It was calling to me

In case you missed my Instagram story, I’ve escaped to the Kimberley for 10 days with DD. Woo hoooooo!

We’ve been yearning to go back since our first visit between COVID-19 lockdowns.

I spotted a great deal online … which ended up costing way more than it should due to the travel agent being in the middle of the Moroccan desert while booking it … a story for another day and a stiff drink …

Anyways, DD and I were both feeling pretty burnt out by work, so it wasn’t hard to convince him to book an adventure.

And I talked my friend Emily into joining us! Well, she didn’t take much convincing either.

There was no solo supplement on the cruise, aboard a lovely small ship called Le Soleal, so we all booked separate cabins and started eagerly packing.

We arrived in Darwin in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Our flight landed at 12:45am, which we discovered is peak hour at Darwin Airport. The terminal was packed to the eyeballs with people and we joined a queue with around 100 other exhausted passengers to get a cab.

We finally laid our weary heads on the pillows at our hotel at around 2am, with the alarm set for 6.45am because DD had a Zoom meeting.

Joy.

After a hectic Tuesday working from the hotel, we boarded the ship just before sunset and sipped French bubbles out on deck in balmy Darwin, a fantastic reprieve from the Sydney winter.

Our cruise is surprisingly low on passengers – the ship can accommodate up to 220 people, but there are only 120 on board, with 71 solo passengers among them. That makes nabbing a shady table for lunch on the deck super easy.

Our first day was a lazy one at sea. I rose for the sunrise, had breakfast with Emily on the deck, then we went to a stretch class together, followed by an aqua aerobics class.

There was a zodiac briefing straight afterwards, which Emily and I attended in our cossies and bathrobes, which created a bit of a stir in the theatre.

Then we chilled out until lunchtime, hoovered through the buffet, had a nap (unprecedented!), chilled out a bit more and went to an iPhone photography lesson.

The photography session was fascinating … and hilarious. We learned so many new tricks and felt sorry for the expedition crew members who’d been tasked with teaching over-60s how to use the cameras on their phones.

Imagine 40 people saying “I can’t find that button” and “It’s not working” over and over and over again.

And it was very amusing watching the staff member tasked with pretending to be a dolphin leaping into the air multiple times while passengers tried to master using the “live” function on their phones.

Afterwards, we went to a Kimberley wildlife briefing, followed by afternoon tea and trivia … accompanied by the Cocktail of the Day for me.

Then we dolled up for poolside drinks with the Captain, followed by a gala dinner. This was my dessert …

The cruise director cajoled us into attending a Beatlemania dance and song performance in the theatre at the ungodly hour of 9pm, which included a very flexible young woman spinning and doing the splits with a guitar on a rope attached to the ceiling while a bloke sang “While my guitar gently weeps”.

Then we retired to our respective cabins to get a good night’s sleep ahead of our first zodiac expedition this morning to Jar Island.

We’re only two days into our voyage and I already know it won’t be my last visit to this remarkable part of the world, next time I want to combine a few Kimberley highlights with some snorkelling at Rowley Shoals … 2027 maybe?

Song of the day: Prince “While my guitar gently weeps”