Our
kind hosts at the tourist board laid on two buses to take us on a
tour of the town this morning. Unfortunately it rained all morning
and umbrellas were order of the day. Tarakan was occupied by
Japanese forces during WW2 and liberated by the Australian army in
1945. Remaining from that time are a gun emplacement overlooking the
harbour, a memorial to the Australian Army and a museum housed in a
Nissan hut. We visited each of these places and then went to see a
mangrove conservation area adjacent to the town and home to a troop
of proboscis monkeys. While we watched the moneys they must have
been laughing at us slipping along the wet walkways.
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| gun emplacement |
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| Polly and David have lunch |
There
was a tasty packed lunch in a box of which I took a second one, not
because I'm greedy, but because David had stayed behind on board to
do some essential repairs and to keep a watch on the fleet. I
brought his lunch back and Polly helped him to eat it.
The
evening revolved around more hospitality; a dinner with the mayor of
Tarakan in a room at the Port office. There were speeches of welcome
and of thanks before the meal and Mr Mayor presented five ladies,
including me, with commemorative books of Tarakan's war history and a
proboscis monkey toy. Polly's going to enjoy playing with her new
friend. Dinner was excellent with some chicken bones going into the
'cat bag' we'd brought along.
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| me, Sue, Mayor, Janice, Maureen |
At the
end of the evening we had some dancing and karaoke from the head of
navy before collecting our finalised Customs paperwork which is now
stamped and certified by the port captain. With this we can leave
for the next stop, Tanjung Batu.
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