Day 23 - Last flight within Australia - Thank God

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Today started with sleeping in, which was a very welcome change. We caught a flight around noon from Cairns to Gold Coast. We have come to loath the Australian airlines and they have luggage requirements that are crazy as well as ridiculously expensive. So upon arrival to the counter, Kirsten instructed Chester to hide our backpacks as these along with our small roller carry-ons would put us over the weight limit and at $15/KG that can add up. All was looking good until Kirsten’s roller back was 3 KG over weight. So we had to get all of our bags and reorganize them to add more to the checked luggage and pay the difference. At this point we are not happy campers. We get everything switched around and had to throw out some stuff, like a perfectly good bottle of wine and a number or toiletries. So back to the check-in desk we go thinking all is good. Chester is hanging back with our backpacks, but the agent was on to us. She continued to ask what we were carrying on and Kirsten assured her it was just a “personal item”. She finally made us show her and realized Kirsten might have been exaggerating a bit on the “small” personal item. We both had a big backpack as well as the roller bag. By this time we are very frustrated and both saying we are so glad this is our last flight in Aus. Kirsten proceeds to exacerbate a bit advising that we were advised differently on the phone the previous night and that the “personal items” was not part of the 10 KG limit. At one point we were going to have to pay for 11KG over which would have been about $165. After a bit more complaining that they needed to make sure their phone agents gave out accurate information in the future, the agent had pity on us and let us check one bag for free and then our carry-on was within the limit. We thanked her profusely and took our stuff and ran before she changed her mind. At this point Kirsten pointed out to Chester that she never talked to anyone from the airline and was full of shit but had nothing to lose and $165 to gain and it worked.

Chester sat next to Richard, who instantly chatted her up the entire flight. His first comment was that where we are headed, Surfers Paradise is overrated. Great we were not excited and now even less excited. He gave us some pointers on places to go and what not to do. We got our luggage and rental car and drove about 30 minutes to our hotel. Of course as is the theme of our trip, it started raining and was cool and overcast. This is supposed to be the part of the trip that is warm and we hang out on the beach.
We headed to an area a bit south of Surfers Paradise and had a descent dinner. For once luck was on our side and we sat down just in time to get the 50% off discount you get if you sit down before 6:30. Food is always better when it is half the price, especially at the crappy US/AUS exchange rate.

We had planned to do some surfing and kayaking tomorrow, but with the cold weather have opted to go deep sea fishing instead. So hopefully we won’t get skunked, which had happened EVERY time Chester has gone deep sea fishing.

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