Our Trips: March 2018

This is another of these Chinese New Year treks to Australia. One main driver was to visit mother. We are making this trip as we had set a meeting in Brisbane last year. I do wonder if this would be our last “regular” trip to Australia this time of year.

2/8 Thursday.

Eric had responded to our Wheels request, but texted me to say Don would be picking us up. Don came in his two-month old car, and showed us the banged driver side door. We had TSA Precheck so had ample time to get to the gate.

United started a new route from Houston to Sydney in mid-January. The scheduled flight time is over 17 hours, one of the longest routes flown by a Boeing 787. In comparison, the Newark to Hong Kong flight typically takes about 15 ½ hours. This is about 3 hours into the flight, and we are now over the ocean, still another 14 hours to go.

Our flight Newark to Houston was scheduled to arrive at 6:50 pm, and the flight to Sydney departed at 8 pm. Which would make for a tight connection anyway as boarding usually starts 45 minutes before departure. We had some weather the day before, and some flights were affected. I was therefore monitoring our Houston flight (the plane went IAH-EWR-LHR-EWR before heading back to Houston). We left the gate on time, but had to wait in the queue for around 30 minutes before we took off. The plane had to use the “wrong” runways: it took off from Newark to the North and landed in Houston to the East), which added a few minutes to the flight time. Houston is a huge airport, so taxiing took a while, and the walk from Terminal C to Terminal E, together with a ride on the train, took perhaps 20 minutes.

I am glad we made it as we will be flying up to Brisbane the same day. The lesson is go with an earlier EWR-IAH flight, or be mentally prepared to stay overnight in Houston.

Another lesson learned. On the EWR-IAH flight Anne and I had 18A and B in a Boeing 767. The seats have a lot of leg room due to the seats in front are used for crew rest. However, the overhead bins were for emergency equipment storage, so we had to put the luggage at row 21. “Swimming upstream” when people were eager to deplane is not easy.

For the IAH-SYD flight, however, Anne had three seats to herself and took advantage of it by sleeping quite a few hours. I had an empty middle seat, and managed to nap a few times. Perhaps the 787 is indeed a better airplane to fly.

The other thing I noticed was in contrast to the typical straight-line flown between the West Coast and Sydney, today’s flight didn’t quite follow the most straightforward path. One reason seems to be a straight line would have meant overflying Mexico. Also there was a bit of maneuvering in the middle of the flight that added 20 minutes to the total flight time, according to the “flight map” I saw. I was quite sure the flight map showed over 10,000 flight miles about one hour before we landed. Flightware.com, however, showed a distance of around 9,000 miles, but part of the path was “estimated.”

Curious flight path taken by UA101, not sure if this was an artifact or the actual path.

Flight path UA101 as recorded on Flightaware.com.

2/10 Saturday.

We had breakfast at McDonal’s at the airport, and Ruth picked us up. She and Stephen had a meeting to go to, so Anne and I took the Audi Q3 and first drove to the cemetery to visit my parents’ graves. We had lunch at Danny’s in La Perouse, ordered too much (forgot how large the fried fish is.) We were dropped off at the domestic terminal for our flight to Brisbane. Priority Pass gives an allowance of A$36 for food, we used A$34 (eligible for A$72 for the two of us.) Flight to BNE was smooth until we got close to the airport – a bit bumpy. After we landed, they closed the tarmac (passengers usually have to walk to the plane) because of nearby lightning. (I was told later that they close the airport when lightning is within 5 km.) We couldn’t find the Uber rank, so took a taxi instead. How those meters jump! The ride was about 20 minutes, cost around A$54.

Our room is a small suite in the tallest building in Brisbane. Since we are on the fifth floor, it doesn’t matter. So far quite comfortable.

Visiting my parents’ grave, Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park.

Not realizing how large the pieces were, I ordered the 3-piece meal. We managed to eat all of the fish …

,,, and these.

Accommodations. Meriton Herschel Street, 4 nights.

2/11 Sunday.

Anne woke up at 6 am, I at around 8 am. We went to the train station – which was essentially closed last night – to check things out, and to have breakfast (McDonald’s again.) Lunch and dinner with Ling and Wally, at a Dim Sum restaurant in Inala and at Yum Cha Cuisine in Indooroopilly, respectively. Inala has a large population of Vietnamese, and Yum Cha Cuisine is a relatively high end chain in the area.

Another storm came through as we were having dinner. Quite a trees were blown down, and (we found out on Monday) that lightning hit Andrew’s house.

The Inala district has a large number of people of Vietnamese descent. In this fruit market they sell some interesting looking produce.

Meriton Herschel Street as seen from across the river. It is the tallest building in Brisbane. Our low floor had only a limited view.

2/12 Monday.

We took the train to Toowong to have breakfast with Wally, Ling, and Andrew at the Jephson Hotel. The rest of the day was spent in meeting at BST. Dinner was with the group at an Asian Restaurant in Toowong. Wally dropped us off.

About 3 am or so the hotel alarm sounded, first with “stand by for further instructions,” followed by “evacuate now.” But the announcement stopped after a couple of minutes. Quite a bit of excitement, and we wondered if the alarm was turned off, or it malfunctioned. In any case, didn’t take long for us to fall back asleep.

Dinner at Jackpot Noodles, Toowong, after the BST BoR meeting.

2/13 Tuesday.

Today was spent touring the area. We first took a rather long walk in the Roma Street Garden, which we could imagine is the pride of the city during spring time. I could see the effort that goes in to keep the place looking trim and colorful. After lunch at 400 George, a home that is home to 10 or so eateries, most with either an Asian flavor or run by Asians, we crossed the Kirilpa Bridge to tour the various museums on the south bank. We had been here before, but this time we spent a bit more time. The museums are Gallery of Modern Art, Art Galleries of Queensland, and Queensland Museum. We also walked to Brisbane Museum but decided not to go in as they charged A$12 for a special exhibition of a Chinese ballet dancer.

Dinner was at train station, Anne had various Asian stuff (which she brought back to the hotel, and I ate some of it,) and I had KFC.

Roma Street Parkland Park is a large park in the center of town. The place must look great during the spring bloom season.

Ducks resting by a stream.

A large lizard that has little fear of people.

Ibises are a common sight around Australia.

A lot of work goes into maintaining this well-manicured garden.

Gallery of Modern Art is across the river from the hotel. This lizard and flower is at the center of the ground floor atrium.

These reflecting balls, called Narcissus Garden, are about 4” in diameter. They float on shallow water and are moved around slowly by gentle currents.

Many pieces of Torres Straits art were on display. They piqued my curiosity about Torres Straits people more than anything.

Frogmouth specimen at the Queensland Museum, I would see a live one in Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary in Tasmania.

Brisbane City Hall. There was a “China’s Last Acrobat” display that charges A$12 in the Brisbane Museum. We decided to skip it.

Interesting architecture design. There are several floors of office space in this structure.

2/13 Wednesday

Today was the first day of our 2-day Fraser Island tour. The island is supposed to be the largest sand island in the world, and started at the volcanic rock called Indian Head about 750 million years ago. I jotted down our itinerary as follows:

· Started from Brisbane Transit Center at around 7:15 am;

· Arrived at Noosa at 9:25 am to pick up more passengers, left at around 9:50 am;

· Arrived at Rainbow Beach (a town) at 11:35 am, had picnic lunch;

· Left for Ferry to Fraser Island at 12:45 pm;

· Stopped at Eli Creek at 2:20 pm. The driving was done along the beach (called 75-mile Beach) with the tires deflated to 40 psi (100 psi when on surfaced roads.) Fraser Island sits on top of a fresh water table which generates fresh water from various creeks that has been filtered in sand for 70 years, at 18 degrees C. Eli Creek itself generates enough water (80 million liters per day) for the entire Australian population. Anne walked in the creek for a bit. We also took a 15-minute scenic plane ride that gave a different perspective of the island. Left at 3:20 pm;

· Arrived Pinnacles which is a multi-colored canyon, 3:30 pm;

· At 4 pm we got to Indian Head, named because James Cook saw people there and thought they were (East) Indians. It is about a 65 meter climb and provided great vistas on both sides. That was the northernmost point of the trip;

· Maheno Shipwreck at 5 pm. Maheno was a cruise ship in use from 1905 to 1935 (approximately). After it was decommissioned it was supposed to be towed to Japan eventually, but the cables broke and the ship was stranded on Fraser Island. We saw about 10% of the wreck, the rest has sunk into the sand;

· We got to the Eurong Beach Resort at around 6 pm, the driver had to detour from the beach as the tide was coming in, even though the tidal range is about 1 meter. It made for some interesting encounters with other cars;

· Dinner was at 7 pm, it was buffet style with quite a variety of meats. And I discovered insects that bite (mosquitoes, and gnats.) So we decided to skip the star gazing trip on the beach.

· The room was not air-conditioned, and we had to keep the curtains drawn because we were on the first floor. Opening the door probably would have let some draft come in, but wasn’t an option as we didn’t want to be mosquito food. Sleeping under the ceiling fan was bearable, though.

This is the Sunset Safari bus that would take us on long rides on beaches and unpaved roads. The tires were deflated from 100 psi to 40 psi before going onto the island, and reinflated when we left. Our tour guide Rett spent most of his lunch time performing the chore.

Rainbow Beach where we would have a picnic lunch before we headed to Fraser Island.

We saw quite a few shorebirds along the way but couldn’t quite identify them. These pelicans were easy to tell. Are the small ones terns?

The Manta Ray would take us from Inskip Point to Fraser Island.

Pinnacles have a variety of colors.

Eli Creek is the largest creek on the island’s eastern coast. It produces enough fresh water for the entire population of Australia.

It also appears to be a “must see” for everyone.

We decided to go on this 15-minute sight-seeing plane ride. The plane accommodates 7 passengers. We could see sand dunes and structures that would be difficult to see at ground level.

The aptly-named Butterfly Lakes as seen from the air.

The Fraser Island started forming “several hundreds thousand years ago” when sand began accumulating against a volcano know today as “Indian Head,” so named because James Cook thought people observing as his ship sailed by were Asian Indians. This is a panoramic view.

More shots of Indian Head.

S. S. Maheno wreck is now 90% under the sand. It may well be gone in a few years, or a storm will cause it to reappear. (No one knows?) In any case, posted signs prohibiting entry was ignored by many.

Dingoes roam the island. This one looks quite healthy compared to some of the mangy ones we saw.

Because of rising tides in the afternoon, we had to take an inland track. We met this truck (with a trailer) along a narrow stretch. To the truck driver’s credit, he managed to back up for us to pass.

Most (or all) of Fraser Island beaches do not have life guards on duty. These people are swimming at their own risk. Our guide mentioned rip currents and sharks as being the prevalent dangers.

Accommodation: Eurong Beach Resort, in a room without air conditioning (1 night.)

2/15 Thursday.

Second day of Fraser Island tour.

We paid A$6.50 each to upgrade our breakfast from continental, which was a great bargain. Loaded up on eggs, bacon, and sausages.

· Left the resort at 7:45 am for Lake Birrabeen, arrived around 8:15 am. The lake is one of 40 or so perched lakes on Fraser Island, which is about half of the world’s perched lakes. These lakes are formed when organic material from marshes fuse with silica to from coffee rocks which eventually become impermeable and retain water. The water is slightly acidic, so few things grow in it. Anne changed into her swimming suit, I just sat under the shade, trying not to be bothered by the flies.

· Left lake a little after 10 am for Central Station, named after the area’s logging days. Took a short walk to see various gum trees and other trees of the forest. Interesting one this time are the staghorns that grow on the hoop pines. Also the copper in some creeks makes a green tint.

· Left Central Station at around 11:20, and got back to the beach at around 12:25 pm to wait for the barge to go back to the mainland.

· Lunch was 1 pm – 2 pm. We ate at the Rainbow Beach Surf and Life Saving Club. They had a special deal for fish and chips (A$22 for 2).

· We basically drove all the way down the beach to get to Noosa to drop off passengers.

· Along the way we stopped at the formation that gave Rainbow Beach its name, and the Red Canyon. It is too much people saw the need to carve their names on the sand.

· We got back to Brisbane a little after 6 pm.

· The tires had to be deflated to 40 psi from 100 to go to the island, which took up much of the driver’s lunch time.

Ling and Wally picked us up and we went to Yum Cha Cuisine again. Today it was crowded, being Chinese New Year’s Eve. They then dropped us off at the airport hotel.

Lake Birrabeen is a perched lake with clear water. These began with organic material forming "coffee rocks" which are impermeable. The white sand is silica.

Anne taking a swim.

Another face-to-face encounter with an oncoming bus, this time on a narrow sandy dirt track. It took quite a bit of maneuvering for the two buses to pass each other.

Staghorn Ferns grow on hooded pines. They don’t harm their hosts …

... and they are not small.

Boarding the ferry to leave the island. Who needs a pier?

Rainbow Beach. We would drive all the way to Noosa on the beach.

Red Canyon. It is too bad people have this habit of defacing nature to mark their presence.

Accommodation: Ibis Brisbane Airport, 1 night.

2/16 Friday.

Had to wake up early (again) this morning to catch the 7:20 am flight to Sydney. The hotel is a convenient 10-minute walk to airline check-in. We had time to buy some food using the Priority Pass at Bar Roma to bring on the plane. It was a smooth ride down to Sydney. I tried to get more food with the Priority Pass at Bistro 2020, identifying myself as a landed passenger. They gladly sold me a breakfast and a coffee. Anne had gone ahead and collected the luggage, and we ate near the carousel. It was then an Uber ride to Matraville as Ruth’s car was full from Tim and Whitney’s luggage. The ride was relatively cheap at around US$20.

After lunch at the Expresso Warrior in Eastgardens, we checked into Meriton Bondi Junction. It felt quite dated compared to the Brisbane property we just stayed in. Dinner was 6 of us at Kelly’s which offered food with an “African” flavor – I wouldn’t be able to tell if I had not read it in their menu. Today is Chinese New Year, all the restaurants are fully booked, and offer banquet-level-priced set dinners.

Inside JQ813 at Brisbane Airport. Lots of “fog” due to the warmth and humidity.

We had our Chinese New Year dinner at Kelly’s in Bondi Junction Westfield Mall, a quiet alternative to dinner at a Chinese restaurant.

The dishes had an African flavor to it, per the restaurant (Photo supplied by Witney).

Accommodation: Meriton Bondi Junction, 3 nights.

2/17 Saturday.

Today was spent driving along the Eastern shore, hitting The Spit, Manly, Freshwater, Curl Curl, and all the way to the northern tip of the peninsula – Barrenjoey Lighthouse. Tim wanted to do the 25-minute climb to the lighthouse but gave up.

Dinner was Anne and I at a Japanese restaurant on the mall next to the hotel. Tim and Whitney wanted to see the Mardi Gras activities around Oxford Street, but found out after they got there that they were two weeks early!

Freshwater Beach. We had lunch at the Calm Cafe. Next door is Pilu which is very expensive (7 course tasting menu at A$140), fortunately it was fully booked.

Curl Curl Beach.

Palm Beach.

There was a lot of kite-surfing at Palm Beach, with its surf and high wind the surfers could do some amazing (and reckless) things.

Dinner at Ichi-ban Boshi in the pedestrian mall next to the hotel.

2/18 Sunday.

Airport trains were not running on the weekend, so Anne and I took an Uber the airport for her flight back to NJ. We encountered this traffic jam around the airport again, and suggested to the Uber driver to drop us off in the passenger pickup area again, which saved us some time. Much of the traffic jam was caused by a traffic cop at the intersection pulling over people who tried to switch lanes at the last minute – I wonder how many people missed their flights because of poor traffic planning. We again made use of the Priority Pass and ate got food at Mach 2 restaurant. After seeing Anne off I took Bus 400 to East Garden.

Tim and I stopped by our parents’ grave to pay our respects, then drove around the La Perouse area. We failed to reach a rather interesting lighthouse which would require us to get off the car and walk quite a distance. Most of the day was spent at Ruth and Stephen’s place.

Dinner was at East Phoenix, with Alfred joining us. This being the third day of the New Year, the restaurant was quite crowded. We left before the lion dance – which I found to be too noisy – commenced. To the restaurant’s credit, they didn’t charge high prices for a la carte orders.

View of harbor from Bondi Junction Meriton. A cruise ship is moored in the middle of Sydney Harbor, it was all lit up at night.

Business must be good. This is the third Meriton Tower being built in this Bondi Junction complex.

Next to the Eastern Suburbs Cemetery is the Molineaux Lookout which provides a nice view of the airport and Botany Bay. Not sure what this Torii was all about: a search of the web says it is a commemoration of a sister port in Japan.

Dinner East Phoenix.

Flight path of UA100 that Anne was on, as shown on the United website. Anne told me the flight was uneventful. (Highly unlikely the 787 can carry enough fuel for this circuitous route.)

2/19 Monday.

Tim, Whitney & I left Meriton at around 7:15 am to get to Jennings Street. Ruth dropped us off at the airport at around 8:15 am – traffic was not bad as feared. We again stopped by Bistro 2020 for breakfast; I am maximizing use of Priority Pass privileges recently. Flight to Hobart (JQ721) left a bit late so a no-show passenger’s luggage could be pulled, but got to Hobart in time. We were quite surprised by the cold air (16 C temperature) that hit us. I am also glad that I brought along the light down jacket.

I tried to retrace the trip Anne and I made about 10 years ago. We first started at the Bonorong Wildlife Park. The place had a lot of geographic familiarity to it, but the animals seemed harder to find. One reason – I suspect – is today people are more conscientious of not keeping them as zoo animals and instead providing a more friendly environment for them, thus making them less visible. The guide had to use food to lure out the Tasmanian devils. When we last visited, their population was in trouble because of a communicable cancer-like disease, today they were in more trouble. We didn’t see any bettongs or quolles, which was a pity.

We decided to skip the “Lake Dobson” part of the tour and drive back to Hobart. After checking in the hotel, we walked to the waterfront. Mares Upperdeck was fully booked until 8:30 pm, so we went to Mares Lowerdeck instead. I remember eating here last time.

Selfie at the Bonorong Wildlife Refuge entrance. I recall seeing more animals the last time we visited. Below are photos of Tasmanian devils, emu, koala, kangaroos, and frogmouth.

Albino Trout Salmon Ponds.

There are many different species of trees in Salmon Ponds. Some are clearly labeled, such as this cedar. A leaflet illustrating all the trees on the property is available.

Hobart Harbor.

Mures Lower Deck. The Trevalla was not as good as I remembered it - you can't go home again, so to speak.

2/20 Tuesday.

After a leisurely breakfast (coffee only for me), we took the 1 ½ hour drive to Port Arthur, stopping along the way to buy some cherries. Remarkable Cave, a rather long tunnel carved from the rocks by the sea, is a short 5 km south of Port Arthur. Viewing it required walking down 120 or so steps. The seas were calm today, so there wasn’t much action.

Lunch was fried seafood and chips at the café across from Tasman Island Cruises. Anne and I took this cruise before, and I am happy to do it again with Tim and Whitney. Again I forgot how cold it could be at sea, and was glad to have brought the light down jacket along. The sights haven’t changed all that much, except today I noticed more shearwaters and albatrosses (not that much into bird-watching 10 years ago.) Also, a large pod of dolphins decided to visit the boat and put on quite a show, many of them leaping clear out of the water.

Dinner was at Frank, a “South American Cuisine with Tasmanian Ingredients.”

Cape Raoul as seen from Remarkable Cave. The jagged outline was due to the dolerite columns being used as target practice by the British military.

Remarkable Cave on a calm day.

Boarding the RIB for the three-hour eco-tour. When we were here last time (10 years ago) there was only one boat. Business has doubled.

Thankful for these overalls provided to customers.

Sister ship.

Landscape ranges from interesting to spectacular.

Lighthouse on top of the 250-meter high Tasman Island. Imagine being on duty at the lighthouse.

Dolerites are a kind of basalt columns that resulted from cooling of magma.

Tasman Arch.

Pied Cormorants perched on rocks.

We were met with a huge pod of dolphins which swam around us for a good 20, 30 minutes.

The dolphins pop up in unexpected places, so it took a lot of patience and skill to capture them on film. I had neither the skills nor the patience, so this one-minute clip only caught glimpses of them.

We had a nice dinner at Frank. The dish "Mole" is a combination of beef and lamb, served with green rice.

2/21 Wednesday.

After checking out of the hotel – Tim and Whitney will stay another night – we went to Honey Badget Dessert Café which serves pancakes for breakfast. On mine were bacon and egg. The drive to Mount Wellington took about 30 minutes, the 1270-meter elevation provided a great view of Hobart cities and the surrounding areas.

We had passed by the Oyster Restaurant (Barilla) next to the airport many times, so we decided to have lunch there. A dozen oysters sells for A$32, so we opted for the 36 for A$59. This variety pack had raw and cooked oysters in their mix. Whitney ate 4, I ate 13, and Tim ate the rest (36-13-4=19)! I was then dropped off at the airport at around 1:30 pm for my 4:25 pm flight.

One observation was the large number of Chinese tourists (from Hong Kong and China, also probably from Taiwan) that were in Tasmania. When Anne and I visited 10 years ago we were often the only Chinese around, now at least 50% of tourists are Chinese. Anne remarked that Salamanca Square was empty when we visited, last night all the restaurants were full. At Barilla a vast majority were Chinese. So they both help and overwhelm the economy.

JQ722 was a bit late, so I missed Bus 400. Uber to Eastgardens cost A$20. I had a light dinner there before Ruth picked me up.

Salamanca Square. Anne remembers this place as being deserted last time we visited. It seems much busier now.

Obligatory photo of Hobart viewed from Mount Wellington.

Barilla Restaurant is located right by the Hobart Airport. Its clientele seems to be mostly Chinese tourists.

We opted for the 3-dozen oysters for lunch. I ate more than a dozen.

Hobart International Airport in its entirety. The two carousels are the arrivals, and the departure area at the far end of this photo. It handles about 2 million passengers a year. I managed to while away a couple of hours here, though.

Accommodations: Jennings Street.

2/22 Thursday. Traffic to the international airport was generally okay – there were a few congested sections – and immigration and security took about 15 minutes. I had enough time to stop by the Singapore Airlines lounge for a quick breakfast before boarding the plane. Flight UA840 SYD-LAX was considerably shorter than the IAH-SYD flight: wheels up to touch down lasted about 13 hours. We got to the gate around 5:50 am, which meant staying in the plane for about 10 minutes to wait for customs to open. Mobile Passport and customs were a breeze: total of less than five minutes. There was another plane that was disembarking, but the airport was quiet overall.

I grabbed a quick breakfast at the Singapore Airlines lounge before the flight.

This is the actual path taken by UA840. We had to fly around some turbulence.

UA1640 used 3-4-3 Boing 777, and today’s flight was full. I was in an aisle seat, and the lady sitting next me wasn’t large, yet I had to lean to one side so we wouldn’t be touching shoulders the entire trip. The large guy in seat B (a middle seat) a row behind me couldn’t move, and was still displacing his two neighbors. One surprise was free breakfast for passengers in Economy Plus.

Anne picked me up this rainy afternoon.

Our Trips

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Hong Kong. March 19-26, 2018.

Saturday, March 03, 2018

Australia. February 8 – 22, 2018.