Australia Day

Wow, what a flight!

First, let me introduce a New Feature: the Executive Summary – as long as I remember to do it, I’ll start each post with a summary so you know what the highlights are.

Summary: Automatic for the People, Civilized Theater, Model Citizen in the air, Fantasy Island on the reef, Cheerful Aussies celebrate their day, Hertz begs me to keep some of my money, hot weather leads to Night Swimming, a room with a view, and plans for Tomorrow.

Before I get to the flight, there were two things I found interesting, but I gave you that flight teaser and there is no later point in the trip to more rationally fit these in, so here goes:
At SFO’s International Terminal we saw this giant automat built into the wall. Now, automatic dispensers of everything from soda to laundry detergent have been around for a while, but I saw that this was branded with Sony. They sell headphones and digital cameras. Yes, this is kind of out there, but have you ever said “I just need a $250 digital camera – I don’t need much selection (like you get online) or even someone to ring it up”. Evidently somebody thinks someone will.

Second thing – has anyone out there been to a Sundance Theater before? It was just a movie theater a block from my house. It was renamed “Sundance” and they have been refurbishing it for a few months. (wow, a new movie theater… tell me the blog is not going downhill already) Aneta let me out of the house to catch this movie and give her one last bath night with Alex. Well, this Sundance place is set up like a dinner theater – you have tables between every other seat and they serve adult food: I had a Panini sandwich and wine (Western Australian Shiraz, of course) for about what one might normally pay for the extra jumbo Sprite and monster popcorn. It was a pretty civilized experience.

But you didn’t come here for odd observations of San Francisco. So, what was the flight like? That flight was a dream come true. In the 14 hour flight (think of yourself, alone with a good book for 14 hours – you’d still get sick of seat 38B), Alex must have slept eight hours and he was quite pleasant when awake. The poor sap - er, seatmate - hemmed in between the window and us was quite good with Alex and said he was amazed how well Alex behaved. I was amazed at how well Alex behaved and I know him – he’s a good traveler and a good kid, but he was ON. When he was not sleeping he was generally relaxed and playing with headphones. On the advice of a friend & former client, I brought a variety of things hidden, wrapped, or otherwise unknown to Alex until I would pull them out at select moments… it did not matter to him or even slow him down. His favorite toy frog that makes a legit frog noise? Thanks Dad, now put the frog away and let me play with those headphones. The amazing part is that the headphones were still in one piece and functioning when I put them away on approach into Cairns. He was a little more agitated en route to Cairns until we went for a walk and found a) lots of space on a half-full flight, and b) two other kids his age, one of whom was enjoyed playing with him for about an hour. That child’s mother is from the US, went to “uni” at Tulane (clearly Aussie lingo), but emigrated here and has not been back for a decade. They were returning from a holiday in Tasmania. She recommended several things (including the reef) but had an answer I’ve gotten a lot when I say “how do I visit the reef with a toddler?” “Yeah, it is tough to do without someone to watch him. You could, well, um, hmmm. I’m not sure.” Naturally Alex fell asleep within 5 minutes of landing in Cairns. For those of you who have flown Northwest or other airlines lately, you'll appreciate this: Qantas gave a choice of braised lamb or gnocchi (we got one of each and both were pretty good). Yes, we were in economy. The flight scenery was also cool as we crossed over the Great Barrier Reef. This photo gives you a sense of what we saw, but photos from airplane windows are rarely good and there were much better scenes. It did not occur to me to get out the camera until we were back at our seats and almost on approach. There were huge reefs, evidently so shallow that the water was breaking right next to them. Mammoth reefs with a little crescent of sand – just imagine your own little 25 meter stretch of beach with a palm tree. Cairns & Townsville were also attractive from the air – especially Cairns with the backdrop of large jungle-clad mountains.

The landing/ customs/ rechecking/ transit to domestic terminal went as smoothly as possible and we were moved up to an earlier flight. Australia Day was in full effect and lots of folks were wearing something Aussie - either red, white, & blue or referencing a national team in their green & yellow colors. Not only do they sometimes give their team non-national flag colors, they give them names. What do you call the US National Soccer team? The US National Soccer Team or Team USA... Something like that. Basketball’s “Dream Team” was the lone exception, but then they started losing to hard-to-locate countries. Australian National Soccer Team = Soccerroos. Australian National Rugby team = Wallabies (I’ve got the hat but did not get the chance to wear it). Quick "team name" aside: one comment had suggested that I avoid the habitat of the Taipan (a snake that I will do my part not to meet) - the local basketball team is apparently called the Taipans. Back to Aussie Day: there is even a ceremony naming the People of the Year in Australia with the Prime Minister and everything. Driving in Cairns about a block from the Hilton, I was at a stoplight next to a pub. Maybe I had that befuddled “it should be right here - where the heck is it?” look on my face or something, but this girl yells at me and waves an Aussie flag with a big smile. Everyone was looking quite cheerful (for 1pm on a blistering hot, humid day). Naturally I realized that I was exactly where I’ve been planning to be for the past 5 months (even if I couldn’t spot the hotel at that moment), so I got a big smile and waved back with Alex’s hand. The part that I found hard to fathom was that at the end of a day of revelry, “barbies” and beer, they don’t have a firework show in Cairns. Maybe there’s a fire danger, maybe it was canceled due to rain for a decade in a row and they gave up. Either way, they just don’t do fireworks for Australia Day here. Perhaps I assumed too much from that Perth photo I had a few posts back.

Cairns Airport is small, which is nice when you want to get on with it and not take 3 shuttles with a tired toddler or several bags. We had to detour around some construction, but it was like your typical Hawaiian airport (outside of Honolulu, more like Lihue or Kona or Kahului) or a smaller Western US city (Boise, Albuquerque, Colorado Spring, or Tucson). The lady at the Hertz counter says “If we change this to a monthly rate, you’ll save $600” “Does it have free unlimited kms?” “No, but it is some high number, no need to worry” “We’re going 16,000 kms” “Oh, well I’ll just change the rate to free unlimited then!” Going out of her way to save me money then changing the terms to make sure it still saves me money - whoa. Any questions out there about why I chose Australia over Europe? Yes, my experiences at rental car offices in Germany and Spain fall short of this one (and I have documentation in case someone claims otherwise when I return it). This blue Camry is a nice ride and like most cars in other countries, while the name is the same the appearance is a just a little different. You’ll surely see a photo at some point. Naturally it is a right-hand drive vehicle so naturally most things are reversed from what I am used to. Of course, I activated the windshield wipers when trying to use a turn signal much to the amusement of my copilot. Alex was drowsy when we got in the car, but he just started giggling as soon as I was driving. It was like we all played a joke today where everyone drives on the wrong side. He just kept laughing as we drove to and around town. Where was I? Ah yes, why did it remind me of Hawaii? That warm embrace of hot, sticky humidity. It must have been 90 degrees (made warmer because someone did not feel like walking at the three carry-on backpacks got heavier), but it did cool off to 70 when we went on our walk this evening. Alex and I both had a little nap in the afternoon and I interrupted his to go walking, but he went right back to sleep 2 hours later. The lagoon (a giant swimming pool downtown, next to the beach) was packed – it was dark out, but there were lots of kids still in the water. Perhaps the parents decided to wait until dusk/dark for sunburning and comfort reasons. Not one person was on the beach.

Lastly, our room is a nice one. We’re on the top floor overlooking the harbor. I will try to attach a quick video (it took too long to upload, I'll try again on my next post). Turn off your sound as the sound quality is second rate. If it was good, you’d hear music and kids playing underneath us. Looking at the harbor, you might think I must be outside town. No, I am in the heart of downtown Cairns on the Esplanade. The thing is, there just isn’t anything on the other side of the harbor. The city is behind me and to my left. Future videos will be even shorter as the upload time is...long.

Tomorrow, we’ll drive up towards (but not to) Tribulation Point. The weather should continue to be great. We will surely hit Port Douglas and maybe do a river cruise (watching the wildlife) at the ferry crossing. A honeymooning couple from Melbourne recommended Tribulation Point and the Daintree Rainforest, adding that they have spiders as big as your hand. Hey great. (That just cleared some space on my “Things to Do” list) And the road past the ferry crossing is winding with cliffs. Alone in a left-hand drive car, that might sound pretty good except for the spiders as my reward for getting there. Anyhow, that clarifies that the ferry crossing won’t happen. And I'll do that mundane thing of getting bottled water, fix-a-flat, etc.