Here is a Summary of the Australia Trip, I did add a few more pictures just before this
We left our house on Monday,
October 27 around 12:00. We stayed in
Brampton at a Best Western. Gillian pick
us up and we went to dinner at Moxie’s.
Our flight out of Toronto was the
next day at 10:45am via Air Canada. Five
and half hours later we landed in LA around 1:15pm their time. We then had to wait 9 hours for our next
flight. This airport was under
construction. We tried different
terminals and could not find a decent place to eat have a drink or sit
comfortable. We did find a little Bistro
that did serve sandwiches, fries and beer.
We stayed there and had a couple of beers and played crib for 2 to 3
hours.
Our flight out of LA was at 10pm
via Air New Zealand. This was a good flight, lots of different movies to
watch. We were served dinner, breakfast
and drinks. This flight was 13 hours,
which got us into Auckland, New Zealand at 7am, October 30. We lost the 29th because we
crossed the International Date Line
Later that morning we left
Auckland at 9:25am via Air New Zealand and arrived in Cairns, Australia at
11:40am. This flight took 5 hours, so we
gained some time. Our ride was waiting
for us with a sign all went smoothly. We
went straight to our hotel The Pullman Cairns international
Very nice hotel looking over the
cbd and the harbour. The casino was
right across the road. We went out to
explore. Very beautiful city right on
the water with a huge wharf. Cruise
ships and freight ocean liners would come in here. Later on in the day we found a place to eat
called the Hungry Jacks. Very Australian
with crocodile burgers. We had the fish
and chips.
The next morning we went out
looking for breakfast. We found a little diner named the Mouth Trap owned by a
nice couple from New Zealand. Our tour
was starting this day at 12:00. Our tour
guide was Terry and the bus driver was Daryl.
We were to find out as the tour went on that they both were excellent at
their jobs and we couldn’t have asked for anyone better. We went north to the coastal town of Port
Douglas. We did some exporting on our
own. Port Douglas is the meeting place
of the rain forest and the Great Barrier Reef.
That evening we went to a special
welcoming dinner at Tjapukai by night where we took part in a corroboree. Which is a demonstration, stories, dance and
meal done by the aboriginals.
Saturday November 1st
we cruised from Cairns by catamaran to the Great Barrier Reef where there was a
huge reef activity platform. We enjoyed
5 hours of snorkeling, semi-submersible sub, lunch and relaxation. We were all on our own for dinner. We went to the casino for dinner and I didn’t
spend any money!!!!
Sunday Nov 2
After breakfast we checked out of
the Pullman and loaded onto the coach and headed to the Kuranda sky rail
rainforest cable way. This took us over
the tree tops to Caravonica lakes Most
enjoyed this, as I did not. (too high and the cable car was too open for me to
feel safe). We continued on and saw the
Millaa Millaa falls and a curtain fig tree.
Our Journey ended that day at the Castaways Inn on Mission beach. Beautiful beach and many of us went swimming. Dinner was provided for us. The next day Terry told us there were
crocodiles around and he was afraid of all the paperwork he might have had to
complete. But we were all okay.
Monday Nov 3 Left Mission beach
after breakfast and we were on our way to Townsville where we enjoyed a tour of
this tropical city. We then drove to
Airlie Beach where we all got on a boat to Daydream Island. Here we spent 2 nights. Breakfast was provided, but we were on our
own the rest of the time. John and I
hiked over the island (not a very big island). This is where we saw our first
(in the wild) kangaroo. He was huge,
took a look at us and then continued on.
The island was also full of wallaby’s. They would come out in the evening and graze
on the grass around the buildings. We
enjoyed the pool and relaxation. Very
nice resort.
On Wed nov 5th after
an early breakfast we were back on the boat to the mainland. Back on the coach on our way to
Rockhampton. We spent the night in a
lovely little motel where dinner and then breakfast was provided. The next morning after breakfast on Nov 6th
we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn where we left the tropic zone and entered
the temperate zone. We did a tour of
Rockhampton’s provincial gardens (Botanical). We then traveled to where we boarded another
boat to King Fisher bay resort on Fraser Island where we spent 2 nights.
This resort was very different as
it was more rugged. There were pools,
nice restaurants and all the amenities, but we were in the wild. This island was populated with wild
dingoes. The resort was fenced to keep
them out. We were told that if we were
outside this fence to keep in pairs, keep children close and don’t run away
from them. You were supposed to stare
them down. I did not want to test that
theory!! We had a ½ day tour on a 4x4
bus. Over very rough roads. This island is all sand, so the roads were
sand dunes. They had not had rain in a
while so everything was dry and rough. I
think all the passengers that day lost a kidney. This bus took us inland to a pristine
freshwater lake. It was so clear and
warm, all sand bottom of course.
Saturday Nov 8th was
another early start. Breakfast first
then onto the ferry back to the mainland.
Back on our own coach and headed to Australia Zoo or as they call it
Steve Irwin’s zoo. After a few hours
stop here, we continued on to the “Gold Coast”.
We stayed that night in Mantra Legends in Surfers Paradise. This is a very popular spot for the younger
crowd. Apparently, it has a great night
life.
Sunday Nov 9th had us
back on the coach and travelling to Byron Bay, Port Macquarie. We stopped at many photo opps and
beaches. We were just being tourist
taking pictures. We spent the night here
at the Rydges which looked over the Hastings River.
Monday Nov 10th had us
travelling to Sydney. We stayed at the
Park Royal Darling Harbour, right in the heart of Sydney. This is very busy and big city (4.2 million
People). We had a farewell dinner at the
Sydney Tower Restaurant. This revolves
360o. It reminded us of a mini CN
Tower. The next morning we took the
coach on a tour of the city. At this
point Terry our tour guide made sure everyone had transport, arrangements or
transfers all in place before we finished at noon. Some of our passengers were staying at this
hotel, some were transferring to another.
Some were off to the airport and some were starting another tour. Terry made sure everyone was taken care of.
We were waiting for John’s 2nd
cousin to pick us up. We were staying
with her (Vickie), her husband, Stewart and their little girl Lexi. They were so very kind and great hosts. I was able to do laundry. They live in a suburb called Manly. They made sure we saw their sights, beaches
and shopping. We took them out to dinner on the second night. We let them choose and we went down to the
beach and had a wonderful dinner. Vickie
arranged an airport transfer for us to get to the airport. We needed to be at
the airport for 10am. Of course they
needed to get to work and we had rush hour to consider as the airport was on
the other side of Sydney.
Thursday November 13th
we were at the airport to fly to Ayers Rock.
We flew Virgin Australia at 12:00.
This was a 3 ½ hour flight. This
airline did not have inflight entertainment.
You had to download an app or rent a tablet to watch anything. When we got off the plane in Ayers Rock it
was 42o C and windy. It was a short bus ride to the resort. They have a curtesy shuttle that went around
this one resort with 3 or 4 hotels on it.
They is also what they called a town center. Here they had a restaurant, post office,
visitor’s center, souvenir shop and an IGA grocery store. Here we bought a sandwich each for our lunch,
some diet coke and munchies. We were
able to get into the pool when we got back.
It didn’t take long to feel hot and sweaty again. The wind continued and brought in storm
clouds, therefore our “dinner of silence” in the dessert was cancelled. The
next morning were up at 4am to go to the rock for sun rise. Afterwards we had a walking tour around the
base. These guides were very informed
and enthusiastic about the history and meanings of this sacred place. (Misty raining)
We left that afternoon and headed
to Kings Canyon (Sat. nov 15) After a long drive we reached Kings canyon
resort. This was in the middle of
nowhere. The hotel, restaurant and a gas
station. The setting was beautiful, but
you couldn’t help feel stuck. The next
morning we had our base tour of the canyon again beautiful and full of
history. (Misty raining) back on the bus
to Alice Springs.
Sunday nov 16. On our long bus ride to Alice Springs we
stopped at a couple of “stations” These would be a restaurant and gas
pumps. These were operated by the owners
of the land we were on. The highway went
thru these properties. The bus driver
would point out the odd driveway telling us that the homestead was 80
kilometers in off the highway. It is
very hard to grasp the expanse of this land (misty raining)
That night when we arrived in
Alice Springs we thought we would walk into town as it was only 15 min
away. Then the skies decided enough of
the misty stuff lets really rain. So we
stayed in and ordered a cheese tray and watched some decent TV thinking we had
time to do it in the morning before flying out.
Well it was raining then too, so I was able to catch up on-line. I was able to use the internet in the lobby. This
ended our 4 days in the interior. This
is the 2nd driest part of the country. They get just a few more milometers of rain
than a desert. We managed to see 4 days of rain. We flew out of Alice Springs Mon Nov 17 via
Qantas. Much better airline, movies and
a snack. After a 3 hour flight back to
Sydney, where Vickie picked us up at the airport, thank you
We had another couple of days
with them. Laundry again, off to do some
souvenir shopping. They took us to see
some more sights. They live in a beautiful area where it doesn’t take long to
get to the shops, beaches or head up the mountain for cool air.
Tuesday November 18 our flight
out of Sydney via Virgin was at 10:30am.
Stewart took us to the airport, leaving their place at 7:30am. Thank you.
This flight was 3 hours to Auckland to transfer there for our flight to
Rarotonga. This flight was 4 hours
arriving Monday November 17 at 9pm. We
have crossed back over the International Date Line and have gained a day.
We were met at the airport and
taken to our resort. By this time it was
after 10 and everything was closed even the hotel office. But not to worry, we found our name on the
board posted outside and our bus driver, John took us to our room. He was the one of the owner’s cousin. Of course we were hungry and John went across
the road to ask the Chinese food shop to cook us something to eat. We had rice and sweet and sour chicken, it
was really good.
The next morning we checked
in. Michelle was very nice and let us
know we were assigned the wrong room. We
should have had a higher grade. She gave
us the option of switching rooms or she would credit us the difference to use
at the restaurant and bar. Our room was
okay with us so we took the credit. She
added on $40 for the inconvenience so we have enjoyed dinner and the bar.
Rarotonga has a bus service that
goes around the island. You can go
either way, clockwise or anti-clockwise and this is what the buses were called.
It was $5 a trip, $8 return or there were day passes available. We took one trip all the way around the
island, this takes about 1 hour. That
night we book an island night at another resort. This included a buffet and a show with the
locals including hula girls and husky men.
The next day took the bus into town and wondered around. We exchange some Aussie dollars for New
Zealand. At the bank she told us to go
to Western Union because she would have to charge a fee. At the airport we were going to change $50
Aussie to New Zealand and we were only going to get $40. At the Western Union we change $100 Aussie
and got $103. Lesson learned not to
exchange money at the airport. After our
trip into town we enjoyed the beach, pool and bar at our resort.
Thursday November 20 we left
Rarotonga for Aitutaki. We were on a small
propeller plane with about 36 seats. I
wasn’t sure how I was going to like this, but the takeoff and landing was much
smoother than a large air craft. They
call these Island Hoppers and it only took less than an hour. Our resort here in Aituaki was
beautiful. We had a beach side
cottage. We were snorkeling right out
our door. There were pieces of coral that
the tropical fish were all around. We
enjoyed another island night. I would
have a swim before breakfast, the water was crystal clear.
After another beautiful peaceful
couple of days we flew back to Rarotonga to catch our flight to LAX at midnight. The plane was a 767 and the seat layout was 2
– 3 – 2. We had 2 to ourselves and
thought this was great. Unfortunately
the two in front reclined theirs way back most of the time and made our space
crapped. Not sure what the solution is
for this for all travellers.
When we arrived in Toronto we
called Skypark and they picked us up within 10min. Our van was waiting at the front, was running
and nice and warm. I would highly
recommend them, cheaper than park n fly
Our whole trip went smoothly, no
hitches. Pickups and transfers were
never a worry they were always there.
We were home just after midnight
on Sunday the 23rd. Thank you
to Joe and Marilyn for looking after the place and having it nice and warm when
we got home.
