Thursday, February 25, 2016

ADELAIDE SAILORS KISS KOALAS IN SHORT TROPICAL SOJOURN

HMAS Adelaide in  port  with  cruise ship  terminal  in  foreground...hula girls and wombats busy .

Australia's  newest  and  largest  warship , HMAS Adelaide , docked in Townsville  and the  Murdoch  Townsville Bulletin marked the occasion with a special wrap around  visitors guide  which treated  the pride of the fleet  like  a cruise ship - with an illustrated list of  10  things for the  sailors  to  do  during their  time  in  port. 

With Townsville  already  involved  flying  supplies to  cyclone  shattered   Fiji ,    the  last  thing  you  expect sailors to be doing is snorkelling  at Magnetic Island , driving to  Billabong  Sanctuary to   cuddle a  pissy Koala  or a  waddling  Wombat ... surely the average Aussie matelot has  had a close previous  encounter with  the aforesaid critters?  A  tour of  CBD  boutiques and  the  imitation  Melbourne  lane  is  also  highly recommended .

As a matter  of  fact  , early on  the day of the  ship's arrival ,  Little Darwin  was  in   the Townsville  Bunnings   and  Army personnel  seemed to be amassing a large  amount of  materials  which  one presumes  was  intended for Fiji .  (A large RAAF   Globemaster  transport  was  seen  coming  into land  soon after.) 


The grey ship will return to Sydney so the crew, which consumes about 1000 cans of Coke a week and 100 chocolate bars a day, will be able to regularly visit Taronga Zoo and Kings Cross to  see the assorted animals  .   On  the ABC this morning   it  said  Australia's flagship  HMAS  Canberra was on  its  way  to  Fiji  from  Brisbane .