December
18, 12:05 PM – Brisbane, Australia
We’re
writing from the Qantas VIP-Lounge in the Domestic Terminal
at Brisbane Airport. The flight over went relatively well.
The time slipped by along with the miles. Marieke awoke after
a 7-hour nap, to discover that we were past half way there.
David slept fitfully, finding no purchase on a position for
sleeping. However, several little naps added up and all together
we’re feeling surprisingly rested.
The service on the plane was great, the people are very friendly,
adding to the mythos that most Aussies have been injected
with the “friendly-drug”.
However, our feelings of goodwill gave way to frustration
as we discovered that our connecting flight no longer existed
in the books of Qantas Airlines. We discovered this after
we went through customs, to then be told that we didn’t
have to go through customs. We were sent upstairs to the transfer
desk where we were informed that our flight had been canceled
and we’d been put on a flight, which had left 45 minutes
before we even had arrived. A flight to Cairns was boarding
but we were told that we could not get on it, as we had to
go back downstairs to go through customs, again, but this
time all the way through. We asked what the next flight would
be and the answer was 6 hours later, around 3:30 PM, the time
that we should have landed in Cairns…
So, what to do with the time? It was suggested at the information
desk that we go into Brisbane, but the concern was that we
get back in time and we didn’t want to miss the only
remaining flight today going out to Cairns. But with nothing
else to do, we dutifully trudged to the train station where
the ticket guy cheerfully informed us that a return ticket
would cost us AU$22 pp. and our money would be better spend
going to a nearby mall by cab. So, we lumbered over to the
taxi queue where a “not so cheerful” Eastern European
cab driver told us that we’d never get a taxi back and
besides, there were better restaurants in the airport. So,
we schlepped back into the airport.
Marieke
now had a new mission: to get some kind of reimbursement for
Qantas having dropped to ball on our connecting flight leaving
us stranded at Brisbane airport, with no opportunity to go
snorkeling in Cairns. We went up to the customer service desk
where we were helped by a very officious, if not slightly
nervous man whose desire to be of help was only exceeded by
his compulsive need for procedure. He told us after a good
deal of procedural investigation on his part that indeed Qantas
had messed up and that there was nothing he could do. He asked,
“What would you like me to do?” Well, something
would be better than nothing. Is there any chance for an upgrade
on one of our other flights, or even a lunch voucher for the
5 remaining hours we had sitting in the airport. It seems
that times are tough for Qantas as he had to beg for us to
gain entrée into the VIP Lounge, but here we are being
very important people. And we must say, as we sip our tea
and cappuccino’s, it’s nice. With a bit of luck,
we will still make it to Cairns today, on Monday December
18, because as nice as this lounge is we don’t want
to stay here tonight.
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December
18, evening – Cairns, Australia
Well,
we made it. But not without further trials and tribulations:
We got onto the plain and were seated at the very back, only
to discover, as we were gearing up for take-off, that there
was a mechanical issue with the plane (it would only take
20 minutes to fix.) 20 Minutes later, they came back on the
intercom, “ladies and gentlemen, we’re sorry to
inform you that the issue is not fixed and it may take up
to an hour”. So we sat at the gate for an hour. “Ladies
and Gentlemen, we’re sorry to inform you that you have
to disembark the plane and we’ll put you on another
plane which will take you to Cairns. To make up for this “inconvenience”
you’ll be allowed a drink and a snack at one of the
restaurants immediately outside of the gate.” So, we
all gathered our things and shuffled off the plane to discover
that there was only a vending machine and 1 small coffee/juice
bar. We got in line at the juice bar. On reaching the counter
we discovered that our “credit” only applied to
the 4 sweet muffins and 1 Danish that were left and certain
drinks. We got 2 waters, hoping that one of them would cool
Marieke’s simmering frustration. It didn’t. David
meanwhile was busy working on his submission for Veer, the
stock agency. So, being preoccupied, he was less troubled
by the long chain of events preventing us from arriving at
our destination.
When
we finally got to Cairns, we met the first of many Dutch people,
a clerk for one of the bus companies, operating at the airport.
He was so friendly and offering us advice that we kept waiting
for the sales pitch to drop, but like being in Maui, it made
us feel like we were slightly jaded coming from Los Angeles,
because the man was just very friendly and wasn’t trying
to sell us anything. We’ve since encountered a string
of Dutch people: from a young couple staying across the hall
here at JJ’s backpackers to the night manager here at
the hostel, who for some reason denied his Dutch heritage,
despite it being quite obviously.
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December
20, Later afternoon – Cairns, Australia
We’ve
had 2 days of diving in the Great Barrier Reef, which once
you get past the expectation that it’s going to be sooo
amazing, is actually amazing. It reminds David of Shakespeare:
everyone tells you how fantastic it is and when you first
encounter it, you think “What, this is it?” However,
the more time you spend with it, you come to realize how very
special it is. Thankfully though, unlike a Shakespearean tragedy,
no one died in the end. And now, here we sit, safely on the
floor of our room at JJ’s backpackers, typing away this
story and sipping a cold Coke.
Marieke
was thrilled on her fist day on the boat, to not get seasick
at all. (Despite very choppy water with swells up to 5 ft.)
She was ready to buy stock in the motion sickness patch company
until today…when despite of being on a larger catamaran,
which cut through the water much more smoothly, she began
to feel “uncomfortable…”.
Marieke LOVED the diving and couldn’t wait to go down
again today. She’s slightly sad to not be diving again
here at the Great Barrier Reef, but happy and relieved for
not having to get onto a boat for a while.
The
diving experience: on day one (yesterday) we were a little
disappointed with the amount of sediment in the water which
reduced the visibility a little and the lack of vibrant colors
– it was far from the techni-color photos of the Great
Barrier Reef in crystal clear waters that one always sees.
However, the water was warm (certainly compared to California)
and we both really enjoyed the diving for slightly different
reasons: Marieke loved the sensation of going down to 18 meters
and got a kick out of being able to dive with confidence and
skill. David loved the other worldliness of the reef with
a vast array of beautiful sea life. We both saw cuttle fish
yesterday, which looked like some pre-historic cousin of the
trilobite. It changed colors as it swam over coral to blend
with its surroundings, much like an octopus does – fascinating.
Today the fish were much more colorful (due to a sunny day)
and there was a much larger variety. We saw a beautiful sea
turtle and a wide variety of brightly colored fish, which
took our breath away. For both of us, the dives ended too
soon and we both wanted to go back and dive again as soon
as we could.
We
had 2 dives yesterday and 2 today. Yesterday’s boat
ride was about 2.5 hours and made the journey feel incredibly
long. Whereas today was an hour and fifteen minutes and it
felt less of arduous journey. David rented a camera - a digital
point and shoot with a housing. He was frustrated with the
delay the camera had from the time you pushed the button until
the moment that it decided to shoot, but he still managed
to squeeze out a few decent photos – not bad for his
first time out as an underwater photographer.
We
just had a shower to rinse off the saltiness and shortly will
go back into the Cairns city center to look around and meet
some of the dive crew from yesterday for a bite and a drink
at the Woolshed where last night we got 2 big ole’ slabs
of meat for about US $5 each (they offer a deal through hostels,
luring young backpackers in for a cheap and hardy meal with
fairly expensive alcohol to make up for the cheap dinner.
1 Beer & 1 Coke cost us AU$10.)
For tomorrow we booked an eco-tour to the Daintree rainforest
and to Cape Tribulation. We’ll be picked up at 7:10
in the morning and will spend our day learning about the Australian
rainforest, its wildlife and fauna.
It’s
strange to think that today is December 20 and that Christmas
is a mere 5 days away, because despite some tinselly decorations
here at JJ’s, the tropical setting seems anything but
Christmassy and given that our next stop will the sweltering
heat of Ayers Rock we’ll expect things to become even
less Christmassy as the day approaches. So, given the lack
of Christmas cheer, we’re going to raise a glass in
town and say “Cheers” hoping it will put us more
into the Christmas “spirit(s)”.
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December
21, early evening – Cairns, Australia
Today we’re a little tired, not so much from physical
activity, but because our brains are full. Full of all the
information we learned from the Billy Tea Eco Rainforest Excursion.
They collected us at 7:10 am in a big Mitsubishi 4-Wheel drive
Truck. Our driver, Chris, was cool and incredibly knowledgeable.
As we drove up the coast to the Dainties River, Point Tribulation
and beyond, he gave us information about flora & fauna,
history, agriculture and Australian idiom. For example: we
stopped to use the ‘Dunnies’ (toilets), later
followed by a ‘Smoko stop’ (tea / coffee break)
before boarding the 1-hour cruise on the Daintree River.
We
were very fortunate to spot 2 crocodiles, especially at this
time of year, the rainy season, when they’re not as
visible due to their nesting behavior. Marieke was the one
who spotted the 2nd crock and about 10 minutes after spotting
him for the first time, he decided to swim up the river, following
our boat for a spell. A second tour boat came along and he
decided to duck under water and disappeared in the murky,
muddy waters of the Daintree River. We also saw fruit bats,
hanging in the top of the trees lining the river; just too
many to even start counting. We also spotted a little snake,
dangling off a branch over the water. Neville was another
informative guide who also was the skipper on the boat.
We
got back into the ‘Tai Pen’, the nickname of Chris’
truck, and continued our journey, ascending the Alexandra
Range and went to the World Heritage Tropical Rainforest and
walked along the elevated natural park boardwalk. Here we
learned about the ancient rainforest, its different plant
life, we saw some of the oldest ferns on the planet; one tree
Chris estimated was over 900 years old.
After the walk we got back into the Tai Pen and drove over
to the local animal rescue place where we both had a fantastic
lunch and fed the kangaroos & wallaby that had been rescued
and are being taken care off in a safe environment. The lunch
was absolutely fantastic: big slabs of steak, sausages, potato
salad, green salad, pasta salad, avocados, and cucumber &
tomato salad – yummy!!
After lunch and feeding the kangaroos, we got back in the
Tai Pen (the people, not the kangaroos) and went further into
Cape Tribulation, along ‘Bloomfield Track’ –
a dirt road where the Tai Pen kicked in its 4-wheel drive.
We arrived Emmagen Creek, where David decided to join some
others and have a swim in crock-free waters, while Chris and
his colleague John prepared an exotic fruit table and smoko,
including wine.
Then, the skies opened and the rainforest lived up to its
name. Luckily, part of our smoko included a traditional “Billie
Tea” to warm us. Billie Tea is prepared in a big tin
bucket, on an open fire. The tea tasted great and warmed us
up under our soaked clothing. We hopped back in the Tai Pen
to begin heading back. We stopped at Cape Tribulation Beach
and then drove home with a couple of photo stop opportunities
along the way, like the Rex Lookout.
We
got back into town, where it was raining. We’re still
from lunch and not sure if we even want to go out for food
tonight. Tomorrow, we leave Cairns. At 10:20 am, the taxi
will pick us up to drop us at the airport, from where we will
leave to Alice Springs, the closest city to Ayers Rock (Uluru
– as the indigenous people call it).
We’re
sorry having to leave Cairns already, as there is still so
much we’d like to do here. However, the rest of our
journey calls and we look forward to moving on and hopefully
return here at some point in the future.
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December
22, 7:45 pm – Alice Springs, Australia
The airstrip at Alice Springs is one of the smaller ones where
you walk down a flight of steps onto the tarmac. As we walked
out of the plane, we hit a veritable wall of heat. It was
as if someone slapped you in the forehead with something hot.
We made our way under some coolooroo shade sails, commenting
on how these would be cool for our house. When we got to baggage
claim, we found Cat the girl who was our ride to “Annie’s
Place”, the nice hostel from which we’re writing
this entry.
Today
we moved away from the Great Barrier Reef into the center
of Australia: The Outback. Flying over the land might be something
like flying over Mars, save for the one odd straight road,
cutting through the landscape as the earth is rusty red dry
and barren-looking. However, as we descended into Alice Springs,
we were surprised to see a fair amount of green that are scrubby
“trees”. Later, when we took a walk, one of these
scrubby trees down the street gave proof to the adage that
when you get still the dessert is actually teaming with life:
we noticed a leaf fall from the tree and stopped for a moment
to become aware of a bird collecting food from the berries
of the tree. As we stood there we soon noticed not one, but
two. Then three, four, five… Soon we realized that the
tree was full with these beautiful parrots / parakeets feasting
on the bounty of the tree which to us looked like a scrubby
bush. So impressed were we with this that we had to go have
a drink. So, we set off for the bar.
This
afternoon before the walk, David had a swim in the pool and
before his swim was done, the gathering clouds opened and
let loose a very heavy shower. So heavy that Marieke wouldn’t
go out swimming, ‘cause she didn’t want to get
wet from the rain. (Isn’t it ironic, don’t you
think?) So instead she took a shower…during which she
“did a load of laundry” which is now hanging out
to dry, spread out throughout the room & ensuite bathroom.
Later,
back at the bar, David sampled the Special: Camel Lasagna
(yes, it was Italian Dromedary) while Marieke enjoyed a Thai
Chicken Pizza. We had mud pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert,
tasty, but too small a portion compared to the generosity
of the main course. It seems from our limited experience (only
two hostels) that the strategy for places that cater to backpackers
is to offer good and cheap food while making up for it with
rather expensive drinks. The two drinks that we had with dinner
were almost as expensive as the two large plates of food.
So
now, we’re off to sleep off our drinks before we wake
up at 5:30 tomorrow morning (yes, David is actually getting
up at that time) to make our way over to Ayers Rock, or Uluru
as they call it here.
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December
24, 9:30 am – Connellan Airport, Ayers Rock
As it turns out, 5:30 am was nothing, since we’ve been
up since 4:00 am this morning. But more about that later…
The
coach ride from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock was all in all
quite lovely. There is a beauty in the muted colors of the
desert: dusty greens to yellows, accentuated by the occasional
saturated green, offset by the deep rust red soil and powder
blue sky. The sheer expanse of sky and desert populated with
very little except desert life, the odd cow (we past through
8 different cattle stations) and the occasional wedged-tail
eagle in search of something to eat. The only setback was
a “flood way” which was indeed flooded from the
previous nights rains (6.1 cm in 30 minutes). John, our coach
driver immediately concluded that the water was more than
30 cm. deep and since he was not allowed to drive his Mercedes
bus through water higher than 30 cm. (it would apparently
short out the electrics) our journey ground to a halt. We
sat parked on the side of the road for some 40 minutes while
John, whose decision-making powers were paralyzed until he
could reach home base on his not-working radio. Meanwhile,
a dozen cars and 3 buses passed through the water, but John
being new, was fearful to brave the depths of the flooded
Highway. Even the police, who were there to control he crossing,
rolled their eyes at John’s caution, “a real worry
wart”, said one. Finally, using the police’s CB
John was able to reach home base, who advised him to cross.
And once again, we were on our way.
We
arrived at the Outback Pioneer – part of a resort built
in the 80’s, which was very nice. After check-in we
had a few hours and thought maybe we should go out to Uluru,
but the bus trip and park fees were going to cost $130 AU
and since we were going to the Sounds of Silence dinner overlooking
the rock, we thought we’d safe that money and wait.
So, we threw on our “swimmers” and went out to
the pool to relax (good lord, what a concept, this is a vacation,
isn’t it?). Out of the pool it seemed that some of the
rain we had in Cairns and Alice Springs had followed us. This
time however, Marieke braved the wetness and got in the pool
anyway.
We
went and got dressed for dinner, only to discover that the
highlight of our stay at Ayers Rock had been canceled, due
to impending rain. This was exacerbated by the fact that we
had chosen not to go out to the Rock in the afternoon and
since we were leaving the following morning it looked like
we wouldn’t get to see Uluru closer than from a few
miles away.
And
now it was sunset and there wasn’t any time to go out.
So, we let it go as much as we could, hurried back to the
room to change into dressier clothes and headed for the resort’s
5-star hotel restaurant to treat ourselves to a nice meal,
since the one that we had planned on having had been canceled.
We
had a lovely conversation with a lady called Gail who ran
the gallery for a really good landscape photographer. She
was super sweet, tried to help us find a way to the Rock and
after much toing & froing we ended up booking passes on
the Uluru Express Shuttle to go out to the Rock at 4:45 am
to watch the sunrise. The reservation we’d made for
dinner turned out to be for the wrong restaurant, but luckily
they were able to transfer us to the fine dining called K-
- - (something in Ananguku).
Dinner
was on the whole quite excellent: Marieke’s drink (an
“Out of the Blue) was an exquisite blend of sweet and
tangy with a tropical flair. We received complimentary tuna
tartar with a balsamic reduction that melted in the mouth.
The bread was a culinary experience: rosemary bread that you
broke in pieces, then dipped in a balsamic & olive oil
dip and then in a mixture of roasted nuts, spices and coarse
sea salt. Hmmmm, yumyum… Marieke immediately asked for
the recipe and indeed got it. Marieke’s veal was a little
raw along one edge, but David’s lamb was wonderful and
melted in your mouth. The vegetables were excellent as was
the recommended wine to go with dinner. David had a fantastic
cappuccino, but dessert fell a little short of our now elevated
expectations. However, exactly how nice our dinner was, wasn’t
brought home until we ran into a German couple that had been
out at the Rock in the pouring rain, for sunset, while we
enjoyed our culinary treat.
We
got up at 4:00 am today, packed and checked out, left our
bags with the porter and got on the bus to Uluru to watch
the sunrise. The sun dutifully obliged and rose as scheduled
at 5:55 am. However, the clouds didn’t want us to know
about it, so they blanketed the sun and its rays that we had
hoped would shed a beautiful color onto Ayers Rock. Given
that we dropped AU $130 to see this spectacle, we felt a little
gypped, but there was no complaints window in the Outback
to register our grievance. So we took the remaining hour and
walked around the base of Uluru, which turned out to be a
lovely experience: if you stop, get quiet and listen, a tranquility
descends on you, which is really quite special. Perhaps it
is the energy of this site, which has been sacred to the Aborigines
for eons, or maybe it’s just the “tuning in”
to nature – whatever it is, it was really lovely and
shifted our experience of the morning.
Alas
it was time to catch our shuttle back to the hotel where we
found someone to give the AU $50 National Park 3-day passes
to, which we had used for about 3 hours – sort of Christmas
gift for them. We got on the shuttle to the airport, to catch
a plane back to Alice Springs from where we’ll continue
our journey today to Sydney to spend Christmas in the South.
We’re
pretty tired, feeling the affect of being up since 4:00 am,
combined with the cocktail and wine we had with dinner last
night. We’ll be staying at the Grace Hotel in Sydney,
our luxury accommodation during this trip.
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December
24, 7:45 pm – Sydney, Australia
Arriving
in Sydney, it’s still raining – it seems to be
following us. The Grace Hotel is lovely. Kudos to James, our
AAA travel agent who arranged this hotel for us. We checked
in and met Belinda at the front desk, who on hearing that
it was our “honeymoon” (we left out the ‘2nd’
part) arranged for a bottle of nice bubbly and chocolate dipped
strawberries, which we were surprised with on entering our
room. Ray, the concierge helped us sort out Christmas dinner
and brought our bag up.
We’re
both a little tipsy, having drunk a bottle of champagne. The
room is great, with lights built into the headboard of our
king-size bed.
Later…
We went to the Italian Village on the Circular Quay, overlooking
the Sydney Harbor, Sydney Bridge and Opera House. Tom and
Noreen had given us a gift certificate for dinner to this
restaurant which they had researched online. “The Rocks”
is a very beautiful old part of town. The rain continued to
chase us and was lightly falling as we arrived, but it didn’t
stop us from getting the pictures we wanted. Dinner was lovely,
we’ve taken to ordering different things and seeing
whose dish is better for every meal. So, David won the starter
dish with his warm kalamata olives & provolone cheese
in a garlic & chili infused olive oil. The main course
was won by Marieke who had ordered barramundi filet, a type
of fish that is very prevalent in Australia. As a matter of
fact, we happened to see a great school of them diving at
the Great Barrier Reef – Cool. David had grilled tuna
filet, which was a close second. Dessert (Tiramisu) was shared
by us both. We both agreed that it was the most beautiful
presentation of tiramisu we’d ever seen. As a matter
of fact, the presentation of all the dishes was fantastic.
Dinner ended in a tie.
Then
we walked to the St. Mary Cathedral, to attend midnight mass.
It was absolutely packed. You’d think they were giving
away pardons, neither one of us had ever seen a church this
packed. We thought we’d arrived early, but definitely
not early enough, so we ended up sitting on the floor (we
were the lucky ones, who actually had a space on the cold
church floor to sit on…- many had to stand for the entire
service.) being so full, it was a little stuffy and warm,
or perhaps it was the bottle of champagne and the wine from
dinner…? We left a little early and enjoyed the stroll
back to our hotel.
Christmas
day. We luxuriously slept in and had some coffee in the café
downstairs. We decided to spend the day exploring Sydney and
walked over to the Harbor. A lovely lady named Gail at Ayers
Rock had suggested we take a ferry out to Manly Beach, so
we purchased a day pass for the ferries and headed out there.
As we were leaving the harbor, the clouds (which had threatened)
dissolved and it became a wonderful sunny day (much to David’s
later dismay…)
Manly
Beach was beautiful; we laid out for a bit while eating our
lunch that consisted of food from a local bakery. We picked
up some Italian gelato before getting back on the ferry and
returned back to the city. We continued walking around and
wandered back to the hotel. Along the way we met a Sydney
bus driver who had just won the Christmas Day bus decoration
with the bus he was driving.
At
the hotel, we changed into our going-out-for-dinner clothes
and we headed back out to the harbor. We took the last ferry
out to Mossman - a trip that was beautiful with the setting
sun. We got to talking to the Ferry-man (Duncan) who out of
nowhere asked us to follow him to the wheelhouse of the boat.
2 levels up he introduced us to the captain (Gary) and the
ship’s engineer (Leo), so here we were, suddenly out
of the wind, up on the bridge with an amazing view talking
to these really interesting guys who decided that Marieke
needed to drive the boat. So they parked her in the captain’s
chair and she literally drove the boat into the harbor (with
a little instruction of course). Our captain Gary took over
“parking” the ferry much to Marieke’s relief
and wished us a very merry Christmas, as it was the end of
their shift. We thought that was so cool.
We
then took a taxi over to Nick’s seafood restaurant,
which was a little disappointing, because the ambiance wasn’t
as intimate and romantic as we would have liked. On the contrary,
it was pretty bustling and noisy. Marieke’s starter
won – a smoked salmon salad with roasted peppers and
pine nuts. David’s entrée won – John Dory
fillet. This was mostly because of a misunderstanding when
snapper fillet fried as she thought it would be pan-fried,
not deep-fried. (Who eats snapper deep-fried??)
We
decided to flee the noisy atmosphere and order dessert as
room service at the hotel. We ordered an apple tart tatin
with a passion fruit coullis – to die for and watched
a comedy on TV.
Overall,
Sydney was awesome!! We loved the city, its people and the
overall atmosphere.
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