We slept well and awoke, at 7am, for the last time onboard Arcadia.
We had already docked in Brisbane a few hours earlier so it was basically a case of washing, dressing etc.. and ensuring we had everything and then leaving the room.
Our suitcases went last night so it was just us and our rucksacks and jackets that went off to the buffet for breakfast. It wasn’t busy as I guess some may already have eaten and were ready to tour Brisbane for the day.
After breakfast we had to meet, with about 30 others, in the globe. Also disembarking with us was Sue and Janet (we will meet up with Janet in 4 weeks on the Queen Mary 2). Paul & Sandra were also there disembarking and again it was very emotional.
We disembarked and found our suitcases and made our way over to a taxi and bumped into Chris and Lesley again who were about to catch a shuttle into the city. There have been an awful lot of goodbyes in the last 24 hrs.
The airport is near the cruise terminal but not easy to reach so you have to drive miles inland, turn right a bit and drive the miles back again in the direction you have just come from. Apparently, according to our taxi driver, the cruise terminal has only been here 7 months and is causing uproar and they want it moved back to where it was as it was much closer to town where it is prettier, the roads are better and the shops and infrastructure existing. Basically, it is currently “welcome all cruisers to Brisbane. This bit is a bit of a shithole but 40mins drive away is the good stuff” - not a great advert.
The nice driver dropped us off and we checked in and spent 3hrs catching up on internet tasks and lunch before we flew on a virgin Australia flight to Prosperine airport. The flight was delayed just over an hour so we didn’t get to Prosperine Airport until 3:30pm. It is a small but lovely airport though.
We had a hotel transfer booked and they were waiting for us, with the usual surname placard, and 30mins later we were dropped off at the Airlie Beach hotel.
We are here for 2 nights but not consecutive ones. We explored the town and made sure we knew where we had to go tomorrow and also where we have to pick up our car later. Then, as it is us, we had ice cream. It is very humid here and there had been rain about earlier but we only encountered the odd spots of rain.
We decided to have ribs for dinner in a bar attached to the hotel. It came with free salad and desserts but it was all too much for us.
The colours of the sunset earlier were amazing and we went back to our room and prepared for our long day tomorrow.
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