Australia/Hawaii 2002, part 6: Sydney (days 1-2)

Day 1 in Sydney was lost due to the late flight from Yulara, but I got to walk around at night. On Day 2, I wanted to do the Bridge Climb as soon as possible, but in retrospect I should have done the hop on/hop off bus tour that was included with my Sydneypass early instead of waiting til the last day (when I realized that I hadn't done it yet). In Cairns, I was on the boat pretty much the whole time, and in the Outback I had put together a series of small tours, but Sydney offered me the opportunity to do what I wanted, when I wanted to, and as a result I ended up making some real-time adjustments to my pre-planned itinerary.

Photos accompanying these two days can be found here.

Thursday, September 26: Sydney
From the mountains to the prairies to the oceans

Finally made it to Sydney for the second time this trip, but this time for more than an airport transfer. I picked up my Sydneypass, which allows unlimited use of the public transport system (ferry, bus, train) and the special Bondi and Sydney Explorer tour buses, plus a round-trip on the Airport Express. I got a 7-day pass, as they offered only 3, 4, and 7 days (I figured I’d be there parts of six days so I’d get a 7-day pass). But because we got in later than scheduled, and because the bus had to make its way through rush-hour traffic, I didn’t get to the hotel until around 6:30 pm. So much for my day in Sydney.

Australia/Hawaii 2002, part 5: Yulara

After three nights in Alice Springs, my tour package took me to Yulara for two more nights. The first day we toured The Olgas, the second day was Uluru (Ayers Rock) and the Sounds of Silence dinner. Unfortunately, the flight left at midday on the third day, early enough that I couldn't do anything in Yulara and late enough that I lost the daylight in Sydney.

Tuesday, September 24: Alice Springs to Yulara
From the mountains to the prairies

Tuesday starts early as the bus picks us up for the long ride to the town of Yulara, where the Ayers Rock Resort is. In fact, Yulara is the Ayers Rock Resort, as there’s nothing else to the town except for the resort (it’s got its own post office, bank, and supermarket). It’s about 350 km (220 miles) from Alice Springs to Yulara, so we’re in a nice coach (bus). It’s still early, though.

Australia/Hawaii 2002, part 4: Alice Springs

From Cairns (CNS), I flew to Alice Springs (ASP) in the Outback for three nights.

Saturday, September 21, 2002: Cairns to Alice Springs
From the Tropics to the Desert

Flight 1949 is officially a QantasLink flight, a BAe146 Avro RJ plane. I lucked out and got seated in row 3, just behind first class, which meant that I had extra foot room, and there was nobody in the middle seat.  Flying out over the Outback reminded me a lot of the US desert Southwest, with the mountains and colors and few signs of civilization.

Australia/Hawaii 2002, part 3: Great Barrier Reef

Spent my next few days on a liveaboard dive boat, the Nimrod Explorer run by Explorer Ventures (who no longer operate out of Cairns). This was a 4-night, 5-day trip from Cairns up to Cooktown, with a flight back to Cairns at the end. Tuesday night we left Cairns and voyaged overnight to our first dive spot for Wednesday morning. Then we did several dives per day: 4 on Wed., 5 on Thurs., and 4 on Friday, flying back to Cairns (CNS) from Cooktown (CTN). I did 11 dives over the 3 days, skipping the last 2 on Friday due to my early flight time from Cairns to Alice Springs the next day. Here's a map showing locations of Cairns, the Reef, Cooktown, and Lizard Island.

Previously: Part 2, Cairns

Wednesday Sept. 18 to Saturday Sept. 21, 2002: The Great Barrier Reef
Diving the Reef

The crew of the Nimrod consisted of Ian, the captain; Klaus, the mechanic/first mate; John and Shiori, dive instructors; Molly, the hostess; and Jen, the chef. Jen was formerly a professional chef so we were treated to some outstanding meals during our time aboard ship. A typical day started with wakeup at 6:30 a.m., breakfast at 7:00, dive #1 at 8:00, dive #2 at 11:00, lunch at 12:30, dive #3 at 2:00, dive #4 at 4:30, then dinner.

Australia/Hawaii 2002, part 2: Cairns

Flying from Honolulu to Sydney (HNL - SYD), then catching a connection to Cairns (CNS). I had the rest of that day free, and then the rainforest tour the next morning before meeting my shipmates for my dive trip on the night of the second day in Cairns. At the time, the exchange rate was considerably in my favor, the Australian dollar was worth only about 55 cents USD. Here's a map showing the relative locations of Cairns, Kuranda, the Tjapukai Center, and my dives over the next few days.

Previously: part 1, Houston to Honolulu

Monday, September 16: Honolulu to Sydney to Cairns
Planes, planes, and automobiles

Breakfast was at 5:30 – an omelette, a sausage, yogurt, and fruit. The movies (which I slept through) were “Changing Lanes”, “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood”, and “Life or Something Like It.” I had an emergency exit aisle seat on this 747-200 (an old one, one of only 3 in the Qantas fleet), which was nice for the legroom (but since it was over the wing, there was no view out the window. When I checked in at Honolulu, I thought of asking for a tall blonde Australian woman to sit next to me. Astonishingly, even though I didn’t ask for that, I got it anyway. I should have asked for a single woman, though. This six-foot blonde Aussie was a PhD professor at the University of New South Wales in the Environmental Management program. We didn’t get to talk all that much due to the overnight sleeping, but I did get some suggestions on things to do in Sydney.

Australia/Hawaii 2002, part 1: Honolulu

Flashback to my "Down Under: World Tour 2002", part 1, wherein I go from Houston to Honolulu to Sydney (IAH - HNL - SYD). In retrospect, reading this seems almost quaint - I had a new digital camera for the first time, and I had my new-ish Palm m505 PDA to take notes on and to keep my calendar straight (and as I found out much later, the m505 problem was caused by a buggy game that I loaded right before I left). Apparently it was the first in-flight entertainment system flight I had taken, too. Except for the stuff I spontaneously did, I did most of my planning for this trip over the internet on my own.

Saturday, September 14, 2002: Houston to Honolulu
The longest day (or: Delayed and De-lei’d)

Well, I’m off to a flying start – pun intended. After a restful 3-1/2 hr sleep, my alarm goes off at 5:30 so I can leave at 6. Which I actually do, surprisingly. On my way to the airport I took a wrong turn (I misremembered how the highways and airport are laid out) and lost nearly a half hour while I backtracked. That got me to the airport check-in line at 7:11, just within the 30-minute check-in rule for a 7:45 flight. Oops, they changed the time of the flight, it’s now at 7:40 so I’m 29 minutes before the flight. And therefore I can’t take that flight. Originally, I was to have left at 7:45 with a 40 minute layover in LA, getting into Honolulu at 12:30 local. Now they’ve got me on standby for the 9:40 direct to Honolulu (gets in at 12:45), and if that doesn’t work, I have to hang around until 11:35 for the next direct flight (gets in at 2:40). If I have to take the later one, at least I have a confirmed aisle seat for the 8-hour flight. Good thing Continental has a hub in Houston with so many flights out to Honolulu. Scratch one flight segment from my pre-trip estimate of 14…

Flashback: 2002 Australia & Hawaii trip report

In 2002, I got a bigger than normal income tax refund for some reason, so I decided to take a bigger than normal vacation with the money, and I planned a trip to Australia. I loved the accent and it was the farthest place I could go in the world away from my home. In 2002, the internet (as the public used it) and in particular the web was only about 5 years old, so booking international travel by the consumer was still relatively new. I ended up emailing people and companies to send me paper brochures to look through.