Australia Edition - Day 20 - The End is Nigh
It’s been almost a week since Hobbiton and a lot has happened, so I’ll try to catch everyone up without being too verbose. (Future Bill: I was very verbose.)
The day after we were in Tauranga, the cruise headed to the Bay of Islands. This was a day where we were anchored in the bay and you had to tender in. There were no excursions available from the ship, and we couldn’t really find any excursions that we wanted to do through 3rd parties, so we thought maybe we’ll just get off the shop and walk around town where the tenders drop you off. We didn’t end up getting off the ship. The waters were rough, the tenders were tiny, and Valerie turned green just looking at them. We decided to have a chill day on the ship and enjoy the last bit of quiet before we left New Zealand and headed back to Sydney.
We did play some Bananagrams, I forgot to write down the daily scores, but the final score for the cruise was Bill 7, Valerie 5. While playing Bananagrams, something interesting happened. I became a coffee fiend. Not a specialty coffee or anything fancy. We would eat lunch, have a Coke Zero with it, and then play some Bananagrams. One day, early in the cruise, I grabbed myself a cup of coffee because I was cold. I just kept drinking more and more. I was having 3-4 cups between lunch and dinner everyday. I don’t normally drink coffee, except after dinner on a cruise. Not sure why cruising brings out the desire for coffee in me, but after dinner coffee is something I only do on cruises and for whatever reason, on this cruise, I wanted coffee constantly, especially while we were playing Bananagrams. (Future Bill: I have not had a single cup off coffee since we left the ship, not do I have a craving for one.)
After dinner on Sunday,, we went up to the Red Frog to see something we had never seen before. They had all the musicians who played throughout the ship (not including the “show” performers) play together. It was amazing to see all these musicians we had been watching as well as a bunch we hadn’t seen before play some excellent music. Some if it was a little spotty at times (I’m looking at you violinist who had obviously never heard Santana’s “Oye Como Va” before), but it was really cool, and they went for hours instead of the normal 45 minute sets with 15 minute breaks in between. Just awesome!
We did have a bit of a rain cloud during the show. The Red Frog was packed and we had grabbed a table with 6 seats since it was what was available. This older couple came up and asked if they could sit and we said yes. They were from the Texas panhandle, and the wife was very nice, but the husband was something else. He asked if we liked the cruise and we said we loved it. Sydney and New Zealand were awesome, the cruise was fantastic, we were having a great time. His response was to look at us like we were idiots and tell us he hated it. No one took American money so they couldn’t buy anything and the food was different, and the people were different and he couldn’t understand them. The ship was different from all the other ones he had been on. Not wanting to cause a scene, we did the “smile and nod”, but what the fuck dude! You travel specifically because things are different! That’s the beauty of traveling, expanding your horizons and seeing how things are somewhere else. If you want everything to be like you know it, stay the fuck home!
His wife asked us where we were from and we said we were from the San Francisco Bay Area. His first comment was that Californians were all moving to where they lived. 10 years ago he had never met anyone from California and now they are everywhere. Smile and nod, smile and nod. People from California don’t know how to drive and he pulls up next to them when they are driving stupid and pulls his gun out and waves it at them. More smiling and nodding.
Different strokes for different folks I guess, but I hope I never end up that miserable and stuck in my ways that I can’t appreciate our differences and can’t see the world past the edges of my comfort area. It’s embarrassing that his shitty attitude is what Aussies might associate with Americans.
We also tried to go see one of the shows on our second to last day. We had skipped these because they are the exact same shows we’ve seen dozens of times on prior cruises. We went to the Rock show, watched two songs and walked out. Life’s too short to hear “professional” musicians destroy your favorite songs. We walked out of the theater, to the Lobby where Unity was playing, a couple with the girl singing and playing the Cajon and the man singing and playing the guitar. We had seen them a couple of times at the Red Frog and they were great. It was their last performance since their day off is Tuesdays, but they put on a great set.
After brunch, we did some shopping, hit the casino (I put $100AUD into a machine and it was gone in < 5 minutes.), and got to packing. While we were packing, we realized that we were coming home with more than we left with and we would need another bag. In addition, Virgin Australia, our airline between Sydney and Brisbane had some very strict luggage requirements, so we needed a solution. We found a “free” bag using the rest of Valerie’s onboard credits in the shops on board and did our best to figure out how to pack it. Once we were done packing, it was time for dinner. Dinner was good, but sad. Saying goodbye to our waitstaff was hard, they sang “the song”, and before we knew it, it was time for a last bit of live music before our last sleep on the ship and an early morning.
We were up at 5:45 to get ready and we were off the ship and through customs by 7:15. They were incredibly efficient and I cannot recommend cruising out of the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Sydney enough. Makes the terminals in the US look like a bunch of amateurs, although it could also be that the cruises in the US are filled with a bunch of entitled Americans vs the more laid back Aussies on our cruise.
Once out of the terminal, we ordered an Uber to the Hyatt and headed to our hotel very early. We checked in, and obviously our room wasn’t ready. We sat down and tried to figure out what we were going to do for the day. I mentioned the Taronga Zoo and once Valerie saw that there was a Koala experience, our destination was set. We walked to a nearby bus stop and hopped on the #100 to the Taronga Zoo. It was a really nice experience on the bus, same as the train. Tap your payment card to get on, tap again to get off, and you are charged based on the route you took. Our route took us out of the CBD, over the Harbour Bridge, and to the Zoo.
After we successfully ate breakfast, we went into the zoo and immediately went to the Australian portion of the zoo and we were quickly face to face with an emu, and a bunch of kangaroos. The zoo has a section where you can walk through the area where they keep the kangaroos and emus. You weren’t allowed to touch them (only place you can touch zoo animals in Australia is in Queensland (QLD)), but you are up close and personal with the roo’s. Once through the kangaroo pen, we headed to see the koalas and our koala encounter.
After taking a few pictures, we were off to see the rest of the zoo. They had some dingos which looked like less fluffy Shiba Inus, a nocturnal exhibit, where the lights were off and once your eyes adjusted, you were able to see some critters who typically only come out at night. There were some mice and bats, but the highlights of this exhibit was the echidna and the duck-billed platypus.
Following the nocturnal exhibit, we checked out some birds in the aviary, monkeys, reptile exhibit (Valerie was brave), giraffes, chimpanzees, and finally decided to grab lunch. I had a “carne asada burrito”, and Valerie had the chicken fingers and fries. We had to once again fend off the local wildlife while eating. My burrito was bizarre! It was BBQ beef brisket with a store bought “Mexican rice”, and the weirdest tortilla I had ever had. The recipes for Mexican food definitely got lost in translation over the Pacific!
While eating, we ended up sharing our table with a nice couple from BC. They were on a month-long tour traveling all over Australia. They had only been here a couple of days so they were just getting started in their adventures. They were in Tahiti right when “the troubles” started and had quite an escape trying to get home before the borders closed.
After our tour concluded, we headed to the bird show, where they do a show with local birds. The birds were beautiful and the show ended with all the birds free flying overhead. Having seen that, it was after 4, it was hot, and we were exhausted, so we headed back to the bus stop. As I had mentioned, the zoo was built into a hillside and the zoo entrance was at the top of the hill. The walk back was arduous given the heat, humidity, and the steep uphill climb. After a 20 minute climb, we finally arrived at the gift shop and the beauty that is aircon. We did some shopping and went back to the hotel. We headed up to our newly prepared room and cranked the aircon. We ordered more room service, and I was passed out by 8 so I would be rested for our 10:00am flight to Brisbane the next day.
We were up before 6:00am to do our morning rituals and get to the airport. Our Uber driver was really cool, chatting with us about some of the differences between Australia and the US and some of the places we should visit when we come back, and we are definitely coming back! The airport was easy, despite the $120AUD extra bag fee to hold all the stuff we bought on the cruise. Going through security was a breeze, just metal detectors and a quick look at our passports, and we were through. It was a short walk to our gate and when we got there, we realized we were both hungry. I saw there was a McDonald’s (Macca’s in Australia and New Zealand) and decided to grab us some Sausage McMuffins. Little did I know that we were in for a surprise!
We had been away from home for a little over 2 weeks now and the reason we decided on McDonald’s for breakfast was just to have a little taste of home, something familiar. We’ve had McDonald’s elsewhere in the world, and it has always been similar to what we have at home, but this was completely different! I bit into my McMuffin and the first thing I noticed was that the english muffin was different. Not bad, just different. The cheese, also different, but fine. Then I tasted the sausage and that threw me for a loop. It definitely wasn’t the sausage patty we have at home. I kept eating it, trying to figure out what it was and Valerie was doing the same next to me. She eventually asked, is it beef? I looked it up, and sure enough, in Australia, the sausage in the McMuffins are beef! Completely tripped out, and after taking another bite, it tasted just like a hamburger patty from McDonald’s back home.
We finished our breakfast and chilled at the gate until it was time to board. We had upgraded to the premium economy class, so we were among the first to board, and after a long taxi we were on our way to Brisbane! The flight was about 90 minutes long, and really comfortable. Valerie gave me the window seat and then passed out in her middle seat while I watched the beautiful countryside of the eastern coast of Australia fly by. So much of the Australian landscape is untouched, it reminded me a bit of Alaska with the lush green landscapes and no obvious signs of humans as far as the eye can see from 11,000km. After our flight was done, we got off the plane, hit the loo, and grabbed our bags.
It was warm in Brisbane, and not wanting a repeat of our first day in Australia by underestimating the walk from public transportation, we grabbed an Uber. The drive was about 30 minutes from the airport to our hotel, but we were there quick enough. Brisbane is far more chill than Sydney is. Sydney is a bustling metropolis, whereas Brisbane is still a large city, but more relaxed. New York vs Seattle is probably the most apt comparison I can come up with. The diversity continues to be surprising with people from all over the world settling here and bringing their foods and cultures. It’s a really cool melting pot similar to what we have in the US.
I was watching our progress towards our hotel and saw we were getting close when all of a sudden, our Uber driver turned down what looked to be a small alleyway. There were really old looking stone walls around us, the street was made of cobblestones, and there was barely room for us to pass the cars and trucks parked on the side of the alleyway that were unloading goods into the back doors of stores. Unbeknownst to us at the time, we had arrived on Burnett St, the oldest street in Brisbane, dating back to when Australia was a British penal colony. The driver dropped us off at an unassuming set of glass doors, the doorman told us to take the lift to floor 2 and we were suddenly in a beautiful older, European style hotel, the Hyatt Regency, Brisbane. We checked in, left our bags, and went to explore the area.
We left out the Queen St side of the hotel, which dropped us into a beautiful pedestrian mall with shops, restaurants, stages for live music, and arcades filled with more shopping. It’s full of life and excitement while also being beautiful and charming. Most of the shops are places Valerie and I would never go into like Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga, Tiffany’s, etc, but it was really cool to be walking through this beautiful area of the city with no cars and just enjoying the sights and sounds of the city.
After lunch, we decided to look around the arcade we were in to see what was there. It was mostly shops we wouldn’t ever patronize given neither of us cares about designer brands, but it was cool to look around. At the bottom of the arcade was a food court, which had a ton of amazing looking foods from all over the world and it was packed with people on their lunch break from work.
Having seen what there was to see at the arcade, we decided to find Central Station since we would be taking a 90 minute train ride to Beerwah the next day. It was two city blocks away from the Queen St Arcade, across Adelaide St. We needed to cross Adelaide and Albert St and had planned on doing that in 2 moves, cross Adelaide, wait for the walk sign and cross Albert. The walk sign to cross Adelaide changed and chaos ensued! When the walk sign for that intersection turns green, all cars are stopped, so you can cross in any direction, similar to Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo, Japan. It took a second for us to realize what was going on, but we quickly changed course and crossed diagonally, dodging fellow pedestrians walking from every corner of the street. It was confusion, chaos, mayhem, and the most fun I have ever had crossing a street, reminding me of some of the more complicated moves I had to execute when performing in field shows in high school and college! After doing some research, these are called scramble intersections and you can see why. We’ve gotten to cross this intersection three more times since and I must look like an idiot with a huge smile across my face each time we do, but I don’t care, it’s just fascinating to see how everyone manages the chaos in their own way.
We made our way to Central Station, checked the line maps to make sure we knew what line we would be on in the morning (Green/Caboolture line) and confirmed it was tap on/tap off like in Sydney. Knowing where we were going in the morning, and having received confirmation that our room was ready, we headed back to the hotel and finished checking in. We were a little concerned when we were assigned room 911 (we were right to be concerned, but that’ll come later), but laughed it off and checked out our room. It’s a beautiful studio apartment style room overlooking Queen St, with a separate living room and bedroom, a huge walk-in closet with tons of storage, and a nice bathroom. Way bigger than I expected given the style of hotel and age of the building.
After settling in, we decided to head across the mall to grab some snacks from the EZMart across from the hotel. Waters, Coke Zero, Powerade, some crisps, and some Tim Tams were in order. We hung out for a bit, enjoying the aircon and eventually we broke into the snacks. A few years ago, the Costco in Danville had Tim Tams and we bought some and tried them. They were good, but nothing really noteworthy. Valerie didn’t remember them so we decided to get a pack. We broke into them and these were not the ones I remembered getting from Costco. These biscuits were delicious! They are a chocolate covered wafer cookie, is the best I can explain it. Simple and delicious without being overly sweet. That is one of the things Valerie and I really enjoy about the food here, it isn’t overly sweetened or sugary.
We spent a couple of hours chilling in the hotel, finalizing our plans for the next day and then figured out where to go for dinner. We decided on a local pub called Irish Murphy’s. Our first Uber driver back in Sydney told us that most people eat at pubs for dinner and restaurants are not typical dinners for Australians. We hadn’t experienced a pub here yet, so we decided to try it. The place was packed, waiting for the live music to start. The pub does live music 7 days per week. We were a little early for that since it was 7:30 and music didn’t start until 9. Valerie ordered fish and chips, I ordered the Aussie Parmy, and we each got a Coke Zero. The food came out fast and hot, and it was delicious. I got gravy with my fries which was delicious, only needed some cheese curds to make some poutine! Valerie loved her fish and the tartar sauce was apparently delicious as well. The chicken parm was a huge chicken schnitzel with a little marinera and some mozzarella on top. Hard to go wrong.
There is an interesting fascination with chicken schnitzel in Australia. It is everywhere! In sandwiches, in every restaurant we’ve looked at, everyday on the cruise for lunch and in the main dining room, and in fast food restaurants. Doing some research, it is considered Australia’s unofficial national dish with calls to make it official. Chicken schnitzel (or schnitty, Australians shorten everything!) is originally Austrian but Australians have certainly made it their own, serving it with chips (fries) and some kind of sauce
After finishing dinner, we began the short walk to our hotel. While walking we saw a store that was still open and some loud sounds coming up from the stairway heading down into the basement of the building. We had found a game store (FLGS - friendly local game store, an Americanism, not an Australian term that I am aware of) that was packed on a Wednesday night with people playing Warhammer and Magic. They had a ton of games, books, and dice! We spent at least an hour combing through their games and checking things out. One of the things we found was a Games Workshop game called Blood Bowl which is a fantasy football game where you build your team of fantasy creatures and play against each other. We will be checking it out when we get home.
We obviously couldn’t spend an hour in a store and not buy something, so we bought some stuff that could fit in our luggage and decided to stop off at a gelato chain we had seen throughout Australia but hadn’t stopped at yet. I had some ube gelato and Valerie got the choc mint. They were really good, again not overly sweet, just cold and tasty. We finished our frozen treats and headed to the hotel to go to sleep since we had an early day the next day.
As we were readying for bed, the lights in the room shutoff and about 5 minutes later, we got a knock on the door. It was housekeeping and they were checking if we had power. Some of the outlets in the sitting room were working, but the power was completely out in the bedroom and bathroom. The hotel employee said they would reset the breaker and come back to check on things, however 5 minutes after she left, we got a call, “you need to move, we can’t fix the power until tomorrow.” About 45 minutes later, we got a knock on our door from the bellhop with a cart to take our luggage to our new room. We went from room 911 to 1011. We left our bags with him, took the lift up one floor, and were greeted by an identical room. A few minutes later, the bellhop arrived with our bags and let us know we had been comped breakfast for the rest of our trip for the inconvenience. We quickly unpacked and got to bed.
I was up at a quarter to 6 since we wanted to get on a 7:07 train to Beerwah which would take us to Australia Zoo, the zoo started by Steve Irwin’s dad and is still being run by Steve’s wife Terry and their children Robert and Bindi. I got moving but we were feeling sluggish and we ended up not getting out of the hotel room until after 7, too late to catch our train. We quickly replanned, grabbed our now free breakfast from the buffet, and then caught our train at 8:37.
The trains here are so nice. They are air conditioned, have wifi, comfortable seating, are conveniently located, fast, and are dead simple to use. The buses here are the same. I am at a loss for how the richest country in the world and one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world has no public transportation. Even the areas that do have some public transportation are inconveniently located, only accessible by car, you have to worry about safety and cleanliness. New York and Chicago are the only cities that have well connected public transportation options, but even those are old, dirty, and have safety concerns while using them. It’s unfortunate that the huge benefits of public transportation like reduced commute costs, increased physical activity due to more walking, and the environmental benefits of less ICE cars on the road are all overlooked in the US.
We exited the train, headed across the pedestrian walkway and to the car park. There was a shuttle there with Steve Irwin’s face on it. The shuttle was full by the time we got there, but they sent another one shortly after to pick up the rest of us. It was a short 5 minute drive to the zoo and there we were, in the Zoo Steve Irwin and his family had built. The Taronga Zoo in Sydney felt like a typical city zoo, but this one had a different feel to it. Besides Steve’s face being plastered everywhere, the animals, the veterinary efforts, and the conservation efforts being done by the zoo were front and center.
After the koalas, there was a small museum showing the history of the zoo and how the Irwins started it, Steve expanded it, and how his family are continuing to expand on Steve’s dreams after his death. There were photos of the entire family from a young age and exhibits on the kids, like Bindi’s trophy and dress from her final dance on Dancing with the Stars. There were exhibits on aboriginal tools found on the zoo lands.
One of the things we have heard again and again on this trip is the “Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners”. Wherever we have been in Australia and New Zealand, it is common that before anything starts, the person talking says “I begin today by acknowledging the <name of people here> people, Traditional Custodians of the land on which we gather today, and pay my respects to their Elders past and present. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here today.” I don’t know that it makes any of the native peoples feel better about the colonization of their lands, but maybe it’s something to acknowledge that colonizers came and took the land from people who were already here. Hearing this again and again does hammer home the impacts that colonization had on native peoples.
After we were done playing with the kangaroos, we washed our hands and decided to check out the gift shop at the Crocoseum, the stadium Steve built to do shows about the wildlife at the zoo, the highlight being the crocodile feed. In the gift shop was Robert Irwin’s gallery. He is exceedingly talented for being only 20 years old. Valerie and I have this weird tendency to buy artwork while on vacation and this trip was no exception. As we rounded the corner of his gallery, we saw an enormous canvas print of the Glass House Mountains. It was stunning and it was huge, and we have a perfect place for it above the couch in our living room. Shipping was very expensive, but as soon as we both saw it, we knew it was coming home with us.
Once we were done picking out the artwork that would be coming home with us, we checked out the wombats, the reptile exhibit, the aviary, and some more kangaroos. By the time we finished checking out those exhibits it was after noon and the Wildlife Show was scheduled for 1:15, so we headed back to the Crocoseum and grabbed lunch at the aptly named “Crikey! Cafe”. I grabbed a Thai beef salad and beef wrap and Valerie grabbed some chicken nuggets and fries (more sauce!). The Thai beef salad was really good with some fresh chilis. The wrap was less good. Valerie’s chicken nuggets were ok and the fries were really good, especially dipped in sauce. After quickly eating, we headed into the Crocoseum to get seats for the show.
The show started with a video of an Aboriginal Elder doing a traditional greeting and talking about the culture of his people. He welcomed us to the lands and played a song on a didgeridoo. It was a fascinating look into the native culture and something we want to explore more when we come back.
Following the video a couple of zoo keepers came out and talked about birds. Some of the local birds were showcased and they were free flying throughout the stadium. One of the birds was still in training and didn’t want to cooperate, but they were all beautiful. I keep telling Valerie the birds are gorgeous, but I hate the teams they represent! After the birds came out, some zoo keepers walked the stadium with some non venomous snakes, and they showed a video of Steve and Terry talking about how to survive a venomous snake bite. Compression bandages are key!
With Robert’s appearance came Monty, the first crocodile brought to the zoo, and the first crocodile Steve ever encountered. All of the research Steve had done and the techniques he developed for capturing and transporting crocodiles was done with Monty, so this is a special animal. Monty got a good feeding while Robert explained how to avoid the dangers of crocodile territory and the importance of leaving them to their habitat. It was a fascinating lecture and I have a much greater appreciation for these prehistoric creatures.
After the show, we went back to the gallery to pay for the shipping costs of the Glass House Mountains artwork and to pick up another couple of small items. By the time that was all complete, our day at the zoo was done. We headed back to the exit, caught one of the last shuttles to the train station, hopped on the train and headed back to Brisbane. That zoo is a wonderful place, and an exceptional legacy for Steve Irwin. That being said, his kids are continuing that legacy and are what I think Steve would be most proud of.
After checking out the Brisbane Arcade, we hit up a souvenir shop we had passed the day before. We got some last minute souvenirs for folks back home. When did our family get so big?!?! We had 18 family members to buy for plus some stuff for friends and colleagues! We’ve done a pretty good job at getting some things at each stop, but don’t want anyone feeling slighted!
Upon completion of our souvenir shopping we headed back to the hotel to enjoy some aircon and figure out what we were going to do next. Valerie took a quick nap and I started writing this post. (Note, I wrote for 3 hours on the 1st and now 4.5 hours on the 2nd) After Valerie finished her nap we had to figure out dinner. Both of us were exhausted from our day in the hot Aussie sun, so we decided on quick and easy. After discussing between Hungry Jacks (Australian Burger King) and Macca’s, we chose Macca’s because we wanted something closer to home.
When we got to Macca’s, there was no one taking orders. Everything is done from kiosks and then you pick up your order from the counter. This place was hopping at 7:30 and it was incredibly efficient. I got the double quarter pounder with cheese, Valerie got a Big Mac, and we both got fries. Unfortunately, no sauce, only ketchup at Macca’s. We also saw they were advertising hot cross buns, so Valerie went back to the kiosk to grab 2 of those. The only thing Valerie and I knew about hot cross buns was the song, so we were excited to try them.
We took our food back to the hotel and chowed down. Both of our burgers are way bigger than the ones at home. The bun is bigger and the meat patties are larger. There was a heft to these sandwiches that isn’t there at home. They were also way better crafted than what we get at home. They weren’t overly sauced, the ingredients were actually between the buns, and it was good. Again, the sweetness that is in all our food back home was missing, but I wouldn’t say I missed it. I will miss not having excess sugar with every meal when we get home.
After our shopping trip earlier in the day, I was becoming fearful of how we were going to get everything back home without breaking the bank in excess baggage fees, as well as making sure we weren’t forgetting anyone or that we were inequitable in what had gotten everyone. We took all the souvenirs we had purchased out of our bags and laid everything out on the bed, sorted by family. Damn we are good! We need to get one more thing and see if we can break some of our funny money into smaller coins, but we did really well. And then we had to see how we could get everything packed up.
With some heavy leaning on our tetris skills, we were able to get everything into our luggage without needing to spend anymore on luggage, and keeping all the souvenirs with us in our carry-ons on all our flights. That was really important to us since we have some really valuable things as well as things we can’t replace and I certainly don’t trust the airlines. We will be checking some bags, so our clothes may not make it home, but at least the souvenirs will be with us.
After confirming we are good from a packing perspective, we went to bed and I immediately passed out. I was up at 7:00am this morning and started writing. It’s now almost noon, Valerie is in the shower and it’s my turn next. We are going to head to lunch at Longtime, get the last couple of things we need, and enjoy our last day “down under”.
It’s really bittersweet leaving. We really want to see our family and friends, Callie, and oddly enough, I’m kind of missing work, but we’ve both loved our time here and I don’t think either of us are ready to go back.
This will likely be the last post for a while since we don’t have any travel plans in the near future. Thanks for following us on this epic journey! Love you all!
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