Ginger Without Borders

To celebrate our last night at the GBR, we made reservations at the restaurant next door to our apartment for another fresh seafood dinner (what else do you eat when you are at the coast?). Like virtually every restaurant we have visited, it was al fresco. Even the places that air conditioned their interior space during the heat of the day (almost 89 degrees) had no wall facing the street, so they were air-conditioning the city. By night, the temperatures fell to a very comfortable 74 degrees with a light wind from the Coral Sea, so open air evening dining was just marvelous.

The shuttle was actually early this morning (and it is a Sunday here). All the transportation folks have been very prompt and very helpful. The driver from the Cairns airport stayed at the door of our Port Douglas resort apartment complex until the remote attendant answered the call button. And then he kept the shuttle at the curb until he saw the door open for us. And now for a rant about those keyboards. In most of our travels, there is an actual human being around 24/7 at resort locations. Apparently, that is not a service in an Australian resort (and we have noticed this at resorts other than the ones we are using). What you get is a keyboard entry with a call button to a remote attendant for all hours other than 8am-5pm (or 4pm for the Queen’s Birthday Holiday). We are now in Adelaide at another hotel apartment (not a resort location). A real person is at the front desk from 7am-11pm and the after hours entry is with a fob, so there is no code that needs to be memorized (or remembered after a few drinks at dinner). This is just a thought for Australian resort operators interested in actual customer service.

But I got us to Adelaide a little too soon with the rant. To get to Adelaide (we finally get to another Australian state, this one is South Australia), the only direct connection is with JetStar, the low cost airline of Quantas. Since it is supposedly low cost, there were no attendants to help us at the electronic check-in stations. Luckily, there was an airport attendant (not a JetStar employee) who graciously assisted us old folks with our baggage tags. Then, instead of the automated bags checkin we got in Brisbane with Quantas, there was the 1980’s 30 minute wait in a line to see a baggage check staff person. She sent through my bag, then held Dawn’s bag while she had us weigh our carry-on bags. She told us we were 5 kilos over the permitted weight but graciously offered to let us “sort out” the overweight into Dawn’s already overstuffed bag. Of course, it was my bag where we kept the extra duffle bag that we carry in case we need an extra bag. So we just paid the overweight fee and got the required tags for our carry-ons. Our Adelaide apartment clerk told us that JetStar was notorious for this practice, even charging one of their customers for being 7 ounces over the limit. OK, I have reached my self imposed limit of two rants per blog, so enough about “budget” airlines that charge for a glass of water (seriously, don’t fly JetStar unless you bring your own water).

The original idea for this blog was to review some of the our experiences to date in Australia (in addition to the punctuality of the travel providers). The one above is the lady from Sydney who spent almost the entire 40 minute ride back to Port Douglas from the Low Island snorkel just chatting with Dawn. I had a similar experience going out to the Low Island talking with a guy from Brisbane about the redevelopment of South Bank (which I covered in my earlier history lesson). I don’t believe we have yet met a single Australian who did not willingly enter into a conversation (some at length) if you just ask a simple question.

While we have consciously avoided saying “Geday” to anyone, I have fallen into the occasional “Mate” when talking in a pub. And it is just lovely the lengths to which the Australians carry their practice of shortening a word by adding “ie” or “y” to the last syllable. I already covered the controversy with Brisie (Brisbane). But it goes further, breakfast become “Brecky”, my favorite eggs benedict become “Benny”, and today Tasmania was “Tasie”. We are getting a little better at translations, but that is in part because we are willing to ask “what does ___ mean?” (which was how I learned that a Benny is eggs benedict).

The scale of this place is also becoming a little clearer. While both are about the same size, continental US has 48 states and Australian has only six states. Like in the US, each Australian state is a successor to one of the previous Australian colonies. Also like the US, each state has its own legislature (they do use the British term “parliament”), judiciary and executives. And they do call them states, not provinces like in Canada. Also, a free state has a different meaning in Australia than it does in US history. An Australian free state means that it was not a penal colony. South Australia is a free state. And (mea culpa Lena) Adelaide is the capital of South Australia, not the country of Australia. The capital of the country is Canberra which sits within its own territory (similar to the District of Columbia) called the Australian Capital Territory or ACT.

As I indicated earlier, Queenstown is huge, two and a half time bigger than Texas. South Australia is 25% larger than Texas. Victoria is the smallest state, but still almost twice as large as NC. But there are only about 23.2 million folks living in Australia (5 million less than Texas) or about twice as many as in North Carolina. Our travels will wind through all of the states except the Northern Territory and Western Australia, both of which are largely deserts. We have competed our tour of Queensland and took a lot of great memories and some adequate pictures. We will be here in South Australia for the next four days.

PS., it was a travel day, so we didn’t have time to spend your inheritance today Lena except for baggage overweight fees and a very nice fish (your fav) dinner. Mom held my hand on the plane so I am safe for now.