Day 53 - Brisbane, Australia

Tuesday, March 4

We are now in the Australian state of Queensland (Sydney is in New South Wales).  When I was in Australia last time we drove slowly (there was a huge traffic jam) through Brisbane and picked up people at the airport, so that was all I saw of it.

We arrived very early this morning and when I woke about 8:45 we were already docked and they were making announcements about going ashore.  I watched the morning show and got ready for the day.  The view from my balcony is nowhere as good as in Sydney - I overlook the airport!  We are in a cargo port as Brisbane does not have a real cruise terminal.

Since I had seen so much of Australia on my last visit, I did not book any excursions here.  Cunard ran a shuttle service into the city and that suited me just fine.  It was about a 45 minute trip into the city but the shuttle dropped us at Creek and Queen Street (the heart of the CBD) and the tourist board provided us with a map of central Brisbane with the pick up spot marked (so no getting lost).

My first stop was the Apple store.  I had a question about my iPad and wanted to use their really fast internet (what bliss👍).  The problem I had, of course, did not do it while I was there, but she told me to feel free to use the internet, so I found a stool and started answering some e-mails that had photos attached (they take forever to send on board).  I wrote five or six emails but AOL would not send them.  I asked the nice young man who worked there what was I doing wrong.  He gave me a long, detailed, technical answer which I mostly did not understand. Then he looked at my settings and suggested I try sending them through my Comcast account (thank goodness I did not cancel it which I was thinking of doing to save some money) and even showed me how to change the account without having to rewrite the e-mail.  They went through right away on the Comcast account - not sure why AOL doesn't like me any more (even though I can get email just not send).

I then walked over to the David Jones store (Aussie department store chain) in the Queen's Plaza.  Had lunch in the food court - a delicious meat and cheese quesadilla. Then I walked the  length of Queen Street Mall which is a pedestrian zone that has some outdoor restaurants, is nicely landscaped, plenty of places to sit and people watch and even one unusual bird (at least for a city).  Time for some obligatory souvenir shopping and then a mango-pineapple frozen drink at McD.  The cashier apologized for the slow internet but I found it quite fast and caught up on some of my Cruise Critic threads.

A bit more of a walk and then it was time to catch the shuttle bus back.  Returned to the ship just  after four and went to the Cafe Corinthia for not one but two glasses of the delicious orange juice (covered on my soda card).  I also found out that they serve pastries and such at various times of the day.  I ordered a strawberry tart to go with my second juice.  It was very tasty.

Took my purchases to my stateroom and then up to deck 9 for sail-away which was supposed to be around 5:30.  At  5:45 still no movement.  I met Lynn(one of my dinner companions) and we talked about what we had done today - still no movement.  We started talking to a man who had just joined today from the QV and he was telling us about their trip around South America.

We were in the right spot to see the problem because one of the aft lines was too tight to let go.  They tried a number of ideas before the line finally loosened enough that it could be released (sorry I don't know the technical terms) and we finally sailed after 6:30.

Played trivia again with four CC friends but we only had 8 out of 20 correct.

At dinner there were only five of us.  We still don't know if the empty two seats will be filled.

At the last moment I decided to go to the show.  The performer was an Australian, Danny Elliott, who sings, dances, and plays at least eight different musical instruments.  He did a wide variety of songs and it was a good show.

When I returned to my stateroom I could not sit on the balcony because it was raining and blowing in.  It was very warm and humid.  I worked on my pictures instead.

traditional style Queensland houses

Anzac Square

Queen Street Mall

unusual bird for the middle of a city

Queen Street Mall

Beautiful old building that houses the Apple Store

problem solved and aft line being let go

Smooth sailing until next time!