Our ship left Sydney Harbour, and went to dinner and a show.
When we returned to our cabin after - in the middle of the floor - another suitcase!!! Somehow, between our communications with our hotel, the cruise-ship, and our travel agent, all pestering United Airlines, the suitcase made it to the dock, and onboard before we left. We are not quite sure what transpired, and the suitcase didn't give away any secrets - just the dramatic entrance.
And the ship had offered to provide free laundry to our cabin until the bag arrived... so we got one load for free.
Extra bonus - as I unpacked, everything was wet. And stunk badly of mildew. Changing into new clothes after 4 days in my prior outfit did not improve my aura.
It looks like 4 days prior, at SF, the suitcase was sitting in a puddle.
Fortunately, a couple of days of line-drying and airing out seems to have done the trick.
Day 1 - Sea Day.
Day 2 - Morton Island (within site of Brisbane).
We signed up for a snorkeling tour past an artificial reef of scuttled ships. No photos of this (didn't take the phone to get into the water). It was... okay. But crowded and cloudy and the current was really, really strong. They drop you off at the top of the ships, and pick you up at the end of the reef. Sounds like there was a cyclone a couple of years ago, and since, the current has shifted so the water is pretty cloudy. Saw some fish, though.
Both before and after, did some hiking up to a desert area. A sandy stretch where you can see rock formations created by lightning strikes (I did not spot these, but others did).
Saw a lot of wildlife, though.
Day 3 - Brisbane
A small group of us took a bus to the city center. Walked downhill to the Botanical Gardens. A Park Guide approached us and asked if we wanted a tour (of course we agreed). He told us about many of the plants in the botanical gardens, which were native and which were introduced, and pointed out some of the wildlife. Saw a lot of birds and lizards. And bats. And an eel.
After, headed back to the ship.
Overall, birding in Australia so far has been good. 40 new species to date. And most with photos.
Some photos:
Boarding the ship!:
Leaving Sydney Harbor, with a couple of tugboats:
Pied Cormorants and Australian Pelicans:
Brush Thick-knees, and Masked Lapwings. The Thick-knees, stand straight like stilts, or rest on their backwards-facing knees (like the one below) - creepy. And with the eyes, they always look like they have an attitude, like disgusted teenagers:
On a hike up into the hills - another creepy-looking bird - a Noisy Friarbird with a nodule on its beak; and a Leaden Flycatcher.
A Monitor Lizard next to the path, and a view down to the ship:
A view of the desert, in contrast to the path I have been walking:
A Brown Honeyeater, and a Whistling Kite. Merlin only IDs about 30% of the birds in this area by sound, so a number of these require a semi-decent photo for identification. Getting they Honeyeater photo, with this guy bouncing around behind the leaves, took about 15 minutes. But in the end, I got something good enough for tentative confirmation (and could then listen to a my recording of its call vs a reference recording for validation):
Brisbane:
At the Botanical Gardens, a Pied Butcherbird and a Dusky Moorhen:
A good look at a Laughing Kookaburra, and a Torresian Crow:
Non-bird things: Giant bats (flying foxes). Eels (the park removed all eels and fish a couple of years ago, but the eels come in from the ocean up the river, and then crawl across land to get to the ponds). Large iguanas.
A Buff-Banded Rail, and a Blue-Faced Honeyeater:
Day 4 is a sea day, and then next stops (days 5-7) are at Townsville and then two days at Cairns - our final stops in Australia before heading out to some of the Pacific islands.
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