anita63

Ok, so I messed up on the title of my message...forgot to write the place that the trip report was about...kinda important,eh? LOL I have cut and pasted my report again here with the proper title...i appologize to those who are seeing it twice!

Ah ha! Two weeks in Australia? Are you crazy, Mate? You'll spend more time travelling than enjoying!

Well, that is what I heard time and time again, but i thought, "I only have 2 weeks; do I NOT go or do what I can?". Off we went! Me, DH, and my 2 darling teenagers...and man oh man, am i glad I did!!!!

March 7, 2008 seemed like an enternity away when I was planning this 'trip of a lifetime' and suddenly, there it was! Mother nature played tricks on us and decided to dump Toronto's worse snow storm since the 1930's on the day of departure. Thankfully, AirCanada will cancel the piddly local flights, but the over seas long hauls always most certainly go. We were only delayed 2 hours and magically, mystically, the wheels were up and we were on our way to Australia via Vancouver!!!

There are no words to describe the incredible comfort of the Boeing 777 business class (thank you Aeroplan points). Those pods are, in a word, AMAZING!! What an incredible way to start any vacation...but especially when it's a 22 hour journey! Even my teenagers, dare I say, were impressed. Lots of lay down comfort, food and drink on demand, and entertainment for all. The flight literally and figuratively flew by!

Upon landing in Sydney, Australia we were all rather surprised about the bug spray that was sprayed inside and out of the aircraft. Not toxic, we were told, but watching those flight attendents walk up and down the aisles spraying inside the overhead compartments, was a bit freaky! My 15 year old son asked what was going on and DH replied, "you remember that food you refused to clean out of your room and we got all those fruit flies? Well, Australia found out about it and they're taking precautions". LOL I digress...

You often aren't sure about travelling with teenagers...they can be a hard read sometimes, but it was amazing to me to see the looks on their faces as we approached Sydney; the 'we are really here' look to 'this place might actually be cool!'. That alone was an omen that it was to be a great great trip!

Once the bug spraying was complete, we deplaned into a well organized and cheerful airport. We never check luggage when we travel (yup, two weeks with only carry-on and I even over packed) so we were through security (where they checked for more bugs)and customs and in the que for taxi's within 15 minutes.

We piled into a mini van taxi and enjoyed the 20 minute drive to the Marriott at Circular Quay. The driving on the other side of the road was very facinating for all of us and I have to admit to hitting my invisible break on more than one occassion during right hand turns! The hotel was very lovely and perfectly located to the Rocks and the Ferries. DH and I were upgraded to a lovely suite and the kids had a nice standard room with a view of the harbour. Check in was not a problem, very efficient, and no issues that we were redeeming points.

One of my greatest concerns about this trip was jet lag. Because we were there for such a short amount of time, we could ill afford to loose 2 days recouping from jet lag. I can honestly say that not one of us was affected from jet lag during our trip to Australia! We forced ourselves to stay away for the first 8 hours of the flight from Toronto and then slept when Sydney was sleeping, and it worked! We arrived in Sydney around noon and we were ready to go, no problem! First on the list was visiting the market at The Rocks. A short 5 minute stroll from our hotel, we meandered along the harbour and strolled along The Rocks. It was a perfect low key activity for our first few hours. We made some typical purchases like tapping sticks, jewlery and of course my son got a Digridoo (sp?). We walked right up to the Sydney Bridge, poked in the shops and enjoyed the street entertainers along the harbor front. What a glorious sunny day! What a glorious relaxing way to spend our first day in Sydney!

After a quick stop at our hotel (our rooms were not ready when we arrived at noon), we dropped off our purchases, unpacked, and then headed out again towards the Opera House. It was very nice early evening walk. We walked along the harbour in the shadow of the Opera House and enjoyed some live jazz at the Opera House Bar, had a small bite to eat (sandwich, salad and 2 beers at just over $40), and then explored the outside of the Opera House...very nice views!! As we had limited time for actual shopping on this trip, we continued along Pitt Street to a few more shops and made a few more purchases before retiring for the evening at 9:00pm. I thought that was pretty good longivity for our first day!

March 10, 2008: First full day in sydney, Australia.

We all got up with relative ease at 7:00 am, had breakfast in the executive lounge and then headed out to the Koala Sanctuary. After not getting a straight answer on how to take public transit to get there, we opted for a $70 cab ride which wasn't really all that much more than paying for bus and ferry (if I got it right, but who knows)and it was much much quicker. The Koala Sanctuary is a place where they take in various animals to rehab for various reasons, and we are allowed to roam along with fairly close contact. We got up close and personal with the Koala's (they did not charge for you taking your own photo's), we wandered in the kangaroo pen and they ate right out of our hands. We took in the sheep sheering show, boomerang demo, and the very cool avery. Those kookaberra's are halarious!! I am sure there are more sophisticated 'zoos' that you can go to, but this low key, uncrowded venue was perfect for us to get our fill of Koala's and kanga's for under $50.00 (enterance fee). After 3 hours, we headed back to the harbour area and went to the incredible Aquarium.

Now, keep in mind that this visit to the Aquarium was strictly to appease, me, since my kids and DH are all SCUBA divers and can see these critters easily. As a non-diver, I have to say this was a pretty impressive aquarium ($67 entrance fee for the 4 of us) which allowed us to wander around, touch creepy things in shallow pools, walk under (yes, UNDER) the aquarium and view the rays and sharks smim around and above you. As divers, even my husband and kids thought it was pretty cool!

We returned to our hotel via harbour ferry which was worth every penny ($7 ea). Bright sunny day, warm breeze along the harbour, and the whole skyline laid out in front of you...Opera House, Sydney Bridge, and the Rocks. Was GREAT! A quick lunch at McDonalds (same prices as at home) and we were off to walk along Pitt Street to the shopping area called The Strand (just in behind the Queen Victoria Building:QVB). We went to the hi-fi store to find a replacement charger for my son's video game that he left on the plane, daughter made some teenage purchases, and hubby and I just enjoyed the incredible architecture of these old buildings. I was so impressed with the lovely clean shopping area, no one bothering us, some street entertainment, and lovely weather! We walked back from The Strand to the Marriott (about 15 minutes) and enjoyed dinner/snacks at the executive lounge where we met up with some locals who entertained us with terrific stories of their 50 year marriage...it's all about the people, isn't it? I will never forget this older couple and their wonderful relationship and the expression he used, "I'll trip the light fantastic" when i offered to freshen up his drink. THIS is what makes MY trips.

March 11, 2008: We leave Sydney for Ayers Rock via Qantas Air...



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Author: anita63
Date: 03/23/2008, 10:33 pm
March 11, 2008 Ayers Rock Ah huh...the big question: Is it worth the hassle and expense to get there? Well, let's see if you can understand this bizaar comment: I'm glad that i went, but if I could do it again, i probably wouldn't have bothered. Does that make sense?

We arrived at 10:00 am and left the next day at 2:30pm, so we weren't there a long time, for sure.But, quite honestly, for just AR, it was long enough. We stayed at the Sails in Desert hotel which is pretty basic. Paid around $275 per night per room, I believe for really basic accommodations, but you're not there to laze around the room now, are you?

Our arrival was early and we were fortune enough to have our rooms ready. Because the heat of the day was already upon us, we decided to take a dip in the pool and relax for a short while before exploring. "Shocked" doesn't even begin to describe how cold the swimming pool was. It said it was 23 degrees, but you can't fool a cold blooded Canadian...that pool was well under 20 degrees (I'm guessing that translates to around high 70 degrees for farenhiters). I mean, it was 'take your breath away' cold that you NEVER recouped from! It was very sad to have such a hot sunny day, a very lovely pool, patrons louning around the pool, but NO ONE could get IN the pool! And then there were the flies...but you've all heard those stories already.

After unsuccessfully staying in the pool, and my kids not even trying, we got in the car rental and ventured off to the Olga's. We made a quick stop along the way at a view point and were swarmed and I mean SWARMED by millions of fly's. We had our fly nets on, but it was still uncomfortable, to say the least. I have to add, that although they covered your body (clothed or bare) TOTALLY, they don't bite...just really annoying! Anyway, we didn't last very long at the viewing area and continued to the Olga's. Not too many people there as it was now mid afternoon and about 40 Celcius (um, over 100 F, I think?). We walked about 30 minutes into the pathway, took some pictures, and walked back. I did not bring enough water and quickly developed a headache (dehydrated), but there is drinking water spouts at the car port area to refill water bottles, which we did.

My son thought that the Olga's were incredible, as did my DH and I (DD stayed back at the hotel) and we got lots of neat pictures.

That night, we attended the Sounds of Silence Dinner. Ok, here comes the part where you will probably fan me, but hear me out. Our family absolutely hated it. In fact, we asked to be returned early (which they did). Let me start by saying that we are not a family that particularly enjoys 'large group' gatherings. We hate cruises, we hate large crowds, we hate party atmospheres...just not for us. Well, I don't know what I was expecting with the SOS Dinner, but I had it in my mind that it was going to be a quiet evening, nice dinner, enjoying the sounds of the desert, enjoying the stars. Not exactly what panned out. I felt like I was attending someone's wedding. We sat at a table with 6 other people...4 of which knew each other and gabbed among themselves and 2 who did not speak English. Not that it mattered,as we were hoping for quiet relaxed conversation as we admired the setting sun. It was loud...i mean LOUD with about 80 people or so people making the amount of noise that one would expect for 80 people eating and drinking...just not what I was thinking was going to happen. I hated every second of it, but didn't want to say anything to spoil everyone elses fun. However, DH whispered to me, "I feel like we're at someone's wedding" and I knew we had to get outa there! I asked the kids what they thought and they were very ready to leave...before dessert!! Upon speaking with the manager there, she was most gracious and allowed us a few minutes of private viewing through the telescope while we waited for our ride back. The stars and the sky were SPECTACULAR!! When we returned, we were pleased to find that SOSD discounted our package as a token of good faith. I certainly wasn't looking for a free ride, and they did provide what they marketed so I was pleased that they understood my misgivings about the whole thing and made some offer. This would be a great place for a wedding or for a corporate event...it's not a romantic kinda place

We got back to the hotel and went to bed. DH and I got up at the crack before dawn and drove ourselves, along with a convoy of about 10 tour busses, to the vantage point of watching the sun rise over Ayers Rock. I wish I had done my research more extensively and found an alternate place to park and watch the sun come up (which i found when we drove away, around the corner) as the regulated 'sunrise' area was totally crammed with tourists. Impossible to take any pictures of the rock without hundreds of heads in the way or unless you were one of the lucky 30 or so to get front standing room right at the ropes dividing where you can stand and where you cannot. Again, my issues with crowds is tainting the experience, but we did manage to enjoy watching the sunrise on the rock and the many different hues.

We went back to the hotel, had breakfast at the deli (about 7.00 per person)and then took the kids back to Ayers Rock for a short walk with PLENTY of water. The paths were clearly laid out and the walk was very easy. We hiked about an hour in total,in 40 degree heat again with tonnes of flies. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining...this IS what it's all about...I'm just telling you like it was. It was enjoyable as there were NO tour busses (they just left, probably much smarter than us and did the hike in the morning), it was very calm, quiet, and allowed a sense of appreciation for the aboriginal spirits to come through while observing their art and stories drawn in the caves. My kids really enjoyed the whole 'largness' of it all...very overwhelming to be a small speck among the huge rocks. I took over 200 pictures and all my friends say they are terrific pictures!

March 12, 2008...headed out of Ayers Rock and headed for Cairns and the raintree forest!

BarbaraS

I'm enjoying your report. Since we're divers, I'm particularly interested in your trip to Cairns. It's nice to hear that you enjoyed the aquarium. I'm planning on visiting it as well.

anita63

Thank you, Barbera...do stay tuned as we visited Hayman Island and the kids and hubby did an inner and outer reef dive. Hubby also did the shark dive in the Aquarium in Manly...you might find that interesting!

anita63

March 12-13, 2008 Cairns:

We arrived in Cairns around 5:30 pm in a big rain storm, which was not a problem because, as most snow belters would agree, you don't have to shovel rain! We had made arrangements for a shuttle to drive us from the airport to Port Douglas for $220 return for 4 people. We debated about renting a car, but I am glad that I listened to the advice of one Fodorite who explained that the hour drive is long and winding and could be challenging for first timers in the dark. Very true and I counted my lucky stars that we were not driving in that rain around all the bends and turns. For the short amount of daylight that we did have, it was a spectacular drive (even in the rain)that hugged the coast...lots of crashing waves!

We got to our hotel, the Sheraton Mirage around 7:00pm (thank you Airmile points)and had a relaxing dinner in the bar off the lobby that featured a live piano player. We were the only ones in the place, and had a laugh riot calling out requests to this wonderful pianist. A couple of burgers and a couple of salads, two soft drinks and a bottle of really good wine came to just under $200...what can I say; I will splurge on my wine when the room is taken care of with points

For those of you interested in a report on the Mirage Sheridan, i can tell you that it is a very lovely resort and we all wished we had more time to experience it and enjoy it. Lots of meandering pools surrounded by man made beaches and beautiful greenery. If memory serves, the nightly quoted rate was $187.00. The rooms were very nice with a small sitting area, good size marble bathroom and a walk out patio to lovely flowers and bushes. I have no idea if I was in a standard room, but can only assume that we were since we were covered by points. I would go back. I cannot comment on actual Port Douglas as we did not spend any time looking around or exploring. Our objective was to visit the raintree forest and although we would have loved another night or two to have visited PD and/or Cairns, we were scheduled for 5 nights in Hayman Island and had to move on. In retrospect, I would have shortened my time at Hayman to allow for 2 extra nights in Port Douglas/Cairns.

Ok...the Daintree/Cape Tribulation part of the trip; IT WAS FANTASTIC!! We took the advice from one of the travel boards and looked into a personal tour with Pete Baxendell (www.nqhit.com.au)who took us in his custome 4WD truck from 7:30am (hense why we had to boot it from Cairns to PD the night before)and he returned us around 5:00pm. It was just the 5 of us and it was simply the highlight of my trip. He drove us to the Daintree National Park where we hiked through the rainforest and he pointed out all kinds of things that would have otherwise gone unnoticed by the average Joes like us. My son climbed vines, we ate all kinds of weird and wonderful things (including green ants), he showed us how to make toothbrushes out of bamboo, we swung on vines across rivers (son made it, rest of us didn't and took a huge dunk in the water!), saw spiders the size of dessert plates and on and on! After the Daintree, Pete went a bit further up to Cape Tribulation where we had a marvelous picnic lunch at a special spot that he likes next to the rushing over flowing creek. It was pouring all day (it rains in the rainforest, who woulda thought?)and it was the rain season, so there was plenty of high water levels. Just before leaving our picnic area, I am so glad Pete encouraged me to take a dip in the rainforest swim hole (made naturally in rain season) where I dove in, clothes and all, for the most invigerating experience of my life! It didn't take long before DH and DD were in the 10 foot swim hole with me splashing and carrying on...terrific memory and terrific time! DS, who had remained pretty much dry the whole time, opted to continue to stay dry and laughed at us and took pictures. It truely was a surreal experience.

Pete also pointed out things along the way to the Park and never hesitated to pull over anywhere and everywhere to point out things of interest like a huge fruit tree FULL of bats with wing spans of about 1 meter. He was clapping and hooping and holloring trying to get them to fly so DH could get a good snap,lol!

The day came to an end all too quickly and I was sad to say good bye to our new friend, Pete, who got us back in time for our shuttle back to Cairns.

We spent the night in Cairns at the Hilton (again, points...are you getting the sense that my husband travels alot for a living?) and we had a few hours to walk around the esplanade and grab a quick burger chez Ronald's. From what I could gather, it seemed like a nice enough place, but did have a bit of a 'sleeze' factor with shoddy souvenire shops along the main roads, but it had nice spots too. I really didn't have much opportunity to see it in the daylight, so perhaps others would be better qualified to tell about the differences between Cairns and Port Douglas. Oh, for those interested, the Hilton was a basic nice hotel as you would expect from this chain. Check in was easy with no glitches and it was centerally located right next to the casino, if interested.

We had a rediculously early milk run flight the next day. We had to get to Hamilton Island to connect with our launch that would take us to Hayman Island for 5 nights. Qantas flew us from Cairns to Brisbine (left at 5:55am), 90 minute lay over in Brisbane, flew Jetstar from Brisbane back up to Hamilton Island. What should have taken 90 minutes from Cairns to Hamilton Island took about 6 hours. Flights are limited out of Cairns, so if you are interested in doing that route, be sure to book very early!!

pat_woolford

Enjoying your report, anita - you were quite lucky to make it back on time to Cairns at all as you hit PD just before a record rainy day, even for wet season this was a doozie with 500mm of rain in 24 hours. At one stage the road north of Cairns airport was underwater and closed to traffic so only way in would be sea or helicopter.

anita63

Wow,Pat, that is alot of rain! We certainly were lucky to have made it at all. I take back my comment about snow being worse than rain...at least you CAN move the snow; rain, not so easy!

anita63

March 14, 2008: Getting to Hayman Island via Hamilton Island.

Again, this was the worse travel part of the whole trip...I was dreading getting up two teenagers at 3:30am to get the 5:55 flight out. They didn't disappoint! Very strange thing with this flight (well, strange for me) was this flight from Cairns to Brisbane was the tail end of an international flight so we had to check in at the international terminal and do all the international security measures which meant limited gels and aerosals. Being that we do not check luggage, I had to surrender my newly purchased sun screen and bug repelent which didn't thrill me. As well, I purchased a coffee in the gate waiting area and Qantas refused to let me board with it, calling it a hazard. Up at 3:30 am and refusing this traveller her coffee became just short of an international incident, but of course I had no choice but to comply. Let that be a warning to everyone to sure to book tickets with a real person who could have told you this international blip, which I didn't figure out booking on line. Never again!!

We managed to get to Brisbane and had 90 minutes to make our connecting flight. I NEVER has such a difficult time navigating an airport in my life. Even my husband, who is on 1-3 flights PER DAY in his job was dumbfounded by the lack of clarity in getting from the international terminal to the domestic terminal. How hard could it be? There must be signs (there weren't), there must be a shuttle (there wasn't), that mono rail looks like it could take us over, but we didn't have boarding passes since we were switching from Qantas to Jetstar. We wandered, and wandered and wandered, getting 7 different answers from 7 different airport personelle in how to get to the other terminal. Time was getting SHORTER and SHORTER...I was sure we'd miss the flight. Finally, on the recommendation of a Qantas person, we took a cab from the international terminal to the domestic terminal. Needless to say, the cab driver was LIVID to have lucked into such a short fare and argued with the captain, not wanting to take us (tick, tick, tick, tick...let's go, Mate!). I couldn't blame the guy, and we did appologize perfusely. We got in the cab with less than 30 minutes to get there, line up for our boarding pass, and get to the gate. I was sweating!!

Our lovely cab driver, upon leaving the airport, was still very crabby and decided that this would be a great time to fill up his tank with gas. "um, pardon me? You are filling up your tank NOW???". He replied, "Yes, I'm going right by it and I'm not going to miss this chance." There was NO convincing this guy to drive us the 3 KM FIRST and then fill up. He INSISTED that he was bone dry and had to fill up. "Exactly why do you pick up fares on an empty tank???" . No response. The next part is not exagerated and I am not making it up: He pulled up to the pump, but his tank was on the opposite side. Without a word of a lie, it took him FOUR attempts to back up, try the hose, didn't reach, back in the car, back up some more, try the hose, didn't reach....tick, tick, tick. And of course, he had to line up to pay. I was in tears at this point, convinced we were missing our flight, which meant missing the launch.

He got us to the domestic terminal, about 2 and a half minutes after getting gas (and he had the nerve to charge $10) and we RAN like crazy to the ticket area with about 10 minutes to get our flight. I must say, Jetstar saw our predicament and let us jump the que immediately to get our boarding passes. We then RAN to our gate, which of course had to be clear on the other side of the airport and arrived with seconds to spare only to find that the flight was delayed 90 minutes. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! I honestly started looking for secret cameras and thought we were on some practical joke show...actually, for those of you in North America, I kept saying that I was sure we were on the Amazing Race!

We arrived at Hamilton Island and found the Hayman Island check in people without any problem. Nice small airport, easy to navigate. "Here you go, Mr. Hayman Island Representative, my reservation numbers. What's that you say? You only have 1 room reserved? But we booked 2 rooms. One is paid out of points (thank you Visa) and the other is our dime. No record, huh. Leave it with you? Ok". I handed over my paper work (you can imagine the amount of paper I had to bring with me on this trip...hard copies of point redemptions, reservations, etc). I handed the Hayman Island person my ONLY copy of my point redemption certificate and said explicitly, as I handed it over, "THIS IS THE ONLY COPY I HAVE AND THIS CERTIFICATE REPRESENTS $2500.00 DOLLARS". He was almost insulted and said, "yes, I get it." I replied,, "No, you HAVE to understand...this is my ONLY copy. This is like me handing you over cash". He insisted that he got it.

We took the launch over to Hayman and it was really lovely. Canapes were a variety of finger sandwiches and sweets, drinks and champagne. I fell asleep on the boat! It was very nice how the luggage and reservations were handled very seemlessly. Our bags were brought onto the boat and we didn't deal with them again...they magically appeared in our room when we arrived.

Just like the brochure said, they had a line of staff waiting to greet us on the dock when we arrived. A shuttle was waiting for us to bring us to reception where each guest had a representative waiting for them who personally gave them a quick tour and escorted them to their rooms. I thought this was a great personal touch. The room's we were in were in the Retreat area...in behind the beach front rooms. We had the indoor/outdoor shower and a bathtub among the ferns. Good size room with a daybed/sitting area. Very nice. Nothing run down. Everything clean. I finally relaxed because I had read some pretty harsh reviews on TA about how this place was a dump. Not the case at all!

So, this was our home for the next 5 nights...stayed tuned for my Hayman Island Report/SCUBA Diving.