I WENT TO AUSTRALIA TONIGHT!!!

The movie, that is...it was really good. I loved the story and the scenery. It really made me miss Aus.

A LAND DOWN UNDER

I thought I’d do a post about our Australian trip, since it was one year ago that we were there.

Getting there was not exactly fun, but it was full of adventure. We arrived at the airport, got our boarding passes, checked our bags, went through US customs, since our first flight was to be from Toronto to Chicago, then through security. We had a bit of time, so we thought we would have something to eat, and relax till our journey. Phil checked the flight schedule, and it said our flight to Chicago was cancelled. Well, I thought, no worries, There will be another plane for sure. We went to information, and after much searching on their computer, we learned that there was no other flight that would get us to our connecting flight to San Francisco in time to get our connecting flight to Sydney, and from there a connecting flight to Cairns. Whew! OK, so they told us we had to leave the secure area, go through Canadian customs, get our bags (!) and line up again (!) and get it sorted out. We lined up with United, they said it was Air Canada’s problem. We lined up at Air Canada, they said no, it was United’s problem. We lined up again with United, and after much hassle we were rerouted and were flying to LAX, then to Sydney, then to Cairns. When we finally checked our bags again, went through US customs again, and security again, and went to board our plane to LA, they said, well, good luck in LA. Phil and I looked at each other and said, what?? So we had 5 hours flight time to think about that.

here we are, looking all awake, lol, this was taken the morning we left

saying goodbye to the kids

…very funny boys

we love you!! ~sniffles~

this is before we found out our flight was messed up…

When we arrived in LAX we didn’t have much time to catch our connecting flight to Sydney. We had to get on a bus to go to another terminal, then find someone who spoke English, and sort everything out. Somehow we managed to get everything done, go through security again and get on our plane in a very short amount of time. We were getting a bit tired, and now we had a 15 hour flight ahead of us. We had 2 seats in the middle 4 section near the back of the plane. I am gifted with the ability to sleep anywhere, anytime, which is good, because I really don’t like reading much, even though I can read and travel and never get motion sickness. It was the weirdest thing. I would start watching a movie, go to sleep, wake up in the middle of another movie, sleep, wake up during yet another movie…you get the idea, this went on for 15 hours. We ate 3 meals on the flight, but I asked them not to wake me up to eat. Every so often I’d make the journey to the back where the bathroom was. By the end of the flight I just waited at the back anyway, I was so sick of sitting. A treadmill would be nice~

I can’t begin to tell you how excited I was to land in the country I love so much, for the first time. It was a dream come true.

click on this, listen to the music, eat a Tim Tam, and check out my pictures…

Sydney!

The bus driver who took us to the other terminal to catch our flight to Cairns

Once we got to the other terminal, we had about 1 1/2 hours to wait. I headed off to get a coffee, which was wonderful stuff (although way more than a Timmys, anywhere from 3.50 to 4.50 a cup!). These guys know how to enjoy a java. Every cup is brewed from fresh ground beans. Here are a few choices…

• Short Black: This is a single shot of espresso.
• Long Black: Espresso with water (1/3 espresso 2/3 water). If you want a close approximation of a regular cup ‘o joe, order a long black. It’s equivalent to a Cafe Americano ordered in your local coffeehouse.

Simple, yeah? Well, I hope you didn’t want milk with that. That’s where the confusion starts.

• Flat White: This is a popular drink in Australia and New Zealand. As far as I know, it’s not served anywhere else in the world. A flat white is an espresso with steamed milk (about 1/3 espresso, 2/3 milk). The closest approximation in America would be a no foam latte.

So, what if you want a regular cup o’ joe with milk?

• You order a Long Black with Milk on the Side. This gives you cold milk to add to your long black.

A latte is a latte and a cappuccino is a cappuccino.

After the coffee, I heard on the loudspeaker that our flight to Cairns was cancelled, due to a problem on the aircraft. OH NO!! Well, no worries, another flight was on the way, so we only had to wait about another hour. The best part was WE WERE IN AUSTRALIA!!!! so who cares? hehe

\

me, on the centre row of 4, and guess what? no one else sat there so I got the whole thing to myself. I asked Phil to not let anyone wake me up, and if there was any food, I didn’t want any, but would LOVE an apple or some sort of raw fruit or veggie. It was a 3 hour flight. When I woke up we were almost there, and Phil had an apple for me. What a sweetie!

we look a tad sleepy

So we landed in Cairns. When I stepped on the tarmac, it was hot, sunny, and humid, WONDERFUL. I was in love with Australia.

landing in Cairns.

We went into the terminal, and met up with Phil’s business associates, Peter, and his uncle, John. The people were the best part of Australia. Peter and John helped us find our hotel in Holloways Beach, just north of Cairns, after we got our rental car. How fun is that?? You drive on the left side!!

Here’s Phil driving in Oz. The first time he got behind the wheel, he signaled to merge into traffic, and the windshield wipers went on. When he wanted the wipers, the signals would go on. Everything is reverse, but he quickly adapted, cause he’s so clever, no worries, mate.

We got to our hotel, which was like an apartment. It was so nice, with a bedroom, laundry room, bathroom, kitchen and living room. It was just across the road from the Coral Sea, our balcony overlooked the gardens and a pool.

We went for a walk on the beach, it was around 5 pm by now, and we had been travelling for about 48 hours by now. We immediately found a local

this is Peter, (not the Peter who’s Phil’s business associate) but he wanted us to join them for some fishing. Unfortunately we were a bit too tired.

here I am by the Coral Sea – with no worries

We caught some zzzz’s then headed to Cairns the next morning. We went to Peter’s house. John was there too, he’s from Brisbane. We met Peter’s family, his wife, Sandy, and their 3 children, Cree, Jordi, and Doni.

Sandy and I, with their dog Wally. Sandy and I really hit it off. She showed me around Cairns one Saturday, while the guys were working. Cairns is such a pretty city. We were driving along a mountain road when Sandy pointed out a tree. She stopped the car and said, you’ve got to smell a frangipani, so she got out and picked one off the tree and handed it to me. She told me all about the different neighbourhoods we drove through, and pointed out a place where a crocodile was recently sighted.

Phil with Peter and John

Supper with Peter and his family

During the three days of business, I headed downtown Cairns. It was a cool little city. I hung around the Esplanade area, which has a walkway along the Coral Sea. I did some shopping, met people, and walked a lot. Later in the day Peter would pick me up downtown and we’d head back to his house. John had lots of tales to tell about his travels all over Oz.

Sandy is from BC, Canada, she met Peter while working as a translator in Australia. She speaks English and Japanese. She’s also a chef, and we had an amazing supper at their place one evening. Her specialty is garnishes, and so everything not only tasted amazing, but looked so nice too.

I got informed about a sport called Oz-tag. It sounded like great fun, and I’d love to have everyone learn it and play it here. How about that?? Sandy gave me 2 Aussie ‘footies’ (that’s what they call footballs); and also all the instructions about Oz-tag.

Oh ya, so everything is abbreviated in Oz (that’s what they call Australia). I asked what I would be called…Sandy said my Oz name would be ‘Cynthie’. So now you know, and you all have permission to call me Cynthie, or Doc H, of course;)

The first Sunday there, we went to a fellowship in Cairns.

The pastor Dave Wright, and his wife, Billie. Their son Nathan (in the red striped shirt) played the bass very well.

We did a day trip to Kuranda, a rainforest village in the mountains just west of Cairns. We boarded a restored old train which took us up the mountain and into the village.

waiting for the train

friends we met on the train, and later caught up in Port Douglas the following week

views from the train

Phil and I

enjoying a mango smoothie in Kuranda news about Cape York, north of us, exciting, eh?

check out the funny guy in the background of our picture, lol

some of the sights of Kuranda

views from the cable car ride back down the mountain. You can see the croc infested Barron River, and as you can see, it sometimes rains in the rainforest

back down just outside of Cairns, some sugar cane fields

a sugar cane train, and me on front of the cane fields. The best place to find a taipan is in the sugar cane fields.

a hike in Wooranooran Park

more falls

driving in the rainforest

and isn’t this cool…the workers wear the traditional Aussie hats

more of Wooranooran Park

bananas

a cane field after being cut

coffee

Trip to the Cairns Tropical Zoo

the taipan, the world’s most venomous snake

this guy knows how to handle snakes

Kookaburra

kangaroo – they were awesome!

koala

wombat

crocodile

big crocodile

more ‘roos…Australia is the only country that eats it’s national symbol

The Butterfly Sanctuary

danger is everywhere, thankfully there are some lifeguards here to protect us.

Vinegar is available at the beaches in case of a jelly sting. These are usually fatal, and the vinegar doesn’t really help much, so you really should avoid being stung by one. There are 2 different types of jellyfish that are extremely nasty, called the Box Jellyfish, and the Irukandji. Getting stung is incredibly painful, I’ve heard stories of people still screaming after being sedated, and many die of a heart attack before the poison gets them. Wild eh? This country is not for the timid. There’s many other poisonous and deadly things in Queensland, but the box jellyfish is the deadliest. There’s also lots of snakes, crocs, sharks, and the funnel web spider. I think that’s what made it even more exciting, all the danger lurking around. I loved it.

Nasty little guy eh? Crikey!

Here’s a bit of info regarding these jellies

Treatment:
If you are stung, or are with someone else who has been stung, the treatment will vary depending on where you are, and what type of stinger is involved.
In tropical waters:(generally north of Bundaberg in Queensland and Geraldton in Western Australia)
Jellyfish capable of causing life-threatening stings primarily occur along the tropical coastline of Australia from Bundaberg in Queensland northwards, across the northern coastline and down to Geraldton in Western Australia.
In areas where dangerous tropical jellyfish are prevalent, (e.g. Box Jellyfish or Irukandji), if the species causing the sting cannot be clearly identified, it is safer, to treat the victim with vinegar.
It is recommended that a full-body lycra suit, or equivalent, be worn to provide a good measure of protection against marine stings, particularly during the stinger season, which generally runs from November to March.
For tropical jellyfish stings:
· Remove the patient from the water and restrain if necessary
· Call for help (dial 000 or get a surf lifesaver or lifeguard to help you)
· Assess the patient and commence CPR as necessary
· Liberally douse the stung area with vinegar to neutralise invisible stinging cells – do not wash with fresh water
· If vinegar is unavailable, pick off any remnants of the tentacles (this is not harmful to the rescuer) and rinse sting well with seawater (not freshwater)
· Seek medical assistance with rapid transport to hospital

Tablelands, here we are enjoying some passion fruit cheesecake and a coffee at a coffee plantation

sugar cane rails

OUTBACK…

Let me tell you about some of our misadventures. We were heading to the outback. The road quickly turned into this dusty dirt road. We kept going till we got to this town, Chillagoe, an old mining town. We stopped in a pub, there were some really hard core locals with their Aussie hats having a beer and visiting. I snapped a few shots. They wanted us to stay for this bbq that was on that evening, but we had plans to catch up with friends in Palm Cove, just north of Holloways Beach. So, it was getting kinda overcast, and they said we better make tracks, since the road can flood really quickly if it rains, and we’d end up having to say the night )which wouldn’t have been all bad, because anywhere in Oz is nice…so off we went. We drove for about an hour when I started looking at some of the digital pics, I went to get the other card from the case, which I promptly couldn’t find. Ugh! I must have left it back at the pub. We turned around, and as soon as I walked in there, one of the guys had the case for me. We really had to make tracks, it was getting darker and cloudier, but we made it to Palm Cove, a bit late, but had a nice evening with friends.

it gets pretty rugged out there. Wow. Have I told you how much I love Australia??

downtown Cairns, notice the McOz burger? I actually ate one of these in Cairns, just to say I ate at McDonalds in Oz. It was yummy. I never go to the golden arches in Canada.

more downtown Cairns

We headed to Port Douglas, where we stayed for the last week of our trip. One of the highlights was our trip to the Great Barrier Reef, where we went scuba diving. I saw Nemo, lots of coral, a shark, a stingray, and lots of colourful fish. I touched the bottom of the Coral Sea!!! Awesome.

scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef…about as good as it gets, eh? I had to keep reminding myself, I’M IN AUSTRALIA!!! WOOHOO!!!

a cafe in Port Douglas

more locals

our coffee and internet hangout, ‘re:hab’

many of the trucks have ‘snorkels’ on them so they can drive through rivers and stuff

Another one of our ‘misadventures’ was a day we were to catch up with some other friends who live up in Kuranda. We enjoyed a nice evening, they had a wallaby that frequented their backyard. It was dark when we left, and we had the winding mountain road to go down. There was this huge python across the road, about 8 feet long. I said, stop the car, we have to get a picture for the kids. Well Phil pulls over, and hands me the camera. Then he puts my window down, so I’m closest to the snake. (I’m not scared of snakes, but hey, it was really dark out, and this thing was huge). ‘Something’ came in the window, and brushed against me, and I couldn’t see what it was. I freaked out a bit, lol (OK, a lot) and I’m screaming to Phil to turn on the lights. I was afraid to move, cause whatever it is, if I got it mad, it was most likely poisonous! So now Phil’s desperately looking for the switch, everything of course is backwards in the car. I’m still screaming, the light goes on, and it was this big grasshopper sitting on the window ledge. Phil said he thought he’d killed me when he put the window down, lol. Well by now, the snake was in the bush and we never did get a picture of it. We saw another one on the road from Cairns to Port Douglas later in the week.

Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest

you can’t say they didn’t warn ya about the deadly stuff

this monitor was over 5 ft long

Enroute to Cape Tribulation

we had to take a ferry across the Daintree River to get up to Cape Trib

it can get really hot, so there are these canopies over parking lots. This is at a Woolworths, the locals say ‘Woolys’ and it’s a grocery store

more of the car, and Phil in the drivers seat.

OK, one more car story…we had just been visiting Cape Trib, and I wanted to see just how far we could drive on the road to Cooktown, before it switched to the Bloomfield Track, which is only accessible by 4WD, the road is really narrow, and often you have to drive through rivers. It’s often closed in the wet season. We drove a bit, then we saw the sign that said 4WD from here on, and missed the spot to turn around. We drove a bit further, the road was narrow, and there was a sheer drop to the ocean below. It was also windy, so you really couldn’t see if anyone was coming from either direction. We just took our chances to turn around, cause we couldn’t keep driving on this road. After some maneuvering we finally got turned around, and made it back to Port Douglas. Do we not lead exciting lives??

to conserve water, there are 2 buttons on the dunny. One for a half flush, and one for a big flush.

Time went so fast, and it was getting near the end of our trip. We headed back to Sydney, for the long flight to LA, then home.

there’s Tim Tams in that green bag;)

our plane from Cairns to Sydney

Cairns from the air

SYDNEY

The Opera House

The Sydney Harbour Bridge…almost the end of our vacation, still reminding myself that I’M IN AUSTRALIA…have I mentioned that I loved it there?

The very busy Circular Quay. They were setting up for Australian Idol outside the Opera House

Train to Circular Quay from the airport

my last glimpse of Oz

Back in LA

where’s Jack Bauer??

oh there he is;) he was at the airport, saving us all from immanent annihilation. WTG Jack!

he’s a really good guy:)

We had a huge delay at LAX, fortunately Jack Bauer kept us all entertained and safe. We were going to have to wait 5 hours, then we ended up waiting 9 1/2 hours! Ugh. it was awful, especially because of a blizzard in Toronto. I wasn’t looking forward to the snow. We were so tired, and me the germaphobe ended up sleeping on the floor by the windows at our gate. We finally got on the plane, and had a non eventful flight home to Toronto. Shayne met us at the airport. It was late by the time we got home. The next morning the kids were all excited to see us, we brought them back stuff from Oz, and told them all about it, and showed them pictures, and they all got to eat Tim Tams and Lamingtons (lammos, the Aussies call them) and Milo for the first time.

a few more pics from Oz…a road sign warning about ‘roos’

and the Southern Cross. amazing, isn’t it?

Fair Dinkum, mate

G’day!