Friday, January 24, 2024

After a 15-hour flight from Los Angeles, Andi, Tory, Aden, and I arrived in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Our flight left Wednesday night and arrived Friday morning — if that doesn’t mess with your circadian rhythm, I don’t know what does!

The Brisbane airport was crazy busy when our flight landed around 10:30am. It took us 90 minutes to get through Security & Customs. I assume there were several overnight flights that all landed at the same time, and that was the issue. Though long and busy, the lines were orderly.

We still had an hour and a half of travel to reach our final destination in Miami, Queensland. At the Brisbane airport, we bought two tickets (kids were free) on the Translink train for $12 AUD/each. The 1 hour 40 minute train ride connected us from the airport to the Varsity Lakes station. We had 15 minutes before departure which was just enough time to make our way to the train platform and change into cooler clothes.

Oh my gosh, was it hot in Brisbane! The minute we exited the main airport building, the extreme heat hit our bodies. It was 95 degrees F (35 degrees C) today. That’s an 118 degree temperature swing from two days ago at home in Wisconsin.

By this point, the four of us were slap-happy from a long travel day and running on little sleep. We laughed uncontrollably when Andi couldn’t get the automatic door to the restroom to stay closed. It kept popping open when he was using the toilet. We struggled to get our sweatshirts stuffed into our backpacks which felt funny to us, too. All of our ankles were swollen from sitting on the plane for so long. Sock imprints pressed into the side of our legs.

The train arrived on time, and was air-conditioned. Thank goodness! We collapsed into four chairs and relaxed for the 1 hour and 40 minute ride to our destination. Our cell phones weren’t working, so Andi spent the time on customer service chat with Verizon.

Are we there yet?

From the train station, we hopped into an Uber to take us to our condo on Miami’s Burleigh Beach. Our first Australian Uber driver was so friendly. He gave us a few tips about traveling along Australia’s Gold Coast and in Southeast Asia. Of course, he wanted to ask our opinion about the United States’ recent presidential election. Andi and I suspect this will be a popular question during our travels.

We booked one week’s stay at Mariner Shores on Burleigh Beach through the RCI timeshare program. I’m not sure we’d have picked this particular condo had it not been included in our timeshare membership, but at least it isn’t costing us anything to stay here this week. Our condo is a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit with a kitchen and living room. The property is a bit dated, but there are lots of activities for the kids and it’s located across the street from the beach.

Our condo wasn’t ready for check-in when we arrived at 1:00pm, so we stored our backpacks with the front desk and decided to grab lunch. We picked North Burleigh Surf Club Restaurant because we could walk to it across the street.

The restaurant had gorgeous views of the ocean, but it was open air seating. Oh my gosh, it was so hot and humid! Big industrial fans circulated the air, but it did nothing to regulate the temperature. Tory was near tears. She hates the heat, plus we all felt tired and gross from traveling.

We ordered food and drinks, and they came to the table quickly. Andi raved about his moroccan chicken skewers and my macadamia nut salad was also tasty. Tory barely touched her burger; she was not a happy traveler at the moment. The free cup of ice cream at the end of the meal helped cheer her up a little bit.

Cultural differences in food we noticed at our first Australian meal: french fries are “chips.” Ketchup is called “tomato sauce.” Tipping is not required in Australia; there wasn’t a line item on the receipt to add it to our food bill.

After lunch, we walked back to Mariner Shores and changed into our swimming suits. The front desk employee said we could sit by the pool while we waited for our condo unit to be ready. The water felt cool and refreshing against our hot skin. Still, we all felt antsy to settle ourselves into our unit. It’d been a long few days of travel.

Around 3:30pm, our condo unit was ready. We spent some time unpacking our bags, taking showers, and settling in. The unit is bigger than Andi and I expected, and has a nice view of the ocean in the distance.

Now, we needed groceries so Andi, Aden, and I walked down the street to Cole’s grocery store. Tory opted to stay back in the condo. Shopping at the grocery store is one of my favorite things to do when visiting a new country. I love seeing the differences and similarities of food products and pricing compared to the United States.

Cole’s was a very nice grocery store with a similar layout to American grocery stores. We grabbed a trolley (grocery cart) and hit the fruits & vegetables section first. Summertime is fresh fruit season, and there were several varieties of mangoes, kiwi, stone fruits, bananas, oranges, and even dragon fruit. Some of the bananas had red wax on the tips, which we found out later, means that the bananas are grown using the Ecoganic farming system.

The meat section of the grocery store features fresh fish and a wild game section. Most of the milks were sold in shelf-stable paperboard. There was a big yogurt section, cereals, and granola. Based on the number of shelf facings, we could see that Weet-Bix is the most popular Australian cereal brand. We also found Vegemite next to the spreads, and a wide variety of chips and crackers.

We bought some yogurt, granola, milk, bread, deli meat, cheese, fruit, crackers, and hummus for future breakfasts and lunches. Since we were traveling on foot, we could only buy what we could carry in our reusable shopping bags.

One other difference we noticed between the United States and Australian grocery stores was that several people weren’t wearing shirts or shoes. It struck me a little odd the first person I saw, but I figured maybe it was because we’re close to the beach. In total, I bet we saw 10 people without shirts or shoes so clearly it’s not a rule here like it is in the USA.

When Andi, Aden, and I exited the grocery store, we realized a big thunderstorm had rolled into the area. The sky was dark and it was pouring rain outside. Oh no! Our condo was just two blocks away, but how were we going to get there? The amount of rain that was falling was insane. The street in front of us was flooding quickly.

The three of us stood around for a few minutes deciding what to do. We could either wait for the storm to lighten in intensity, or we could walk back in the rain. Just then, a huge crack of thunder erupted in the skies and the power went out in all the buildings surrounding us. Andi said we’d better get back to our condo since Tory was there alone. She was probably freaking out.

The five minute walk seemed to last forever as we stood at the crosswalk in the pouring rain. All three of us were immediately soaked, as were our groceries. We made it back to our condo dripping wet from head to toe. All Tory could do was laugh when she opened the door to greet us.

Luckily, our condo unit has a washer and dryer (what a treat!) so we tossed our wet clothing in the dryer and showered for the second time today. The power came back on a few minutes later, and the storm eventually lightened to a gentle rain. It was strange to experience the sights and smells of a summer storm in, what feels to us, like wintertime. The rain was warm and the weather wild, as the storm broke the intense heat of the day.

Neither Andi or I felt like cooking, so we pieced together a platter of deli turkey, meat sticks, hummus, crackers, bread, and fruit for dinner. The four of us sat on the sofa and watched an Australian crocodile hunters television show. None of the people in the reality show were wearing shoes either!

Around 6:30pm, Aden said he was going to lay down. “Don’t go to sleep yet,” Andi warned. We need to stay awake to get on this time schedule.” The sun hadn’t even set on the day.

“I won’t,” Aden assured, “I’m just going to lay in my bed.”

Two minutes later, he was sound asleep. I can’t blame him. It’d been a really long day(s) of travel and we were all exhausted.

Andi said his goal was to stay awake until it was dark outside. The sun set around 6:45pm and he lasted until about 7:15pm. I went to sleep shortly afterward around 7:45pm.

Hoping for a good night of sleep for everyone, so we’re rested and ready to explore Australia’s Gold Coast tomorrow.