Australia - Wheels on the Go

December 7, 2025 – Travel Day – Sydney to Singapore – a Country and a City!

December 7, 2025December 8, 2025Lmnei

Today is an exciting day! First, the Whitecaps are playing Miami in the MLS playoff which means an EARLY start for us as the game is beginning at 6 am here in Sydney, Australia! I thought I might be able to push the snooze button and let Andrew watch the game on his phone but technology requires my laptop so I got it going and VPN’d back to Canada to load the Telus Broadcast on TSN and we were able to watch it just fine! I think some snoozing took place on my part in between some exclamations from the other side of the bed about how the Whitecaps were playing or not passing the ball…

The MORE exciting thing for me, is we get to fly on an Airbus 380 which was my dream that came to reality when we had to leave New Zealand in a hurry in 2020 during COVID, however I did not get to fully appreciate the experience due to the rushed way we had to purchase the tickets and get to the airport to get onto the plane. Also from Christchurch to Sydney was a short flight. This time, I CHOSE to fly Singapore Airlines, which is always the top rated Airline in the world, to Changi Airport, the number 1 airport in the world – to see a new country which many people have told me is a great one to visit! Our/my original plans were to fly to Singapore today and then fly home to Vancouver on Thursday, December 11th, on Air Canada’s new SIN-YVR flight, on a Dreamliner, which is Air Canada’s now longest flight that they do. However plans change! Now we return to Vancouver after our side trip to Okinawa and we will be flying home to Vancouver through Tokyo, which we have done previously.

First though, breakfast! Let’s see what this Moxy offers us! In Europe, the buffets are pretty well all the same – cheese, meat, eggs, danish and GF bread. Here there is the addition of fruit, a pancake machine (did not work properly – only know as we sat next to it – not that I was trying it out), and the chef would cook you an omelette if you wanted along with I was told “take care of my GF needs”. So I ordered a vegetable omelette with no peppers (forgot my distaste of mushrooms) and what did I get? A mushroom with a few greens and cheese thrown in! After I unloaded all the mushrooms as there was not much room in my stomach for all of them, I had the remains of the omelette. They pointed out some GF banana bread that the chef had made, however it did not taste very good – it was very hard and dry so I passed on additional slices. The omelette came with a peanut butter cookie though which I have packed up for a future dining emergency! My purse that I got in Fiji is really coming in handy for my “emergency” dining stash when traveling!

We then headed back up to the hotel room taking pictures along the way. We spent some time optimizing the luggage as to what we needed on the plane and what we wanted to have checked along with phoning my parents and sister and then we took the shuttle to the Sydney Airport.

I had some VERY high expectations of Singapore Airlines. Some they exceeded and in other areas, I was disappointed. They check-in went pretty well however I did realize we had a lack of communication with regards to my walker. They yet again wanted it in the hold of the plane and as this is a HUGE plane, I wanted it in a closet in the passenger area of the plane. I realized that they were serious about putting it into the hold when they brought me a plastic bag to put it into when I got to the door of the plane (which funny enough in North America airlines charge for these bags). Thy kept my boarding pass as they said I needed wheelchair assistance through immigration, customs and to the lounge, so we sat down and WAITED. And WAITED. After about 30 minutes and the first person who was in line for transport had been taken already, I asked how much longer and they said they are not allowed to take people to the gate until 3 hours until the flight. I pointed out that it WAS 3 hours prior to the flight AND that we were going to the lounge instead. Then they said 10 minutes which stretched into 30 and finally a supervisor came and got me and took us through security, immigration, customs and up to the lounge. The other person who was also waiting for an escort, was taken at the same time, as he was also going to the lounge.

The lounge was really nice – we looked down on the 380 that was going to take us to Singapore and we had some snacks – including 2 GF bars that Andrew found for me! I also saw lots of foreign air carriers arrive (we saw the tail of Air Canada leaving when we were driven to the airport). As we are now leaving Australia, I decided it was time to go SHOPPING. So I did! I got some Aussie things for people (not going to say what they are as that is a SECRET) and made it back to the lounge in time to leave with the other gentleman being escorted to the flight.

At this point in time, I was pretty confused. I could see the jet way from where we sat in the lounge and I knew that we were going to be on the top floor of the 380 but the jet way did not seem that steep! I remember coming off the Emirates plane in Sydney when we landed from Christchurch in 2020, where I was taken by wheelchair as our transit time was in negative minutes to catch the Qantas flight to Japan, where I felt like I was going to fall out of the wheelchair as the ramp was so steep getting off the upper deck of that 380. This jet way seemed pretty flat to me and surprise – it was! The people who are flying Economy and Premium Economy at this jet way (or stand as they call it in Aussie and British lands) have to walk DOWN a ramp to get onto the plane! How different!

Now onto the plane I walked and they put my walker in the plastic bag and took it to the belly of the plane – there is a lack of “cabinets” or “wardrobes” on this plane! We were in 96 D and F – right at the BACK of the plane. Some really smart bunny in the Medical Department must have thought it was a good thing to put me SO FAR back on the plane instead of near the door where I normally sit! Very strange! And of course, based on our luck, it was the revenge of the screaming kids behind us!

Yes, this is the 1st weekend of the start of summer holidays down under and the plane was PACKED. The number of kids in Business Class was unreal (which I saw when I had to use the washroom and needed to walk forward) however most of them were behaved except the 3 year old behind us who did not understand why he had to be seat belted into his seat when the plane was taxing and taking off instead of his mother’s seat! BOTH Andrew and I agreed that the fact that noise reducing headphones are provided to Business Class passengers is wonderful! While I could still hear the screams and outbursts, they were MUCH muted!

It is also interesting sitting in the tail section of this giant marshmallow of a plane! Kind of freaky when you have been on about 5 flights in the last 4 weeks on 737 planes which take off rapidly and this one lumbers along to take off and the tail end is the last to get off the ground. Very different sensation – I do not often fly in the tails of airplanes!

The seats in theory were wonderful! Mine had a small issue going back into position, which required me to stand up and the flight attendant to fix, however considering I spent most of the flight reclined, it only had to be fixed twice – once for take off (I had reclined while everyone boarded the plane and that is when we figured out it was broken) and then when we came in for landing. Those flight attendants sure know how to manipulate the seats and to hammer them back into position! It was a completely lie flat seat, however there was not a lot of padding, like other air carriers. There was a duvet, mattress cover and blanket however I am not sure how well I would have done on an overnight flight. We had minor turbulence for about 75% of the flight (which is unusual) and light turbulence where the flight attendants had to sit down for about 45 minutes, along with the ascent took 45 minutes with light turbulence so the service did not start on time, however they also provide these large pillows at your seat and that helped me quite a bit from a positioning standpoint. It also helped that Andrew’s pillow somehow jumped onto my seat too! There is a divider that would have made us each have our own pod, however they put it down as Andrew and I were traveling together.

From a funny standpoint – I have ALWAYS seen on an air carrier the NO SMOKING and SEAT BELTS signs – on this plane it was a NO CELL PHONES and SEAT BELTS sign! I thought this was strange – as long as your phone was in airplane mode you could use it – so why was it lit up? No idea!

Dinner was good – I had a quinoa/mango salad which was delicious once I took the unidentified meat off the top! The chicken with broccoli and rice was good too (forgot to take a picture) and the lemon bar and dried fruit plate was a very nice touch! I paired this with as always and vintage Coke Zero! The little GF buns were hot and so cute! I then watched 3 movies – one that I had not heard of before but I found really interesting! It was called Audrey’s Children – which was about a doctor at a Philadelphia Hospital in the 60/70’s who pioneered cancer chemotherapy for children – that was what the write up on the screen indicated. However in watching it she was VERY ground breaking and actually started the Ronald McDonald Houses so that kids parents and families do not have to be burdened with the cost of staying with their child when they are at a hospital. While I do not like to give away endings – I was really impressed with this movie and surprised I had not heard of it or had been advertised more widely. Then I watched a Star is Born (sad) and then Top Gun – Mavrick movie to keep me awake as we were getting close to midnight Sydney time when we were landing!

Arrival in Singapore was awesome – the flight attendants were very respectful and came immediately to get me when the man showed up with a wheelchair and told me where my walker would be found – they were right! There it was in it’s plastic bag on the jet way half way down. We put my backpacks on it and we went through immigration (all electronic) and picked up our bags. At this point in time I was laughing and the gentleman who was pushing me thought I was really funny! Here were all the suitcases coming along on the carousel QUIETLY, not thumping down on top of each other from a chute, nicely arranged with the handles and tags out all in order! It was very robotic looking! I almost though perhaps a robot was putting them onto the carousel, however the escort said that no, baggage handlers do that. The escort went and got us a trolley while Andrew got our luggage and then we thanked the escort and found a taxi to take us to the Westin Hotel in Singapore.

Singapore, I knew was going to be a bright city. It was after 10 pm though so I was surprised it was still pretty bright as I had read that most of the “light attractions” shut down about 8 or 9 pm at night. We had a very pleasant drive in a taxi who had not one but 4 electronic devices in addition to the car’s dashboard, displayed! Two phones and 2 small tablets! The taxi was well outfitted with technology! I paid by credit card and it also worked on the first try! Amazing!

While Andrew was getting the suitcases out of the taxi I said I would go check into the hotel. I entered the lobby and was confused – I saw and elevator and two very tall escalators. I turned around and Andrew and the bellman said we needed to go to the 32nd floor to check in! I guess my jaw dropped. The bellman said – “the registration desk is the highest in Singapore”! Sure enough, we whizzed up to the 32nd floor in an express elevator and checked into the hotel! Beautiful hotel! It starts on the 32nd floor and goes up to the 47th floor. Our room is on the 44th floor! Wow! Pretty high! My mother would not like this!

Join us on our adventures tomorrow! We will be sleeping in though first…

December 6, 2025 – Australia – Travel Day – Brisbane to Sydney

December 6, 2025December 7, 2025Lmnei

Well, today we are leaving the Gold Coast and driving back to Brisbane to fly to Sydney.

Not much going on today – we left the hotel, after a very nice, peaceful stay, and had an uneventful drive to the Brisbane Airport. Check-in went well and we made it eventually (security was an issue but I was better prepared this time) to the restaurant which was near our gate that had some fairly low, but comfortable chairs so we could relax prior to our flight.

It was interesting while we were sitting there that there was a flight to Mackay, Australia leaving from our gate 46 prior to our departure. Mackay is Andrew’s mother’s maiden name and Andrew’s middle name. Interesting it is a city with an airport in Australia on the east coast!

Like our last few flights, we did not have window seats as for some reason the accessible seat selection on Virgin Australia airlines are an aisle and middle seat – so no pictures of us flying however here are some pictures I took at the airport! The Virgin Australia side is currently going through some upgrades such as the security area (where you cannot take pictures anyways) and it will be nice once they get the new x ray machines like they had in Sydney and we have at YVR for the bags so you do not have to take electronic equipment out!

We had a pretty uneventful flight into the Sydney airport, other than we were delayed in landing and had to circle for about 30 minutes due to incoming weather. Once on the ground, we ended up being about 45 minutes late landing. We managed to get to the baggage claim just fine – it was ironic as we had been to this baggage claim area already in the Sydney airport when we were flying Qantas and I was looking for a suitcase before we departed (pre-security) and found that the Sydney airport does not have any stores pre-security so the information person suggested going to the Virgin Australia Arrivals area as there was a store there. It did not have what I was looking for. No issues! However it came in handy as when we needed to find the shuttle, we were aware of the walk between the two domestic terminals and where the shuttle stop was located!

The Moxy Hotel, which is a lower end Marriott brand hotel, that we are staying at overnight, sent a shuttle for us and it eventually arrived. We got to the hotel and got checked in. We had been “upgraded” from an accessible queen room to an airport view queen room – not accessible and it was tiny! No idea why they did that however it was only one night so no bother. I did notice there was an accessible room on our floor though so it was a bit weird.

We have stayed at a bunch of Moxy Hotels in Europe previously however this one takes the cake on “modern”! Yes, the room is small – not much space for a table and chairs – so they hung them on the wall! The sink for the washroom was outside in the bedroom and the toilet and shower were in their own room. Half the window area was a wall and the other half we could see the main runway of SYD airport which was cool!

As I had left a bag at a drop spot about 2 blocks away, while we traveled up north, Andrew and I then went and picked it up, also to get some exercise! The program I used was called Bounce and it cost me $50 AUD to store the bag for 2 weeks. Much cheaper than paying $80 AUD to check it each time on 2 flights! As Andrew indicated, I have no idea why I have an extra bag. When we get to Singapore, as we are traveling Business Class and the extra bag will not be an issue, I will delve into how my baggage seemed to have children and why I had to purchase an extra bag from Amazon.com.au when traveling! I know part of the reason why is I am traveling with gifts for Japan and the luggage weights, which was a surprise to me, are lower here in Australia (20 kg vs 23 kg), did require me to move some stuff around, however I am wearing all my clothes! What is going on puzzles me!

Here are some pictures of our room and the van that picked us up:

After we got back from the storage store (which was basically a 7-11 type store which stored bags securely) we hit the sack as tomorrow is a BIG day! We are flying on Singapore Airlines (new airline) on a 380 Airbus (plane that I saw being built) to Singapore (new country)!

Let’s go!

December 5, 2025 – Australia – Gold Coast – Australia Zoo – Cricky! as Steve Irwin would say!

December 5, 2025December 7, 2025Lmnei

There were only a couple of things that I really wanted to do in Australia and to visit the Australia Zoo was one of them. Others we have already accomplished, except one, which was the 12 Apostles Drive which we decided not to do as we went to Kangaroo Island instead. The Australia Zoo is about an hour north of Brisbane, and we are staying one hour south, so I knew that it was going to be a bit of a drive to get there however the review of my friend Nicole, who visited earlier this year with her family was phenomenal so we (more me and Andrew said he was up for the drive) decided to make the trek!

To make things easier we even paid for the tollways to get there – we have not gotten the bills yet however from the signs we saw they will amount to no more than $10 AUD. We did make one driving mistake, thanks to Google and it sometimes telling us to get off the highway prematurely which cost us about 20 minutes to turn around however eventually we got to the Zoo!

Some background information – the Australia Zoo was started by Steve Irwin, also called the Crocodile Hunter, who was a TV personality and conservationist in Eastern Australia. With his wife, they took over a 2 acre zoo called the ‘Beerwah Reptile Park’ from Steve’s parents, who had established it in 1970, which was home to native wildlife such as lace monitors, tiger snakes, freshwater crocodiles, magpie geese and kangaroos. The kangaroos were cared for in homemade pouches by Steve’s mum, Lyn. She was an extraordinary wildlife rehabilitator and was quite skilled in nursing injured and orphaned animals, rehabilitating them before returning them to the wild.

In 1991, Steve met Terri Raines, from Eugene, Oregon and their passion for reptiles and mammals was a match made in heaven! They married in 1992, and started filming the The Crocodile Hunter TV Series which was also seen in North America. The wildlife park’s name was then changed to ‘Australia Zoo’, with the mission for it to be the very best in Australia, if not the world! Extensive efforts were made to create habitats, so that all zoo animals could be exhibited in natural environments. In addition, from its humble beginnings as an avocado packing shed, they established the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital. In 2004, Steve dedicated the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital to his mum. This world-class facility continues to rescue, rehabilitate and release over 7000 native Australian animals every year. Australia Zoo now encompasses over 700 acres and employs over 500 staff, continuing Steve’s mission of “Conservation Through Exciting Education”. Steve Irwin was tragically killed in September, 2006 by a stingray barb that pierced his heart when out filming in the ocean on the Great Barrier Reef.

Here is a map of the Australia Zoo:

9773_VISITOR_GUIDE_MAP_SEP24_ONLINE Download

The zoo is by the Glass Mountains in a very open area north of Brisbane and it was a nice drive there once we got off the M1 highway. We quickly got parked and as I had bought tickets online, we entered the zoo fairly fast. We checked out some Komodo Dragons, Lizards and Alligators near the admissions area and then made our way to the Crocoseum as I had noticed that a show was about to start!

So, along we walked to the Crocoseum to see the wildlife show – I had not really paid attention to what the show was however I knew birds were involved! It was a pretty impressive structure that had a cafe on the 2nd level with a Dietary Section where you could get Gluten Free fries! I was WAY too hot for fries so I instead had some Coke Zero and ice cream – way better options! We then got seated in the accessible section and the show was to begin! There were two ladies down on ground getting the crowd warmed up and behind us there was an awful racket – the ever present seagulls and the gull with the long beak seemed to be in a fight for something and then I noticed that there was another bird – a beautiful blue bird that was doing all the talking – the parrot on the mans arm! He was coming down to take flight and the other birds I guess thought he was in their territory! So we saw a bunch of parrots fly around then a zookeeper lead out a wombat who really had a mind of her own and did not follow directions and then lastly, a falcon and a stork named Charles who was having a bad day! Charles sure has some long legs! He did not particularly like the fish he was being fed today.

After the birds and the wombat were put away I noticed that the staff put up ropes all around the stair cases so that the guests could not walk down to the water level and the exits were blocked at the water level – we soon found out why! Here comes the Crocodile! Graham was in good biting form – it was a respectful display of what crocodiles do in the wild to catch their prey – they used tapping the ground and water slapping noises to get his attention. He crawled through the water though until he came to the point he sensed the noise coming from and then he put his snout up on the side and walked out. It was amazing to see! There were 2 zoo keepers – one who was holding the fish/food and the other behind him I presume as a look out and safety person. They did mention that they recently had a close call with one of the crocodiles when feeding them.

After that show, we decided to visit some of the different areas of the zoo to check out some Australian animals. First, we headed off to the Quokka’s, Kangaroos and Wallaby’s. We had seen Quokka’s previously when we went to Rottenest Island where they are very present along with another island off the west coast of Australia. Unfortunately, the population is dwindling on the continent as their habitat is being taken over.

Next we moved into the Cassowary and Emu section to check those big birds out! While the Cassowary was not standing, we did get to see one a few days ago, the Emu’s were up feeding and I got some great pictures of them!

Then we continued on our journey though the park, next visiting the elephants, red pandas and the lions! I must admit, for all the zoos that I have been to, including the Vancouver Zoo, this one has the most homey feel and that the animals are in a natural environment.

Now we are well into the zoo lands and instead of walking back, we decided to take the tram as there is a talk going on at the Koala Nursery! On our way to the Shuttle Stop and waiting for the shuttle we were able to see some Giraffes, Zebras and Rhino’s who had just gotten out of their mud bath!

Now, onto the most important part of the day in my impression! The Koala Nursery talk! It sure was a highlight as the Koala mum was out and walking around instead of sleeping in the tree like Koala’s like to do for 20 hours of a day! The naturalist did an excellent talk also on koala’s – some we hard on Kangaroo Island and some information was new – like one Koala mum will take care of other koala “cubs” once out of the pouch so that other mothers can get food! I got some great pictures!

Then we walked back through the zoo to the Wildlife Animal Hospital, which is another part of the zoo and is where both the zoo animals and ones from the wild are taken for rehab. When we got there, RACO truck had just arrived with some birds that were being admitted to the Wildlife Animal Hospital. There is a viewing area for the public – you can see the small bird area which contains a bunch of incubators to keep them warm and then the surgery area and behind it the treatment and cage area for larger animals. Behind the building area also portable buildings which look like they house different populations such as Koala’s or other species that are under their care that cannot be accommodated in the hospital due to size or environment.

Now, that was a fun day! We now had to drive 2 hours south to meet our dinner reservation that I had booked at a restaurant across from the hotel that was recommended for it’s seafood on the Gold Coast – we made it on time (barely) and sat down and had a really nice dinner! I had my favourite salad – caprese (motza and tomatoes) along with an octopus entree! While I had creme brule for desert, it was nothing to write home about so no picture! On our walk back to the hotel, we found a very nice waterfall in front of the Sheraton, which was very cooling – at least in sound, for an otherwise warm night!

Tomorrow, we will travel to Brisbane Airport to catch a plane to Sydney to start our journey back to Canada! Let’s go!

December 4, 2025 – Australia – Gold Coast – Chill Day at the Pool and a nice Laundromat!

December 4, 2025December 4, 2025Lmnei

Okay, this I think is going to be my shortest blog post of our trip. Today is going to be chill day AFTER I get off the phone!

I was up early and had some lovely interactions for just over 2 hours with a Credit Union which will remain nameless, in the United States, in relation to the Estate that I am dealing with. This Credit Union (which are not like Credit Unions in Canada) has taken over the small Bank that was wonderful and helped me as a Canadian open an account in order to fulfill the requirements of the Washington State Probate Court. I do not have a Social Security Number (nor do I want one) and that is primary piece of ID needed to have a bank account in the USA. The Bank used to put in a “fake” number to allow me to do what I needed to do. Now that the Credit Union has taken over there are more RULES and the rules are not giving me access to the money that I manage as they do not deal with “fake” Social Security Numbers. Thank goodness I do get paid for my time dealing with these types of things! I told the lady, when we were about to miss the breakfast buffet I was on the phone so long, that it is in their hands to figure out as they have inherited me as their customer! We shall see what happens!

Here are my 3 thoughts for today. 1. Interesting bird with a nasty beak at the pool! 2. Andrew relaxing at the edge of the pool. 3. Doing laundry again in an open air laundry facility – just like we did in Thailand! Other than that – it was a chill day!

Tomorrow we are going on another road trip to see a zoo / animal refuge that comes highly recommended and has had some world wide exposure! More on that tomorrow! I hope you all had a relaxing day!

December 3, 2025 – Australia – Gold Coast – Make some Noise! Mount Tamborine and Sunset Cruise!

December 3, 2025December 4, 2025Lmnei

After a smashing good breakfast (funny pun for my dad) we are off to Mount Tamborine! It is about a 45 minute drive inland and has a walk in the trees which we can do along with a variety of other scenic views to look at, prior to driving to Surfers Paradise, which is the town/beach/area below the Gold Coast where we are going to take a sunset cruises tonight! It is a beautiful day lets go!

The buffet breakfast at this Sheraton hotel is also awesome – actually a step above! They actually provide the recipes for the dishes on the gluten free and vegan (not shown) areas of the buffet. There is a hot side, a cold side and then fruit along with as I mentioned a gluten free section and a vegan section. Then next to the gluten free section (which has its own toaster with a sign) and something I have never seen on a buffet previously was gluten free home made ice cream with toppings! Now that is how to get your sugar screaming high in the morning but also a way to cool down…. On the gluten free table below they have both a chia/coconut yogurt and a Spiced Breakfast bowl which contains GF oats, quinoa, milk, cinnamon, apricots cut up, raisins and honey. Now that is one good way to start your day! If anyone wants the recipe let me know!

We then made a beautiful drive to Mount Tamborine which was a bit like climbing half way up Cypress in terms of height from sea level where we are staying. Once on what I would call a crest, the sight looking west – so away from the Gold Coast was quite beautiful! It was hard to get a picture as it was on the other side of the road and Andrew could not stop anywhere. I have found some on the internet shown below, similar to what we saw during our drive.

Next we started a bit down the mountain and towards the Tamborine Rainforest Skywalk which I had read was an accessible experience where you can walk among the tree tops of the rain forest, listen to the birds, perhaps see some wildlife and have basically a COOL experience! I was impressed when we got there that the lady at the admissions counter fully disclosed that the path is hard going for those with walkers and that she was only going to charge us a child’s admission which was basically half price or 1 adult and 1 free. I thought that was fair as I could only do one part of the trail. The Mossman Gorge needs to adopt this policy too as I was only able to go about 200 metres on a 1.5 km trail system – the rest of the trails had stairs and were narrow. Back on subject, they had a really interesting display about the environs such as the Aboriginal families who inhabited the areas, the fact that there are glow worms that hang out and night and that the “mountain” which I would actually call an escarpment or bulge was originally a volcano!

Then came the walk that one of my parents would NOT like! The walk in the trees where you could see DOWN about 900 feet! Yikes! I kept my focus forward despite the awful racket that my wheels were causing on the grids of the steel walkway. I would stop every once in a while and take pictures etc however we were nearing the end of the walkway and I could hear people behind us and I thought as my walker took up most of the width of the walkway, they might want to pass so I pulled aside and collapsed my walker. One man passed by but the other would not – he REFUSED to. He said that he was only on this walkway as he saw me doing it and figured that if I could do it and get to the end then he could too as he is scared of heights! His friend waited for him about 100 feet away. We then chatted a bit about the Sydney Harbour Bridge which he cannot walk over either due to the grid like walkway – I did not know about that – however I did let him know that he did not have to walk the Skywalk again to get back as the trail will take him back to the beginning – I have to take the Skywalk back as the trail has stairs and the only way for me to get back is to ensure the shaking arms and sounds again! I was okay with the height however I defiantly did not look down and I made Andrew take the picture looking down to the forest floor…

Next we drove into the village that is on the top of Mount Tamborine where the road is called “Gallery Row”. We stopped at a couple places – this first one I thought was really cute and reminded me of Coombs actually! I almost did not go into the stores though as they were down some stairs until Andrew found an unmarked ramp. I rewarded one of the stores with some purchases and provided the feedback that they would not have the sale if I could not get down there. We also went to a glass shop which was beautiful – we did drive by a glass blowing studio to see if anyone was there but it was closed.

Next we continued on our way to Surfers Paradise in order to get parked, to go grocery shopping for a snack for me on the boat and then to get to the boat! Despite going around the block once, we managed to find parking – Surfers Paradise has GROWN UP since I was last here 27 years ago! Holy cow! High rises everywhere and businesses lining the streets. We made our way to Wollies Grocery Store and then walked to the boat slip to get onto the evening cruise.

I am still struggling with picking activities that say they are wheelchair accessible and then finding out they are not! So this boat said it was wheelchair accessible – it was fine for me to get onto however a person in a wheelchair? Nope. The “lip” to get up onto the boat was about 2 feet high (a little difficult if someone is in a wheelchair) and the real kicker was when they phoned me, which was good that they did, they wanted to make sure that I did not have a power wheelchair as they cannot take them. I now see why – the slip that you want on to get to the boat (not pictured) actually sinks the more people that are on it! When I tried to get onto the boat, there were about 10 people on it and thus the huge climb onto the boat. If one was on that slip with a 300 pound wheelchair plus some people I am not sure what would happen. Needless to say, they need to indicate that on their advertisements! I must say, when I got off the boat, I waited for everyone to get off the slip, including Andrew and the drop down was only about a foot at that time. However to get into the boat, through the door, I had to collapse my walker and the washrooms on board are not accessible either. This excursion, while it was nice (despite having to sit on the lower floor while most people were up the stairs on the top deck), I would not consider recommending to someone who uses a wheelchair. Just not safe.

Other than that little dissertation, it was nice to be on the water, cruising the inner waterways of Surfers Paradise and the Gold Coast! Jason likened to to Venice which we both totally disagreed with (but did not say anything) as one, the “public transit” only runs every half hour along the waterway for about 5 stops from dawn to dusk, not every 3-4 minutes, the waterways are MUCH wider and lastly it is wide open and not enclosed with buildings high up on each side. Oh, and there are cars and way fewer bridges! I think this area is more similar to the Miami Beach or the Inland Waterway that goes up the East Coast of the USA. Jason also talked about how “expensive” the houses are – which were in the 1-2 million dollar range for most of them. Now, coming from Vancouver, where we have kind of high housing prices, paying 1-2 million to be on a waterway in a medium to hot climate where it does not snow or rain that much is not that bad in my opinion! There were though some very nice mansions on the waterways too – some that rivaled what you see in the Point Grey waterfront area – of course with yachts out front just for show!

Walking back to the car in the parking lot, we decided to check out the beach side (South Pacific) of Surfers Paradise first. This area I had visited with Karen and it is SO MUCH more commercial now! The first thing we saw – which we actually first viewed from the boat, was Slingshot – another think my mother would not like! It is basically a ball or cabin strung on a huge elastic between two high towers and then somehow pulled down to the ground so people can get into the cabin. Then the cabin or ball is released and it sling shots way up high into the air and then it bounces around on the rubber cord until it is lowered back down to the ground. Barf bags anyone???

The width of the island where Surfers Paradise is located (the area we were in) is only about 6 city blocks wide – we were soon at the beach! The lifeguard towers have been strung with Christmas decorations and the one below had a Santa hat on top! There were several people on the beach – one man looking for metal! The waves were rolling in and I was really happy to see that there also was a nice wide ramp down to the beach where we sat for a while and I took some pictures of yet again another seagull management meeting! On the beach promenade there were a lot of vendors set up (I was surprised as it was not a weekend – just a Wednesday night) including one lady who had .925 solid silver rings. You might say I have a new ring for my collection of rings that I have obtained from around the world displayed on my fingers now!

Walking back down the street, which was closed to traffic, on Surfers Paradise, the normal fast food restaurants were there – McD’s, Walburgers and Burger King aka Hungry Jacks! For those who do not know, Hungry Jack’s is the Australian franchise of Burger King, operating under a different name because “Burger King” was already trademarked in Australia when Burger King tried to open their first store in 1971. To avoid a legal battle, Burger King’s franchisee, Jack Cowan, opened the first restaurant under the name “Hungry Jack’s,” likely inspired by his own name. The two brands are the same company, with Hungry Jack’s using the Burger King menu but adapting it to suit the Australian market. The same goes for McDonalds around the world too – there are variations in each country – such as in Scandinavia they offer gluten free buns at McD’s! I digress though…

Just as we were about to turn the corner to get to the car, I decided that I needed something to cool me down – gelato! The store on the corner looked good to me so I asked if they have any gluten free flavours. The young lady was really helpful and told me which ones were gluten free and that the ones in the display case contained cookies. I then asked for a scoop of mango and scoop of chocolate which she replied – cone or cup. Now, in Australia I know the rules are pretty strict and they really do not patronize the “trendy” gluten free eaters. However I was standing in a tourist spot so I smiled and said I have not had a gluten free cone since I was in Italy – mostly joking as I thought she was going to give me a cup and she made a mistake in offering me a cone. But NO. She was serious! They have gluten free cones and they are NO EXTRA charge! Yahoo! Look what I got to enjoy – I did share with Andrew a little bit but the cone was all MINE!

Well, after that excitement of having an ice cream cone, it was time to come back down to earth and find the car in the parking garage. It is interesting that Andrew usually has no idea where we park and he relies on my memory of where to go – again tonight that rang true – he had no idea where we were going! Good thing I was born with a good sense of direction! We made it back to the hotel – which was only about 10 minutes north and fell into bed after a pretty fulfilling day!

Tomorrow we are going to RELAX at the hotel and see what other trouble we can get into! See you later alligators! In a while crocodiles!

December 2, 2025 – Australia – Gold Coast – Day at Sheraton Mirage Gold Coast Hotel

December 2, 2025December 2, 2025Lmnei

Up early again! However this is not a bad thing when you can sit beside the hotel lagoon at a chair and table and blog away! I think I am going to be caught up as of today! Wahoo! Nothing like a train ride where I can just write and not have to upload and tinker away at the same time! This is my vantage point at the hotel right now – Andrew is in the room!

We then went for breakfast (it was awesome as normal) and then walked around the property a bit – first to find the ice machine on the South Wing of the property as the one in our Wing (North) seems to not be functioning. Then to check out the pool and beach areas! Here is what we saw –

After that little tour of the property, it was getting a bit hot outside and we had decided to take it easy today. We both phoned home and chatted with our parents and I also dealt with some appointment issues along with spent about 4 hours working on my upcoming visit to Japan with regards to the Estate that I am taking care of. Andrew was more than happy to just veg out!

In the evening, as we were not able to get him some cold beverages when grocery shopping yesterday, we decided to go up to the bar and use our coupon for 2 beers and 2 soft drinks! How perfect for us! The lobby was pretty busy with the group checking in (do not know what group it is yet) however the bar was fairly quiet at that point and we had some nice relaxation time while looking up possible things to do in the Brisbane/Gold Coast area. I knew one place that I am interested in visiting which is about a 2 hour drive from here, however we have 3 more days to plan! We ended up booking a Sunset cruise tomorrow night and are thinking about a drive tomorrow to Tamborine Mountain area.

As we were in the bar on the 2nd floor of the resort, we noticed the “fruit” on the tree next to the bar outside of the hotel was similar to pineapple. Thanks to Google, we figured what this unique tree was – it is a Screw Pine or Palm and sure enough – its fruit can be eaten and is similar tasting to a pineapple! I have a picture of it below:

We then decided it was dinner time so that meant a return to our hotel room! We decided to have dinner on our lanai or little terrace next to the lagoon. We had been told when checking into the hotel that the group who is currently blocked into the hotel has an event by the pool starting at 6 pm so that area was not going to be available which was fine for us. However we were able to take advantage of the music they were playing as it was just around the corner and the music was kind of nice to eat dinner to! However then the magic began… A didgeridoo started playing and the music stopped. It was haunting and beautiful, with the low notes just floating along the lagoon towards us. Then a lady started talking/singing in a low voice in a native aboriginal tongue – no idea what she was saying – however it sounded like she was giving thanks to the land and welcoming the people for the conference. Andrew went out to see if he could get any pictures from the other side of the pool while I remained on the terrace – it was a wonderful experience to listen to! Then as darkness fell, we moved inside before any mosquito’s could come and suck our blood! Here are the two pictures of the groups area that Andrew was able to take:

It was a very pleasant and relaxing both day and evening! Tomorrow we are going to check out Tamborine Mountain and see what we can visit and do there – it is just a bit south west of Brisbane so it should be a nice short drive for us. Then we need to be back by 5pm for our Sunset Cruise! See you tomorrow!

December 1, 2025 – Australia – Brisbane Arrival – Drive to Gold Coast – Sheraton Mirage Gold Coast

December 1, 2025December 2, 2025Lmnei

Good morning! The sun rose REALLY early on the train this morning! I seemed to be up for some unknown reason again at 4 am. Spent some time watching some downloaded Netflix videos on my phone and then went back to sleep! It is a beautiful sunny morning though so glad we got rid of those black rain clouds yesterday!

The train conductor just announced we are over 3 hours late now however they are hoping to make up some of the time over the next few hours. They cautioned the train passengers though that as we are running late that we will have to give way to other traffic on the tracks such as the commuter trains as we enter the various stations.

The car attendant was very nice and as the train was not going to be in the station by 9 am as originally planned, he said he could leave my Rail Bed down for me so I could get extra recline time! Here is a picture of my sitting on my Rail Bed along with the Rail Bed across the aisle where my walker rode during our trip, so it was close for me to use it to get to the toilet (there was an accessible washroom and shower on the train in our car too)!. A took some pictures of the various train stations we went through and then the conductor indicated we had made up 45 minutes due to some re-routing and would now arrived at the Roma Street Brisbane Train Station by 11:30 am – so only 2.5 hour late!

It is interesting that when planning our trip, I booked our car rental pick up at the Brisbane Airport for noon, as we need a car for 5 days and you need to return the car in 24 hour blocks. I knew that we were probably going to have to “entertain” ourselves until noon rolled around so we could go get the car as we would need to return the car about noon for our flight to Sydney on December 6th. However with the train being late, we are now running almost on time!

It was VERY easy to transfer at the Roma Street Station to the direct train to the Brisbane Airport. While I had to get a station attendant help me with what particular tickets to purchase, they were bought fast and we ended up on the correct platform and there was a platform attendant there to see what I needed to get onto the train. I just needed their little ramp as the gap between the terminal edge and the train platform was a bit wide! Finally the train arrived, he put down the ramp and we were off to the Brisbane Airport to pick up our car!

Once at the Brisbane Airport we found the temperature much more suitable for our needs! It is still warm but more like a hot Vancouver day with less humidity. We had to wait for the car rental van to pick us up for about 45 minutes – I think they were having lunch! I was kind of amused by this sign at the Brisbane Airport while we were waiting – it is so bizarre to be waiting in a warm climate and for a billboard to be displaying the Grinch at Christmas! Once we got the car we were then off on yet another highway driving through Brisbane city towards Surfers Paradise, which is located about an hour south east of Brisbane.

The Sheraton Mirage Hotel Gold Coast is a beautiful hotel – similar name to the one that we just stayed in up in Port Douglas, however this one is truly a step above! While the one in Port Douglas had “lagoons” that were for swimming, this one has lagoons that are for display and one big swimming pool/area along with access to the beach out front of the property which is not accessible to me due to the slope! I am happy with the pool or to dip my feet into the lagoon from our terrace!

We arrived at about 2 pm and I was greeted at the Front Desk by the lady who in the end helped me with my reservation over the last 2 days – she was very nice and has upgraded us to a Junior Lagoon level Suite. I had originally paid for a Lagoon Level room, so it was nice that she did that! The hotel she told me is fully booked (not quasi fully booked as rooms were out of commission like the last hotel) as there is a group checking in from December 2-5th, however she was pretty happy she was able to swing the upgrade for me. I was pleased too!

The most amusing thing that happened was when we got to the room was the “Happy Birthday” plate that was given to us along with Champagne by the hotel! I called them and the 1st plate was not Gluten Free (it is on my hotel record that I require Gluten Free food and most hotels figure this out) so they quickly replaced it with the platter above and AGAIN it said Happy Birthday! Hey, why not? We are living a day ahead of everyone at home – why not live 2 months ahead too?

We both had a nap to catch up on some lost sleep from the night before and then we went out to get some groceries for our stay at the hotel – again to the local Coles Grocery store! I scored some really awesome GF items which I will post later, and then we got back and had dinner in our room and went to sleep! Tomorrow we will be checking out the hotel in more detail and probably taking a day off to rest and recover! Until then!

November 30, 2025 – Australia – Sunrise Drive from Port Douglas to Cairns – Boarding the Queenslander Overnight Train to Brisbane!

November 30, 2025December 2, 2025Lmnei

Holy cow! I woke up before the 4:30 am alarm clock! Wow! Needless to say it is EARLY! We are almost packed except for our items in the fridge (snack food and beverages) and we left the hotel after checking out on time, before 5 am. Me and being on time in the morning do not normally go together!

We had a very nice drive down the Great Barrier Reef Drive along the coast to Cairns. We saw the sun rise and Andrew even stopped the car so I could take a picture at a beach! We were actually running early (but not speeding) – Google Maps said it would take 1 hour and 2 minutes and it took about 45 minutes including the photo stop. Perhaps it is because there were 3 construction stops that were controlled by lights again, however the waits were very short, where during the day they might have been longer. Here are our morning drive pictures!

Needless to say, we picked a gas station to fill up and funny enough it was around the corner from where the car drop off location was! At that point I called an Uber (it was about 6:10 am now and we were DEFINITELY running really early) to take us to the Cairns Train Station. The lady driving the Uber was in the neighborhood and picked us up almost immediately! We had a very quick drive to the Cairns Railway Station – we chatted about taking the train to Brisbane and she thought we were crazy for not flying as it is only an hour’s flight! It was rather interesting though after that discussion that she dropped us off at the entrance to the Tourist Train to Kuranda – we needed to be on the other side of the tracks! Good thing the elevator was working and there was an elevated walkway to get to the other side of the tracks to where the Queensland Train would pull into the station a few minutes later.

At 6:40 am (we got there just before 6:30 am) the baggage drop opened up and we then sat and sweated, just like we used to do in the evenings in North Carolina, however it was frigging 6:30 am and I was soaked with humidity! The train was in front of us but we could see them servicing/cleaning it. About 30 minutes later, after losing about a litre of water and Andrew NOT being able to find any coffee (not a good situation) they allowed us to board the train. They had a nice little ramp for me to use – not the huge thing that I was sitting next to pictured below! We were booked into Rail Beds on the train – this train had reserved regular seating (2×2 seats) or Rail Beds which were in a 2×1 configuration. Now this is where it gets REALLY stupid! My Rail Bed was number 2 – it was a single rail bed. In front of me was Rail Bed 5. Next to me was Rail Bed 1 which was also an accessible rail bed as it had extra space for a guide dog to lay down. The carer’s bed for Rail Bed 1 was Rail Bed 5 which was in front of me. Andrew’s Rail Bed, which he was traveling as my carer, was Rail Bed number 4 which was on the aisle next to the other Rail Bed number 3 which was at the window. An unknown lady was in Rail Bed number 3 and would be there for the majority of the trip. This is a VERY stupid setup. A carer needs to be able to HELP someone so sitting forward and diagonally from me is no use. Also, as the Rail Beds come with in seat videos, as soon as Andrew put his ear phones on (this did happen) I could not get his attention for assistance.

I was dreaming up what items I could start throwing at him when the car attendant came by with tea and coffee and biscuits as we had just left the station. She actually told me that the way these beds are set up is stupid as the people who need assistance (I am thinking more like if I was traveling with Karen) cannot get it! She offered to tap Andrew on the shoulder for me however I just smiled and said I would figure things out. Once the morning tea service was completed and they had verified everyone who was on the train, the car attendant actually came back and told me that there was another disabled person going to join the train overnight with a carer and they have an extra single seat up front in the car and she was going to see if the lady next to Andrew would like to move. Of course the lady next to Andrew wanted to move as she could see that we were together and she also suggested that I move into her Rail Bed. So I did! It worked out wonderfully as then later that afternoon, an elderly lady who was visually impaired got on the train with her daughter as the carer and some other family members who had Rail Beds more to the front of the car, and the two ladies could be across the aisle from each other which helped them out too! Now we were in business on our 24+ hour trip to Brisbane!

With our Rail Bed purchase came meals too – we were fed lunch, which I had a mango chicken with peas and rice and a gluten free toffee cake with custard! I had to ask a couple of times if it was REALLY gluten free as it was pretty good! We then settled in for a nice SMOOTH ride down the east cost of Australia! It was interesting as each day Andrew looks up the weather where we are going and we were aware that rain had been forecasted – sure enough it happened when we were on the train! That said, the landscapes we passed by were very beautiful despite the black clouds above and the occasional watering of the windows!

Andrew spent most of his time watching movies and listening to music – I do not know what ones Andrew he watched however I typed up what to say on my website (no online access unless at a train station) and watched 1 movie and several really funny Aussie TV shows! The movie that I watched was the “Making of Crocodile Dundee” which I did not know the background of and how big an impact it had on Australia! It was very interesting and timely considering we are in Australia! The TV shows were a bunch of game shows – however one made me laugh so hard that I actually passed out and Andrew wondered what happened to me! That was a bit of a bizarre moment for me!

Dinner was then served and Andrew had pork and my meal was some very well cooked Barramundi fish with veggies and squash. The best part of the meal though was in the little tinfoil package which had a GF label underneath – it was a garlic cheese biscuit! Mmm good! I actually consumed it without needing butter! The chocolate cake with chocolate sauce was good too – however after not doing anything all day having two desserts was a bit much!

After dinner we could select to have our beds turned down at 8 pm or 9 pm. I was ready to go at 8 pm as I was starting to find the Rail Bed seat a bit uncomfortable and wanted to recline a bit more. The seat did recline, and the foot rest did go up a little bit however not much and the seat bench pictured above worked wonders for Andrew as his legs are long, however my legs could barely hold it down. In fact when I passed out laughing my feet fell off and the seat went up with a bang which was loud Andrew said – that is how he noticed that I was in la la land.

The Rail Bed seats actually fold down into nice flat, firm beds. The back of the seat folds onto the seat and then another portion folds out which extends into a bed. It was all done electronically – you could not do it yourself – the carriage attendant had to do it with a remote that plugged into the seat. The bed had a mattress cover on it and they gave you a duvet to cover you for the night which was nice and warm! I was as snug as a bug in my little Rail Bed! The one funny thing we learned, which if we had known better we might change for next time, is that the window seat bed is longer than the aisle seat bed so that the window seat person has about 8 inches to pass by at the end of the bed from the aisle person to get out if they need to use the toilet or whatever on the train in the middle of the night!

At this point in time, the train was actually running about 2.5 hours late – no idea how it got to run that late – we seemed to be stopping and starting fairly fast at the various train stations – there were not a lot of them. When we stopped in Townsville where the crew changed and the train took on more water and possibly fuel (not sure about this) I tried to call my parents as I knew my sister was visiting them that evening and the train left the station sooner than planned so our conversation got cut off as I lost my data connection!

I must admit though I enjoyed this train ride WAY better than the Indian Pacific one in terms of rocking and rolling. These cars are meant for travel and are built for sleeping too where the Indian Pacific Railway, while a very beautiful and historic system, does not have the more modern technology that keeps the train cars from rattling and swaying through the night.

Lets see what tomorrow brings us while on the train!

November 29, 2025 – Australia – Port Douglas – Daytrip to Mossman Gorge in the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation

November 29, 2025December 1, 2025Lmnei

Today we are going north, as far north on the highway that a 2 wheel drive car can go – which is Cape Tribulation, Northern Queensland! It is about a 90 minute drive in total to get to Cape Tribulation, with a couple of stops and a ferry ride on the way!

After yet again a wonderful breakfast of an omelette, chicken sausage along with some fruit, we were off on our road trip! Our first stop is Mossman Gorge, which is in the Daintree Rainforest, which has a raised walkway in the forest to see the gorge and also accessible transportation from the visitors centre to the entrance to the walkway to get there! It is only about 20 minutes up the road, so an easy drive to start!

Arriving at Mossman Gorge the rain forest is LUSH and thick – the Visitors centre is also very appropriate like most visitor centers we have encountered in Australia – not ostentatious and sticking out, but melding into the environment! Despite the humidity and temperature that was rapidly increasing, I passed by the ice cream freezers in front of the information counter and bought our admission to the Gorge. We could have walked the 30 minutes up into the gorge however $15 AUD was worth not having to do it in this heat! The first bus was not accessible so we waited for the next bus which had a ramp for me. Off we went on our 10 minute drive up the road to where the tree top walkways and entrance to the Mossman Gorge begins.

Mossman Gorge is part of the “Wet Tropics” UNESCO World Heritage site due to its exceptional natural beauty, outstanding example of evolutionary history and is a significant habitat for rare and endangered species along with unique plants and animals that are not found anywhere else. The Wet Tropics Area goes from Townsville, which is south of Cairns, to Cooktown which is north of Cape Tribulation and covers 894,420 hectares.

We walked through the tree tops to first the swimming area and then the view point – there were more trails that could be walked however they involved stairs and were not walkways so as directed by the bus driver, we stayed off them. At the view point here is my panorama view of what we saw – the water was so clear!

Water flowing down into the Gorge area where people are swimming. It has a sandy bottom too!

Most of the water that feeds the Mossman Gorge is not from rainfall, which I found to be very interesting! It comes from the moisture in the “wet” forest that drips down into the soil and then forming the various rivers that lead out to the sea.

After stopping by the cafe in the Mossman Visitors Centre to get some cold drinks, where the cafe also acts as a training centre for indigenous youth, we were on our way to Cape Tribulation and what I will call the most expensive ferry ride in the world!

On thing that I had read about in the Mossman Gorge and people are warned about are the Cassowary birds. These are fairly large birds based on what I had read and they are also fairly aggressive and one should stay away from them. Several people had spotted them based on my readings in the Mossman Gorge, however we did not see any. They are native to Northern Australia along with some other tropical locations such as New Guinea. The birds are flightless, and they are the third-tallest and second-heaviest living bird, smaller only than the ostrich and emu. Cassowaries are very wary of humans, but if provoked, they are capable of inflicting serious, even fatal, injuries. They are known to attack both dogs and people. The cassowary has often been labeled “the world’s most dangerous bird” however statistically the ostrich still kills more people each year (2-3).

Driving up to the ferry that crosses the Daintree River, which costs $51 AUD return for a 15 minute cable crossing in each direction (I think these ferries are free in the interior of British Columbia) there was a wooden image of a Cassowary that I took a picture of just so I could have a life sized image. Then shortly after that the small motor home we were following along the road stopped and we wondered why and guess what was in the middle of the road blocking the one lane bridge? A live cassowary bird just strutting about! Here is the wooden image and then the real thing! It is quite at LARGE bird! The 1M marker that you see beside it and the Oliver Creek sign is to let drivers know how high the creek is above the road – so that cassowary is at least 1 metre tall!

We then continued our drive up the highway to Cape Tribulation. It was like the road to Hana on Maui at times! Lots of turns and also driving through a cut in some heavy vegetation! Then came the speed bumps! Not sure which brilliant engineer invented them however I think they ran out of concrete when forming the speed bumps and so they decided to “fill” with huge rocks. Well, over the years the concrete has worn away and left what I would call “speed bump rumble” strips! Very interesting to drive over!

Here is my panorama picture of Cape Tribulation Beach –

View of Cape Tribulation Beach – lookout above located in trees around corner to the right

As we are as far north as one can do on the regular road, we are now heading south towards Port Douglas again! I did not know until I saw the sign, that this road is actually called the “Great Barrier Reef Drive” and it goes from Cape Tribulation down to Cairns! Interesting as in the next 24 hours we will be driving the complete 125 km distance!

Along we drove, past some very organized road construction, over some one way bridges over some very peaceful looking rivers, past the Daintree Tea fields and yet more “speed rumble strips” until we got to the Daintree Ice Cream company which was our reward for our excursion of the day! Wow – did they have some GOOD ice cream! I had chocolate coconut while Andrew stuck with the awesome plain chocolate flavour! Now, for the last little bit of our journey being some tourist busses who were also visiting the same Ice Cream stop on their way back from Cape Tribulation!

Back at the Sheraton Port Douglas now, we packed up as we have an EARLY departure for Cairns the next morning! We are taking the Queenslander Train from Cairns to Brisbane which is an overnight train that departs the Cairns Train Station at 7:40 am and gets in the following day at 9 am to Brisbane’s Roma Train station! We are an hour north of Cairns and need to gas up the car and drop it at the airport prior to taking a taxi or Uber to the train station… Departure time? 5am! Time to hit the sack for some quality sleep time – who knows what type of sleep we will get on this train ride tomorrow night!

November 28, 2025 – Australia – Port Douglas – Day at Sheraton Mirage Port Douglas Resort and dinner at Harrisons

November 28, 2025November 30, 2025Lmnei

Lets go for breakfast and show you the where we eat breakfast and how bright and open the area is! For my Celiac friends – that is a gluten free toaster, toast, gluten free bags of Corn Flakes, GF Wheetbix and GF Granola on offer along with a bunch of apples!

Two buffet bars to the left and hot food / omelette station to right

Its time to sit and sweat on the beach! Okay, well not the REAL beach as there are no beach loungers out on 4 Mile Beach or more importantly to me, umbrellas (not the ones that go into the drinks although those would be nice!) to protect me from the EXTREME rating for UV rays that this area of Australia currently is rated, however it is the resort “pool” beach! Yes, in several places they bring in sand and place it at the waters edge and then it goes into the water so it feels like you are at the beach! Wahoo!

The “commute” to the beach was quite short – out around the pool to the other side – if I could walk on water it would have been even faster from our balcony! They had some really nice mesh loungers and HUGE umbrellas stuck into the ground that did not move which was great if there was any wind or breeze at all. Nope, frigging hot day again! We got our pool towels out and sat down and started sweating. I called my parents from the beach lounger and was talking to them, lying on my side, while wearing a tshirt and when I got off the phone Andrew pronounced that I was “sweating a lot”. First a lady perspires! Second – what the dickens was he talking about? My the back of my tshirt was completely soaked and I had done NOTHING but drink water and talk to my parents! Yikes! Very soon after that we ended up getting into the pool to cool down!

The pool water, which was supposed to be salt water, was highly chlorinated! Makes sense as it is a pool! The design of the pool was pretty cool though – the sand sloped down into the pool however it was kept from sloping all the way down by a gentle slope up – which Andrew figured out as he is taller than me – that kept the sand in that area of the pool. Then the pool dropped down in depth to about 6 feet and then back up where the balconies were with the ladders to get in. Interesting design! Here are some pictures:

We were QUITE parched after that sit and sweat and swimming session of a couple of hours and unfortunately the sun was moving and Andrew’s lounger was no longer in the shade! Time to move on. We went to the Pool Bar and got a carafe of water with lemons and sat down to have some nice cold water to drink! We actually had to refill the 1.5 litre carafe again we were both so thirsty! Here are some pictures of where we sat and the area (which I know is not accessible) for the Pool Restaurant. We sat instead in the Lagoon Restaurant area which was closed but then I did not need to go uphill climbing with my walker.

Now back in our room for some cooling down time, we eventually got ready to go for dinner. I had booked reservations as suggested at the hotel’s upscale restaurant called Harrison’s. It is a very well reviewed and rated restaurant in Queensland. Great for a treat! It was a lovely evening walk there and they had a table set up for us right on the lagoon which was great! Only issue with the restaurant? To get to that table required me to go down stairs! They said we could eat in the back corner of the restaurant instead which was a fairly dark area, however the ambiance was just not there! Sitting on a balcony surrounded by water as the sun set sounded MUCH more appealing!

The restaurant indeed was very high end and a special occasion definitely to dine there! While there was more on the menu for Andrew to eat – I quickly narrowed what I wanted for dinner – shrimp on the barbie – Aussie style! I had the 6 huge shrimp along with some brown butter mashed potatoes which I shared with Andrew who had pork tenderloin for dinner. There were quite a few wait staff at the restaurant, however our waitress had a certain “air” about her that I recognized but I could not place. I also could not place her accent but it sounded pretty familiar to me the Aussie slant to it was throwing me off! I finally asked her if she was from Australia and she said “no” and as soon as she said the word “no” I knew what she was going to say next – she was Parisian! It all fit together – she was kind of abrupt with the guests – polite but abrupt like we had experienced in Paris when we were there a few years back and that accent – if you took that Aussie layer away was the same as a person I volunteer with at YVR who is also from Paris! I then addressed her in French and explained we were from Canada which is bilingual and I am a volunteer at YVR airport and I am required to speak “plane” French. (that is not plain – but PLANE as in travelers) She thought that was funny! Off she then went – quickly and as abruptly as she appeared!

Next though she had the dessert menu and “oh la la” she said, there is a “sans glutin” item for me to enjoy! I wish I remember its name though – we think it was called the Volo! It was sheets of meringue, sorbet, fruit and whipped cream. Really it was a pavlova (national dessert of Australia) deconstructed! Andrew got a different desert whose name we cannot remember either however it was something like Mumu! It was basically a ball of cake, which they poured brandy over and lit it on fire!

Okay, so after that dessert session my Libra diabetes alarm was going off quite frequently however it was an AMAZING dinner! We completed the dinner by going to the lobby of the hotel using the GOOD elevator and getting some brochures to where we wanted to take a day trip to tomorrow – Mossman Gorge, Daintree Forest and Cape Tribulation! Looks like I have some planning to do overnight! Join us on our excursion tomorrow to the far north east corner of Queensland also called FNQ!

November 27, 2025 – Australia – Port Douglas – Exursion to the North Edge of the Great Barrier Reef to Snorkel!

November 27, 2025November 30, 2025Lmnei

Let’s get up early and go snorkeling! Today we need to be in the Port Douglas Marina – about a 5 minute drive away – by 9 am to catch a boat to take us out to the northern edge of the Great Barrier Reef. After doing some research several months ago I had selected Quicksilver to take us to the Outer Barrier Reef. Previously I have been to the Great Barrier Reef with Karen, out of Cairns, however as we are about 1 hour north by car, this will be a different portion of the Great Barrier Reef.

For those who do not know about the Great Barrier Reef – it is the world’s largest coral reef system, located off the coast of Queensland, Australia, and is visible from space. It is composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands, spanning approximately 2,300 kilometers and covering an area of about 344,400 square kilometers. Recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1981, it is the planet’s largest single structure made by billions of tiny organisms called coral polyps (living organisms) which form over 400 types of hard and soft coral, and it also supports an immense diversity of marine creatures such as sea sponges, anemones, worms, and mollusks and marine life such as the endangered dugong (“sea cow”) and six of the seven species of marine turtles.

For all the companies that provide “tours” to the Great Barrier Reef, they must have a permanent dock or “pontoon” installed near to the reef they visit so they are not constantly anchoring and destroying the ocean bed each day. This is also way more environmentally friendly and protects the UNESCO site. There are also only a limited number of companies that can provide trips to the Great Barrier Reef and in the fee you pay to the company, there is included a conservation fee paid to a fund that protects the reef activities. Today, we will be going to Agincourt Reef, which is called a jewel-like ribbon reef on the very edge of the north edge of the Great Barrier Reef.

After a filling breakfast at the hotel, we were on our way! All decked out in our swimwear with various things like knitting and Mr. Dass’s book to keep me company on the 90 minute ride out to the reef and back. Check-in was very simple and we then waited for permission to get onto the boat. I was a bit concerned about getting onto the boat as it was so high up in the water! However once they allowed us onto the dock, I saw a ramp all the way up onto the boat and I was MUCH relieved! They did said that the boat was accessible!

We were greeted when we got onto the boat and lead to a table where I could park my walker and sit comfortably. Very soon afterwards a family with a young kid who was screaming moved into the section of 4 seats behind us, so we quickly moved to the other accessible table on the other side of the boat! The other lucky thing about this sailing is that the boat was only about 1/4 full. Normally they take 200 people to the reef each day and today there were just less than 50 people.

The ride to the reef was very smooth – so smooth that I got a bit sleepy and lay down for a nap on the 2 chairs beside me! Good thing we had beach towels from the hotel for a pillow! Andrew in the meantime watched a video about Marine Life that the Marine Biologist onboard the boat was putting on upstairs and no accessible to me.

A LOT has changed since I last took a cruise to the Great Barrier Reef – while I cannot remember if we are using the same company, I did have a fairly bizarre experience on the boat – the head lifeguard came to visit me about my “medical conditions” and to see if it was safe for me to snorkel! First I was a little taken aback, however I filled out the form and he came back to “interview” me. He asked things like how long it has been since I have snorkeled (3 weeks), what medication I take and then based on what I filled out told me that I had to wear a red life preserver when in the water and a red tipped snorkel. I also had to swim within the penned area! He did know that I would be swimming with Andrew though. Did not make a difference. Oh well, those are the rules! NONE of this applied when Karen and I went snorkeling previously! They probably would not have let her into the water the way they were dealing with me!

Once we arrived at the pontoon, everything sprung into action – staff donned their various gear and then people got off as they were pretty excited to start snorkeling or scuba diving. There are all sorts of things that are offered – mostly an upgrade – such as being able to scuba, rent underwater cameras, snorkel with the Marine Biologist, have pictures taken by the photographer, take a helicopter ride – those are some that I remember.

While it is best to visit the Great Barrier Reef for visibility and calm seas are typically from May to October, I was aware that it was November and some nasty weather had just taken place in Northern Australia. The sea was a bit choppy at the pontoon in my impression for snorkeling however we are here lets jump in! We got off the ship and I found a fairly steep ramp down to the snorkeling/scuba deck which was awesome! There was a sign about getting a Lycra suit which puzzled me and I saw a bunch of people wearing what I thought were wet suits. Nope, they are Lycra suits just like the green men at the Canucks games wear but these are black! You have to put one of these on to go snorkeling due to the stingers in the water at this time of year! Great – like I needed something heavy on me to drag me down! So off we went to get our Lycra suites which were basically head to toe – including a hat and mittens attached to the long sleeves for the hands and the feet just had straps as one is supposed to wear flippers. I do not wear flippers as they will hurt my muscles in my leg and affect my back – been there and do not need to do that again! I also have fairly powerful swimming legs when they want to work!

Now we look like aliens, we got our snorkel gear and I got my red PFD and red tipped snorkel and Andrew chose to get a PDF for himself too and we were ready to go! Now I did have to go down some stairs to get into the WARM water – however it was fairly easy with rails and then benches you can sit on in the water to get used to it and then a lower platform to step onto to swim from. Very easy to do and we were off! I snorkeled around a bit and saw some lovely brain coral, some very large fish and lots of white spiny coral with a few tufts of blue coral thrown in for fun! However I was battling both my PDF riding up around my ears making it hard to swim and the wave action. This was just not too enjoyable! Time to reset and retry! I then got out with the assistance of the lifeguard and optimized my gear and Andrew and I then tried again but to no avail. I kept on getting pushed into the ropes that were the barrier that I was to swim around – so I left Andrew out swimming and enjoying himself and I went back to take some pictures and hang out on the deck! Here are some pictures that I took –

After all that snorkeling we sure built up an appetite! Lunch was served back on the boat and that is also where we changed out of our swimming gear and back into some dry cloths! The lunch was wonderful – I got a chicken sandwich plus some GF cookies and a vegetable / egg frittata thing and they also told me that the Indian chicken dish on the buffet was gluten free – which I paired with the white rice for an extra treat! I then relaxed, read and knit while Andrew went and climbed down into the Underwater Explorer to check out what he could see! Being a bit claustrophobic at times and the stairway was VERY steep, I passed on that adventure! Here is what Andrew captured!

The temperature outside was about 38 degrees today – which is down from the 45 degrees with humidity we hit yesterday, so when we returned to the hotel, we were happy to have Air Conditioning in our room! The water at the Great Barrier Reef was so nice and warm considering it was still the same body of water that flows into Vancouver too! We then relaxed for the evening, Andrew had some cold beverages and as we had both a big breakfast and a fairly good lunch, we just had snacks for dinner before calling it a night!

Here is a panorama picture from the balcony of our hotel room as the sun fell.

Not sure what trouble we are going to get into tomorrow however I am sure we will get up to something! Check out what we end up doing!

November 26, 2025 – Australia – Port Douglas – Power Outage, Accessibility and Grocery Shopping!

November 26, 2025November 30, 2025Lmnei

I was up early YET AGAIN and having some quiet alone time on the sofa, occasionally interrupted by some snoring noises coming from across the room, when all of a sudden I noticed that the light next to the bed I had turned on, went out. I thought maybe it was on a timer and I had left it on too long. The Sheraton Resort that we are staying at is really into conservation efforts – I was reading in their brochures how much they recycle and also there are 1.5 litre bottles in the room where you can fill them with water from water stations around the property – such as downstairs by the elevator. You actually can choose between chilled still, sparkling or ambient temperature water! Quite fancy! I continued to work away on my laptop as I was already using it not plugged in and was happy on the couch!

A couple of hours later, Andrew got up and was frustrated as he could not use his shaver as there was no charge left in it and the charger was not working. This was about 7 am. In Australia, the shaver plugs are 110/220 volt and a North American 2 prong shaver plug can fit into them. I suggested that he use my converter plug that goes from an Aussie plug to North American plug instead at a different spot in the room and it did not work. Then I plugged in my laptop to the converter plug as I knew it had charged my laptop overnight and it was not charging the laptop now… At that point the light bulb came on in my MIND – I remembered the light going off – I think the power is out! I tried messaging the front desk through the Marriott app on my phone but that did not work so then I phoned them (thank goodness for the International Phone plan that Telus came out with the month before I left) and sure enough the power is out to the hotel. That means I am now stuck in our room unless I want to go down 6 flights of stairs as the elevator is not working either!

I called the hotel back after a while and mentioned that we cannot get to the buffet breakfast due to this and they offered Room Service and took our order and we had a lovely breakfast in the room! I felt for the guy who brought the trays and had to climb the 6 flights of stairs! Breakfast in the room was a nice experience! The only thing that was missing from our order was Andrew’s coffee and my apple juice. I called them again to remind them that those items were missing and at the same time the lights came back on! Andrew at this point was DESPERATE for some caffeine so he made some coffee in the room and within 10 minutes another cup arrived along with my bottle of apple juice!

Now, for a tour of the hotel! First our room…

We, after successfully taking the elevator downstairs, walked out of the North Tower that we were in and around one of the pools to 4 Mile Beach which runs from the town of Port Douglas, north of the hotel, along towards the Sheraton Hotel and a bit further south down the beach. Right now, you cannot swim in the ocean as there are jelly fish with deadly stingers on them – they come out from November to March – tourist season! Here is a picture of 4 Mile Beach –

Panorama of 4 Mile Beach – walk 2 km to Port Douglas to left and end of beach to right.

The hotel has salt water pools and lots of them – some have beach access and some have access from wharf like structures. There is a swim up bar and a restaurant near the pool along with, we soon found, the Feast Restaurant, where the morning buffet breakfast is served. However by the time we got from our hotel room around to the Feast Restaurant and up the ramp – I was both covered in perspiration and exhausted! I decided to go up to the lobby which is above the Feast Restaurant to chat with the Elite Members desk where I checked in. Last night, when I asked them (as they had neglected to tell me) where the breakfast was, they told me there was an elevator in the lobby that went down to the Feast Restaurant.

I asked a server in the Feast Restaurant where the elevator to the lobby was and she looked at me kind of strange while at the same time Andrew said he found the elevator – it was right next to the restaurant called Harrison’s where we were planning on going for dinner on Friday night. I went up the elevator while Andrew climbed the stairs. Out the elevator I walked and there were more stairs to get to the lobby – no ramp to be found! Very bizarre! I called the hotel on my phone (again happy I have this Telus plan) and the operator came out and said I had to take the elevator I came up in back down to the Feast Restaurant and then go into the restaurant and by the washrooms there is a DIFFERENT elevator that goes to the lobby. Why the server did not tell me that I have no idea. I got into the elevator to go down and Andrew went back down the stairs. The elevator would not move. I got out of the elevator and then the door closed and it went down to where Andrew was! Go figure! He sent it back up for me and I repeated and it would not go down. Andrew even tried calling the elevator and it would not go down. I called the operator again and said there is a minor situation with the elevator not working… Soon a front desk clerk arrived and he tried to help however he also was shocked that there was no ramp up to the reception area! The Chief Engineer was called and when he arrived – guess what happened? The elevator behaved! I then got back into the elevator with him and then went to the other elevator and went to the lobby. At this point – this “exercise” had taken over 30 minutes. I was furious.

I spoke to a very nice Manager on Duty named Jaime and explained how wonderful the correspondence with the hotel had been, I let them know what my accessibility needs were, however being placed at the far corner of the hotel on the 3^rd floor with a power outage is not a good start! Also, I was having some issues finding my way around the hotel grounds from an accessibility standpoint – I had found the ramp to the Feast Restaurant now, however the distance to travel is quite far and my expectation from the discussions that I had with the staff were that I would be closer and that the hotel was WAY more accessible, based on what is listed on the website, than it currently is. Such as the bump to get into the room – why does it exist where the rooms in the hallways that are Air Conditioned have a flat entry? Bizarre planning when building the hotel! I could see the lip on the 1^st floor but not the 2^nd or 3^rd floors.

Long story short, I pointed out the room type I had originally booked and where I ended up was not really an upgrade but a downgrade and I was perplexed with what happened and that no one had mentioned to me how to get around the property from an accessibility standpoint when it is obvious that it is not very accessible compared to what is listed on the website. She agreed and found a closer room for us, which funny enough, was a similar room type that I had booked and even funnier – had a walk in shower! It was an identical room to the one we were in on the 3^rd floor however it has a swim-up balcony with a ladder to get into the pool (which would not work for me). I had booked a lagoon/pool view with a balcony. Sometimes I wonder about my communication skills vs. people’s reading and listening skills.

We then went out to the local grocery store – Coles to get some groceries and beverages for our stay. As always, I enjoy shopping in different countries to find different gluten free items and I found a WONDERFUL soft, squishy set of 4 brioche buns to make sandwiches! I was so excited! After Andrew patronized the Bottle Store, we went back, dripping wet yet again, to the comfort of our hotel room to relax and have some dinner!

Now that we have wasted 1/2 of a day, we went back to our 3^rd floor room and packed up (well Andrew packed as I had not unpacked) so that they could move us to a different room. Eventually that happened and Jaime and Allan, who had checked me in and is new to the hotel, came with her so that he could learn better the needs of people who use wheelchairs or walkers like me. The new room as I mentioned was just perfect and very similar – only negative is it still had the little bump up to get into the room. I can handle that if I pay attention! The benefit is that about 200 feet away is a ramp into the Ballroom space and through that corridor, is the Feast Restaurant where we need to go for Breakfast. It is not a kilometer walk sweating away, around all the pools to get there each morning! We thought we would celebrate this achievement of moving rooms and a quasi relaxation day buy going to the Lagoon Restaurant which serves Asian Small plates. We got there and it was closed as it was a Tuesday! Again, the website failed us – now it is only open Wednesday through Sunday. Oh dear. Andrew deserved a drink so we went into the Feast Restaurant, up the elevator to the lobby and to the Rain Tree Bar where they were supposed to have drink specials on.

We found a ramp! There is a ramp from the lobby to the entrance to the Daintree Bar – unfortunately the ramp does not go down any further so unless you like sitting at high tables or at the bar (both of which have tall chairs) again, not very accessible as the main part of the bar is down some stairs! Oh this hotel is sure not what the website indicated! We enjoyed a nice drink and then went on our way back to our hotel room. That said, the bar was pretty impressive with its wall of alcohol bottles that Andrew and I gazed over and tried to figure out how they were arranged!

Well, back to our “lagoon view” room now to get some sleep as tomorrow is going to be a busy day! We are off to the Great Barrier Reef!

November 25, 2025 – Australia – Cairns to Port Douglas Drive via Kuranda

November 25, 2025November 29, 2025Lmnei

We had to be out of the Mantra hotel by 10am so we were up fairly early and had a quick breakfast in the room and departed the hotel, with me filling up our water bottles in the lobby for the drive as I was certain it was going to be a hot and humid day! Here is the morning sunrise over Cairns –

We got to our car parked in the accessible parking spot and no tickets which is good however the birds in the tree had done a number on it overnight! We were now driving a very dirty car! Oh well, those are the breaks! The Mantra had limited free parking and I thought why take up one of the stalls when we can park on the street instead? Yup! Paid for that with a dirty car now!

We quickly got out of Cairns and on the drive to Kuranda. Most people, including when Karen and last visited Kuranda, take the train up one way and the skyride back down. The Kuranda Tourist train leaves from the Cairns train station, where we will be departing in 5 days to take the Queensland train to Brisbane. They do have a bus that returns people who take the skyride down from Kuranda back to the bus station. It is a worthwhile trip, however I distinctly remember how hard the train trip was on Karen and myself and personally, despite Andrew liking trains, I really did not want to experience it again. I was doing some reading prior to our trip and saw that we could take some “backroads” to Kuranda and then continue inland around to Port Douglas, which is north of Cairns by an hour. That is what we ended up doing!

It was a nice drive – at times reminded me of driving the Hope Princeton with the curves in the road and there was some construction going on however it was very well managed with temporary stop lights and queuing to use the single line. Soon we got to the Barron Falls Lookout, which is actually a stop on the train trip up to Kuranda. After parking at the lookout and walking down the sloping raised accessible pathway in the woods to the viewpoint what do you think showed up below us? The train! It stopped on its way to Kuranda village which was only about 10 more minutes up the small mountain. We got to see the train pull in below us and the people get out to take pictures of the Barron Falls (which were pretty small at this time of year) and then we went back to continue our drive to Kuranda town.

Kuranda is in the rainforest that surrounds Cairns and goes up the coast past Cape Tribulation. Port Douglas, where we are staying is on the beach, about 1/3 of the way to Cape Tribulation. I remember getting to Kuranda on the train with Karen, it being 100% humid and hot and seeing all these really cool artisans selling some very interesting handmade goods! I am not sure if it was because we drove into town, it has been 27 years, or COVID hit this area really hard but Kurana was just not the magical place that I remembered. It was 100% humid and hot though! I did buy some Australian souvenirs at a shop and then we walked around for a while, but the artisan feeling was gone. There were more tourist attractions (traps) now to visit too. I was just turned off! That said, we had some ice cream – good thing to do when it is bloody hot! Walking back to the car, I decided I needed a cold drink for the drive so we stopped at a restaurant stand and look what I found! Gluten Free Rice Burgers! Now, with this heat, there was no way I could eat one of these so I just took a picture instead and got my Coke Zero! Then we continued our drive to Port Douglas through the back hill country!

It was an interesting drive – unfortunately taking pictures from a fast moving car is not my forte so my pictures did not work out! It is also hard for Andrew to stop when there are cars behind us. We drove through some really nice small towns and then started down into a valley towards Port Douglas. We saw that there recently had been some type of forest fire (not huge trees – more like small trees but the ground was smoking and the trees were burnt) and that stunk as we drove by however we soon made it into Port Douglas and to the Sheraton Mirage Resort where we are to stay for the next 5 nights.

Finally we arrived at the Sheraton Grand Mirage Port Douglas Resort. I have been impressed with this resort so far – really early they sent out an email, as I am a frequent guest at Marriott hotels, asking me if there was anything that we wanted to do or needed during our stay. I responded indicating that I needed a shower chair for the walk in shower in the upgraded room that I had booked and I had some questions about activities as the original email mentioned booking early due to school vacations and holidays. They were awesome at getting back to me and told me that we were just before the school holidays, so we should be fine not making reservations at the restaurants however the Great Barrier Reef cruises do fill up. I then booked both dinner at the hotel and a trip to the Great Barrier Reef from Port Douglas. They also confirmed a shower chair would be in our hotel room.

I was met at check in and addressed by name, which surprised me, when we arrived and we were checked into the hotel. They mentioned they had “upgraded” us to a 3^rd floor room in the North Tower. I thought that was strange as I had booked a Lagoon/Pool view room that I thought was on the 1st floor. However, I figured it had to do with the shower situation. The bellmen took our suitcases to our room and I was driven in a cart while Andrew drove around and parked. He then jumped onto the cart and we were driven to the North Tower where our room was located. It required us to take an elevator up to the top or 3rd floor, go through 2 doors where there were hotel rooms in an air conditioned corridor with flat access and then to our room which had about a 4 inch lip to get into the room. I thought that was strange due to the discussions I had with them with regards to accessibility and the fact that they said we were upgraded. Sure enough, there was a walk in shower and a shower chair so I was happy! There also was a balcony however it faced the garden, it was not the Lagoon/Pool view room that I had paid to upgrade to. No issues I thought – just happy to be here!

We were going to go for a walk to check out the property however someone fell asleep (common occurrence at this time of the day in this kind of heat) so we postponed the walk until the morning!

November 24, 2025 – Australia – Sydney to Cairns – Travel Day and Seafood Pizza!

November 24, 2025November 29, 2025Lmnei

Again, we were up in good time to have a wonderful breakfast at the Pier One Hotel and then we departed, via Uber for the Sydney Airport to travel on Virgin Airlines to Cairns. We had a very nice Uber driver and on the way, I had booked to drop one piece of luggage off for storage as Andrew and I will be back at the airport on December 6th to overnight prior to flying to Singapore. No issues with Virgin Airlines moving our pre-assigned seats this time and got onto the plane just fine! It was just under a 3 hour flight to Cairns, which included a 1 hour time change with surprised us. Sydney, Australia area recently switched to Daylight Savings time however we soon found out that Queensland, where we are heading up north, does not switch and remains on the standard time. There are funny time zone changes all over Australia – sort of a bit like Canada – Newfoundland and in the Interior of BC.

Arrival at Cairns Airport was MUCH more smooth than the last time I was here 27 years ago! They actually have air bridges ways now! Once we found my walker (I do not think it is common for walkers and wheelchairs to be brought to the plane door in Australia and I seem to remember now Karen having that issue when traveling) we were able to walk through the airport – which it is a nice compact airport and out into the HEAT to get our rental car! Holy smokes! The humidity and heat was like walking into a hair dryer on the highest hot setting! We looked up the temperature and it was about 39 degrees and it was 6 pm in the evening! We got our rental car and made it to the Mantra Hotel which I had elected to stay in for our 1st night prior to driving to Port Douglas and the resort that we were headed for. I had done that for 2 reasons – not to tire Andrew out from traveling and then driving and 2nd, I thought driving to a village named Kuranda would be a nice option on the way to Port Douglas instead – we would get some mountain driving in!

We had a ocean view, kind of, from our hotel room. More like a tree top view! Cairns has changed QUITE a bit from what I remember of it 27 years ago. I picked this hotel for its location which was next to the Cairns Night Markets which Karen and I explored last time we were here however the waterfront of Cairns has now fully been filled in and a huge swimming pool installed! It looked really great from our balcony other than all the trees that have now grown into the area!

It was time to find some dinner so we decided to go for a walk and find someplace to eat along the boardwalk. Prior to getting to the boardwalk though we walked around the area that used to be beach and a pier (that I remember) and saw this beautiful swimming HUGE swimming pool that now fronts onto the beach with a walkway in front of it. The pool starts with a very narrow end and the slopes down deeper with some sand and different pool areas at the end as you can see.

We actually parked the car in front of the hotel in the daily parking bays, as it seems that the accessible parking had no time limit on parking there – such as overnight! The hotel required a checkout by 10 am so we thought the car would be just fine and we could see it from our room too! Tomorrow – back to the village of Kuranda!

November 23, 2025 – Australia – Sydney – Whitecaps, Dinner Cruise and Sunset at the Opera House

November 23, 2025November 28, 2025Lmnei

I woke up pretty early this morning to a VERY foggy harbour! The picture I took from the window did not work out so here is a different one that shows just how foggy it got compared to the bridge which the hotel was under. Apparently the ferries have issues running in the fog. By about 9 am it had lifted though and Andrew and I were able to go down for breakfast and we even snagged a table outside on the deck! Here is the picture of the fog along with some other pictures of this beautiful hotel –

We then relaxed for the rest of the day – I did some travel scouting for our future travels along with found out how to store luggage while we go north for 2 weeks and Andrew followed the Whitecaps, his favourite soccer team, while they played the LA FC soccer team and WON! At that point in time, and on a high, we departed for our Captain Cook Sunset Dinner Cruise that was leaving from Wharf 6 at Circular Quay!

Then we departed on the Captain Cook ship – which was 3 levels high – however with no elevator! So while we had purchased a more expensive dinner that was being served on the upper decks, we were given a window table on the main deck instead to watch the world go by and eat our dinner! Lets get sightseeing!

Our Dinner cruise is now over and the sun is starting to set and it is a beautiful WARM night for a walk so we decided as we were half way there, to walk over to the Opera House and take a peek at what we could see! The last time I went to the Opera House with Karen all we could do was walk around the bottom level as there was no way of getting upstairs – they had not build the elevator yet – they had escalators but her manual wheelchair would not fit on the escalator and also if I remember correctly they did not want us to try! So I was interested in seeing what was available now 27 years later!

Well, that was quite an evening! The Sydney Harbour is immense with so many little bays and then the islands in it too! It was awesome to sit and watch the world go by as we ate dinner. However for me the highlight of the evening was our impromptu walk to the Sydney Opera House – I had not planned on walking that far as I was still having some issues with pain, however after sitting for a couple of hours on the boat I was motivated to walk! As I said above, my goals were no that high, no pun intended – I was pretty aware that when the Opera House was built, which started in 1959 and opened in 1973, they were NOT thinking about wheelchair access! I was also aware that it was renovated in the mid-90’s as Karen and I were there in 1998 and at that time we were unable to get upstairs.

I was quite surprised when approaching the Opera House and its grand bank of stairs, that there was a sign for wheelchair access under the stairs, so we went and explored it of course! Well, sure enough, they have now put in what I would call a “fancy” service elevator which takes you up to the main floor of the Opera House. Yes the escalators are still there and I saw the sign still that no wheelchairs are allowed. I wish I had taken a picture of the elevator though as it did not have a ceiling which was kind of interesting! It was basically a nice elevator that was a platform with buttons on the side to go up and down a floor. Also on the ground floor where we entered were the appropriate washrooms that the Australian government now requires for accessibility.

So we went up the elevator and it was obvious that a concert was going on at the Opera House. The lobby was like the QE theatre with a coat check and employees in various positions guarding entrances – where I wanted to go was to the outside plaza that was at the top of the steps that I could not climb! But NO. There is a sign on the door and a rope across saying that during performances these doors are locked. Now, that did not make sense to me – I just took the elevator up and was in the lobby – other could do that – I guess they just do not want the general public coming through these doors and having to manage that volume. Fair enough. However the elevator is so I can get OUT so I can see from the Plaza as I cannot climb the 50 or so steps! I politely explained this to one of the ushers who was a bit confused, but got his manager and then a security guard and they let Andrew and me out onto the plaza and stood at the door until we returned.

It was SO NICE to be up that high! Beautiful view just as the sun was going down! As we were out there I saw people go up to the doors and try and get in despite the signs and get turned around, so I tried to time our return to the doors where they were waiting for us without being detected however someone did follow us and they were turned away – they tried to say they were with us but the guard knew better than that! I felt bad, however there really should be a better way to manage accessibility to such a popular tourist attraction than what we ran into. I suspect if there had not been any events going on in the building, that access to the elevator would not have been available.

Andrew and I then walked all the way back to the hotel around Circular Quay and the base of the bridge to the other side. It was very nice with the warm breezes of the evening. The sky was also pretty clear and I got a good shot of the moon! When we passed by the old buildings next to the Overseas Terminal, we noticed that what we thought was just seating prior, were actually 3 fairly high end restaurants that had their seating on the dock – very European like! Reminded me of being in Rome but the view was MUCH better in Sydney!

Back at our hotel we had a nightcap on the pier as we had 2 free drink coupons that the hotel had given us prior to retiring for the evening. Tomorrow we are going to the airport and flying to Cairns! Looking forward to returning to the north east part of Australia!