Day 70: Brisbane to Hamilton Island
- Our driver was early, so we were plenty early the airport. To hedge our bets away from any semen demons, we sat with another couple and had a lovely chat to pass the time.
- We had a quick and easy flight. The plane was in a 2 by 2 configuration that was much roomier.
- We arrived on the island amid rain. We had to debark the plane on wet staircases and were then made to stand on the tarmac in the rain while we were “held” for zero apparent reason. Then, when we did get inside, we had to cross a line of people that were getting on a plane. The designer of this airport wasn’t thinking. There are big reasons airports–even small ones–are built in a loop.
- The open-air airport was muggy AF. It’s tiny, and there were only three toilet stalls for women. It’s almost like they don’t know how many people get off a plane at one time.
- There was a very long wait (again, Qantas) to get our luggage and there were very few benches.
- Our shuttle driver wanted to narrate the five minute route, but it was too cloudy to see much. He kept asking pertinent questions so we (the only English-speaking passengers) couldn’t just ignore his bad jokes.
- There is no ADA in Australia, therefore there are few-to-no ramps. This has been a recurring thing. It’s like hotel designers don’t know people have luggage on wheels.
- I wanted to cancel a tour for our first whole day, but the Tours desk is in another building.
- Our escort to our bungalow wanted us to wear our seatbelts (so she wouldn’t “lose her license”) in a Golf Cart (!!) that someone parked out in the rain instead of under the portico. How dare they use the big covered area in front of the hotel that exists to protect guests arriving and departing. How dare someone use that for–gasp!–guests.
- By this point, it was 4:15 and the Tours desk was closed. I couldn’t even try to cancel.
- There are a bunch of restaurants. One is even 18+ and it’s not a long walk, but their prix-fixe menu is $130pp AUD / $81pp USD. Oh, and at every place here, reservations are “strongly recommended”…which is something we didn’t know until 4:30pm.
- The first bar I could find on a map closes at 7pm and is a bit of a hike from our bungalow, anyway.
- I wanted to stay dry and order room service, but we couldn’t figure out if the hotel even has room service. All the websites are stuck in a loop leading you back to Book Now.
- The WiFi was also weak.
This area came highly recommended by a good friend, and nothing can be done about the weather, but the rest of this didn’t need to happen. Who holds guests out in the rain? Who makes things harder rather than easier? What marketing whackadoodle nutjob thinks that “kids eat free” and couples belong in the same place? What kind of hotel “resort” doesn’t have Room Service or decent WiFi?????
He ventured out into the rain to get me: 2 bottles of wine, 14 packets of ramen (he bought six), and whatever else he could find. I made plans to stay in our bungalow until time to take the ferry back to the mainland. On his way to the stores, he found a Tour person (maybe waiting for some to return?). Turns out, we are booked on another day (what? that’s news to us) so we had the 48 hours needed to cancel my trip on the catamaran. I’ve wanted to see the Great Barrier Reef my whole life. And I’m aware that this might be my very last chance since humans are killing it, but I would be miserable and would not find it fun….especially for the cost.
He also found pizza and ordered us some dinner delivered on a golf cart. This “resort” needs to step that up. They have pizza, but they need groceries, sunscreen, wine, and more by delivery. They are just leaving that kind of money on the table. I mean, what mom isn’t going to order some snacks while she watches her kids nap?
Day 71 – more rain
Overnight rain made for good sleep. He got up to go to breakfast; I stayed back with a bowl of ramen. Later, he also went out for lunch, more snacks, and more wine. He’s the best.
Day 72 – less rain, more gloom
We were startled awake at 8:30am by housekeeping. We forgot to put the DND chain across our front deck, and they wanted to give us more towels. Since we aren’t going out in the rain much, we aren’t going through them like other guests probably are. Since we were awake, we went to breakfast. As soon as we came back though, we both crawled back into bed.
We awoke to a message from the tour company; our his tour of the Great Barrier Reef was canceled. Figures. According to the weather, it was supposed to be less rainy. That wasn’t our experience. It seems the tour company knew it wouldn’t get better. That’s fair, these rains and floods along the northeast coast are historic.
We made sandwiches for lunch. Right when he was going to leave to go to the pool, another downpour hit. I had made the sane decision to stay far, far away from families and their screaming financial burdens who “eat free” at this “resort.” Once the rain stopped, he ventured out to resupply our mini fridge with drinks and bread. It’s a trek uphill both ways to get to the grocery, so he was glad to find the bus!
I spent most of the afternoon editing…and trying to get us a little caught up on this blog. Actually, that’s a lie. I did that for far too long and all day long. I got a couple of posts live, and I didn’t have a goal, but I was still “so far” behind and still felt like I had failed our journal. It’s a very good thing he’s keeping good notes. If this were reliant on my memory or notes, it would be a colossal fail.
Day 73 – the day the bridges broke
We walked to breakfast at the hotel again. It was uphill both ways. Because the weather was still crappy, I did some more editing. He went for a short walk between patches of train before we ate lunch in our bungalow and I did more editing.
Then, we learned that his catamaran/snorkel trip of the Great Barrier Reef was been canceled due to weather. From boredom, we took the bus to the grocery store for dinner. We only had to endure some drizzles. The wallabies loved the grass in front of our Bungalow row.
And then we learned….a bridge along our route has been washed out by the rains. The “other” road is a nine-hour drive. Then, we found out another road is also closed/flooded. After exhausting all “emergency” resources for our trip, which were all useless, we found our own flight back to Sydney and a hotel for 3 days there while we try to re-group. We had about a week to fill.
We tried to go to the front desk to tell them the change (and how that affects our luggage), but they don’t staff it at night. They put up a phone and a sign. However, someone had unplugged the phone. So, he plugged it in and we waited for it to reboot. He talked to someone (Night Auditor?) who said they’d note our departure change. We weren’t confident on that.