|
We landed in Sydney 10:15am local time. There's a 6 hour time
difference between Daylight Savings Time in Sydney and Pacific
Daylight Savings Time. The strange thing is that the rest of Australia
wasn't yet using Daylight Savings Time. Apparently, New South
Wales (in which Sydney resides) decided to use Daylight Savings
Time early this year because of the Olympics. So 10:15am local
time in Sydney meant 9:15am in Cairns, which would be our final
destination.
Now, our flight from Sydney to Cairns was scheduled for 9:00am.
Obviously we had a problem. However, the good folks at United
had automatically booked us for the 10:40am flight when it became
apparent that our flight into Sydney would be delayed.
Unfortunately, we couldn't even catch the 10:40am flight. Because
we had to go through customs and immigration, we were forced to
pick up our checked baggage from the baggage carousel, rather
than have it sent directly to the plane. Then we had to stand
in the customs line, where they stopped us because we mentioned
we had soil on our hiking boots we were taking in. Australia seems
fairly intent on keeping their big island isolated from unwanted
organisms. They took our boots into a back room to scrub them
clean while we waited.
By the time we reached the check-in counter, our flight was just
leaving, so they booked us on the next flight, not leaving until
noon. In the meantime, Jean and I tried to call our accommodations
in Port Douglas to let them know we'd be late (they'd arranged
to have someone meet us at the airport), but without success.
We then got some cash from the airport currency exchange. In retrospect,
this was probably a mistake, since ATM's generally work fine (BofA
charges a $3 fee per transaction), and they probably give you
a better rate. We got somewhere between $1 AUD for 52 to 55 US
cents. This is the weakest the Australian dollar has been in recent
memory, and we (especially Jean) enjoyed the benefits of that
exchange rate throughout the trip.
Jean got a fruit salad for a snack while I browsed through the
newspaper and looked out at an overcast sky. The airport was still
full of remnants from the Olympics, as well as people carrying
signs for the upcoming Paralympics.
We took a short shuttle bus ride to the domestic terminal. I was
disappointed that we had to go through another x-ray machine.
I'd managed to avoid putting my film through the machines in SFO,
but in Sydney they insisted that it was perfectly fine for anything
slower than ASA 1600 speed film (I was carrying 50 speed film).
Reluctantly, I put the film through. I regretted not carrying
the lead bag that my dad had offered me earlier. I was not looking
forward to the many x-ray machines in the coming weeks.
The flight to Cairns was split up. After a 1-hour flight to Brisbane,
we had a short layover before a two-hour flight to Cairns. At
least we didn't have to go through another x-ray machine. On the
flight we watched the latest silly Jackie Chan movie, Shanghai
Noon.
We landed in Cairns a bit after 3pm. On the approach, we saw the
Pacific Ocean, rolling green hills and small islands. Cairns,
like Adelaide and Sydney, is a coastal city. We wouldn't be visiting
the Outback on this trip.
When we got out of the plane, we were met with two things: heat
and humidity. It was probably around 90 degrees with high humidity.
At least we knew it'd be cooler in Sydney and Adelaide. We found
our ride, a shuttle bus which operates right out the door from
the baggage claim area. The driver put our bags (and the bags
of the other 10 people along for the ride) in the trailer hitched
to the back of the small bus and we were on our way.
Australians drive on the left side of the road. This took some
getting used to, even when we weren't driving. They also don't
use stop signs much, preferring to use lots of roundabouts and
yield signs. They do have stop lights, but we didn't run into
any of those on our trip up the coast. As we drove by the rolling
green hills, I couldn't help but think that we were in a place
that fit my perception of New Zealand. Of course New Zealand also
has high mountains covered with snow and Cairns doesn't, but that
was my feeling.
We passed fields of sugar cane on one side, Pacific Ocean on the
other. The driver told us that there were fields of fruit on the
other side of the mountain range. After he dropped everyone else
off at another resort, we soon reached our accommodations in Port
Douglas, the Radisson Treetops Resort.
Path leading down to our room
The Treetops is a big resort in the middle of a rain forest, 5
minutes walk from the beach. We checked in at the open-air counter
across from the Cockatoo Lounge. Continuing on, we passed the
central pond amidst the trees, and down the corridors to our room.
It was decorated nicely with lots of wood -- wood dresser, blinds,
and fan. And right outside our back door was a walking path next
to the forest.
The same path, lit up at night
Four cars and buses, three plane rides, and twenty six and a half
hours after we'd left our home, we were finally
in Port Douglas. Needless to say, we rested before having dinner
in one of the hotel restaurants. I had coral trout which, I must
admit, wasn't as good as I'd expected it to be. But, I didn't
really care much -- I just wanted to get back in the hotel room
and go to sleep.
| 
Facebook Fan Page
Twitter
RSS Feed
