Australia Day 11--Going home, Part 2, Brisbane to Honolulu

Australia series

Australia Day 1--Qantas flight 8 DFW-BNE (Dallas to Brisbane)
Australia Day 2--Flight to Sydney, the Westin Sydney hotel & sightseeing
Australia Days 3/4--Hunter Valley & the Blue Mountains
Australia Day 5--Sydney sightseeing and Manly Beach
Australia Day 6--Paddy's Market, Bondi to Coogee Walk & Darling Harbour
Australia Day 7--Sydney to Cairns, Holiday Inn Cairns & the Cairns Esplanade
Australia Day 8--The Great Barrier Reef
Australia Day 9--Kuranda Koala Gardens, Skyrail & Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park
Australia Day 10--Daintree Rainforest & Cape Tribulation
Australia Day 11--Going home, Part 1, Cairns to Brisbane
Australia Day 11--Going home, Part 2, Brisbane to Honolulu

At the international terminal, I checked in to my fight, Hawaiian Airlines flight 444, from Brisbane to Honolulu. I was in seat 1J. Oddly enough, this was the one seat I couldn't reserve online and had to phone the airline to book. Thankfully, the business class check-in line was a lot shorter than the economy line.

Economy check-in line was really long

After checking in and clearing security/immigration, I went to the Hawaiian lounge, which they shared with Air New Zealand. There was a selection of free hot and cold food items.

No more Qantas Club for me, I had to go to the Air Zealand Lounge this time

Free food

Free food

Free booze

It was too bad the lounge didn't have any nice views of airplanes. Instead, all I saw was a parking lot.

View from the lounge

I didn't realize until after booking that Hawaiian's business, or first, class did not have lie-flat seats. They didn't even have angled flat seats, like the Lufthansa business flight I took last year. As this was a nine-hour overnight flight, I was kind of disappointed.

My Hawaiian Airlines business class seat, 1J

I'm normally not a fan of the bulkhead due to its proximity to the galley, however I selected seat 1J for the extra bit of leg room, knowing the seat did not lie flat. 

Bulkhead leg room (or lack thereof)

Seat controls

Upon boarding, I received a pre-departure glass of champagne. A flight attendant asked all of the first class passengers if they wanted breakfast in the morning. Slippers were tucked into the seat pocket and flight attendants handed out little amenity kits with toothbrush/toothpaste, an eye mask and ear plugs.

Not much of an amenity kit, but I'll take it

After take-off passengers were given iPad minis (filled with movies, TV shows and music) and headphones.  Soon after this dinner service began. I got to choose one appetizer and two entree items. I chose the cheese plate for my appetizer.

Appetizer and an iPad mini

For dinner, I selected lamb chop and grilled snapper. I took a few bites of everything except the lamb chop. The mashed potatoes were pretty tasty. My drink of choice was a Mai Tai (it's Hawaiian Airlines, how could I not?).

Lamb chop and grilled snapper main entrees

For dessert, I had the chocolate mousse cake, which was also tasty.

Chocolate mousse cake

After dinner, I reclined my seat (as much as possible), let out the footrest and attempted to get some shut eye. I caught a few winks here and there, but it was not good, consistent sleep. 

Before I knew it, breakfast was being served. I wasn't much of a fan of anything being served, but I had a few bites of yogurt, fruit and the danish.

Breakfast

I enjoyed watching the sunrise and the beautiful views as we began our descent into Honolulu.

Watching the sun rise over the clouds

Hello Hawaii!

 
Another nice thing about sitting up front is being first off the plane, which means being first in line for immigration. However, it seemed most folks on the flight were Australians entering the U.S., so they were in a different line anyway. 

I quickly proceeded through immigration, then had to go to baggage claim to pick up my bag. It took about 20 minutes for the bags to start coming out and it felt like a long wait. It was at this point, I checked my phone and found out about the Malaysia Airlines flight that had been shot down. I felt very solemn, but very fortunate at the same time, having just safely departed a flight. 

My suitcase was among the first to come out. I grabbed it, handed over my entry card to customs and proceeded to the the American Airlines check-in desk. The plan was simply to hand over my bag as it was already checked to Dallas, then head out to explore Honolulu during my nine-hour layover. However, as you'll read in the next installment, this is when things didn't quite go as planned.

Australia Day 11--Going home, Part 1, Cairns to Brisbane

Australia series

Australia Day 1--Qantas flight 8 DFW-BNE (Dallas to Brisbane)
Australia Day 2--Flight to Sydney, the Westin Sydney hotel & sightseeing
Australia Days 3/4--Hunter Valley & the Blue Mountains
Australia Day 5--Sydney sightseeing and Manly Beach
Australia Day 6--Paddy's Market, Bondi to Coogee Walk & Darling Harbour
Australia Day 7--Sydney to Cairns, Holiday Inn Cairns & the Cairns Esplanade
Australia Day 8--The Great Barrier Reef
Australia Day 9--Kuranda Koala Gardens, Skyrail & Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park
Australia Day 10--Daintree Rainforest & Cape Tribulation
Australia Day 11--Going home, Part 1, Cairns to Brisbane
Australia Day 11--Going home, Part 2, Brisbane to Honolulu

Sadly, it was time to leave Australia. My cousin once again had an early flight back home via Sydney, so she took a taxi to the airport around 5 am. 

My return flight to the USA was three legs, Cairns to Brisbane on Qantas, Brisbane to Honolulu on Hawaiian Airlines and finally, Honolulu to Dallas on American Airlines. The entire journey was scheduled to take around 31 hours, including layovers in Brisbane and Honolulu. Again, I booked round-trip in business class for 125,000 AA miles. Essentially, these were first class flights, as they were all two-cabin planes. 

I would have preferred the direct flight home from Sydney on Qantas, but since I was returning from Cairns, it didn't seem to be an option. Other options from Cairns included layovers in Los Angeles, however the prospect of a nine-hour layover in Hawaii was enticing because it seemed like a "bonus trip." 

I talked to the porter at the Holiday Inn Cairns the evening before leaving about arranging a shuttle to the airport. The shuttle was through Sun Palm Transport, an outside company, and cost $15, which was cheaper than a taxi ride since I'd be traveling solo. He said he booked the 10:10 am shuttle for me, but to come down around 10 am since the shuttle is sometimes early. He said it could also run a few minutes late. 

Well, after checking out at 10 am and waiting until 10:20, there was no shuttle. I went to the porter desk (there was a different guy there in the morning) and asked if he could check the status of my shuttle. He called the company and they seemed to have no record of my booking. The porter found my reservation on his computer and had the shuttle company promptly send out a driver to pick me up. Like the hotel's other staff, he was very apologetic and offered me free drink coupons, which I used to get a Coca-Cola from the bar.

The shuttle came within 10 minutes and gave me a direct ride to the domestic airport, which was nice because it meant I didn't have to wait around while they picked up people from other hotels. 

At the Cairns airport, I checked in and cleared security pretty quickly. I decided to check in my luggage. Normally, I wouldn't, but I they said it would be checked through to Dallas (though I would have to pick it up to go through customs in Honolulu and drop it off again). I did this so I wouldn't have to lug around my suitcase since I planned to leave the airport during my long layover in Hawaii.

Cairns Airport

  
Then I had some time to visit the Qantas Club lounge, which was located upstairs. I showed my business class boarding pass to the attendant to get free access to the lounge.

Qantas Club lounge at Cairns Airport

I thought the lounge was quite nice. There was a selection of free hot and cold food items.

Free food in the Qantas Club lounge

There was lots of comfortable seating and nice big windows to watch the planes taking off and landing. 

Lots of comfortable seating

Big windows to watch the airplanes

I was on Qantas Airways flight 649 to Brisbane, which was scheduled to leave at 12:55 pm. However, the aircraft was late getting in, so we were late departing. I had selected seat 3F, the window seat in last row in the business cabin. This was a short flight of around 90 minutes or so.

Seat 3F

Looking out the window before departure

I had a pre-departure glass of water, then champagne with a package of pretzels and cashews before meal service.
 

Snack and drink before meal service

For the meal service, I was offered a choice of tuna salad or toasted ham and cheese with tomato sandwich. There was also a soup option, but the flight attendant said they had run out. I tried the toasted ham and cheese sandwich. That was not something I would normally eat, but it tasted okay. 

Toasted ham and cheese with tomato sandwich

Shortly after meal service, we were on the ground in Brisbane and I headed from the domestic terminal to the international terminal. Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3 of this report with my thoughts on my Hawaiian Airlines flight, long layover in Honolulu and American Airlines flight from Honolulu to Dallas.

Australia Day 10--Daintree Rainforest & Cape Tribulation

 Australia series

Australia Day 1--Qantas flight 8 DFW-BNE (Dallas to Brisbane)
Australia Day 2--Flight to Sydney, the Westin Sydney hotel & sightseeing
Australia Days 3/4--Hunter Valley & the Blue Mountains
Australia Day 5--Sydney sightseeing and Manly Beach
Australia Day 6--Paddy's Market, Bondi to Coogee Walk & Darling Harbour
Australia Day 7--Sydney to Cairns, Holiday Inn Cairns & the Cairns Esplanade
Australia Day 8--The Great Barrier Reef
Australia Day 9--Kuranda Koala Gardens, Skyrail & Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park
Australia Day 10--Daintree Rainforest & Cape Tribulation
Australia Day 11--Going home, Part 1, Cairns to Brisbane
Australia Day 11--Going home, Part 2, Brisbane to Honolulu 

Going to the Daintree Rainforest was another activity that seemed to come up often as a "must-do" in the Cairns area. The Daintree Rainforest, a World Heritage site, is located a couple hours north of Cairns, and includes Daintree National Park. It is the largest rainforest in Australia and is said to be the oldest rainforest in the world. Also part of the rainforest is a beach area called Cape Tribulation, and it is noteworthy for being where "the rainforest meets the reef."

Prior to arriving in Australia, I located a tour online for $109 AUD. Well, we waited until we got to Cairns to book it, and sadly that particular tour was sold out. However, the travel agency suggested a similar tour that was $134 AUD, so we went ahead and booked it for our final day in Australia.

Our pickup time was scheduled for a very early 7:10 am. We were picked up by a van with a very nice driver named George. At first, I was uncertain whether he was just doing hotel pickups and was going to drop us off at a central location like the Hunter Valley tour we did in Sydney. Turns out George was our driver/tour guide for the full day.

After a few more hotel pickups, we headed out on the scenic Captain Cook Highway to the National Park. George, an Aboriginal Australian, had lots to talk about and kept us informed and entertained. After we arrived at the park, we stopped to have morning tea, coffee and biscuits (Australian cookies). Then we proceeded to our guided walk with George at Jindalba Boardwalk. It was at this point I wished I had brought some bug spray. George talked about the various trees and plants native to the rainforest.

Getting ready to walk through the rainforest

Daintree Rainforest

After the walk, we headed back to the van and toward Cape Tribulation, where we had a picnic lunch and a little time to enjoy the beach. I didn't take any pictures of the food, but the lunch was pretty disappointing.

Turkeys hanging out near our picnic area

Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest meets the reef

Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest meets the reef

From Cape Tribulation, we made a quick stop at the Daintree Ice Cream Company, where it was $6.50 for four flavors of ice cream made using locally grown fruits. I didn't buy any, but got off the bus to take a few pictures.

Daintree Ice Cream Company

Daintree Ice Cream Company

Then it was time to head to our next activity, a crocodile/wildlife spotting cruise on the Daintree River. For me, this was the highlight of the day. We loaded up on a boat and set out on the river. The guide (not sure of his name) pointed out lots of crocodiles (young and old) in and out of the water.

Daintree River cruise

Crocodile spotting on the Daintree River cruise

Do you see the little crocodile?

Crocodile spotting on the Daintree River cruise

At the end of the cruise, the guide pulled a small crocodile out of a container (that I had been sitting next to!) and said pictures were available for $5. This seemed like a good deal to me, so I did it. The croc's mouth was taped shut, so I felt confident holding it for a picture.

Time to take pictures holding a young crocodile

Before getting back on the van, we we treated to more tea and biscuits. The final activity of the day was a stop at the Mossman Gorge swimming hole. It was a nice scenic area. However, we were only allowed 40 minutes there, and there was no place to change into our swimmers (as the Aussies call it). There was a short walking track that my cousin and I did.

Mossman Gorge

Mossman Gorge

Mossman Gorge

During the day and on the way back, we also stopped at a couple of scenic areas, Mount Alexandra and Rex Lookout, to take some pictures.

Mount Alexandra Lookout

Mount Alexandra Lookout

Rex Lookout

We also got a brief tour (from the van) of the beach town Port Douglas before heading back to Cairns.

All-in-all, it was an interesting and educational day, though it was definitely the least "fun" day of our time in Cairns. I'm not sure it was worth $134. I think someone who is more of a nature lover would enjoy this activity a lot. We spent a lot of time in the van since the rainforest was so far away. Yes, the rainforest was beautiful, but in hindsight, I wish we'd gone back to the reef or saved some money and taken a public bus to one of the beach towns, like Palm Cove or Trinity Beach.

Australia Day 9--Kuranda Koala Gardens, Skyrail & Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park

Australia series

Australia Day 1--Qantas flight 8 DFW-BNE (Dallas to Brisbane)
Australia Day 2--Flight to Sydney, the Westin Sydney hotel & sightseeing
Australia Days 3/4--Hunter Valley & the Blue Mountains
Australia Day 5--Sydney sightseeing and Manly Beach
Australia Day 6--Paddy's Market, Bondi to Coogee Walk & Darling Harbour
Australia Day 7--Sydney to Cairns, Holiday Inn Cairns & the Cairns Esplanade
Australia Day 8--The Great Barrier Reef
Australia Day 9--Kuranda Koala Gardens, Skyrail & Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park
Australia Day 10--Daintree Rainforest & Cape Tribulation
Australia Day 11--Going home, Part 1, Cairns to Brisbane
Australia Day 11--Going home, Part 2, Brisbane to Honolulu  

Kuranda Koala Gardens

Another thing I was super excited to do in Australia was "cuddle" a koala. And just my luck, Queensland is one of the few places in the world it is legal to do so. 

In doing my research, I found the Kuranda Koala Gardens had koalas (and other animals) and it seemed reasonably priced at $17 AUD for admission, and an additional $18 to cuddle a koala and get a souvenir photo. Cairns Tropical Zoo is another place with the cuddle a koala offering, but admission is more expensive (presumably because they have more animals). Ultimately, I decided to go to Kuranda because of the lower cost and other attractions in the area.

Kuranda is a small town in the rainforest located 25 kilometers northwest of Cairns. There are quite a few tourist attractions, including the Koala Gardens, Butterfly Sanctuary, Birdworld, lots of little markets, Scenic Railway and Skyrail Cableway. There are packages and such that make it easy for a tourist to have a fun-filled day, but I again decided it'd be best to DIY our itinerary for a lower price.

Getting there: I found two local bus companies, Trans North and John's Kuranda Bus. The website lists TransNorth as $6.50 AUD from Cairns to Kuranda. I couldn't find a current price online for John's, but I figured it was similarly priced. Both picked up from the same Orchid Plaza location in Cairns about 10 minutes apart, so we headed to the bus stop for an 8:30-ish pickup, and figured we'd get on whichever came first. Turns out John's bus came first and it was only $5. I love those little "wins."

John's Kuranda Bus

After a couple stops, we were right outside Kuranda Koala Gardens just in time for their 9 am opening. We were the first people in the park and basically had it to ourselves for most of our visit. The souvenir photos began at 9:30, so we had 30 minutes to walk around.

Map of Kuranda Koala Gardens

This was a small "zoo," if you could even call it that. Thirty minutes was more than enough time to walk around and see everything. There were crocodiles, lizards, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, koalas and snakes.

Freshwater crocodiles

 

Lizard

Koalas

Kangaroo

Wallabies

Snake (thankfully behind glass!)

Wombat

The kangaroos and wallabies were in a big enclosure. There was a bucket of food nearby and you could just walk in and feed them. My cousin and I were too timid at first to just waltz into the enclosure, especially since there were no employees around. As we were finishing our koala pictures, another visitor went in with the kangaroos, fed them and took some "selfies." After watching her, we felt confident the kangaroos were tame and went on in. It was a great experience!

Feeding a kangaroo

 And speaking of our koala pictures, this was also a great experience. I got to hold a koala named Princess. She was very cute and cuddly. Her claws were very sharp and I could feel them in my shoulder. I went first, then my cousin, then we took a picture together. It was nice that even though you get a souvenir photo, they let you take pictures with your own camera(s).

My souvenir koala photo

The rules regarding koala handling seemed very strict, so I didn't feel like the koalas were being mistreated. Apparently, each koala can only "work" 30 minutes a day. And here's a fun fact: while many people call them koala bears, they are not actually "bears." The bear reference came from their teddy bear resemblance, but in actuality, koalas are marsupials. That's right, the same as kangaroos. Female koalas have pouches where they keep their babies, known as joeys.

Skyrail Rainforest Cableway

After leaving the Koala Gardens, we walked around the various marketplaces and window-shopped, as we headed through town to the next activity on our agenda: the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway.

One of the many markets

This was another adventurous activity for me, being that I'm not a big fan of heights. The Skyrail goes high above the rainforest from Kuranda to Smithfield (near Cairns) and vice versa. While round-trips are available, I decided we should just take it one-way, then visit the neighboring Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park and take a public bus back to Cairns.

Skyrail gondola

Up in the air

The Skyrail's one-way cost was $49 AUD so this was a fairly expensive activity, but I thought it was totally worth it for the 90-minute journey (less time if don't you get off and walk around at the two stops). While it was moderately scary being up so high, the views were mesmerizing. There were two stops, at the Barron Falls and Red Peak, that we got off and walked around to take in the views.

Barron Falls

Red Peak station

Beautiful views at the lookout near Red Peak

Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park

Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park entrance

We arrived at the Smithfield terminal, and by this time it was around 2 pm. This gave us a few hours to visit the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park. I have been intrigued by Australian Aboriginal culture for a long time and thought this would be a good chance to learn more about them. Admission to the park was a bit steep at $40 AUD. I enjoyed the park and all the attractions, especially the dance show. In hindsight, I wish we'd had more time to spend there for that price, but we were able to see most of the major shows and attractions.

Dance show

Dance show

Making fire

Making fire

Talking about how the boomerang is used as a weapon

Playing the didgeridoo

Area where we could try it out for ourselves

There was a stop right outside the Aboriginal park for the public Sunbus 123 that went back to our hotel area. The bus cost $3.90 and took us through more of the Cairns city area, and it was interesting to me to see where the locals live.

We arrived back in Cairns, decided to have dinner at a place called Outback Jacks Bar & Grill, and then pretty much called it a night.