We will be on our way to our next great adventure in approximately seven hours. Starting Sunday, 3rd April, and departing from Cairns, Kelly and I will sail on the Orion 1 for 22 days, experiencing a part of the world we thought we would never see, to Papua New Guinea and West Papua & Maluku.
You are more than welcome to join us on this great voyage.
Packed, cleaned, and packed some more until it was so late or early, depending upon your point of view, that it didn’t make sense to go to bed.
Our flight to Cairns was scheduled for an 8:45 am departure; we’d booked the car into the long-term parking and figured leaving by 7 am at the latest should give us plenty of time to make it to the airport, park, check the bags in and a leisurely stroll to the gate.
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.
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.
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.
There’s a lot of peer pressure on this ship, what with all the great photographers, but the pressure is greatest to be on deck 6, at the ship's bow, for sunrise.
At 6:00 a.m., Nick, Mike Moore from the Expedition Team, Peter, and several other guests set up tripods and waited for the sunrise. Woe betide anyone who doesn’t get up! This morning, I was there, and I have the sunrise to prove it.
Ooops, missed the sunrise this morning, now I’m going to have to be ostracised by all those who’s alarms went off. But never mind it’s a beautiful morning and we are out on deck having Eggs Benedict, thoughtfully provided by Donny and a Latte courtesy of Emil and we can see the coastline of Tufi and once again the sky is filled with towering clouds.
