April 9, On to the GBR (Great Barrier Reef)

After breakfast, we said goodbye to the Savoy Hotel. Our driver picked us up and we headed to the Melbourne Airport. It was a pleasant drive, and the driver was a warm person. We had a good conversation about different aspects of life. Her parents immigrated to Australia from Turkey, when she was 3 years old. They did well and established a good life here. Eventually a lot of her relatives in Turkey came to Australia. She is the mother to two daughters, grandmother to two daughters, 55 years old and enjoying life, though now divorced.

Along the way, I captured some photos of Melbourne neighborhoods and businesses. Here are some of them.

When we arrived at the airport, we had to go through an elaborate process to get checked in to Jetstar Airlines. (Our driver declared Jetstar to be cheap, but bad as an operation.) The driver let us off near a “lift” (elevator) in Terminal 3; instructed us to go down a floor, but then proceed to Terminal 4, in order to check in and deliver our luggage; then come back upstairs and back to Terminal 3, in order to go through security and get to our gates. We definitely got some steps in.

Once at the gate, we had an hour and one-half to wait for boarding to begin. As we were waiting, this woman rushed up with her shoulder bag, trying to catch the flight that had just pulled back from the adjacent gate. She begged the check in attendant to get the plane back. Of course, the attendant had to decline that; once a plane pulls away from the gate, there is no returning, except for some type of technical or medical emergency. Well the emergency we experienced was at the gate. This woman howled and cried and begged the attendant – later joined by two colleagues – over and over and over again. PLEASE HELP ME! YOU’VE GOT TO HELP ME! I HAVE TO GET HOME TO SEE MY CHILDREN!! And on, and on, and on, and on. When I say she howled and wailed, I mean the proverbial gnashing of teeth, death-type moaning, wailing, and crying. It was very uncomfortable for many people in the general area. After 15-20 minutes of this, she slumped to the ground (picture below).

Then her crying turned to anger, and she began yelling and cursing at the ticket counter attendants. Their patience was EXTRAORDINARY. They never raised their voices; they never responded with ugly words; they just continued to politely decline to call the airplane back to the gate. (By this time, my guess is that the plane was on the runway ready to take off, if in fact it had not already done so.)

Patrise was so disturbed by the woman’s misery, that she left the area, to go to the restroom. When she did return about ten minutes later – the wailing, crying, moaning, yelling, and cursing were still on full display – she (Patrise) went over to the attendants and offered to pay for another ticket, if the woman could not afford another plane fare. The attendants thanked her for the kindness, and they said they were already working to get the woman booked on another flight at no charge.

The airport police were eventually called to the scene, but they were kept at bay and never had to take action. Jetstar Airlines may be a bad operation, but their employees this morning were nothing less than extraordinary in my view. After it was over, three of her colleagues gave big hugs to the counter attendant who was the focus of the abuse. Clearly, she had been shaken by the experience. They should give out awards for the type of calmness and courage she displayed.

This one was one for the ages for me; never have I seen anything like it.

Anyway, we eventually lined up to board, but we stood in line for almost an hour. The boarding was delayed quite a bit. While standing there, Patrise noted that her shoes – her favorite traveling shoes – were beginning to fray. With a brief sigh, like anticipating the departure of an old friend, she noted that she would soon have dispose of them. She noted that they had been to France with her and had carried her comfortably many places for several years. In memory of the moment, and with nothing better to occupy my time, I made up a brief poem on the spot. Here it is:

Ode to the Beloved Travel Shoes

Here lay the shoes from France,

Which matched her long, black pants.

They went wherever she traveled,

Even from Atlanta to Cairns (“Caahnz”).

They carried her many a way,

But now they begin to fray.

Very soon, I fear, those shoes so dear

Will have to be buried away.

Weep not for the traveling shoes.

For many years, they worked as well as they could.

But soon there will be new ones,

To join her travels,

And make her feet as comfy as they should.

Eventually we did board, the plane departed, and we flew three hours to Cairns.

After getting our luggage, we met our driver, Edric, who took us the hour-long ride from Cairns to Port Douglas, a small beach resort town on the Great Barrier Reef. Along the way, Edric told us many things about the local areas we were traveling through. This part of the country is called Queensland. Queensland is a state or province, whose principal city is Cairns. Just like Brisbane is the principal city for the state of New South Wales, and Melbourne is the principal city for the state of Victoria.)

They grow a lot of sugar cane in Queensland, acres and acres of it. We were also told that the portion of the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland (Cairns) is more spectacular and has more species than that portion of the reef in New South Wales (Brisbane). The GBR is almost 1,500 miles long, so I suppose it could have a lot of variability from one end to another. We also learned that there is the “inner reef” and the “outer reef”. Edric said the best views can be seen in the outer reef. I guess we will find out tomorrow, when we take our reef tour, which includes some snorkeling.

We made it Port Douglas – hearing about the saltwater crocodiles (the “salties”), freshwater crocodiles, Irukandji jellyfish and Australian box jellyfish, wallabies, and kangaroos along the way – and made our way to our room at the hotel where we are staying, the Peninsula Boutique Hotel. It was a bit awkward finding the room, because the reception desk was close. Luckily enough for us, a departing guest was sitting on a bench outside the reception door and told us how to find our room.

We left our luggage in the room, then immediately took off to find something to eat. We had a light lunch on the flight: tasty, but light. We walked to a nearby restaurant, the Wrasse and Roe. (Wrasse is a group of several species of fish that live on coral reefs. I’m sure that’s how the restaurant derived its name.) We had a great meal. Patrise had a calamari entree, not breaded and fried, and I had oysters from south Australia. We both had Moreton Bay Bugs for our “main” course. (In Australia and New Zealand, the order of their meals are appetizer, entrée, main, and dessert. “Entrées” are not the larger portion, major dinner items we are used to having back in the states. “Entrees are just fancier appetizers, from our point of view.) The “bugs” were delicious! Now before you begin to think we have fallen off the edge of the earth, Moreton Bay bugs are the name given to a type of shellfish, very similar to a lobster, but a distinctly different species. We ended the meal with fantastic desserts.

After paying the bill, we wandered through the main strip of town for a bit, to walk off some of the calories. We then returned to our hotel room, after first visiting the nearby beach. We settled in and prepared for our reef adventure that begins at 7:30am tomorrow.