Cairns

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3.18.2007 Cairns (Queensland), Australia

Cairns (pronounced “cans”) is located on the north-eastern coast of the State of Queensland and offers the closest access to the natural wonders of the 1,550 miles long Great Barrier Reef. Originally settled by cattle drovers and gold prospectors, the area saw a spike in population when refugees from Europe arrived during and after WWII. Today it is one of the fastest growing cities in thee country with an economy that is driven by its tourism industry and the large sugar cane production and export. Tourism benefits from what lies around the city: over 60 national parks, access to the Great Barrier Reef and The Coral Sea where prize catches of black marlin, tuna, sailfish, shark, barracuda and reef fish attract a lot of dedicated fisherman.

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Today is the first in port rainy day we have had and it discouraged Sallie from going on tour with me. I went in a small group of nine and after driving around the town and seeing the sights; we headed out to The Royal Flying Doctor Service museum. Because Australia is so vast and huge, areas are sparsely populated providing medical service to those working on large ranches, the mines and rainforest presents a problem. Years ago a Presbyterian minister started the now legendary “RFDS”. Initially, there was no telephone, radio or even electricity in these remote areas and the first problem to be overcome was the need for communications in time of medical need. A wireless telegraph was developed powered by the operator pedaling on a device to generate electrical power. These were supplied throughout the outback areas. Later medical kits including all types of numbered medications and a chart of the human body divided in sections numbered or lettered so someone could better describe the type of medical problem and the doctor could prescribe temporary treatment by giving a number for the medicine. If required a plane with the doctor would then fly out and transport the patient if necessary to the nearest hospital. Although the planes and means of communication today are very up to date the need for this service remains almost as great because of the wide disbursement of the small percentage of the population over such a vast area. While the government contributes to the costs, most of the funds needed are raised from private contributions of individuals and corporations. By the way since these remote areas can’t support schools for the numbers involve,; so today, many children are taught by teachers over the radio.

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Our next stop was at The Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park which was created with the advice of the Tjapukai community and their elders in order to help preserve the history and culture of the peoples who for more than forty thousand years inhabited this land. Despite the fact that aborigines had not developed a means of handwriting they had past down from one generation to the next their history and culture by spoken word and art. During our visit they demonstrated how they had been taught to live off the land, treat almost any illness with medications derived from plant life and the use of tools, spears, boomerangs for hunting, sport and defense. We saw a twenty minute film showing what happened to them when the white man from Europe arrived.. They never had a chance against the guns and were treated at that time and since in even a worse way than the American Indians had been a 100 years before. Unfortunately, their lives weren’t helped by missionaries who used them as slaves and taught they should happily sing as they worked that they were doing this for Jesus. Few promises made were ever kept and many died because of imported diseases and the effects of alcohol which their systems just couldn’t handle.

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By the way, I wasn’t as impressed by Cairns as much as I was by Townsville. The rainy day may have something to do with it. Since crossing The Tropic of Cancer we are in The Tropics and this is their rainy season, so I guess we have been fortunate.

Joanne and Donny decided to take a longer tour and visited a wildlife sanctuary where they saw koalas, kangaroos and wallabies running around freely. They got back late and decided to eat in. After dinner, Sallie and I accepted Carola’s invitation to go up to The Panorama Lounge where a show based on TV’s “The Newly Wed Game” was to take place. Unfortunately, we were selected to be one of the four contesting couples. It was fun though and we received 60 pts for placing third. These pts are accumulated and will be exchanged at the end of the cruise for prizes.

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3.19.2007 At sea.

We are still sailing north inside The Great Barrier Reef and tonight will be headed west in The Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea. The se is calm and a beautiful blue; with much evidence of the reef and shallow water around us and thewonderful blue skies and tremendous white clouds makes for a lot of appreciation for where we are and what we are doing. We have mixed emotions about today. We hate to think about being on the downside but look forward to being back home with family and friends. We have completed ½ of the days for the cruise although not half way in distance. Capt. Chilsea in his daily loudspeaker briefing for the passengers said today that we have traveled 17,460 miles since leaving Ft. Lauderdale on Jan.15. Today our Australian professor’s lecture was, “Tropical Australia”.The 40% of the country north of The Tropic of Capricorn that is the home to only 10% of the population. This area is rich in minerals, agricultural areas and the rainforest. It is attractive to and close to heavily populated areas in other South Asian countries and presents very unique challenges within the country. Everyone continues to marvel at how good Geoffrey Blainey is and at how he speaks with such authority so accurately on many subjects without a single note.

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One of the highlights of the trip was an entertaining hour sponsored by Travel & Leisure Magazine that included a discussion between Rex Reed, the celebrity film critic from Hollywood and old friend, 87 yr old Marge Champion who everyone of our generation remembers for the great movies featuring her dancing with her husband, Gower Champion. Beautiful scenes from her movies were shown and then she would discuss the behind the scenes, the people and making of the film She is still lovely and we all really enjoyed this experience. Later, we had a chance to meet and talk with her and Reed at the party thrown by Virtuso for the 45 passengers that booked their cruise through a Virtuso representative as we did though our dear friend Joy “Nadine” Cottrill in Phoenix.

Entering Cairns in the rain
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Sallie attended Pelham High School with an old and good friend of Marge Champion and Rex Reed, Mona Freeman. Mona had also become a Hollywood star. Five years ago Mona married another high school classmate; Waff Stephenson who I was first interviewed for a training program at Home Life in 1952 and we shared a forty year career with the company. Mona and Waff had been high school sweethearts separated by the war and reunited as two widowed people. Marge and Rex were thrilled to know that we knew Mona and were anxious to know about her and how they could contact her.

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Four years ago we were with Mona and Waff at a reunion of Home Life people in Santa Barbara and helped them celebrate their Ist Anniv.

The West’s and the Wallace’s than had dinner with Stuart and Mike Moore from Amelia Island. He’s the one who had heart surgery three weeks before we left Florida. He is Sallie’s SuDoKu mentor and seems to have recovered remarkably as he was towing around an oxygen bottle when we first met on Jan.15.