Day 189 of 366: Blog Challenge 2012

Hello all … or should that be: ‘goodbye all’?

Well the day has finally dawned to leave for Perth and our cruise around the top of Australia. I am posting this blog before I leave as it is a five and a half hours flight between Brisbane, Queensland and Western Australia (WA) and it is best done before arriving late today.

Oh, we do live in a very vast land here in Australia, don’t we? I remember when we were at primary school, we were taught that the British Isles would fit into Queensland 10 times? Does that sound about right? And we are only one state!

Now that I am giving out information I thought I should do a bit of googling and find out some true facts about the matter (and I was wrong about the 10 times):

How big is Queensland?

Queensland is the second largest Australian state. If the State of Queensland was a country, it would rank as the 25th largest in the world; in between Libya and Iran.

Queensland’s size is 1.7 million square kilometres, which is:

  • nearly seven times larger than the British Isles
  • larger than South Africa
  • more than twice the size of Pakistan.

How big is Australia?

Australia’s size is 7.74 million square kilometres, which is:

  • the sixth largest country in the world
  • slightly smaller than the mainland of the United States of America
  • more than twice the size of India
  • nearly twice the size of the European Union
  • the world’s smallest continent.

All very interesting facts!

The beautiful city of Perth

We are spending three nights in Perth which is the capital of WA. Bear in mind that I live on the other side of Australia which is a long way away! I have never been to Perth myself but Geoff has had a stopover there for seven hours some years ago so he can be my guide and take charge. I believe Perth is a lovely city. Here is how the Perth website sells itself; it’s quite a good blurb:

“Perth is the dynamic capital city of Western Australia, the nation’s fastest growing State. It’s a city on the move. The City of Perth is the local government authority steering development and is also a major provider of free entertainment for the 1.7 million people in the greater metropolitan area.

The city is the premier destination for business, nightlife, culture and the arts. Inner-city living is thriving as more people choose to make their home here. As well as serving more than 18,000 inner city residents, the City of Perth also caters for some 110,000 daily visitors.”

From Perth, we will travel by train to Freemantle (30 minutes away) to board our ship the Dawn Princess on 10th July. Here are the details for you to feel very envious about. Well, I would be envious if it was any of  you ‘out there’ going on this cruise! I will give you all full permission to feel envious … Here is the itinerary for our trip:

Here is our itinerary – but we are getting out in Brisbane not Sydney.

Jul 10, 2012 Fremantle, Australia — 5:00 PM
Jul 11, 2012 Geraldton, Australia 7:00 AM 3:00 PM
Jul 12, 2012 At Sea — —
Jul 13, 2012 At Sea — —
Jul 14, 2012 Lombok, Indonesia 8:00 AM 6:00 PM
Jul 15, 2012 At Sea — —
Jul 16, 2012 Broome, Australia 8:30 AM 9:30 PM
Jul 17, 2012 Kimberley Coast, Australia (Scenic Cruising) 4:00 PM 8:00 PM
Jul 18, 2012 At Sea — —
Jul 19, 2012 Darwin, Australia 7:00 AM 2:00 PM
Jul 20, 2012 At Sea — —
Jul 21, 2012 At Sea — —
Jul 22, 2012 Port Douglas, Australia 7:00 AM 6:00 PM
Jul 23, 2012 Airlie Beach, Australia 12:00 AM 7:00 PM
Jul 24, 2012 At Sea — —
Jul 25, 2012 Brisbane, Australia 8:00 AM 6:00 PM
Jul 26, 2012 At Sea — —
Jul 27, 2012 Sydney, Australia 7:00 AM —

Well, that is it for now. We are all packed and ready for the airport.  I spoke to Maria last night when she phoned from East Timor so we will not see each other as she is coming home in another week. It does seem strange not to have Maria, Steve and the girls with us as they shared our last adventure to Fiji in May this year. I will miss those girls to liven things up!

Oh well, we are big enough to look after ourselves. I invite you all to come with me to Perth and share my adventures as I continue to blog every day throughout our 18 day trip.

Up up and away …

Our ship: The Dawn Princess


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