Is this Heaven? Great Barrier Reef!

So, a domestic flight within Australia is such a lovely walk in the park as far as air travel goes! They wouldn’t have even asked for id I don’t think but we had to check a bag and didn’t have a boarding pass yet so we had to give it then/

We went to the Adelaide airport Quantas lounge and it was awesome – such a huge space! And almost no one in it/ But you know there were baristas waiting to make amazing coffee/ I love these people/ We charged everything up while sipping delicious free wine and relaxing in the comfy chairs in the quiet space – airport lounges are really worth the money, in my opinion/ We’ve been able to get in all these because we’re flying first class (for free, remember, on points) and business or first class tickets get you an entry to the lounge or club pre-flight/ Back home, we get access to American Airlines clubs because of my airline status/ Super great perk if you travel a lot, which is a synonym for sitting around an airport a lot/ And btw—Sydney put the fear in my heart so I didn’t wear my dang flip flops lest I be denied entry;)

And then, we were off to Brisbane, the city that continuously attempted to derail our trip during the arduous planning stage/ Jason has friends from the Fidelity days who have been living in Brisbane for the last year—they are lovely people (though, I’d only meet them as a couple 1 time at their legendary Christmas party, and Karen one quick happy hour while she was stateside) – they offered us their place to stay while we were in town/ So incredibly nice! Of course, to know Jason is to love him, so I wasn’t surprised they love him

But, back to the derailment attempt – knowing we wanted to come to Brisbane based on Karen’s description and offer—we kept trying to work the rest of the trip around it/ And, it never worked/ It was always the spot where the whole thing, well, derailed / I’m not kidding when I say we spent almost 9 months planning this trip/ Somewhere in there, Jason said, “Maybe we should ask a travel agent/” HA! I scoffed/ Please/ And then Brisbane and the international date line tried to kill me/ But,  if you know me you know I am persistent to an annoying degree and by golly, I WAS going to find a way to make it work and make it work for free/ BOOM!

All that to say, Brisbane had some hype to live up to:)

When we landed, we were to meet Karen in baggage claim—we hoped that worked because we couldn’t call or text/ Get this – our bag was the first one off! Off to a great start!

And, there was Karen walking up! We were really early so Steve had dropped her off and was taking a lap/ We headed home to their awesome apartment overlooking the Brisbane River/ It was really close to downtown and the airport/ I believe when we walked in the door and I saw the floor to ceiling windows and sliding glass doors  and the river beyond them I said something lovely and eloquent like, “Shut your mouth!”

Karen had made us a “booking” for a Turkish restaurant that night—to get there, we took a ferry down the river, which was an easy walk to the dock from the apartment (you KNOW I was loving that)/ The ferry cost something like 3 or 4 australian for 2 hours of cruising and on and offing/ We hopped off down in South Bank, which looked to be the heart of downtown/ This is the stop Steve uses for work/ Riding the ferry to work! What a dream!

We wandered around alongside the waterfront – it was awesome! There were large pools and “beaches” where you could come swim and hangout (FREE) the best most awesome looking playgrounds ever, people all over hanging out, being outside, families and friends/ Lovely/ On Friday and Saturdays, there is a community market on the street behind all the restaurants – we walked around that admiring all the stuff/ Dinner at the Turkish place was SO delicious – it’s been awhile since I’d been to a Turkish place/ There used to be this little place in Redwood City where I’d been with Sara back in my Belmont days in the Bay Area/ Now, Karen has recently become a vegan but Jason, Steve and I were ready to eat lamb, chicken and beef and ultimately we got one of everything and shared – so so good!

It starting raining a bit at dinner – we were sitting outside but didn’t have to move back or anything/ It was nice/ afterward, we decided to take an uber back rather than the bus or a ferry because of the rain / So, a word on public transportation—everyone uses it/ It isn’t sketchy or scary or gross/ You also know I LOVE this/ Oh I how wish we had public transportation like this back home/ Steve takes the bus or the ferry to work almost every day and Karen almost never drives period/ Around their particular neighborhood of Brisbane, New Farm, you can walk everywhere/

We finished night one hanging at the apartment, sitting on the balcony, and talking/ Loved every minute of it/ Steve and I are the early to bed, early to risers so we left Karen and Jason up talking (which became a trend!)

The next morning, we walked to get a coffee at Steve’s favorite place. It’s maybe a 5 minute walk and a great way to get the day going. The coffee shop was right at a bus stop – Jason commented on how brilliant that was/ I said, we need to open a coffee stop back home called the Bus Stop/ We had some breakfast back at the apartment. One thing about changing hemispheres is that we can have summer fresh fruits and veggies all year! Karen made me some AWESOME avocado toast with fresh tomato/ So good.

We didn’t have much time that day because we were flying up the Great Barrier Reef! OMG! Think you’ve seen me be excited before? Holy SMOKES! THE GREAT BARRIER REEF.

Karen and Steve took us to the airport and we (you know this is coming) chilled out in the lounge/ Finally, it was time! So, another interesting note here on Australian flight boarding practices—you just never know what is going to happen, but what will happen will not resemble what you “know” from back home/ In one airport, they wouldn’t put the gate number on the screens until it was time to board – this is so brilliant! You don’t get the backlog of people standing around blocking everything!! When you do get to the gate, it’s time to get on the plane/ Pretty clever/ The signs even say “relax” so you can stay wherever you are, enjoying life, until the moment it is time to do something else/ So Australian.

Boarding the plane was very Roatanian/ We walked out onto the Tarmac and up the stairs/ Yay! That’s a signal to me that awesome things are coming/The plane was small and not even half full, so we spread out/ Interestingly, it was a Quantas flight but all different – there was no first class or biz class—there was free lunch for all but no alcohol/ We thought that was odd for going to a tropical vacation spot so we asked and they said we serve free alcohol but after 3/ We later found out they don’t have any flights after 3;)

So, here comes the moment I was waiting for—flying over the reef! WHOA! I was totally in heaven/ The colors of blues and greens! Hundreds (it seemed) little island sprinkled all over/ If only random sea creatures had started jumping out of the water to some rock opera – just kidding, it was perfect and incredible and lovely and I couldn’t wait to get on the ground! The landing was a bit bumpy because it was very windy but whatever – GREAT BARRIER REEF!

Now, the great barrier reef is HUGE – like geographically enormous  -- pick a spot to visit? How? Geez! Thankfully, Karen to the rescue! She told us about the Whitsunday Islands and highly recommended them/ Good enough for me! We found Hamilton Island, which you can fly directly (non-stop) to and stay on/ Perfect! Now, we were both so busy prior to sabbatical that we in no way did any research or planning beyond making flight reservations and hotel accommodations/ Seriously/ Duh/ Had we done so, we would have realized that the entire island was like one solid resort – you can go and do anything anywhere and put it on the room – you can rent a golf cart at the airport and drive it to lunch, your hotel, the bar, whatever/

But, there we were with zero information We got a free bus to the hotel because it was somehow a part of the deal—rock on! The hotel was awesome – we had a lovely room overlooking the reef with a huge balcony and lots of warnings against leaving the doors open because the cockatoos would blast in and ruin your life/ Damn! Wild cockatoos!  I hate birds but I like tropical birds, I think/ Maybe because they aren’t really around much?

Now listen – I’m a diver and a life long ocean lover/ And I’m in the great barrier reef/ And suddenly, I honestly feel like I don’t care what happens/ I’m happy no matter what/ It’s a good thing that I think this, as things turn out, because the great barrier reef decided to “spur” in the 3 days we were there, which is an organic process where the coral fissures itself (is that a phrase?) in order to “spur” regrowth/ Wow! That’s incredible! This also means that the whole sea ends up looking like someone with fins has kicked up all the sand/ In other words – lights out/ In addition, the wind kicked up so much that they cancelled all the tours to Whitehaven Beach (the infamous white sand beach you’ve seen and didn’t know what it was) and all the on top of water tours (fishing, sailing, etc) And, I was ok/ I still felt so lucky, so blessed, so amazed to be there/ I felt no loss/

So, we did different things – we sat at the pool (we NEVER do this), we played mini golf, we walked the beach, we walked to the marina, we ate pizza, we played foosball/ What an incredible spot! A dream come true with kids – they could safely run the island having fun and playing and meet back up with you later and you would have no worries/ So much fun/ Everyone was so chill and happy and calm/ A place of dreams/

We did go snorkeling and saw a few things but really couldn’t see much/ And, I didn’t care at all/ I know of all the coral and fish and creatures and I love them all/ I swam with them whether I could see them or not/ Totally content and happy/

In retrospect, I would have rented a golf cart! What an amazing spot! Please go here if you can/ At the end of the time, we walked to the airport/ Did you catch that? We WALKED TO THE AIRPORT!

Is this heaven?