Day 15: Monday, August 22 Fraser Island
This will be a very short entry because I decided early that I wanted to have a lazy day, not be shepherded around and not be around a lot of people. Other than going down for lunch and dinner and a short walk I remained in the on the balcony and in the room and read. I had a nap from 6:30 to 8:30 am after getting up at 3:30. Tried to nap again around 4:00 pm but was interrupted by someone bringing me towels that I didn't need and then was unable to get to sleep.
Lunch was a strange Caesar salad. I say strange because it was served with a poached egg and anchovies on top lots of big pieces of bacon throughout and the croutons were full size slices of french bread. The pieces of lettuce were also so large that I had to eat the thing with knife and fork. That seems to be the style of lettuce salad in this country.
For dinner I went back to the buffet where the theme tonight was "Native Australian". I started with some salads - lettuce, a little bit of pasta and rice. Both the pasta and the rice were less cooked than I prefer in a salad but were ok otherwise. For the main course I had some fish, beef, kangaroo, crocodile, carrots and some "old blue pumpkin". The kangaroo and crocodile were both more tender than I had last night and here you could have as much as you wanted compared to the four or five little slices the night before. The cost for the entire buffet was only slightly more than the price of the kangaroo dish alone in the other restaurant. Certainly made last night a supreme rip off in my opinion. In the other restaurant I guess you pay a premium for the fancy presentation or something.
After dinner I returned to the room and packed because my luggage has to be ready for the porters to take to the boat sometime before 8:30 in the morning. I have to get the shuttle at 10:00 and the boat leaves at 10:30. Given that I don't get back to Brisbane until around 4:30 I doubt that I will do much more than go out for something to eat. Then Wednesday will be spent packing and organizing myself for the long flights back.
Day 16: Tuesday, August 23 Fraser Island to Brisbane
As always I was up early and fully packed in plenty of time. Around 8:30 I went down and checked out because I didn't want to get caught up in the last minute 10:00 rush as everyone else checked out. That left me with almost two hours before the boat was due to leave so I decided to kill some of the time by having breakfast. It was included with my room but I hadn't felt like it any other day. Like the dinners in this restaurant breakfast was also a buffet. Tons of fruit, cold cereal, hot cereal, bacon, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, sausages, french toast and much more. I had a plate of eggs, bacon, sausages and pancakes followed by a plate of fruit (cantaloupe, honeydew melon, apricots, prunes) and some coffee. That was more than enough to carry me through to dinner in Brisbane when I had a spinach salad and a few slices of pizza.
The drive to Brisbane was good and went smoothly. My driver (Greg) is a great and interesting talker and I think I now know most of his life history. There didn't seem to be a lull in the conversation for the entire three plus hours. He told me the horrible story of his wife's softball accident followed by brain surgery that left her in a coma for months and then unable to walk or talk. Contrary to what the doctors expected she has almost fully recovered though still suffers setbacks occasionally. She works full time with the company she and Greg own. Her life expectancy isn't great but she seems to cope with everything very well. A very sad and touching story to be sure.
We stopped for a smoke and washroom break at the halfway point and I was looking at fresh fruit and vegetables at a stand there. The prices for the fruit and veggies almost made me cry and want to buy some of everything. Imagine a bag of four or five avocados for $2.00! Ditto for tomatoes, etc. I bought a one kilogram bag of macadamia nuts in the shell (never seen them that way before) for $5.49. In Canada you can't get a small can of them for anywhere near that price. When I got back to the car Greg gave me a funny look and asked if I knew how to crack the nuts. I said that I would buy a nutcracker and he just shook his head. I tried again and suggested a hammer. At that point he told me that a special tool is needed because the shells are so hard. We went back to where I had bought them to see if they had any of the tools there. No such luck. They said that they use a hammer and showed it to us. Funny. Now I am intrigued by the special tools and may look around tomorrow to see if I can locate one.
When I checked into the hotel I was given my tour package that I guess arrived the after I left on Thursday. I had already checked with the travel agency to see if I should return it and was told not to bother. I had no problems with the faxed copies anywhere and that was quite a relief.
I called Air New Zealand and reconfirmed my flights for Thursday. No problems there either. So far so good. I'm not thrilled with the thought of those three flights to Vancouver but so it must be. At least the fact that I am not going to Yellowknife means that I will only be travelling for about twenty-eight or twenty-nine hours (depending on how long it takes to get through Customs) instead of thirty-eight. If I ever come here again I think I might arrange flights with stopovers in Hawaii and/or Fiji.
Got my list of purchases (not that there are many) written out and now have to check the internet for the exchange rate with Canadian dollars so that I can prepare my declaration sheet for Canada Customs. The only thing I am a little concerned about is the macadamia nuts as I am not sure I will be allowed to bring them into Canada. I will declare them and if they are not permitted it is not a huge loss. Tomorrow I will iron some clothes and then repack. I expect to leave for the airport around 9:00 am Thursday.
Just heard an item on the news that the water shortage in Brisbane is worsening due to the lack of rain (I haven't seen any rain since I arrived in Australia) so they have increased the fines for people not adhering to the rationing restrictions. Fines for watering your lawn run around $350. Greg told me that in Hervey Bay they are looking at tapping into the fresh water from Fraser Island because it has so much that just runs into the ocean.
I just noticed for the first time that the bathtub here also has jets that make it like a jacuzzi. Must have been really tired and/or distracted on my last two stays here. Just never thought of it and automatically used the shower.
Day 17: Wednesday, August 24 Brisbane
As anticipated today was a day of odds and ends trying to make sure I am ready to go in the morning. This morning I went downtown to the Queen Street Mall cashed some traveller's cheques, wandered around and picked up some socks to replace the ones that suddenly developed holes. By pure chance as I was walking by a mall entrance I glanced in and saw a kitchen wares store so went in to see if they had a macadamia nut cracking tool. Sure enough they did so I got it and it works like a charm. See the photo below. It looks more like a thumb screw instrument of torture but it does the job beautifully. It came with three nuts so I cracked and ate them saving the those I bought yesterday until later. If I can't get them through Customs I may just have to sit on the floor there and eat the whole kilogram bag while throwing the shells at the officers!
This afternoon I did my ironing, some reorganizing of my suitcases, completed my list and conversion of funds for Customs, read a bit and had a nap. Breakfast and lunch were leftover pizza and I still have two pieces for breakfast tomorrow before I leave for the airport.
For dinner I went to the hotel restaurant again. Had a salad with all sorts of greens almost none of which I recognized but it was quite good. For an appetizer I had crab ravioli (three pieces) which was also very good until I bit into a piece of cilantro and almost threw up. That spoiled the entire dish for me. I told the waiter that since a lot of people don't likes cilantro it might be a good idea to note its inclusion on the menu. He agreed with me because he feels the same way about anchovies. The main course was lamb rump roast on a bed of polenta. It too was very good but strangely the lamb didn't have the distinctive taste of the lamb we get in Canada. If I didn't know better I might have thought it was beef.
I have meant to mention the toilets here several times but kept forgetting. Almost all of the toilets have two flush buttons, one for a half flush and one for full. Great idea and a way to conserve water.
Heard on the news today about a couple that is being sent to jail for confining their teenage daughter to her room for almost two years. The only let her out to go to the bathroom and to have occasional showers. She was fed noodles and water once a day and only weighted 44 kilograms when she managed to escape. The report didn't say how she got away. The parents will be sentenced in October.
This is the final journal entry from Australia. As much as I like the country and the people I believe that I enjoyed my trip to Scotland even more - must be in my genes. Perhaps I pushed myself too much on this trip or covered too much of the same area because much of what I saw was the same and should have gone further afield. Of course I will always remember it and think I might like to return some day for a more lengthy stay. At least I learned a lot and can now say that I have been here. For that I am most grateful.
Australian Macadamia Nut Cracker