January 9, 2026 Townsville, Australia Cancelled due to weather
Just after 8 a.m., the captain made the announcement that the Port of Townsville was closed due to weather condition associated with a low which could turn into a cyclone (hurricane. The Townsville Harbour Master has decreed no commercial ships were being allowed to enter the port. The ship will continue on her way north to Cairns. The ship is still a little south of Townsville, near the 20th degree latitude, but by 1 p.m. was just passing east of the coast travelling at 10 knots with about 270 nautical miles to go to arrive at Cairn tomorrow morning. The Great Barrier Reef is a little to east as we travel. It extends all the way north to Cape York near the Arafura Sea.
We had not booked a tour. We were just going to wander around the city centre.
The Wulgurukaba people, meaning “canoe people,” and the Bindal people inhabited the Townsville region. In 1864, John Melton Black explored the area for British entrepreneur Robert Towns, to find a northern port to support shipping Queensland cattle and, to the end of the century, Townsville became a key port for gold and sugar industries with the coming of the railroad.
Near Townsville is Castle Hill, made of pink granite which gives panoramic views of the city and Magnetic Island.
We had a leisurely breakfast in the dining room. Robbie, the cruise director, announced that a revised daily program would be delivered to staterooms and added to the Navigator app.
NEWS: A heat wave in southern Australia is causing temperatures to rise to over 40°C with strong winds that are changing direction during the day. Victoria state has eight bushfire emergencies so far today and some smaller fires. Over 90,000 properties in Victoria are without power due to the bushfires.
After breakfast we walked in the warm weather on the Promenade Deck for six laps equivalent to two miles. The wind was strong causing three meter high white capped waves. Steps 5,144
One of the additions for 11 a.m. was John Hocknull’s presentation Fascinating land and People - An Introduction to Papua New Guinea. We chatted with his wife, Morag, before the presentation. They had worked and lived in Papua New Guinea for four years in the early 1970s when it was still part of Australia. The 846 seat World Stage theatre was standing room only on all three levels.
The island of New Guinea in 1883 was divided between European powers. The western half was claimed by the Dutch. The eastern half was again divided with German New Guinea in the north and British Papua in the south. In 1949 the Republic of Indonesia was created when most of the former Dutch East Indies colonized people received their independence from the Netherlands. Only West New Guinea with its distinct Melanesian population remained as a Dutch colony until West New Guinea declared independence in 1961. However within months the Indonesian military invaded. In 1963 the Indonesian president maintained that as a former Dutch East Indies colony should be part of Indonesia and remained a military presence until a controversial election with widespread intimidation in 1969 declared that West New Guinea would be part of Indonesia.
The Territory of Papua and New Guinea formerly German New Guinea and British Papua was under Australia since 1949, but was legally unified and gained full independence as the modern nation of Papua New Guinea in 1975.
The island of New Guinea is the second largest in the world, after Greenland. It is only 260 kilometres from mainland Australia. Over 70,000 years ago, via DNA sequencing, it has been shown that the Denisovan hominins, an ancient human species, settled on the island of New Guinea wandering from far away ancient Serbia. Today’s modern island children have blond “Afro” hair what turns “ginger” by their mid 20s. Taro was a staple food until 300 years ago when the sweet potato was introduced by Europeans. Banana originated on the island and is the world’s largest herb. (Mr. Hocknull joked that would be good to know for trivia.) Sugar cane also originated on the island.
Three kinds of New Guinea’s song birds are poisonous. The Hooded Pitohuis, the Rufous-naped Bellbird and the Regent Whistler. Their feathers contain deadly neurotoxins that are the same class as in the skin of the poison dart frogs of South America. They eat the same related Melyrid beetle species.
During the Great War more than 216,000 soldiers from all nations died on the island.
Papua New Guinea received its independence from Australian ion September 16, 1975. John and his wife, Morag, were at the ceremony. He showed a short video of the event.
The captain’s noon announcement stated that there are only 282 nautical miles to go to get to Cairns. There could be some rain later today. A low-pressure system is 400 km from Cairns and might become a tropical cyclone. We have two days in Cairns and the second day should see the system had passed.
We ate lunch with a couple from Kingston, Ontario and a Texas couple now living in Portugal near Porto.
At 3 p.m. in the World Stage theatre, the Vivace Duo, pianist and violinist, played a matinee to a good crowd. Many more passengers attended than could fit into the duo’s usual Explorer Lounge venue with a 120 person capacity.
Usual dinner in the dinning room. The captain announced, just as we were finishing dinner, that the Port of Cairns had just closed to shipping until at least tomorrow afternoon because a tropical low is expected to become a cyclone. All ship excursions for tomorrow have been cancelled. When we were finished dinner, Sandy and I took the elevator to Deck 10 and Shore Excursion, but they are closed until 9 a.m. so we took the stairs down and joined Margaret, Ted, Sue and Larry for coffee at the Library Café.
This evening’s entertainer in the World Stage is pianist, Joel Bowerman.
After the show when went to the Rolling Stone Lounge to discover that there is a new band for the venue this cruise. We were able to dance to one of the tunes in the Greatest Songs from 2021 Rolling Stone magazine.
At 10 p.m the ship was travelling at less than ten knots and was just east of the town of Tully, which is 141 kilometres from Cairns by road. An official cyclone warning was issued warning of heavy rainfall and flash flooding. The estimated path is halfway between Townsville and Cairns with landfall tomorrow evening.
Total steps. 8,880
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