Revision from what was sketchy information at time of my last report: we'll be in cooktown on the 31st. Don Cant joined the ship for entertainment - he'd been Phantom of the Opera for several years. Lovely show last night. Seas were still really high through most of the evening.

Awoke this morning early to pretty calm seas. Time to meet up with the breakfast club. Afterwards, time for the walk about on the jogging track. Hot, hot and steamy aboard for most of the day today. Sandra did another lecture on the aboriginals. Very interesting ... artwork (if it's the real deal) tells you something about the specific tribe's ancestry. Cooking demonstration afterwards in Horizon Lounge. Executive chef has a good sense of humor. At noon, we were at 22 degrees south and 151 latitude east. Have seen small outcroppings of land this afternoon. Lots of the algae in the water on our travel north.

Mongolian barbeque for lunch on the pool deck. I don't know how the crew could stand it - it was a strong blast of steam room quality heat when we arrived at deck 11. We grabbed some pizza from La Verandah and headed to Compass Rose with our appetizer course in hand.

Watched 'Muriel's Wedding' this afternoon. Next up has to be Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and a marathon for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Gary scored on a Bingo win this afternoon; our trivia team was at least in the hunt for prizes today. Yesterday .. it was a bad trivia day.

Signatures for dinner tonight. Sea day again for tomorrow. We've decided 5 straight sea days means we can check off the box on our bucket list that reads "take an ocean crossing voyage".

Missed out on booking an excursion in Cooktown. We'll just kiss Mother Earth when we debark, take the shuttle to town and then try to hold space in the pub for those taking the black granite hill climb excursion.

We are pulling for the Aussies who have been affected by the damaging force of this storm. It's so close on the heels of the big one from a few years ago and takes so much energy to get the repairs made and get on with one's life.

Cheers, Anne