I Booked a Cruise - Again!

We are always on the lookout for discounted cruises and will often research cruises we want to go on but can't afford. We then check the prices every now and then and when a deal is offered, and we can do it, we book it.

But there are things that one needs to know when booking a last minute cruise, especially if the country visiting is a country not visited in a while. The latest we have ever booked a last minute cruise was the day before, and the destination was one we had been to many times, so that was easy - pack and go.

Our first trans-Pacific cruise was two weeks before departure and we did need to use a travel agent for that one as there were too many 'extra' things we had to book.

Our last one - before this one - was to New Zealand,  a place we love and have been to many times. We had been looking at that cruise since it first came out and it was way out of our budget. I kept looking and booked three days out from departure. Luckily our bags were almost packed from the last cruise and visas were easily done online.

But this recent one, booked 5 weeks before departure, was hectic indeed. We booked a 12 night cruise from Singapore to Brisbane.

Not only did we need to book flights, we needed accommodation, visas, transfers, currency etc etc.

Flights - we searched all flights direct and with one stopover. Many flights had long stopovers in either Sydney or Melbourne, Darwin or Bali - not ideal. Pricing was a big factor. We chose Jetstar (yes Jetstar) as it was a third of the price of the other airlines. It wasn't that bad, but the food was awful. Would we book Jetstar again..... maybe, depends on the price.

Accommodation was the easiest. There are many many hotels in Singapore and the prices range greatly. We wanted a good location, near shops and transport, included breakfast if possible, pool would be great. We chose Travelodge Harbourfront and would definitely stay then again.

Visas - what a nightmare. We needed visas for Singapore, easy to do online, although one of the passports scanned incorrectly and had to be redone at Changi Airport. Indonesian visas for Bali a different story. I used the official site, and over two days tried to get the three visas. I got numerous scam emails, many error pages when trying to pay. Will think twice before I book a cruise that goes to Bali again.

Currency - easy to get the currency for both Bali and Singapore at the local currency exchange, but working out how much we needed for each place was a little more difficult. For Bali, we knew that we were going to stay close to the port, and that there were markets and beer stalls. Bali was also the flight stopover. Peter used a credit card at Bali airport, and didn't spend anything when we were in port. Didn't need any Indonesian currency. 

We spent 5 nights in Singapore and planned to visit hawker centers that take mostly cash, so we needed cash. Well, most places used credit cards so very little cash was spent. The odd coffee or ice lolly, that's it.

Next time we will take very little currency.

Transfers - we needed to get from the airport to the hotel, and the hotel to the cruise port 5 days later. In researching for what to do, where to go, and how to get there, we decided on a 5 day Tourist MRT card @ $45Singapore each. We took the train from Changi Airport to Harbourfront and the hotel. We took a taxi from the hotel to the cruise port $16Singapore. 

Sightseeing - we watched a lot of YouTube videos and researched a lot of webpages and reviews of what to do and where to go. We used the Tourist cards to come and go via train and bus. Jon lost his card on day 3 so we used a credit card. When we got the bill for the last two days it was less than $9 Aust. Next time we will use a credit card instead of a Tourist Card.

We had a wonderful time in Singapore, and on the cruise and would do it all again. 

Brisbane City Town Hall, Queensland.

Built in the 1920-30's, Brisbane Town Hall in King George Square was not the first town hall in Brisbane. The first Brisbane Town Hall was built in Queen St in 1864, and less than 20 years later was deemed inadequate. The foundation stone for the new town hall was laid in 1917 by Governor Gould in swampland, and a call for designs was submitted. The decision to build the Town Hall on swamp land in the 1920's may not have been a good idea. During construction of the building the site was flooded with wet weather and a workman drowned.

A second foundation stone was laid by the Prince of Wales (future King Edward VIII) in 1920, along with a time capsule, By 1927 the council had moved in, despite the building not being finished. The town hall was finally completed in 1930, and another foundation stone was laid by the then Governor of Queensland Sir John Goodwin to officially open the building. When it opened it was the tallest building in Brisbane.

The town hall is built on over 2 acres and is considered the largest town hall in Australia. There are many things to see in the Town Hall. It is open 7 days a week and has two cafes. I suggest you book the Shingle Inn if that is the cafe you want. You can pick up a free visitor guide at the front desk or in the Mayors office.

1. There are daily free guided tours of the town hall. We have never been able to book one on the day we decide to go. I suggest you book one on the Brisbane Town Hall website if you know in advance.

2. The Museum of Brisbane (MoB) is a free museum on the 3rd floor of the town hall. It has a changing display of history and culture. We love visiting there and have seen many different displays over the years. When we visited the display was about the history of habitation in the Brisbane area, and included art work of the development. 

We were pleasantly surprised with the addition of a QR code with a signing video to explain the display.

3. The 92m Clock Tower was the tallest structure in the city until 1973. You can book a free tour to the clock tower from the Brisbane City webpage. It is free and books out quickly. Sometimes if you are in the MOB - Museum of Brisbane - you may be able to take a 'no show' place. The accent up to the top is in an original 1930's cage lift. Be aware that the clock chimes every fifteen minutes and it is very loud.

4. The auditorium is a lovely art deco designed area with a huge Father Henry Willis Organ, built in 1891 and relocated to Brisbane City Hall.

The organ has 4300 pipes.

5. We were told by a member of the Town Hall staff about the Gold Mirror Room. We looked up the guide and found it near the Lord Mayors office. This room is used for press conferences and as a waiting room for visitors to the Lord Mayor.

Just outside the mirror room is a hallway with plaques from many different councils around the world, and all the past lord mayors.

The foyer off King George Square had a historic display of the building of the town hall, which I  don't remember being there last year when we visited.

We came across this door, although I don't remember which floor it is on. 

It comes from Brisbane House in Largs Scotland, the home of Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, whom Brisbane is named after. 

The Ann Street foyer had another display of history and art work.

 

 

So much to see at Brisbane Town Hall, and the best thing is that each time you visit it is different.

WWII Tour of Rabaul PNG

In October we went on our second cruise to PNG. We were unable to visit Rabaul last time due to gang conflict so we were happy to be able to visit this time. Docked at the port, if you walk to the right you will see all the buses for the ship tours, and if you keep walking past and around the building you will see local tour operators. To the left is the way to exit the port. Exciting the port there are market stalls along each side of the street.

We looked through tours online and tours recommended in FB page Cruise PNG. If you look in the files section there are a lot of updated resources including tours by reputable tour operators. We chose Rabaul Cruise Tours and would highly recommend this company. We chose tour C, a 4 hour half day tour.

First stop was the Japanese Karavia Barge tunnels.

At the entrance to the tunnels we were informed by a local guide about the construction and history of the tunnels. These tunnels were built as part of a rail network during WWII to house barges, ships and ammunition for the Japanese forces. The Japanese forced locals and prisoners of war to dig out and reinforce the tunnels, to store equipment out of sight of the Allied forces.

There are five barges remaining in this tunnel lined up one behind the other and rusting. There is a raised walkway that is now closed due to the dangerous rotting timbers.

 Each stop included some form of markets. These were at the barge tunnel markets.

The roads are not very good and driving along the bumpy roads we saw many white crosses in front of houses. I'm not sure what they mean, maybe that the family that lives there is a Christian.

Next stop was the Rabaul Volcano Observatory. A great view over Rabaul, Mt Tavurvur Volcano and the port, including our ship Encounter.

The observatory was closed, so not a lot to see in and around the buildings. There is a memorial to Robin Cooke and Elias Ravian, who died while performing volcanological duties at Karkar Island on 8 March 1979. Also large volcano information plaques that were difficult to read and very hot to touch.

The earliest recorded eruption of the Tavurvur Volcano was in 1737. Other eruptions were:- 1791; 1878. 1937-43 and 1994-2014. The last big eruption was in August 2014 when an 18km high eruption took place with 1km high spouts of lava were observed.

Next stop was the New Guinea Club (Rabaul Museum) and Admiral Yamamoto's Bunker. There is not a lot is left of the compound. Originally an Australian Army camp in WWI, the New Guinea Club use to be the Australian Army Sergeants Mess.

The buildings were badly damaged during WWII and the New Guinea Club rebuilt. It was again damaged by fire in 1993 and volcanic eruptions in 1994. A section of the club was rebuilt and that is what remains today as a museum.

There is a lot of really good information and displays, but so little time to read very much. There is also a small WWII plane in the museum. We were given about 25-30 minutes at each stop, but certainly were not rushed along by the tour guide.

The museum has information about the history of the Rabaul area through German colonization, both world wars to today. The Germans settled here and established Rabaul as its capital from the 1880's to 1919, when after WWI Germany was striped of all its colonies. During WWI it was taken over by the Australians and used until the Japanese landed in February 1942. It became the Japanese Navy headquarters until the end of WWII.

It was a very hot day, PNG is only 700km south of the equator, so it was good that there plenty of seats to sit and rest. Sadly the fans not working, but cold drinks from an esky were being sold.

The grounds of the museum had a few market stalls and old rusting army equipment. Not far away in the grounds is Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto Bunker. It was used during air raids. It was a scary place and is in complete darkness - we needed to use our phone torches to see. 

There was not any information at the bunker and it was like a rabbit warren of rooms and passageways. We didn't go to all the rooms as it was so dark and there were not signs to say where rooms were. I found out later that Admiral Yamamoto was the leader of the Imperial Japanese Navy and planned the attack on Pearl Harbor.

We then went to the hot springs near the volcano. This is on private land and we entered through a gate. The soil was very black, and there was a slight smell of sulphur, and of course markets.

We were told that locals often cook their meals in the hot springs, much like they do in New Zealand's volcanic area.

Some people were prepared with their swimmers and went for a swim. Peter went out up to his knees and said the water was beautiful.

The closer to the hot springs Peter went, the hotter the water.

He couldn't walk in the water close to where the hot springs joined the bay as it was very hot, too hot to stand in.

The last two stops were the old airport runway, now all grown over, and what is left of a WWII plane rusting in bits on the side of the grassy runway. Only a few people got off the air conditioned bus to see the runway, and they were underwhelmed.

The last stop was the Rabaul Markets. Not one person on the bus wanted to walk around the markets in the heat, so we were taken back to the ship. We were told later that a passenger was injured at the markets that afternoon when a person tried to steal her backpack.

We enjoyed the tour and would highly recommend it.

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