Part 6 – Cairns to Hong Kong

After I said goodbye to Mum and Dad in Cairns, my ship then travelled north to Papua New Guinea to Rabaul. I did a tour out to a World War II Memorial site which I found quite moving. Having been to one in Normandy last year, I found visiting one for Australian Soldiers an emotional experience. We also visited PNG’s version of a museum of old war relics, and lastly one of the many tunnels the Japanese built where they hid their barges, three of which were still in the tunnel we visited. At the time of our visit, one of Rabaul’s volcanoes was showing much activity. We were there on a wet day and the rain contained volcanic ash which made your skin black, and the whole place was covered and very hazy with it. I think my favourite part was the people and how friendly they were to us.

Next stop was Guam. I did a tour that went around the island visiting various sites. I’ve included one photo of a lookout we first stopped at when our bus broke down…that was fun (not). The new cast taking over from us arrived in Guam. This is such a bizarre contract in the sense that when they got on board we still had one more show to perform. Pianoman, which we performed on March 4th was so much fun. The passengers loved it and gave us such a great response.

From humidity to the cold, we arrived next in Osaka. I did an amazing tour that day with Karen, Dave and Drew. We visited the Golden Pavilion, had a traditional Japanese lunch, were dressed in Kimonos, spent time at a temple… the whole day was amazing!!

The next day we were in Hiroshima. We visited the Atomic Dome which was the epicentre of the bomb that survived, and is left there today as a reminder of this sad event. I really enjoyed Japan and was really struck by how clean it is.

Next stop was Shanghai. I was really surprised by how western it was there and all the European architecture. I did a tour with Dave and Loren that day visiting museums, markets, gardens etc.

My last two days on board the Tahitian were spent packing up my cabin and saying our goodbyes. Being a world cruise you get to know the passengers better than usual and some of them very kindly had a farewell drinks for us. I had such a great time on the Tahitian and have met some wonderful people. I’m particularly going to miss Steph and Karen… and of course JJ and Frankie, oh and also the band, they were great.

We’re in Hong Kong with Chris now, so I’ll update you all on that soon.

Lots of love,
Jess xx