Aussie Land - Queensland Chapter 3

February 10 - Stop Building the Ark

We woke up this morning to some patches of blue sky. Actually, we woke up to the loud clanging of garbage trucks coming around at 6:30AM but the sun was awesome. After breakfast we walked down the road to the path overlooking the beach. While the wind was gone, there were still large breakers. And yes, I even found a few new birds to photograph.  We had a leisurely morning, since our flight from Newcastle to Cairns did not leave until 12:50. A flock of cockatoos came by to bid us adieu.  Newcastle is much like it’s namesake in Great Britain, a coal town. As we drove through, we saw ships lined up at the docks while scoops picked up coal from the piles and put it on conveyor belts to deposit it in the ships, which send it to China. Our flights to Brisbane and then on to Cairns went smoothly, which is always a good thing. We arrived in Cairns at about 6:30PM. We actually gained an hour traveling to Queensland even though we were going north not west.

Cairns was very hot and humid, even in the evening. After checking in at the Holiday Inn, we walked the boardwalk and found an Italian restaurant for spaghetti and risotto.

Tomorrow we look forward to wandering around Cairns and booking a 2 day excursion to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef and do a day trip to Daintree Rainforest. Here’s hoping no more surprises on this trip.

February 11 - Did you know Cans is spelt Cairns?

It was a sunny, hot and muggy day but we’ll take it! When I got up and took my camera to the balcony for what else, but to photograph a bird outside, my camera immediately fogged up. It was hard to use until it “climatized “ . Temperatures reached about 34 degrees, but with humidity, it felt hotter. We had not yet book our plans for the next two days so we went to the front desk to see what might be available. I had already scoped out a snorkel trip which was reasonably priced. When I asked about it, because they had a brochure from the same outfit, the desk clerk/travel agent said no. We would be about 40 years younger than all the other guests and it was a party boat. He only books this one if people insist but would not recommend it. I think we dodged a bullet on this one. We found a snorkel tour and a Daintree trip and booked them. Then we walked the boardwalk along the water to the other end of town. It was very beautiful with beautiful high trees, including banyan trees, and of course I saw quite a few new birds. It was very hot though and the air was thick. Only one solution for this, cold beer and ice water. We ate lunch at an eatery along the water. We concluded that Aussies eat huge meals. Hamburgers are so tall, you hardly can put them in your mouth, and the chicken tacos I ordered were a meal and a half. By dinner time, we still felt our lunch. I did find my favourite tropical drink, a mango smoothie. Excellent!

We spent the rest of the day by the pool. The water was like bath water, just the way I like it! In the evening we went back to the same Italian restaurant but we were learning. Instead of ordering three big meals, we ordered two pizzas (individual size) and split them among the three of us. I was a little perturbed that the pizzas only had two pieces sliced up and the rest was whole. The knife I had could not cut through soft butter, let alone a pizza crust. I called someone over and asked about this. Apparently in Italy you do not cut up pizzas. They come whole and people can slice of whatever size slice they want. We did get sharp knives to even make this possible. We were also entertained by quite the thunder and lightning display, although we only got a few sprinkles.

Cairns is a beautiful, tropical place and we enjoyed it very much. We still have a few days here but they will be fully filled with excursions.

February 12, 2020 Just the Way I like It!

Another beautiful, sunny day in Cairns. We left at 8:30 for our snorkel trip to the Great Barrier Reef. Like many of the snorkel outfits, the company had a large raft anchored over the reef. We though we were going to two snorkel sights but it turned out you go to the raft, called Marine World. The raft was equipped with snorkel equipment, Lycra suits which were recommended for this time of year when there were jellyfish about and a buffet lunch. There was a large designated area for snorkelling and the platform for going into the water was the best and easiest we had ever done. If you wanted to do a guided swim with a naturalist at another end of the reef was extra. There were helicopter rides which were extra. There were scuba dives and scuba diving with an air hose attached to a floating little raft which was extra. The glass bottom boat was included. We decided to stick with the basic snorkelling. Entering the water was great. The water temperature was about 85 Degrees F. Wonderfully warm! At first we were a little disappointed by the coral, but later when the tide dropped and the sun hit the coral better, it was beautiful. We saw many beautiful reef fish and even though many were the same as what we had seen in places like Belize, Costa Rica and Hawaii, they were beautiful. We even saw a few Nemos. No sharks, no dolphins, no whales and no rays. However, we thoroughly enjoyed the day. We were back in Cairns at 5PM and walked back to our hotel in the still hot late afternoon. We encountered several huge trees completely covered in bats. Hundreds of them in each tree. They were the size of flying chihuahuas and made lots of noise. We were tired from our day and decided dinner would be in our hotel. I had crocodile linguine. It was very good. Jo and W decided to go with two entrees, (which are much like starters, and not main courses.). W had an order of scallops and a salad. The scallops were small pieces on three shells. The salad was good but not huge. Her two entrees cost more than my plate of linguine and I think she went to bed hungry. Jo had a lentil soup and Bruschetta which was a little more substantial. Meals here were very expensive with even basic items costing over $20.

February 13

41 Degrees. That’s how hot it got today. It was our last non-travel day in Australia and our planned excursion to Daintree Rainforest was something I was looking forward to. It included a guided walk through the forest and a crocodile river ride down the Daintree River. We avoided excursions that included fluff like ice creameries, zip lines, etc. We wanted to concentrate on seeing nature and wildlife, like the crocodiles, the elusive cassowary, tree kangaroos, snakes and the many rainforest birds. We did see some of these but in a wildlife sanctuary we stopped at. And Jo got to hold a koala for a few seconds. We were picked up at 7:20AM at our hotel in a nice air conditioned bus that included people who had booked with three or more other excursion companies. The bus was still less than half full. I have to say unfortunately that the day was a disappointment. The rainforest was very beautiful and the drive up the coast had many beautiful beaches that you can not swim in because of crocs and jellyfish, but they alone were not the reason to pay big bucks for this excursion. We got a 5 hour lecture on all the trees of the rainforest. Much of the day was spent driving. Any time we got out of the bus it was very hot and humid. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant by the beach. The food was great, I had your usual monsterous hamburger and Jo and W had kangaroo meat. The beach was nice but you could not get in the water. The boardwalk through the forest was led by our driver/guide who continued to explain more tree facts in a very booming voice which ensured that our only chance of seeing any wildlife was if they were deaf. I did see two little birds but they were almost impossible to get a photo of due to the low light. A few of us were fortunate enough to actually see a wild cassowary posing nicely beside the road by a little bridge. I yelled at the driver about this and he stopped, for 5 seconds. We asked if he could back up a few feet so it would be more visible and the rest could see it. Instead he drove off and that was the end of that. If it had been a nice tree...Then we were rushed a little so we could go to a ice cream place. This was requested by a few people who were locals of all things! The ice cream came in very unusual local flavours so we stuck to a mango/passion fruit bar. At least we still had the boating to look forward to. This was the last activity of the day. A few people saw part of the head of a croc hiding under some branches in the river. Most did not see it. That was the highlight of the crocodile river trip. We arrived back at our hotel after 7PM. A full day. We saw some nice forest and scenery but it did not live up to expectations. The shower when we got back sure was nice though. Most of us gleamed from sweat any time we went outside.

For dinner we returned to our Italian restaurant for the third time because the food was good and reasonable.

February 14 Valentines Day?

Travel to Brisbane went smoothly and we were checked in at the Holiday Inn Express by 1:15PM. It was a sunny day with highs of 31 degrees, but there was evidence everywhere of a major storm. A cyclone formed in New Caledonia travelled past Brisbane earlier, causing widespread flooding. It was still pouring in the morning but dry by the time we arrived. We spent the afternoon walking around downtown, along the river and then through the botanical garden. There were a lot of tall, modern buildings and nice river walk. The river was very muddy, probably from the weather. We had dinner in the hotel and watched a movie because Jo and W were walked out. None of us looked forward to the long trip home tomorrow.

February 15 Homeward Bound

This was the day we dreaded, the long trip home. It was sunny and warm in Brisbane, some 20 degrees warmer than Vancouver. Our taxi ride to the airport cost $60 and was perhaps $5 or $6 more per person than the train, but more convenient. Check in was a breeze. There was no one at the checkin area or the baggage drop off so we had personalized service and were done in minutes. The Brisbane airport was quite nice and modern. Our flight on Virgin Australia left right on time and judging by the section of the plane we sat in, was less than 30% full. It was a nine hour flight to Hong Kong, where we had 7.5 hour layover. Due to concerns with viruses and unrest, we did not leave the airport, making for a long night. Time to begin this blog.

We felt very inconspicuous being part of a very small minority, almost all Caucasian who were not wearing masks. It seemed to me the masks, worn by all employees as well, were more a psychological matter, since we saw many people unmask to eat or drink, or just take a break. If the coronavirus could be transmitted by air, these people lost all their protection. The airport was very quiet and the shops were virtually deserted. I saw one large shop with 10 to 12 staff standing around and not one customer in the store. Most shops had no one shopping.                                          

Looking forward (NOT!) to our 11hour 25 minute flight to Vancouver beginning at 1AM. We met a Chinese Canadian from Coquitlam who was returning home after visiting his parents in Beijing. He was so happy to have someone to talk to. He said the city was eerily quiet. People were told to stay in doors. The streets, restaurants, etc.were almost deserted. It took him 30 minutes to drive to the airport, a trip that normally took 2 hours. He had several flights from Beijing to Hong Kong canceled on him at the last minute and the airlines were not helpful in rescheduling. He was so relieved to be coming home.

With the help of a little Adavan, I was actually able to sleep for a few hours on our flight home. Jo and W had even longer stretches of sleep. That really helped make the long flight easier. We had all chosen aisle seats and that worked out well. We each had the seat beside us empty, and though I was in the middle section, there were two seats open there. Despite flying economy, the leg space was quite acceptable. It was good to step on Canadian soil again. We had no issues with airport security and everything went extremely smoothly, except it sure felt cold outside!

We were sad to not experience our cruise and to be home two weeks early, but also grateful that with all that was going on around viruses, and weather issues, God kept us safe and allowed us to have a great trip anyway.