Queen Mary 2 Cruise 2020: Circumnavigating Australia

[June Ingram]

Thank you very much, Lynda, for the wonderful photos and descriptive commentary !  It is great to enjoy with photo and word all of the marvelous things you did and saw on your trip ! 

[Lynda Bradford]

Day 19: Sea Day

Day 20: 8 March Melbourne Temperature 22 degrees,. but it felt warmer. 

Today we were pleased to meet up with our friends, from Melbourne,  who gave us a little tour with some history of the dock area.  It was interesting to see the housing and to hear firsthand family history.  Our friends then took us to Arthur’s Seat State Park (named by British explorers in 1802, after Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh).  The journey was about an hour’s drive from where the ship was docked, which I enjoyed as it gave us an opportunity to see the farm crops and animals.   

What a fantastic experience being transported (around 14 minutes) on the Arthur’s Seat Eagle Gondola, to the summit. 

Apparently a chair lift was in operation in the 19th century (see photo) but I prefer the gondola!

Once at the top we walked one of the trails to see Matthew Flinders Cairn and the amazing view across the bay.  I was also fascinated to see the “Cairn” which I always associated as being a marker that you have reached the summit of a Scottish Munro.  Apparently Captain Flinders was a navigator and a cartographer, who was the leader of the first circumnavigation of Australia and identified it as a continent. 

[Lynda Bradford]

We then walked to the Seawinds Gardens to see the some of the William Ricketts sculptures, inspired by the traditions and cultures of the indigenous people. 

Having the opportunity to walk the trails was wonderful, especially as the surroundings reminded us of walking in Scotland.

The state park is the home of many wild animals, including kangaroos, but we did not see any - just their poo!

We then went to the Mornington  National Park to look for Kangaroos and although we didn’t see them close up, we did see large herds of them on the hillside. Amazing to see them in their natural environment and seeing the road signs to be aware of Kangaroos on the road was a reminder of home where we see signs to be aware of deer on the road.

We finished the day with a pizza and a very welcome cool beer, at a local brewery then a coffee before returning to the ship. Thanks to our friends we had a wonderful day!

[June Ingram]

Many thanks, Lynda, for your commentary and beautiful photos as we accompany you on your holiday ! 

[Rob Lightbody]

This is a wondeful topic, I feel like I went along with you for the trip (almost).

I love that shot looking over the stern decks at the Sydney Harbour Bridge - spectacular.

[Lynda Bradford]

Day 21 Sea Day

Day 22:  10 March - Adelaide temperature 28 degrees

Adelaide, South Australia, is the fifth largest city in Australia with a population of around 1.38 million. It is on the Eastern shores of the gulf of St Vincent. The city, founded in 1836 was named after Queen Adelaide, the consort of King William IV and was the planned capital in the only freely colonised British Provence in Australia.

We took the free shuttle bus (around 40 minutes each way) into the city.  Passing through Port Adelaide it was significant to learn that the town has one of the best concentrations of colonial buildings in South Australia, which was recognised in May 1982, when a sizeable part of the town centre was declared a State Heritage Area.  It is a town that would be worth a visit to learn more about the heritage and history. 

The shuttle bus stopped near to Adelaide's Rundle Mall, a pedestrianised shopping area.  Having discovered the cost onboard ship to get my nail gels off and on was over £100, the first stop was a nail bar in the shopping mall, where I got the same service for £15. Makes sense!

We enjoyed the vibe of this lovely city and liked the mixed of old and modern architecture, the street cafes and the sculptures: 

Photo 1: Port of Adelaide
Photo 2: Mix of old and modern architecture
Photo 3: Rundle Mall Pigs - “A day out” shows four pigs exploring the city on a day out
Photo 4: “On further reflection”  known as “Malls Balls” 
Photo 5: “The Dolls House” on display during the Adelaide’s Festival 60th year anniversary. It was fun to see the delight in children’s faces as they moved through the life sized house. 

“Visionary Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi, who has been transforming public spaces in jaw-dropping ways across the world since 2000, presents his life-sized, three-storeyed Doll’s House for your delight and discovery. It has been created only once before, outside the Palais de Tokyo art museum in Paris, and now it will be available to visit, free of charge, in the middle of Rundle Mall. “ see Adelaide Festival

[Lynda Bradford]

More Adelaide pictures:

Photo 6: Street Scene
Photo 7: View inside Adelaide Arcade
Photo 8: Regent Arcade - originally the Regent Theatre that opened in 1928 and closed in 1967.  Now a shopping arcade. 
Photo 9: Rundle Mall Fountain

[Lynda Bradford]

Now onto the last part of my Circumnavigating Australia story:

Day 23 and 24 sea days

Day 25 Friday 13 March - Busselton. We had booked a tour to  Margaret Rivers, a wine producing area, however on the evening before the trip, we received notification that one of the wineries was not allowing tours from cruise ships because of fear of coronavirus, which was fair enough.  However because extra shopping time, replaced the winery visit, we decided to cancel the tour and to spend time in Busselton instead. 

Well as in the words of Robert Burns “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry”.  After an initial tender service getting people on tours off the ship, passengers were advised that the tender service had been suspended because of of rough sea conditions and to wait for further announcements.  We went for a walk around the deck,  9 times equals around 3 miles.  By the time the tender service was running again we had decided to go for lunch and as we were disembarking ship the next day spent time packing our cases.  So we didn’t see Busselton, which was unfortunate as it looked a nice place to visit.  But we did enjoy relaxing on QM2


Day 26: Saturday 14 March disembarked QM2 in Fremantle where a transfer had been arranged to take us to the Novotel in Perth for our two night stay in the city.

We found that there was lots to see in Perth, within walking distance from our hotel, but we could also have used the local bus service or the popular hop-on hop-off bus.  I have selected photos and stories that gives an overview of the two days we had in Perth, but there is so much more that I could say about this lovely city,

Photo 1: St George’s Cathedral - reflections through a window!

Photo 2: Perth Town Hall built by convicts and free men between 1867 and 1870. Restoration work on the interior of the building and the exterior gothic arches was done in the late 1990’s. 

Photo 3: London Court Clock.  We were intrigued by the mock Tudor facade with the clock that had four mechanised knights appear above the clock and move in a semi circle every time the clock chimed.  It was not until I came home that I found out more about London Court and the clock.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Court

Photo 4: Stirling Gardens 3.5 metre high Pen Nibs Sculpture dedicated to the planners who designed Stirling Gardens, Western Australia’s first Botanical Gardens. 

More photos ......

[Lynda Bradford]

Photos of Perth contd. 

Photo 5: Elizabeth Quay, a waterfront development area, named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II’s diamond Jubilee, was officially opened in January 2016.  The photo shows a view over the marina area.  You can see the Spanda sculpture to the right of the picture

Photo 6: Elizabeth Quay Pedestrian Bridge - reminded me of “The Squinty Bridge” in Glasgow.  It’s official name is the Clyde Arc Bridge but locals have named it “The Squinty”

Photo 7: Cormorant
 
Photo 8: “The First Contact” by Laurel Nannup is a 5 metre high sculpture with the words surrounding the sculpture depicting how the native Noongar people thought the European boats bringing settlers, were bringing their ancestors back from the sea. 

“They first saw a boat with white sails coming to shore, which they haven’t seen before.  You know it would have looked like a big white bird and the sailors being “wadjellas” made Noongar people think it was their ancestors’ spirits coming back from the dead, from the sea."

Photo 9: The Island Microbrewery, where we enjoyed a pizza and a beer has an interesting history. The building was originally a tearoom and kiosk built in 1928.  In the 1980’s it was used as a Day Centre and renamed The Florence Hummerston Day Centre.  As part of the redevelopment of the esplanade area the building was dismantled brick by brick and reconstructed on the island at Elizabeth Quay.  I am sure there is much more to the history of this building but interesting to learn these details.  You can see the red roof of this building in this photo.

[Lynda Bradford]

Thank-you for joining me as I relived my memories of circumnavigating Australia.   It was a fantastic experience and my only regret is that I had not visited Australia, earlier in my life it is such an interesting country with so much more to see.  Australia has a history and culture that is worth researching.

Thank-you Australia and thank-you to all the people we met along the way that added to our experience. 

On the cruise the ship visited Fremantle, Darwin, Yorkey’s Knob for Cairns, Airlie Beach, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Busselton, and back to Fremantle for Perth.  When we were not in port we had the luxury of enjoying the facilities onboard Cunard’s flagship, Queen Mary 2

A truly memorable journey!

[June Ingram]

Thank you so much, Lynda, for letting us accompany you on your voyage and land excursions.  If certainly must have been a wonderful experience with many great memories and photos to bring back home !   

[Chris]

What a wonderful topic.
It is so nice to see my country displayed so well in your photos.
It was an absolute pleasure to meet you aboard QM2!

[Lynda Bradford]

Thanks June and Chris for your comments. 

What a wonderful topic.
It is so nice to see my country displayed so well in your photos.
It was an absolute pleasure to meet you aboard QM2!

Chris is was lovely to meet you on QM2 and to have the opportunity to attend your lectures and meet up with you for cocktails.