Cairns - our last morning

On our last morning in Cairns we woke up to see the P&O Cruise Ship Pacific Sun coming in.  This was a surprise change to the view we'd become accustomed to.

A lot bigger than the usual boats

It was quite dominating

There's a person up there in their bathrobe

 Here they are on their balcony:

Cropped bathrobe person

The ship did a 360 degree turn when it got to the end of the marina.

Turning

Then it backed into the terminal and out of sight.  It was an interesting manouvre to watch.

Backing up, actually it looks a bit rusty

We had breakfast and finished our packing, but our flight wasn't until 1:30pm so we hung out by the pool and read the newspaper.  This is a tacky photo but it proves we were there....

Inside the paper there was a reader's photo of the crocs currently hanging out in the Mowbray River.  We'd seen one of them on the river bank a few days earlier as we drove over the bridge on our way to Port Douglas.   This photo was taken by a crazy person who must have risked their life on that bridge over the river on the Cook Highway.  We did actually pull over and walk back to the bridge ourselves....but we only lasted a very short time until we realised it was for too dangerous with cars zooming past inches away at high speed.  There wasn't any walkway, just the road.  Either way, apparently there are 3 known crocs currently in the river.  Here's two of them hanging out.

Soon it was time to go.  Goodbye pool.

No time for swimming

At the airport, I found that book I'd been looking for the previous day.  It has beautiful pictures inside.

We had a Cascade beer before boarding time.  This is another Tasmanian "crisp" beer as the label states.  Also on the label is a depiction of Tasmanian Tigers, which were not tigers at all but carnivorous marsupials with tiger-like stripes.   Sadly these are now extinct, but they are a much loved symbol of Tasmania.  People say they sight them deep in the wilderness every now and then, but it is generally believed the last one died in Hobart Zoo in the mid 1930s.  They'd been hunted out.

Cascade and the Tasmanian Tigers

Believe it or not, the bar at the airport had an outdoor area, so we could get one final dose of sunshine before boarding.  Below is my last photo of Cairns and that blue sky.

Strangely, I never saw this beer anywhere on tap

When we got home, it was great to see Bruce.  He was a bit feral and bedraggled, but only because he'd had his own boy's own adventure whilst we were away.  Our friend Jonathan stayed over to look after him for the week we were in Cairns, and Bruce and him bond like he-men.  Bruce had stories he just couldn't tell us.  The green ball was lost too.  I found it the next day behind the shed.

Slightly feral and bedraggled, but Bruce looks pretty happy