On the Pursuit - The Kimberley Coast, Indonesia & PNG - and a really keen choo-choo train!

[Techno123]

@Sharkb8 Look, I've got one of those behind my house. We loan it to Australia so they can show the tourists 😂😂 and would you believe my maiden name was Ayres (slightly different spelling though) so it's the Welsh Ayres Rock or Y Faerdre.

 

Loving your Ghan trip report. On the bucket list, just need to pluck up the courage to get to Aus.

Edited July 29 by Techno123

[shark b8]

On 7/26/2024 at 1:14 AM, highplanesdrifters said:

 

By any chance do you know how long the beds are?  Thanks.

 

If my highly scientific measuring is right.  (7 iPads long & 2.4 iPads wide) - looks to me like maybe just over 6 feet long, just over 2 feet wide.  

[shark b8]

Aaah, the joys of traveling.  And the Aussies have come up with a clever ploy to thwart dopey Americans from charging their devices.  I imagined myself the seasoned traveler, bringing along multiple 3-prong plug/adapters, but more than once I’ve forgotten that most of the time, Australian power outlets have on/off switches.  So if you plug in your phone/tablet but forget to switch the outlet ON, well, the device which you use to write CC posts will not ch

 

 

😉

 

 

 

 

Edited July 30 by shark b8

[highplanesdrifters]

9 hours ago, shark b8 said:

 

If my highly scientific measuring is right.  (7 iPads long & 2.4 iPads wide) - looks to me like maybe just over 6 feet long, just over 2 feet wide.  

 

CC Intelligentsia crushes it again.  😁

 

You're right, pretty short.

[lincslady]

Not so much short as very narrow, IMO.  Well, if you weigh over 130 lbs. and like to turnover.

[Robisan]

6 hours ago, shark b8 said:

 

 

 

Oof, those multiple charging bricks. You might want to consider packing something like this.* The ~5ft power cord enables easier access to multiple USB ports while only needing one power outlet. Also alleviates the problem of inconveniently located power outlets.

 

*Example only, can't vouch for this particular item. The similar one I purchased isn't available now.

[shark b8]

I actually have one of those (intended for the ship) but it’s buried somewhere deep in our checked luggage, and I was hopeful of not having to venture in there.  Thought I could “wing it” for the two weeks before sailing, but it slowly evolved into a Rube Goldberg machine.

[BasandSyb]

Have tried a myriad of plug-ins and gadgets over the years and there has always been some type of annoyance in charging multiple appliances and their nuances.

 

This year on our 5mth round the world I went back to the cave and found a lightweight powerboard with 5 outlet holes and a short cord. That and 3 adaptors worked perfectly for everything to charge at once (2 phones, iPad, camera, toothbrush) and to place the outlets at waist height for easy access - I don’t need to know how long it’s been since the carpet was vacuumed around the edges.

Light for the carry-on and no arguments about whose phone needs more urgent attention. 70s solution to 21C problem.

 

Now, if it was only that easy to find the next cruise itinerary at the right price!!! Enjoying your blog Shark b8.

[Robisan]

29 minutes ago, BasandSyb said:

...a lightweight powerboard with 5 outlet holes and a short cord.

For me a short (or extension) cord is essential. Too ofter power outlets are located in the most inconvenient place for charging multiple items.

 

31 minutes ago, BasandSyb said:

Enjoying your blog Shark b8.

Indeed! Carry on.

[shark b8]

Ok, we’re off the train and have now flown from Darwin to Broome, and will board the Pursuit tomorrow.  In the next few days I may post some stuff that actually happened over the last 10 days or so - with wifi being as spotty as it has been in the outback, there were several posts I intended to offer, but then connectivity went away, then came back when there was other stuff to offer, and….well, you get the idea. Point being, forgive any zigzagging back and forth as far as chronology is concerned.  And this, below, was seconds before landing in Broome.

 

[shark b8]

….and this was the Embraer 190 cabin as they closed the doors, prior to takeoff.  Not exactly a sellout.

 

[highplanesdrifters]

Bring on the zig zag!😃

[TakingFlight]

Are you staying in a hotel before boarding the Pursuit? If so, which one? We are doing a very similar Kimberley trip next year including the Ghan train and will have two nights to spend in Broome before boarding the ship. 

[shark b8]

8 hours ago, TakingFlight said:

….in a hotel before boarding the Pursuit? If so, which one?

 

We’re at the Billi Resort. It’s quite nice and away from town - lushly-planted, individual tented rooms (well, some are).  It’s largely do-your-own-thing, meaning, there’s no one at the desk after 5:00p (late arrivals do the key-code to open a lockbox thing).  First pic is our room.

 

 

 

 

[shark b8]

At one of our coach stops (i.e. rest stop, i.e. bathroom break) along the way, we learn of Bruce the Aussie-named donkey (ask any Monty Python fan).  He was brought up with camels, and thinks he is one.  (In the 19th century, Afghan-immigrant camel drivers were among the more intrepid folks living and working in the outback).  Bruce thinks he’s a camel, and loves his family.  A little too much, we’re told, as he is apparently a little too fond of the lady camels.  If your sound is turned up you can hear him braying, although it’s nearly drowned out by the sound of the helicopter taking off in the background.  We’re told that there are some 2 million wild camels these days, roaming the outback.

 

 

 

[shark b8]

“‘Australia, Australia, Australia, Australia, Australia, we love you, amen!”

 

(if you know, you know)

[shark b8]

Onboard!  (It’s almost as if they were expecting us).       😎

 

     

 

[shark b8]

Actually we boarded yesterday but it took a bit of time to unsnarl internet access.  Completely different procedure than before, they say they changed it 10 days ago.  Anyway, back in business.

 

         

[shark b8]

Love this ship, but it still seems all wrong to go UP to The Club and DOWN to the Colonnade.  🤦‍♂️

[shark b8]

So yesterday we did a remarkable zodiac ride.  Montgomery reef is a largely circular reef of coralline algae.  Late afternoon, we took the zodiacs into the interior area (by way of channel, lower right), and the reef itself was barely visible as a different color, just barely below the surface.  As the tide went out, the water rushed from outside the reef, over it, and gave the illusion of the reef rising out of the ocean.  I’ve been fortunate enough to spend a *lot* of time in and around oceans, and I’ve never seen anything remotely like it. 

 

First there is just a few inches of visible reef, and the water began to trickle over it.

 

 

Edited August 4 by shark b8

[shark b8]

And over the next 90 minutes or so, the tide lowers further and further, causing the trickle to become a torrent.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 4 by shark b8

[shark b8]

And the icing on the cake was….a sea snake.  Seen hundreds and hundreds of eels but my first sea snake.  Our zodiac driver claims he thinks sea snakes are the most wonderful creatures on the earth, and that this was as good and close a sighting as one could hope for.

 

 

 

 

 

[shark b8]

Just as an aside, we had the “trifecta” of wrinkles, the first day.  I mentioned the wifi difficulties. In addition, the temperature control didn’t work, we had the thermostat set for as high as it could go, and the room was still freezing.  Tech guy came, fiddled with it, came back, fiddled some more, and now it seems to be working.  And to round it all out, the phone didn't work either.  No connection to anything.  Tech guy came back, fiddled with it, and now I think everything is behaving.

[shark b8]

Oh, and some humpbacks off our port too.  

 

[BioInfoLib]

We’ll be joining in Darwin on the 11th - so excited!