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Published: April 15th 2008
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We Made It! We wanted to update the blog sooner but we had to sleep first. It was a long trip but well worth it. We are on Magnetic Island just off short from Townsville, Queensland, Aus. The water front room we wanted opened up yesterday....YES!
The trip:
The flight from Portland to LA was fine. When we got off in LA, we were not sure where we were on the airport or where we needed to go. There were no signs and the staff was not very helpful at first but then we found someone who enjoyed her job and she directed us to the next terminal over which was the International one. Note to self; look up the terminal information before leaving home. The gentleman at the Qantas counter was very helpful and got us ticketed etc. We ate dinner and then proceeded through security....this is where things started to slip just a little. Seem that LAX is going through a little remodeling. IT was a mess and there were no coffee shops! Anyone from the NW USA knows that you have to have coffee shops. To make a long story short, the plane had issues, we moved
gates three times and left four hours late.
The flight from LA to Brisbane: WOW those seats look really small! Especially for a 13 hour flight.....and they were....but we made the best of it. The crew was very nice but the food.....well, you remember those lunches in school we used to talk about? The trip was like a time warp. You leave in the dark, they make everyone close all the window covers, everyone turns out the lights and you sit in the dark for most of the way. You wake up (if you can sleep), they feed you breakfast and boom, and you’re on another continent 7000 miles away and its two days later.....in the morning.
What we've seen so far of Australia is beautiful! Brisbane was very green. From the air it looks like a nice place to live with lots of open green space. The forest here is deciduous. One local told us that the northern coastal areas do not freeze so the trees mostly stay green year round. Here in Townsville, things are dryer but still green trees.
When we go to Brisbane, we didn't know what our options for a flight to
Townsville were given we had missed our connection. We made it through customs (never fun but the Aussies made it less painful) and to the Qantas ticket counter in the International terminal. We were told to go to the JetStar counter in the Domestic terminal via tram or taxi. We hopped a taxi over and found the JetStar counter. They were VERY nice and found out that Qantas had already rebooked us on the 2:00 PM flight. I knew we had to contact the property people on the island because we were not going to make it to meet them at the ferry on time.
The cell phone panic: When I powered on my cell phone in Brisbane, I could not make a call. You have to understand, a father, 8000 miles from home on another continent, in another hemisphere without the ability to communicate with his children made me very uneasy. Everything I tried to get help didn't work. I also found out that, outside of PDX, Internet access is never readily available nor free (us Portlanders are spoiled) Roberta spotted a pay-for Internet counter so we worked through getting an account and signing in. Once one I
sent my daughter Lisa a text message to get online and email me. I was very thankful when she replied. She was able to call Verizon's help line and get me the instructions to get the phone to work. Turns out that this phone is very old technology wise and needed some manual settings changed. Thanks Lisa!!!!! I got an email off to the property contact hoping she would get it.
We made our plain to Townsville. The flight was nice and the view was great! Lots of green wilderness and dirt roads....but not many. I'd love to come and dirt bike Australia some day. We landed at Townsville and rolled up to the small, four gate terminal. At this point, we knew we were in a different place. Very inviting and laid back. We caught a taxi to the ferry terminal. The ride when through old town where there are some great historic buildings with early architecture that is similar to New Orleans French Quarter.
The ride over to the island was fun and interesting. We enjoyed the awesome view and watching the locals, who all knew each other, laugh while catching up on their day. We
met Bernice who shuttled us to our room and gave us some tips on enjoying our time here. We walked "down town" if you can call it that, had a nice dinner (first real meal in 36 hours), came back to the room and crashed.
Enjoy the pictures of sunrise in the south pacific. :-)
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Roetta Osburn
non-member comment
Glad you made it!
Hi, We are so glad that you made it safe. It looks like a beautiful place! Enjoy yourselves and do not worry about any thing here. Your both need a break from worry, and concern about every one else. We love you both, may God be with you. Mom