Vanuatu was the last of the South Pacific Islands that we visited, then we stopped in Cairns and Townsville before heading to Sydney for a 3-day stop.
Cities in Australia feel like home. They speak English, the streets and shops and city infrastructure are well maintained. It all feels very safe. Each city we visit I say, "I could live here in a heartbeat." The only drawback is that it's expensive. Prices are right up there with the US.
Our main task in Cairns was to refill a prescription for Jim. We went to a pharmacy and were told that he needed a prescription from an Australian doctor and there is a walk-in clinic just down the street. Great. He met with the doctor and got a prescription for a year's supply! We went back to the pharmacy and this time they said, Oh, we don't make that particular drug in Australia. There is a similar one but we're out of stock on that and won't get any more until April. 😒 We went back to the doctor and he changed the prescription to the Australia drug and we set off to try the other pharmacies in town. Nope, Sorry, Don't have it. Same experience in Townsville. We finally got it filled in Sydney at the Balmain Community Pharmacy. It was walking distance from the ship and we were glad to have the excuse to explore - what a nice community Balmain is. Here's another place I said, "I could live here in a heartbeat."
In Townsville, we got off the ship and took an uber to a pharmacy (where we struck out again), then just walked around a bit. What a nice place.
The ship docked in Townsville, Australia
The highlight of Townsville, at least for me was line dancing. Kathie, our line dancing instructor on board had arranged a meetup with the local line dancing group. Loved it! So cool to have a reason to get together with locals.
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