Day 11 - Sunday 10th July

It was a hot breakfast in the hotel restaurant at 7am. Today it wasn't necessary to take our bags to the bus because there were no bags and no bus. Instead we would be catching a ferry to Horn Island which is a nearby island in the Torres Strait.

At 7:45, we left the hotel and walked down to the wharf to catch the 8am ferry. This ferry (surprisingly called "Queenslander") was old and battered but at least it was only a short trip to Horn Island. It was a warm sunny day but quite windy. Once again, the sea was a beautiful turquoise colour.

When we landed, there was a small bus waiting to take us on a guided tour of the island. The first stop was to drop our bags at a nearby restaurant (where would later have lunch). It was good to get rid of our heavy backpacks which we had packed for our overnight stay on Thursday Island.

Our guide's name was Liberty and he was of Chinese extraction. During the tour, we would learn more about Liberty and his family.

For example, when I commented on the "Warfarin" bracelets on his wrist, he showed me the zipper scar on his chest from his heart surgery. I can't match that. I've got four cardiac stents but I've never had to endure the operation he had.

He is married to an Australian girl, Vanessa. Together they run the tour business, the restaurant and the museum next door. Liberty was an entertaining and informative guide.

Since the theme of the tour was the history of the island during WWII, he gave each of us an excellent illustrated booklet about the WWII history.

Like most people, I hadn't been aware that the Japanese frequently bombed Horn Island during WWII. I knew about the bombing of Darwin and on the APT tour of the Kimberley and Kakadu about 15 years ago, I learned about the bombing of Broome too.

The tour started at 9am. We drove past the airport which is now used by Qantas and small aircraft but was originally built for military aircraft in WWII.

The first stop was at a slit trench that was used during the war. At the next stop, we saw an above ground bunker, an underground bunker and a large artillery gun. Later we saw another bunker and the remains of a crashed aircraft.

We were back at the restaurant at 10:45 for morning tea. To fill in the time before lunch, they showed us a video about veterans returning to Horn Island about twenty years ago.

An even better entertainment was the museum which is located in a building behind the restaurant. It contains a comprehensive display of WWII photos, news articles, posters, paintings and indigenous artefacts. It's extraordinary.

Apparently the Torres Strait Heritage Museum was created by Liberty's wife, Vanessa Seeker. It must have taken a long time and an incredible amount of effort. You could spend ages here to take it all in. Well worth a visit. Vanessa deserves thanks and congratulations for what she has created. It's amazing.

They served up a delicious Chinese meal for our lunch at 12:30. After lunch, they showed us another video - this time about how indigenous people survive in this environment. They talked about food, cooking, shelter and weapons. One theme was the story of a white woman who was shipwrecked here about 200 years ago and was taken in by the local tribe.

The Outback Spirit tour group was here too. They seem to be doing a very similar tour to us. We often see them.

At 2pm, Vanessa drove us to the Horn Island airport in their tour bus. We would be catching a Qantas flight back to Cairns. As we passed through security, Suzy set off the alarm because of the metal plates in her arm.

The aircraft was a QantasLink turboprop twin propeller plane and was due to depart soon after 3:30. It was still cloudy, pleasantly warm (28C) and it wasn't raining. The flight left on time and arrived in Cairns on time at 5:15. The best part of the catering on board was the delicious chocolate brownies.

Mandy was waiting for us at Cairns airport with the bus and our bags. She drove us to the Shangri-La Hotel which is located in the city centre close to the bay. This is a big luxurious hotel. So big that it took ages to walk several corridors before we reached our room.

The layout of the room was a surprise - two queen size beds. One was pushed up again the wall and the other was next to the balcony door. So it wouldn't be practical for us to share either bed. Suzy rang to ask them to move us to a normal room with a king size bed. They were unable to change it tonight but they said they could do so for the remainder of our stay.

Our room had a small balcony with a nice view of the bay. There was a park with tall trees to the left, further to the left there was a ferris wheel and tall buildings,  a helipad to the right and further to the right you could see rows of expensive yachts.

The plan was for the group to meet in the hotel foyer at 7:15 to go to the Dundee's Waterfront restaurant for dinner. With all the hassle with the room, Suzy was still drying her hair after a shower but she managed to get there soon after us - despite the challenge of finding her way out of the hotel down countless corridors.

It was an excellent meal. We had three courses with a choice of three different options for each course - plus a complementary glass of wine. We enjoyed the wine and I ordered a bottle of the Luna shiraz which was a McLaren Vale wine.

After the meal, it was time for everyone in the group to say their goodbyes after our adventure with APT. There were lots of hugs and handshakes.