A Bumpy Departure

The beginning of our long-anticipated trip to Australia was fraught with a series of bumps in the road. The journey to minke whale territory required three flights on increasingly smaller planes to a minuscule island located on the northern perimeter of the Great Barrier Reef, where we would board a boat for two weeks at sea.

We had packed judiciously, due to the severe weight restrictions of the tiny aircraft that would eventually fly us to Lizard Island. My scuba gear alone accounted for over 90% of my weight allowance… and I still had clothing, cosmetics, and a camera to pack! Beto’s bags were over the weight limit, but he was hopeful the airline would make an exception.

I had given us a 32 hour ‘buffer’ in Sydney before departing to Cairns, to adjust to the time change and as insurance in case of delayed flights or baggage.

Be Careful What You Plan For

Well… our flight from SF to Sydney was delayed by 24 hours, triggering a cascade of logistical challenges. We spent the night in San Mateo, with plans to fly out the following evening. When I tried to cancel our hotel stay in Sydney, my cheap online-reservation service (located somewhere in Asia) promised to get back to me ‘within 48 hours’… so we lost our pre-paid night at the Fours Seasons.

Look on the Sunny Side!

We celebrated my birthday the next day by driving over to Pacifica to take Naia on a long walk at the beach. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and our friend Dave who lives by the pier happened to be home. Naia played with her dog-friend Sienna who was staying with Dave, and belongs to Kasha’s daughter.

While we were sitting on Dave’s deck overlooking the ocean, I couldn’t help but wonder if Kasha had wanted to give me a little send-off before visiting the minkes!

For my birthday treat, we ate (veggie) burgers, french fries, and a mocha milk shake at a yummy diner down the coast, then headed back over the hill to catch our plane. Later that night– thanks to under-staffing by the airlines, we nearly missed our flight, despite arriving at the SF airport 3 hours in advance of departure!

What Next?!

We slept & watched movies during the long flight. We were thankful that our 7 a.m. arrival time gave us at least a few hours to enjoy downtown Sydney before our flight to Cairns later that afternoon.

However, after clearing Australian customs we discovered that only ONE of our three bags had arrived with us. The remaining bags were stil in SF, and were set to arrive the following morning– by which time we would be in Cairns… catching a small plane to Lizard Island, and so on.

The bag that arrived was mine, which meant that Beto would have no scuba gear, clothing, toiletries, etc, when he stepped on the boat to begin our trek to the visit the minkes.

Getting our Feet on the Ground

The good news was that we had a few hours in Sydney. We stored my luggage at the airport and took a short train ride Circular Quay. We were lucky… the sun was shining, and the city was sparkling!

We walked  along the waterfront taking in the sights. When food became a top priority, we found a neighborhood cafe near the marketplace in the Rocks. We ordered cappucinos and French pastries, and watched the crowd of locals & tourists begin to swell as the weekend Farmer’s Market opened for business.

We stopped by the Four Seasons and I was able to push our ‘lost’ reservation to the end of our trip, when we would have two nights in the city. Meanwhile Beto headed out to do some shopping so he could at least have a clean change of clothing and a bathing suit for the boat!

Before heading back to the airport, I took a detour to one of my favorite places in Sydney…