, and villagers either working or just sitting watching us. As we walked down the path everyone was incredibly friendly waving when we waved and happy to let us take their photographs, once I had politely asked them if I could. I was taken by one elderly man who seemed quietly amused at all these white folk walking through his village.
Elderly villager

Early in the day I’d been talking with a few of the friends we’d made on the ship and musing about what sort of view and understanding the villagers would have had of the world outside their village, from what seemed to me to be one of the remotest places on earth. Imagine my surprise when I saw the decorations that many of the villagers had put up on the walls of their huts.
Newspaper & magazine clippings
State of Origin Poster!

At one of the huts there was a woman with an hand operated sewing machine making clothes. She told me they bought the material from a store on the mainland and she made the clothes that, once finished, were given out to the other villagers.
Woman sewing

Just walking through the village was such a visual treat there was so much going on, Kelly spotted this beautiful parrot …
Parrot

… and I spotted Justin taking a well deserved break.
Justin

We finished up our visit with a refreshing drink from recently picked coconuts and headed back down the hill to the beach and into a zodiac that was waiting to whisk us back to the Orion.
Approaching the Orion in zodiac

Back on board we wasted no time in getting changed and collecting our snorkelling gear as we were off to the island of Naratu, just opposite to Kitava for some more great snorkelling.
Fishes
Fishes

We caught the last zodiac back to Orion at around 14:30 and headed up to deck 6 to wash out our gear and spend a bit of time in the Jacuzzi. The water is cool and refreshing just the perfect thing to relax before our next event at 17:00 a lecture by Nick Rains on ‘Essence of Landscape Photography’. Once again another great insight into how Nick goes about composing his landscape photography and how he achieves the perfect blend of balance and drama.

At 18:30 on each day of the cruise the Expedition crew do a recap of the day’s events illustrated with pictures they have taken during the day. You have to watch out because they are always trying to get at least one shot of a guest in a not so flattering pose!

As soon as tonight’s briefing finished I dashed up to deck 6 to get a quick shot of the sunset as we sailed away from the the Trobriands and toward Tufi.
Sunset

This evening we have the Captains reception in the Leda Lounge. This is where we get formally introduced to our Captain and enjoy some cocktails with the other passengers before heading down to the Constellation Restaurant for the Captains dinner.
Hanging out with Captain Frank

Day #5 New Guinea Adventure

Samarai Island, Papua New Guinea

This morning we have an early 5am wakeup call for a dawn photography session, organised by Nick and Peter, on the island of Samarai  It’s a bit like being back in Africa and getting up for the 5am Safari. We head for deck 6 to grab our cameras. [The reason the cameras are on deck 6 is that the ship is air-conditioned and outside it’s very humid. If you keep your camera and lens in your cabin it’s going to take about 30 – 45 minutes for the camera and lens to acclimatise, in the mean time you cant see anything because your camera is all fogged up.]

Once we have all our gear it’s down to the swim deck, jump into the zodiacs and head for the island, just visible in the early morning light, not too far away.

Approaching Samarai Island

Early morning view of the Orion anchored offshore

During the night we’ve been backtracking a bit and come back south into the China Strait Islands.

Map of the region showing our heading - Google map link

Nick and Peter, in their presentations, have been discussing the best time to shoot and dawn is a favourite time of theirs and they are keen to get set up before the sun is too high in the sky.

We arrive at a small wharf at the island but there seems to be a bit of confusion amongst the zodiac drivers and there is a bit of radio chatter going on. We don’t disembark but head off in another direction, seems as though some of the expedition team are on another island. Oh oh, we’ve turned back again and are heading back to the first island we went to, unfortunately by this time the sun is getting higher and higher in the sky and I think Nick’s upset that we’ve missed getting to the island in time for the sunrise.

The zodiacs pull up next to a small landing on the wharf and we all hop out and head up the steps to the main landing.  There are a few people on the wharf, some loading gear and boarding a small boat, the others watching what we are up to.



Young Kids

Local Boat

In the early 1900’s Samarai island was the thriving colonial capital of the territory of Papua and the town’s street-scape carries reminders of it’s past glory. It use to be described as one of the most beautiful places in the South Pacific. By the 1920’s the town had declined in importance and after the outbreak of World War II the Australian Government ordered the evacuation of the island in 1942 and destroyed the wharves and buildings being used by the advancing Japanese.

Samarai was reestablished after the war but never returned to it’s former glory and has assumed an atmosphere of slow decay. Which means for those of us visiting the island a wonderful photographic opportunity with all those textures of rust and faded paint. One of the most striking, and the oldest surviving, building is St. Paul’s Anglican Parish church. It’s just a short walk from the pier and by the time I’ve finished up at the wharf everyone else who was on the zodiacs have already moved through this section of the town, so I’m all alone so I in the quiet early morning standing in front of this wonderful old church.

St. Pauls Parish Church

The next thing I notice is this old man, with a big white beard, dressed only in board shorts walk up to a large gas cylinder suspended above the ground. He bends down and picks up a rock and begins to bang the cylinder that rings like a bell. Instantly dogs all around town start barking madly as he’s banging away.

Old bell ringer

When he finishes I ask him what he’s doing and he tells me that he looks after the church and at 6am, 12 noon and 6pm he rings the bell. I’m not quite sure if he’s actually calling the faithful to church or it’s just the village wakeup call. I wish him well and head off toward the wharves.

On the way to the wharves there is an intersection and a path heading off toward the hills. At another crossroad, further up the path, I could see a memorial that I found out later is dedicated to  Christopher Robinson, the one-time administrator of the island who committed suicide here in 1904. The inscription noted he was ‘as well meaning as he was unfortunate and as kindly as he was courageous’ and that ‘his aim was to make New Guinea a good place for white men.’

Robinson Memorial

I found the wharves and as I mentioned before the old wharves were destroyed in the war. Some of them have been partially rebuilt and there are still some local boats that use them.

The old wharves

Time was flying and by now it's about 07:00 and time to head back to Orion for some breakfast. I met up with the other early bird passengers and we made our way back to the wharf and the zodiacs for the trip back. On the way back to the wharf Kelly spotted the bell-ringer watching us from his home next to the church.

Old bell ringer

We hopped in a zodiac with Nick and Peter and headed back to the Orion.

Nick and Peter (checking out the 8mm fisheye)

After breakfast it was time for another trip to Samarai Island. This time it was a general disembarkation and most of the passengers would be heading ashore. This time it would be a wet landing. [A wet landing is one where you don’t have a wharf to tie up to and basically hop over the side of the zodiac into shallow water and walk onshore.] The zodiacs pulled up to a small beach alongside the wharf we'd arrived at earlier this morning.

Looking back at Orion from the wharf

I’d taken a quick look in the church this morning  and it was amazing, the building was in a pretty bad state of repair and looked as if it could fall down at any minute. I really wanted to capture the look of it so I made sure I brought my 360 Panorama gear with me. So once we’d landed I headed back to the church. This time I was met by a different man who was apparently also connected with the church, I asked him if I could photograph inside it. He was quite happy for me to do so so I headed on in to set up my gear.

Church custodian

Shooting a 360 Panorama requires a little bit of preparation as I need a tripod, a rotator [a device that I attach the camera to and that turns in a set number of stops], a camera and a wide angle lens. In this instance I’m using a Canon 5D MkII and a Canon 15mm lens. I take 6 images around and one up. Once I’m done I stitch the images together to make what’s called an Equirectangular image that becomes the source that is wrapped around a cube which allows a viewer to look in any direction in a complete 360 orientation.

Interior of Church (Equirectangular)

Once I’ve finished in the church I head off with some of other passengers to have a look around and work our way up the hill to the old Hospital. I can't believe how much the town is full of wonderful bits and pieces that provide great photo opportunities.

Old Ticket Window?

There is the skeleton of the old Burns, Philp & Company warehouse. At the entrance to the warehouse you can still see the old company logo created in the concrete. The splatters aren’t blood but the red juice spit out by the Papuans chewing Bettlenut.

Burns Philip Warehouse Company Logo

At one time Burns, Philp & Company were one of the major traders in the South Pacific arena and in fact were the first company to offer tourism to New Guinea, in 1984, advertising the ‘New Guinea Excursion Trip’.

The building is abandoned but the walls provide a tapestry for grafitti and comments.

Wall with Graffiti

Just down from the warehouse is an old Shell depot, all locked up, overgrown with weeds and seemingly deserted.

Shell Depot

We continued on our walk and turned a corner into a small side street, off the main path, that had an amazing display of native flowers with the most brilliant colours.
Brilliant Flowers
Hibiscus Flower
Hibiscus Flower

Our trip to Samarai finished up with a hike up the hill to see the old abandoned hospital, which was pretty much a ruin by this time with only one building still standing.
Hike up hill to Hospital
Hospital ruins

I finished up on Samarai wishing I could have spent another couple of hours walking around, meeting and talking with the residents, but ships timetables wait for no man.

After lunch, at 13:30, there was a quick trip to the island of Kwato scheduled. Just 3km west of Samarai the island is apparently very peaceful with the remnants of boat-building equipment evident among the trees. We hopped into the zodiacs and headed to Kwato for a wet landing.











Approaching Kwato

By the time we got there it was bucketing down with rain, trust us not to be carrying any wet weather gear :-( Kelly was lucky and managed to score a plastic poncho while I kept ducking under trees and at one stage even sheltered with a family on their verandah to avoid the rain. One of the villagers saw we were getting soaked and offered us shelter in old wood mill.
Wood Mill

Finally the rain eased and we followed the old tree-lined road up the hill until it cleared the forest. In the clearing we came to a stonewalled church that was built in 1937 from materials brought from Scotland. Unfortunately The Kwato Church suffered a decline in the 1970s and it stands today as a testimony to the missionary of a bygone era.











Interior of the Church
View from the clearing

It’s been a pretty hectic and long day already but we have one more excursion before we are done. We head back to the Orion and once we are all onboard Captain Frank repositions her close to a small island called Deka Deka. Here we will do another wet landing and then spend the afternoon swimming and snorkelling. It’s still a bit overcast but hot so it’s a great way to spend the afternoon.
Di (the massage therapist) showing what she will do to me next time we have a session!
Fish we saw while snorkelling (I need Mick Fogg to identify the fish!)

So after a really long, hectic but fantastic day Kelly and I are lounging back in our suite. Tonight we’ve ordered room service so we don’t have to get all dressed up and we can just sit back in bed watching one of our favourite video series, Breaking Bad, that we’ve brought along with us.

We can hear the ship weigh anchor and feel it get underway as we head for Kitava.

Day #4 New Guinea Adventure

Map of the Region showing our heading - Google map link

Alotau, Papua New Guinea

Whoo hoo, we are out of the Coral Sea, it’s much calmer, the sun is shining and Kelly is feeling much better.

This morning we are heading for the town of Alotau. It’s the capital of Milne Bay Province, and is nestled on the edge of the bay named by Captain Moresby in 1873 after Lord Milne of the British Navy. Alotau means “Bay of Views” in Suau language.

Approaching Alotau

Our ETA to Alotau is 13:00 hours so there is time for a bit of brekkie and a couple of lectures before we arrive.

It’s great to see Kelly up and about again and we both head off to breakfast looking forward to a great day. By the time we get to breakfast the tables are filling up quickly and we see our first glimpse of Papua New Guinea.

We have sailed from the Coral Sea to the Solomon Sea and are passing Sideia Island in the Louisiade Archipelago. The weather has cleared completely and the clouds just tower over the shoreline.

Dramatic Clouds in Milne Bay

Peter Eastway’s first presentation started at 09:30 hours, and he gave an amazing overview of his work and presented a slideshow that gave us an insight into how he created his vision of what he saw when taking a photograph using Adobe Photoshop. It was inspiring, and I can’t wait to apply similar techniques to my photography.

Not long after Peter had finished, Mark gave a presentation on the Battle of Milne Bay. This area is significant to Australia as several battles were fought and legends created in this region, none more known than the story of Kokoda. At Milne Bay, Japanese marines attacked the Australian base on 25 August 1942, and fighting continued until the Japanese retreated on 5 September 1942. The battle was significant as it was the first in the Pacific campaign in which Allied troops decisively defeated Japanese land forces, forcing them to withdraw and completely abandon their strategic objective.

Around lunchtime, we sighted Alouta, and at approximately 13:00 hours, we berthed at the dock in Alotua. There was a lot of interest in our arrival from the dock as well as from local kids paddling out and circling the ship in their outrigger canoes.

Young boy in an outrigger canoe

There were, however, a couple of guys who didn’t really seem all that interested in our arrival.

Couple of guys not too interested!

The dock itself seems to be mainly used for loading Copra as we could see inside the dock buildings large stacks of bags containing Copra and smell the distinctive coconut aroma in the air. Copra is the dried meat, or kernel, of the coconut. Coconut oil extracted from it has made copra an important agricultural commodity for many coconut-producing countries.

Coprah Warehouse

During an Orion cruise, you can usually select from a number of Shoreside expeditions. Kelly and I had decided that we wanted to do the Bat Cave Adventure. Hell, as a Sydneysider, we have an affinity for the little guys, and any description that says you are going to get dirty and down in bat guano has to be fun.

Our tour was due to start about half an hour after we docked. After a couple of shabby-looking four-wheel drives arrived on the dock, we disembarked.

The expedition team briefs the group every night before arriving at a new destination. When they discussed the Bat Cave, they showed a picture of a large furry spider and said they were present in the cave. Half a dozen people changed their minds after that and signed on for the History Tour instead. I envisioned something out of Raiders of the Lost Ark, where the guy’s back is covered in hairy Tarantulas.

Well, I’m sure we’d survive, so Kelly and I piled into one of the vehicles, and Mark, an expedition member, and a few others got into the other one and off we went. Of course, as soon as we are off the ship, it starts to rain again, but this we discover is pretty standard for this part of the world: sunshine in the morning, rain in the afternoon.

We head out of town in our convoy, with our vehicle in the lead. We pass the market and the local fishing boats on the way out.

Fishing Boats

The ride out of town is pretty good; it’s a bituminised road with a few potholes that we have to navigate around and lots of friendly locals waving to us as we pass. Every so often, these little roadside huts are a bit like the Papua New Guinea versions of 7-Eleven’s. I like the Pidgin “Winim LCD TV” on the Maggi posters.

Roadside Stall

As we head further out of town, we pass through a huge Palm Oil plantation.

Palm Oil Plantation

According to our driver, this used to be a Coconut plantation but was cleared for Palm Oil because the return is much better. As you drive through, large piles of seeds wait to be collected.

Palm Oil Seeds

After about 20 minutes our driver pulls over, turns around and heads back to town. He tells us that the other vehicle has broken down, and he needs to go back and see if they are okay. After about 10 minutes we are almost halfway back and there has been no sign of them, suddenly he pulls over and turns around again. Apparently, they were only about a minute behind us when they broke down, and our guy just drove straight by them. So we got to see the Palm Oil plantation all over again.

After meeting up with the other vehicle, which now seems okay, we kept going. After another 10 minutes, we turned off the main road onto a jungle track.

Jungle Road to the Bat Cave

It seemed like we travelled along this track up and down hills for another 10 minutes until we pulled into a small clearing to be met by our guide, who we found out was named Roger.

Roger, our guide

Roger was very happy to see us, and we headed off into the bush to the Bat Cave with some other local guys. I thought we would climb up for some reason, but we went into a valley instead. By this time the rain had eased off but it was damn humid and every thing was slippery so by the time we made it to the mouth of the cave we were hot and exhausted.



Scramble in the Jungle

Getting into the cave was another experience, basically it was a matter of sliding down on your butt, watching out you didn’t smack your head on the overhanging rock. All the time, we were looking out for these large furry spiders we’d been told about.

By the time we had all made it into the first part of the cave, we were all sporting examples of bat guano on parts of our bodies, mainly our butts! The guides provided us with as many flashlights as they had. I missed out, but at least Kelly had one, and we headed into the cave.

Now I thought the cave would be cool and a bit refreshing after the humidity outside, but no, it was just as humid if not more inside. The floor of the caves was sort of squishy and consisted of compacted bat guano deposited over the years. I have to say the Adventure side was a bit of a letdown. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun to do, but the large furry spiders, well, we never saw one. We saw many cockroaches, a couple of frogs, a spindly spider and some very elusive bats.

A Frog and a skinny spider

After about an hour in the cave, we climbed back out. Coming back out was a bit easier than going in, and by the time we had all made it back up to the top of the hill where the vehicles waited for us, we were pretty beat and a sorry-looking lot, except for Roger. He looked pretty dry, clean, calm and collected.

Tony & Roger

We thanked Roger and the other guys, got back in the vehicles, and headed back to Orion. We were looking forward to a shower and getting out of our bat-guano-splattered clothes and boots.

Just clean again, and Captain Frank comes over to the ship's public address system to let us know that a team of Papuan New Guinea cultural dancers will perform for us on deck 6 at 17:00 hours.

We grab our cameras and head up to see what will be the first of many cultural presentations on the trip. The dancers and singers were fantastic, the costumes amazing and it was a welcome to Papua New Guinea we would never forget.

Leader of the Group

Male Dancer

Female Dancer

After the welcome, we thanked them all personally, and as they left the ship, Captain Frank prepared to undock the Orion, and it wasn’t long before we were sailing out of Aloutau as the sun set, off to our next destination, Samarai and Kwato Islands.

Sunset over Milne Bay

We finished the night with a Seafood Extravaganza out on deck in the Delphinus Lounge, tired but elated with our first day in Papua New Guinea.

Day #3 New Guinea Adventure

One of the many Boobies following the ship

At Sea

Today is a sea day, which means no landfall but lots of onboard activities to keep us all busy. Unfortunately, we are still in the Coral Sea, and there is a bit of a swell, so Kelly is still not well despite taking seasickness tablets.

I’m feeling okay, so I’ve decided to start with a stretching class with Dianne, the ship’s masseur, at 07:30 on Deck 6. The weather is pretty unsettled at the moment, and there are lots of rain clouds about, but about ten of us, a couple of guys included, make the best of it.

After that, I’m off to the Delphinus Outdoor Café for breakfast, where a great spread awaits me. A chef with a small two-burner grill makes fresh omelettes or eggs as you like them. There’s also a buffet with fresh fruit, yogurt, and muesli and a hot buffet with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, etc.

I go with an omelette and in no time, Emil, one of the Orion waiters, has brought me a coffee to have with my breakfast. Before I finish up, I ask Donny, another waiter, if they have gluten-free bread, and amazingly they do so. I ask him to make me some gluten-free toast so I can return to Kelly.

There are a couple of lectures happening today, the first is at 09:00 and it’s a presentation by the Expedition Team of an overview of the expeditions we will be going on during the trip. Mick Fogg, the expedition team leader, takes us through the amazing places we will visit and the various options we have regarding each location.

This is our first trip with Mick, and from the start, he seems passionate and enthusiastic about the places we will see.

After that, it’s Justin Friend’s turn. Now, we met and travelled with Justin on our first Orion Expedition cruise from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City in October 2009, and it’s great to have him back on this cruise. Justin is the Expedition Program Manager, developing and managing the expedition destinations. He tends to work out of Sydney now but he’s onboard because the second leg of our cruise is termed a “Voyage of Discovery” as it’s the first time the ship has been to these destinations. Justin has scouted them out, but that’s about it.

Justin’s presentation provides a great background on the History and Culture of Papua New Guinea, which has had a long history and is in a very different state now.

Justin giving his presentation

By this time it’s lunch and I’m about to head back to the Delphinus café for more food!  But before I go I spend a bit of time on the deck overlooking the bow watching the Boobies wheeling above and around the ship. They are swooping down on flying fish leaping out of the water as the Orion glides by.

Booby in flight

Boobies are large birds with long pointed wings and long bills. They hunt fish by diving from a height into the sea and pursuing their prey underwater. You can read more about them at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booby (If anyone can identify these actual Boobies can you let me know and I'll update the description)

After lunch there’s the Zodiac and Snorkel briefing where the expedition team brief those who haven’t travelled on Orion before and hand out the snorkelling gear. As we’ve both been on the Zodiacs before and we have our own gear with us we don’t need to attend.

As I don’t have to attend I’ve booked a massage with Di and I head up to deck 6 where she’s got her small office. Once I’m on the table Di asks me how I’m feeling and if I want a relaxing or remedial massage. I make the mistake of telling her my right shoulder has been a bit achy!

For the next hour Di goes to town on me, oh my god, she is a very strong girl. About quarter way into the session I tell her the only other person that inflicts as much pain on me is my trainer. Di asks me who that is and I tell her Phil Cunningham. Well can you believe it,  Di and Phil know each other, turns out that Di is from Rozelle and she use to be at Balmain Fitness when it first opened.

The funny thing is that knowing I was training with Phil she seemed to want to inflict more pain, must have been a competitive thing!

So after an hour I’m feeling muscles I never knew I had and I’m hurting in lots of places. Di cheerfully tells me I’ll feel great tomorrow and asks if I want to book another session. I tell her I’ll let her know and escape down to my cabin.

Poor old Kelly’s still not feeling too good so she can’t join me in the Cosmos lecture theatre for Nick Rains lecture introducing us to the fundamental controls of your digital camera. Even though it’s basic stuff I still learn new things about how the camera works and Nick is more than willing to answer dumb questions!

After the lecture I return to the cabin and Kelly isn’t getting any better so finally I get her to agree to see doctor Anna. Anna comes in and gives Kelly a whacking big injection into the muscle of her arm. About 30 seconds later a smile comes over Kelly’s face for the first time in days and she mumbles something about feeling sooo good and drifts off into sleep.

I leave her sleeping peacefully and head out to the welcome reception in the Leda Lounge and then down to the Constellation Lounge for dinner.

Hopefully we will be out of the Coral Sea later this evening and into the shallower waters around Papua New Guinea.



Day #2 New Guinea Adventure

We started the day trying to repair the damage done by the Chocolate Hazelnut pudding the night before by heading to the gym. We slightly diminished the damage after a good hour of stretching, biking, rowing, abs, and weights.

This morning, we are off to take the wheels that Adam gave us back to him, grab a coffee, and then head back to the hotel to pick up our bags and grab a taxi to Orion.

Cairns caters to holiday travellers; many bars, cafes, backpacker lodges, and event booking places exist. But not so subtle advertising.

Now that’s my kind of advertising!

Once again, time gets away from us, and after we’ve dropped off the wheels and picked up some essential supplies, it’s back to the hotel, checked out and headed off to the Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal.

The new Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal

As we arrived early, about two hours before most quests, there was no one at customs or departures, so we got through the bag inspection pretty quickly. Once through, we are met by Andrew, who shows us the room we need to shoot the 360 Panoramas of.  Today, before we sail, before the quests board, we have to have 3 rooms photographed! It was a bit of a rush but we managed to get a number of the rooms shot, there are still more to go and we will get to it at the next ship turnaround in Rabaul in 10 days.

By about 3 pm, all of the passengers were onboard, and we cast off from the Terminal and headed out of Cairns for the Coral Sea and the first port of call in Papua New Guinea, Alotau.

Leaving the Terminal
Looking back at Cairns past lifeboats
Tony shooting as we leave 
One of the Orion deck crew 
Hills around Cairns

Leaving the Terminal

Looking back at Cairns past lifeboats

Tony shooting as we leave 

One of the Orion deck crew 

Hills around Cairns

Once we were on our way, drinks and snacks were served on the sun deck.

Kelly on deck 

During welcome drinks I got to meet Nick Rains and Peter Eastway for the first time and introduce myself.

Nick Rains (left), Peter Eastway (right) and Justin Friend (back to us)

Shortly after that we had our lifeboat drill, our mandatory briefing on all things ship wise, an introduction to the Expedition Team and our first meeting with the infamous Mick Fogg, Expedition Leader.

Tony in lifejacket

Kelly in lifejacket

After that it was the first of the many Serge Dansereau dinners we would experience onboard. Unfortunately about halfway through the meal Kelly wasn’t feeling too good, there was quite a bit of a swell as we made our way through the Coral Sea, so she took off to the cabin while I finished up in the dining room.

Poor old Kelly had a bit of a rough night of it as we ploughed on through the Coral Sea. Hopefully it will be calmer up around New Guinea.