John And Francie

Francie and I have been back from our wonderful honeymoon in Australia for almost two weeks now and I have all the pictures ready for viewing on flickr now so I thought I’d write a short description to go along with it.

We left Dayton Sunday afternoon, somewhat exhausted from wedding festivities but excited to be on vacation!  The trip from Dayton to LA was pretty uneventful.  (I’d like to point out by the way that Dayton airport was the only place I found free wifi on our trip aside from a McDonald’s in Sydney.  Very disappointing.)  I complained about the security theater under my breath and got some good gaming time in and enjoyed my podcasts.  Unfortunately LA was pretty harrowing.  We arrived slightly late at 12:30 AM EDT and our flight to Sydney was scheduled to leave less than two hours later.  Two hours is a nice buffer, but we booked our tickets to LA separately from the tickets to Australia booked by our travel agent.  So we had to get our luggage, get our tickets from the Quantas check-in, screen our luggage again, and finally get to our gate.  It took us awhile to find the right baggage carousel, and once we found it it seemed like forever until our luggage came through.  Each minute added to our concern that we weren’t in the right place.  Finally our luggage came but we still weren’t sure where to go to check in for our Sydney flight.  After asking three people we were able to piece together that we needed to go outside and that there was a shuttle that would take us to the international terminal.  We waited nervously for the shuttle, hoping that we were in the right place.  After 15 minutes that felt like eternity with a half dozen shuttles passing by that weren’t the one we wanted, our shuttle came and we got to the international terminal.  We still couldn’t see a sign for the quantas check-in, however, and needed to ask three more people where to go until we realized we needed to go up an elevator.  Once up the elevator we were relieved to see the Quantas check-in and after fighting our way through the crowd to their counter we were releived to hear that the flight was delayed and we’d be able to make it.  Better still, we were finally able to drop off our luggage which we’d been lugging all over the airport in our quest to find the check-in.  We finally boarded the plane at 2:30 AM EST.

Fourteen and a half hours later we arrived in Sydney at 7AM Tuesday morning local time.  Even though I was exhausted I only got 4 hours sleep because we were in the exit row right where the flight attendents were so there was a lot of traffic and I couldn’t stretch my legs out without possibly tripping them or getting stepped on.  Once we disembarked in Sydney we had to get our luggage again and run from the international terminal to the domestic terminal to check in for our final leg to Brisbane.  A short flight and shuttle transfer later, we arrived at the Ibis hotel in Brisbane at 1pm.  We explored on foot a bit and got some food but I had to collapse in bed from exhaustion at 4 in the afternoon which in my defense was 36 hours after we left Dayton.

Wednesday morning we got up at 5am and enjoyed a delicious Australian breakfast.  I definitely prefer their bacon as it’s more meaty and not crispy.  After breakfast we waited on a shuttle to take us to the Australian Zoo, a.k.a. Steve’s Place.  We were worried as our shuttle was late and the desk clerks didn’t know anything.  The shuttle did arrive and everything was fairly smooth after that.  It was pouring rain on the whole trip to the zoo and lots of roads were flooded, but 30 minutes after we arrived and bought cheap ponchos the sun came out and it was nice the rest of the day at the zoo.  The zoo was practically empty except for our bus of people so we had the place to ourselves.  There were plenty of interesting animals but the highlights were feeding kangaroos and petting koalas.  We saw the Glasshouse Mountains on the way back from the zoo and after dinner back in rainy Brisbane we called it an early night again.

We woke up extra early again on Thursday and were shuttled to the airport for our flight to Cairns.  We had a nice drive up the coast to the Meridian in Port Douglas.  Our apartment at the Meridian was the nicest place we stayed the whole trip.  We walked around Port Douglas and got lunch at Beaches Cafe.  Francie had a BLAT and I had an Aussie burger, which has beet slices and an egg.  We relaxed in our room and swam for the rest of the afternoon.  That evening we ate at the fancy Zinc restaurant.

Friday morning we were picked up by a shuttle to the Port Douglas marina for our snorkeling cruise with Poseidon.  We were taken out to snorkel at three different sites on the Great Barrier Reef.  We had to wear lycra suits as it was the very last day of stinger season but that worked out good anyway since we didn’t have to worry about getting sunburnt.  I was pretty nervous the at the first site as I was worried I would get too close to the coral and damage it or I’d mess up with my snorkel and goggles.  After that initial fear I was fine though and enjoyed snorkeling a lot, only taking in three or four mouthfuls of salt water.  We explored on our own at the first two sites and at the third site we followed one of the instructors on a guided tour.  It was beautiful with all the coral, fish, and sharks.  When we got back to dry land we relaxed for an hour or so until it was dark and then we went out and watched the parade going on along McCrossan Street as part of Carnivale.  We had some fair food down at the amusement park set up for the festivities and Francie had a mango daquri and I tried some local beer.  I was exhausted at 8 but managed to keep going so we could watch the fireworks after the parade.  After the fireworks we went back to our apartment and I collapsed from exhaustion.

On Saturday we took a trip into the rainforest.  We were picked up by a shuttle to Cairns where we rode the skyrail over the canopy and into Kuranda.  Once in Kuranda we took a short shuttle ride to the butterfly sanctuary, where Francie managed to get a beautiful shot of a Ulysses butterfly after much patience and perseverence.  Next we rode in an Army Duck through the rainforest and a lake.  Lots of interesting info about the dangerous plants, including the most painful plant in the world, the Gympie-Gympie.  Gympie roughly translates to devil so you can imagine how painful it is if they had to double up the amount of devil to describe it.  On our way to lunch we saw a place where you could have your picture taken with a koala so we stopped there and satisfied Francie’s need to cuddle a koala and got an iconic picture for our trip.  After a buffet lunch we took a short tour of the RainForeStation wildlife sanctuary.  Nothing much different from the Australia Zoo.  Next we went to see an Aboriginal dance show, followed by demonstrations of boomerang throwing, spear throwing, and didgeridoo playing.  We were invited to try to throw a boomerang and I surprised myself with how well I was able to do on my very first try.  After that it was time to go back and we enjoyed a scenic train ride back to Cairns, although since it was all downhill the brakes caused some minor ear trauma.

On Sunday we went to church and then explored the Sunday markets where we picked out a picture of the beach in Port Douglas, a koala tea towel, opal necklace, and a hand-made boomerang.  After the markets we got some lunch (actually, I had the big brekkie) and relaxed in our room for a bit.  I decided to go ahead and pay $10 to get some wireless internet for a day after being without a connection since leaving Dayton.  We went to the beach after 5 when it wasn’t quite as hot and I read in the shade while Francie went for a swim.  When Francie was done splashing around in the ocean we took a long walk down the beach and back.  A loooonnnnnng walk.  Halfway down Four Mile beach and back.  After an exhausting walk we ate pizza at Mango Jam and got ice cream on the way back to the hotel.

Monday was the first day we really slept in, getting up sometime after 8.  We walked to get breakfast at The Lure restaurant at the marina.  I had a cup of flat white which I really liked with bacon and eggs.  Francie had some french toast with pecans, bananas and whipped cream.  We were picked up and shuttled to the airport in Cairns at 10:20.  We had some lunch while we waited for our flight, not realizing that there would be food served on our flight to Sydney.  When we got to Sydney we were picked up and shuttled to The Menzies hotel.  It was very fancy but I would have preferred a place where the rooms were a bit newer.  We explored the area around the hotel, looking for a place to get a lite dinner as we were stuffed from a double lunch.  We stopped at a sushi restaurant that was having an opening special so we split some philadelphia roll which Francie enjoyed a lot more than I did.  After dinner we relaxed in our hotel room, reading/playing video games.

After a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel we walked down to Circle Quay where we got tickets for the Explorer bus to take us around Sydney.  The second stop for the bus was the opera house.  After taking a tour of the opera house we got back on the bus and rode all around Sydney until it stopped at Chinatown where we got some lunch.  After that we got back on the bus and rode back to Circle Quay.  We looked at opals at a couple places but couldn’t find anything in our price range.  After that we rode the blue bus to Bondi Beach and walked along the cliffs to Tamarama Beach.  We caught a city bus back to Circle Quay and walked to the Opera House to see its sails lit up.  We walked back to the hotel looking for a place to get dinner and eventually settled on St. Patrick’s Bar and had steak and pasta.  We relaxed our sore legs in the hot tub back at the hotel and stayed up late reading in our room.

Wednesday we  had breakfast at the hotel again and walked to The Rocks.  We planned to walk across the Sydney Harbor bridge but we missed a left turn at Albuquerque and gave up trying to find the stairs up to the pedestrian walkway.  We went shopping for souveniers instead and after we dropped them off at the hotel we walked through the botanical gardens and had sandwiches at a cafe there.  There was a lovely rose garden and a lot of bats, a.k.a. flying foxes.  The scenery was very beautiful overall.  Next we rode the ferry from Circle Quay to Manly.  It had a nice view of the harbor, but it was slightly cold and cloudy.  We explored for a bit but decided to cut our exploring short when it started to rain.  We walked back to the hotel in the rain and got dinner on our own as I wanted some McDonalds to take advantage of free Wi-Fi and Francie wanted sushi.

Our last full day in Australia we walked to the Sydney tower after breakfast.  There was a nice view at the top but Oztrek was a letdown.  After that we walked to the IMAX at Darling Harbor and got tickets to Star Trek but unfortunately it didn’t start until 6.  We walked along the harbor and explored the free maritime museum which was pretty boring.  We stopped for lunch at Ice Cube to take advantage of their 2 for 1 deal but the rude waiter wouldn’t let us order unless we also got drinks.  I grudgingly got a beer and Francie had a coke.  I tried the Morton Bay bugs but didn’t care for them.  Francie liked them and her Barramundi.  We walked to Paddy’s Markets which seemed to have an endless number of rows of stands selling souveniers and other cheap merchandise with another area selling fresh produce.  The other two floors were more like your typical mall.  We explored the whole area but ended up not buying anything.  We walked back to the harbor and read the newspaper and then got an early dinner.  We still had a lot of time left before the movie and I was feeling chilly so we got some fancy hot chocolate and went back to Paddy’s Markets to find something warm to wear but I didn’t see anything I liked and Francie got a koala t-shirt instead.  We killed some time at the nearby mall and then saw Star Trek at the IMAX and it was incredible.  Afterwards we went back to the hotel, packed up and relaxed.

There was a dispute when we checked out as we were under the impression that breakfast was included since we asked the first day and were told it was if it was booked with a travel agency but they had charged us $180 for our three breakfasts.  We explained how we were misled and were able to get it taken off but it was not a good start to our last day.  We got breakfast elsewhere that morning and then began our long journey home.  Our flight was supposed to leave at 2:30 Sydney time but didn’t take off until about 5 due to a software glitch after replacing a lightbulb.  Another 13+ hour flight later, this of course resulted in us and nearly everyone else on the flight missing our flights in LA.  After a long line waiting to go through customs, another long wait to get our bags, and a really long line to get new travel arrangements from Quantas, we got in a shuttle to take us to the LAX Hilton for a free night’s stay which was wonderful since we were exhausted.  The next day was a relatively easy trip back to Dayton.