i'm tired of waiting to upload photos.

so here is the last batch for now... I hope they come through okay. This is Brisbane, land of the cranes that didn't get published before...

The top pic is Cable Beach in Broome.

Ants. and an Uncle.

So these things in the trees are ant houses. They look like the tent worms in NC, only they are teeming with these bright green-butted ants. I was watching on TV, and they said that if you squeeze these ant houses, you get a green liquid from them, which you can drink and it tastes like lemonade. I didn't try it. But i thought, "Hey, if I get stranded in the outback, I know what I can drink!" If I could just get past the ant heads and legs in my lemonade.

more pics, I hope.

The internet connection is so spazzy. It takes forever to upload photos, and even then, when I go to publish them, they don't come through. Go figure. Technology.

pics...hopefully.

This is part of Port Douglas. We ate lunch at a place called Soul-n-Pepper. I had amazing fish spring rolls.










An original piece of artwork I saw in a store. Gorgeous.

The witches' Broome!!

Broome is amazing! Beautiful. Went to Cable Beach, hung out with James and Ben, and had a close encounter with a blue bottle jellyfish... yes, this is one of the deadly ones. Not to worry, mom... I just got close to it, but not close enough to touch it. Okay, I lie. I touched it, but not the stinging part. I'll even post a pic of it, because believe it or not, it was quite beautiful. The water temperature was probably in the high 80's, and felt like bath water, no kidding. I went swimming for the first time in ages, and it was well worth the effort, not to mention the hot lifeguards. The rest of the gang went camel riding down the beach, but I passed on it, trying to save money. No regrets, though. I am saving my money to go skydiving with the gang in New Zealand. How many people can you honestly say you know who have done that? It will be my Christmas present to myself. It's really amazing how quickly money goes here. Everything is really crazy expensive. A pizza at the restaurant we went to today was over 20 bucks. I ended up having french fries, and that alone was 6. Yucky on the money deal.

Came back to the ship, had dinner in the Horizon. Had orange roughy and some veggies. It was good, but the apple pie for dessert was atrocious. What i wouldn't give for a good old fashioned piece of apple or cherry pie!

Have yet to eat in the dining room... not sure why I haven't yet. Maybe because I have to get all dressed up to be seen outside my cabin, and I really don't want to get all gussied up just to go possibly spill cold soup on myself. Oh, the dilemma of living on a cruise ship!

The new girl is great. She has a great personality, and is a decent dancer as well. She evens out the American to Brit ratio... she's from Missouri. We open with our new cast day after tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the Halloween party that the dancers are hosting. I have no idea what we are doing for decorations, as no one yet again seems to know what the heck is going on. Communication is something to be desired here. I was originally going to go to our party as Jonah from Summer Heights High, an hysterical sitcom/mockumentary on Aussie TV here. It is absolutely a kick in the pants funny show. Paul and the gang would absolutely love it, as one of the characters is a high school drama teacher. Very funny. I bought the DVD set while I was in Sydney last, and just laugh until i cry watching it. Check it out on youtube...

Princess Cruise Lines...

where the left and right meet and no one has any idea what the hell is going on.

Darwin today. The cast is hosting the Halloween party (that not many Aussies celebrate) and so it was my duty to get off the ship today and go buy candy and supplies. The rest of the cast had a Coast Guard Drill, so I was the only one who could get off the ship, as I have passenger status...or do I?

I went to get off the ship, the coast guard drill hadn't yet happened, so I thought all was well. I go to the gangway, and am immediately stopped by the security guy who tells me I can't get off the ship. I tried to explain that I am a guest entertainer and that I don't have any crew drill duties, and that I have passenger status. Well, of course, this isn't good enough, so he has to make a phone call to someone "in the know". Wait. Wait. Wait. The page is returned. In foreign language I hear "Ping pong, ping pong, dabba dabba ping pong ramalamading dong passenger status, guest entertainer, ping pong ping pong, you get the idea. Hangs up. No, I can't get off yet. That person has to check with another person. Wait. Wait. Wait. This happens four times. FOUR TIMES! Oy holy mother of god! Finally, I am allowed to get off the ship. Forty five minute trip to downtown Darwin. I find the Woolworth's. Spend way too much on party supplies, most of it candy... not to worry, Dad, I get reimbursed. Mission accomplished. Forgot my camera, so no pics of Darwin.

So how do I explain Darwin... what's the word? Um. Flat.

Flat, dry, with ant hills the size of my niece. I crap you negative. These suckers are huge! I can only imagine the size of the ants that live in them.

And that's the story, folks. Darwin is... flat. Flat and dry. But very wet during the rainy season, apparently. Up to three meters of rain. That's aussie talk for about 9 feet. Damn, that's a lotta rain.

More later, as my internet card is about to expire. More pics coming. Miss you all.

Oh... I finished the play! I even managed to get it sent off to the powers that be. And I made my deadline. I even submitted it early! By four days!

Happy Halloween, everyone. I'll try to write again soon.
JMB

If you aren't late, you're Airlie!

In Airlie Beach today. Had a ten am rehearsal for the Country show, which we do tomorrow... can you say matinees suck? It went better than I thought it would, though. My voice is a little ragged from the Piano Man shows over the past few days, but hopefully by tomorrow things will be back to normal.

So, Airlie Beach was awesomely beautiful. You know, I could definitely come back and do Australia again, this time for longer. A few short hours in town is way too short. Airlie Beach is a beach town (!) but because we are in killer jellyfish season, no one swims in the ocean! They all go to the man made lagoon, which is kind of a bionic wading pool for adults and tots. It reminded me of the resorts the you find in Mexico, with pools covered with walking bridges, and tons of people. I didn't swim, as I don't have a swimsuit, but I sat and watched the pretty (and not os pretty) boys and girls frolic in the water. Walked around a bit, ate at McDonalds, you know gotta try the local fare. It was delish! Some of the best french fries I have ever had... save Cancun, Mexico.

Finally got online, but for some reason, none of my photos want to be posting. I will try again soon. I took some great pics from the last couple of ports and I want to share them with everyone, but the wireless internet aboard is so sketchy.

So. Things are going well. Better, anyway. I made up with my company manager who wasn't speaking to me because of our little disagreement, but things are patched over and back to normal. She's great, and I didn't realize she was in so much stress, as am I. Ah well.

Gotta get to work on the play. Only ten days until the due date. UGH! I hope it comes together.

My love to all, and please keep thinking about me! Wish I could send postcards to everyone, but time and money doesn't allow for it. Besides, I never know if they get there anyway. Port Douglas in a couple days, to see all 968 residents! Wow. Maybe I will go kite surfing. Maybe I will get eaten by a giant box jellyfish. Maybe I will get sunburned to a crispy potato chip-like texture and have to be medically disembarked and fed to the sharks.

Love you guys!
JMB