Hopefully in a couple of years life will be back to normal and this blog will remind me to be grateful for our freedom, our ability to travel worldwide and our health!
Due to Covid-19, our travel plans to celebrate my 50th birthday to Japan and then back up plan to New Zealand and Plan C to Far North Queensland in April were all cancelled as the world went into lockdown.
And then, our 5 week USA/Mexico trip with friends in July was cancelled as well.
As Australia recovered and began to reopen again, we had tentatively considered to undertake a trip in August with friends to celebrate birthdays. This time though, the trip remained a thought bubble and did not make any bookings. Having spent considerable time unraveling the April and July trips to maximize refunds rather than credits we had no guarantee of being able to use, the plan of getting away was always going to be last minute. We had thought WA would be nice not having been there - but due to pandemic outbreaks in Victoria and NSW this was impossible as plans to reopen the border were indefinitely postponed. We then decided on Port Douglas and Darwin although both destinations were becoming more and more dicey as the outbreaks became more concerning for the QLD and NT governments as they banned travelers from any Covid hotspot- and this was changing daily with a possibility that NSW residents would be banned entirely.
So in uncertainty we, with Kylie and Mark, just decided to go before borders were shut to us. This spontaneity of leaving on a holiday with nothing being booked is very much not the norm for me, but possibly the way we may holiday for awhile yet due to the uncertainties a pandemic brings, as flights and accommodation bookings can often not be cancelled at the last minute without financial penalty.
Aviation has been badly affected with flights considerably limited.
We also could not run the risk of having to leave Sydney airport due to an onward flight cancellation as this would mean we could not enter the NT.
So we planned to drive north into QLD after work on Friday, originally planning to stay in Ballina but with a good traffic run aimed to get over the QLD that night. It was also pouring with rain due to an east coast low. The border crossing only took about 20 minutes which was great. We had to organize last minute accommodation in Burleigh Heads en route which was a little challenging with hardly any vacancies but did eventually find a 3 bedroom apartment in a beachfront location only a few doors from the Burleigh Hotel. Perfect!
Also last minute, we managed to arrange dinner/drinks with friends who live nearby. Diana who was on our Trafalgar tour in Canada last year, and Karen - a dear friend from school (who we were also with on our Alaskan cruise last year). So this was lovely. QLD had only introduced today the rule that you must be seated in venues (we have had this in NSW so used to this).
The apartment had some of the worst beds we had ever slept on and the common areas of the building were in very original condition. Otherwise it was fine for what we needed.
The deluge continued on Saturday morning so we found a local cafe and had a leisurely breakfast before heading to Brisbane Airport. The airport was eerily quiet compared to pre-Covid with only short lines at security.
The Qantas Club lounge had reopened but was quiet. (Business lounge operating but the Qantas Club area closed). No more buffets but served food which was pretty good really - sandwiches, soup, nachos etc. And the bar operating normally from midday.
And then time to board. We were lucky to get seats as the flight was full. Masks were required for the flight although this wasn’t reinforced and plenty of passengers did not wear them. The entertainment streaming service is not operating, (just used Netflix so this was fine), and a bottle of water and a packaged sandwich were delivered. No alcohol service at all.
On arrival in Cairns any non Queensland residents were met by police and had to provide photo identification, and our border pass declaring we had not been in any Covid hotspot in the last 14 days.
We had hired a car (the last one available after trying 9 hire car companies) and this was a 12 seater van. We went to a Liquorland near the airport for supplies and set off for our accommodation in the Daintree. It was a scenic 90 minute drive.
2025-02-08