Day 5 – Friday 24 February

Cruise Day 5 of 35 (Sea Day 2).

We cruised out of the Great Barrier Reef, through the islands north of Cape York in Torres Strait, into the Arafura Sea.

Day 4 - Thursday 23 February

Cairns - Great Barrier Reef

Cruise Day 4 of 35.

After a stroll in Cairns, Gail & Matthew drove us to Gail's "Queenslander" project.

We then drove to nearby Kuranda for lunch, and a quick look around the lovely town we visited in 1988.

Mid-afternoon, our ship departed Cairns, cruising north.

Day 3 - Wednesday 22 February

Cairns

Cruise Day 3 of 35

In the morning, we cruised through the Great Barrier Reef, arriving in Cairns in the early afternoon.

After a wander around the shops, we met our friends, Matthew & Gail, and spent a lazy afternoon and dinner at - https://salthouse.com.au/ .

Day 2 - Tuesday 21 February

Pacific Ocean

Cruise Day 2 of 35 (Sea Day 1)

We quickly adapted to our first sea day, and began our routine.

Day 1 - Monday 20 February

Melbourne – Brisbane – Pacific Ocean

In the morning, we headed off to Melbourne airport for our 2-hour flight north to Brisbane.

We then transferred to Brisbane’s cruise terminal for our afternoon departure north, on the Legend of the Seas, our home for the next 35 days).

A lovely sunset as we sailed down the Brisbane River.

Day 66 – Friday 16 December

Auckland, NZ – Melbourne

Having missed our scheduled connection in Auckland, we flew home on the next flight, which was 4 hours later – a small dampner on another great holiday.

The highlights of this trip were:

1. catching up with great friends, namely (in chronological order):

 - Joan & Peter (first on our West Coast road trip), and then at their home in St. Louis, Missouri, with their grown-up children, Shona & Thomas,

- Bill’s cousin, Maria, in San Diego,

- Lee, at his home in Winona, Mississippi,

- Mitch & Regina, at their home in New York City

- Abigail & Andrew, at their home in New York City, with their rapidly growing-up children, Amelia & Asher

- Jamie, in New York City
- Jeremy & Holly, visiting from the UK
- Carol & Peter, visiting from the UK

2. making new friends, on our Panama Canal cruise:

- Gary & Roni

- Shirley & Lee

- Rick & Maureen,

- Fred

- Hans

3A. our 23-day West Coast road trip, which included lovely stays in Santa Barbara, LA & San Diego, in California, Portland, in Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. We drove 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometres), through 4 US states (California, Nevada, Oregon & Washington),

3B. our 2-day West Coast rail trip, from Seattle to San Diego,

3C. our 16-day cruise, from San Diego, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, via the Panama Canal, and visiting Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rico, Columbia, and the Bahamas,

3D. our 14-day road trip in the mid and eastern states, which included lovely stays in Winona and St.Louis. We drove a further 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometres), through 15 US states (Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania & New Jersey), and

3E. our 11-day finale in New York City

Nb. We added visits to a further 7 Capitol Buildings, namely: Carson City, Nevada; Sacramento, California; Tallahassee, Florida; Montgomery, Alabama; Jackson, Mississippi; Frankfort, Kentucky; Richmond, Virginia.

Home safely and surely.

Signing off now – thank you for keeping up with us.

Day 65 - Thursday 15 December

LAX - Auckland, NZ

Flight 2 of 3 - Day lost in translation.

Unfortunately, due to a delay in departing LAX, we will miss our connection in Auckland, for Melbourne.