Day 14: Off to Sydney!

5th July 2018

The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, the last day in Queensland is here....

Oh man, it went by sooo quickly :-(
Somewhat wistfully, we have breakfast and then pack up the last things. At 8:30 we roll from the campground towards Cairns.
We urgently need to dump, but of all places, there is no dumping facility at this campground..
The elderly campground owner promised us the evening before to find an address in Cairns where we can dump. Stupidly, we relied on that. When the hubby asks, she assures us that she had spoken with BRITZ on the phone and that there would be a dumping facility there upon return.
Well and good, but our camper is from STAR TV / APOLLO - not from BRITZ.
Grumble... oh well. Then we'll find a campground in Cairns.

Along the way, we pass by some viewpoints, cutting through the rainforest down to Cairns. We pass the cable car station, the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, and follow the first campground sign we see. Ahead of us is a Jeep with a trailer, and we notice that the trailer is "leaking" water from the "greywater outlet".

Well... we've seen this phenomenon several times before... the Aussies either let their greywater run "somewhere" on the campground or they open "the tap" while driving and water the road! Yummy....

After a while - we suspect that there are no more campgrounds left - we reach the idyllically located "Lake Placid Tourist Park". For $10 we are allowed to dump - the hubby would rather keep driving to find a free dumping facility, but I prefer to use the few hours we have left for sightseeing instead of driving through Cairns because of $10.
Dumping with the "cassette" works smoothly. Quite different from what we know from the USA and Canada, where everything is emptied through a hose.

The kids HAVE to help with dumping - after all, they are the main actors in this "pee and poo story". While the son stands obediently next to it and watches as dad pours the smelly blue liquid into the designated container, the daughter stands next to it with a wrinkled nose and gag reflexes, holding the lid open. Well kids, if you want to use the camper toilet, you also have to see how the leftovers leave the camper. Grin!
After dumping, we walk to nearby Lake Placid, an idyllic lake with duck family and picnic bench and of course the "Beware of Crocodile" sign. Yuck - so there are crocodiles here too??? Not nice - no splashing in the lake...

We take a detour to Barron Gorge Road, which runs parallel to the Barron River and slowly winds up along the steep cliff, always parallel to the gorge and the Barron River. At the end of the road (thankfully there is no oncoming traffic), there is the Barron Gorge Hydroelectric Power Station, which is located on the other side of the gorge, behind a high bridge. From the bridge, you have a great view of the gorge - if you don't suffer from vertigo. So unfortunately, there's no photo - I wasn't able to walk onto the bridge...
We continue to Crystal Cascades, where we only walk to the swimming hole as we don't have time for the trail anymore.

We leave the Cascades and head towards downtown Cairns to have lunch somewhere on the Esplanade. But that's easier said than done with our giant camper, as we simply can't find a parking space... After circling around twice, I see the sign "RV Parking", which we immediately follow. Unfortunately, we lose sight of possible other signs.... we can't find an RV parking space and suddenly find ourselves in front of a huge parking lot, the Trinity Wharf Parking, and see some campers parked there.

Just as we pass the entrance gate, it's clear: the parking lot is full and the campers are unfortunately not parked in "RV spaces", as we assumed from the outside, but in regular spaces. The RV drivers simply "extended" these spaces by driving onto the sidewalk so that they no longer protrude out of the parking lot. The practical thing about Australian campers: they are much narrower than American campers and therefore fit into a "normal" parking space. There is only one parking space next to a BRITZ camper, and we take it. I can't even look as the hubby maneuvers our ship through the tight parking lot and I can already envision us bumping into everything, but it goes well. With two attempts, we manage to drive up the high curb with momentum and now stand nose to nose with the BRITZ camper in the parking lot. Phew... how are we going to get out of here later????

Well, we don't have to answer that question now.
Passing "Hemingway's Brewery" (I thought the good man was in Cuba!?), we have lunch with a view of FigTree Playground and the sea with its mangrove forests on the other side.

After lunch, we stroll along the waterfront to the Cairns Lagoon. Nice here - unfortunately we didn't bring our bathing suits.

However, time is also a bit short today, as we still have to return the camper. Unlike in the USA and Canada, we were given a very extended return time from 9am-4pm. That's luxury, as we still have the whole morning and afternoon available and don't have to sit at the airport for hours, as our flight to Sydney is not until 5pm today.

The trees next to the lagoon are chirping, as if hundreds of lorikeets or parrots were in the tree. But through the thick leaves, we can hardly see anything. But the little noisy birds look like small parrots. Amazing - at home, I only know them from the pet store and here they are flying around in flocks. Cool!!!

Currently, it's low tide, and the non-existent seawater reveals the view of the smelly and muddy shore on the other side of the man-made lagoon.

We observe some huge crabs searching for food in the mud and see the helicopter returning from the Great Barrier Reef trip. Well, too bad. But unfortunately, the reef, like many other leisure activities (Fraser Island, Magnetic Island, etc.), fell through due to lack of time. Actually, we're not that upset about it. A helicopter tour would have been too expensive for us with the kids, and they didn't want to snorkel anyway, and at the beginning of our tour, we had constant rain at Fraser Island. Actually, we did everything right!! And we still have a reason to come back here someday :-)

After the hubby manages to get the camper out of the parking lot, we drive back to Apollo/Star RV towards the airport.
I'm a little worried about the chip in the windshield, as we did report it by mail, but whether they will believe us that it's NOT from us!?
I read many reviews about Apollo/Star RV on the internet. I think there were as many positive reviews as there were negative ones. So let's see!
A young man (looks like he's 16...!?) welcomes us friendly and follows us with a clipboard to the camper. We explain that we only noticed the chip after a few kilometers, he checks it off and nods.
"No worries!"
We continue to inspect our "blue-stained" exterior. Apparently, this has aroused his interest, as he slowly runs his fingers along the discolorations towards the wheel arch and looks indecisive at the camper. We explain that after the rain, the storage compartment filled up and apparently there were toilet chemicals left by the previous renter.

He opens the compartment and the blue liquid sloshes out. He shakes his head and curses briefly, only grinning at us with a "No worries" comment and calls a colleague to pick up the camper for washing.

That's it!? He briefly looks into the cabinets in the interior, checks from the outside whether the toilet cassette is emptied, and walks back to the office with a brief "perfect". Hm, we're not quite trusting this peace yet and sit across from him at the desk as he prints out the final documents for us. Unbelievably, we even get a refund for our 4 paid toilet chemical packets! He briefly talks to a colleague, both apologize for the inconvenience (windshield chip, flooded storage compartment), and call us a taxi to the airport! Well, that went quickly and smoothly - wow! We didn't expect that at all!

The taxi arrives shortly after and takes us to the airport, only 3 km away.

Our Qantas flight is "on time" and we're off to Sydney at 5pm.

Contrary to the booking info that there will be no food and drinks, we receive snack bags as well as sandwiches and pizza pockets. The kids prefer the cookies and crackers that we packed in our carry-on luggage.

We have an onboard entertainment program at Qantas, which can be accessed for free via a mobile app. Cool thing! Unfortunately, I forgot to download the app when we still had Wi-Fi at the airport. But it's not tragic on this short flight. We enjoy the view of Cairns and the coast until we're above the clouds and it's slowly getting dark.

After an hour, it's dark. The plane also has seatback screens in the cabin, on which various travel advertisements are shown. When the travel recommendation for the "Spreewald" (Spree Forest) comes up, along with the great Spreewald pickles and "pickle beer", I have to laugh. Here you are on the other side of the world, watching travel ads for Germany on the plane. It's somehow "weird"....

After almost 3 hours, we reach Sydney and already see the many colorful lights below us. Unfortunately, I can hardly see anything and blindly take a few photos with my phone. It's not until later that I realize that I actually captured the Opera House and Harbour Bridge!!!

After retrieving our luggage, we take a taxi to our hotel for the next 3 nights: the Holiday Inn Old Harbour
In Sydney, it wasn't easy to find affordable accommodation for 2 adults and 2 children in ONE room. Many hotels don't offer the option for families to stay in a queen-size room or simply don't have family rooms or queen-size beds. (By "affordable", I mean getting 3 nights UNDER €1000 in a reasonably good location... still quite expensive, but the cheaper alternatives were too far away again...)

But the Holiday Inn scores points not only with a "relatively affordable" room, but also with a TOP location! Since we don't have a rental car, we need to be able to do everything on foot, and that's possible with this hotel. The location right in the harbor area is great and was ultimately decisive for the booking. If it's Sydney, then it should also be in a nice location :-)

Upon arrival, we check into our room - of course, not the newest, could use some renovation - but everything is clean and the beds are large and comfortable. The view (we're looking out of the 2nd floor onto a large brick building) is not that spectacular, but the cool rooftop terrace makes up for it! On the rooftop terrace is the pool, a whirlpool, and several seating areas. But the real highlight is the unobstructed view of the illuminated Opera House, the Harbour Bridge on the other side, and the other hotels and skyscrapers all around. Wow!!!!

We take lots of photos and I would like to sit up here a little longer and enjoy the view, but especially Junior is very tired. It's already almost 10:30pm, so the kids are going to bed now. Tomorrow will be an early start again because we already have our first appointment at 11am.
A quick look at my weather app makes me smile: the forecast is "sunny" and +25°C! Plus, hardly any wind.
I had looked up in advance where you can do good whale watching. Actually, that would have been an idea for Hervey Bay, but we were there too early (June) and the weather was "shit".

The idea of doing a tour from Brisbane failed in advance because we would have had to be on the ship for 5-6 hours. For me, this is a horror scenario, as I already get sick on a pedal boat. That's why all whale watching offers in Canada two years ago also fell through, as I was not willing to get into a "tiny, unstable Zodiac boat". Not happening....

But here in Sydney, there is also whale watching! And it's only 3 hours long, as you don't have to go far out to see the whales. The season is right, the weather is supposed to be great, and on the website of my preferred tour provider, there are still available spots and a family discount for tomorrow!

While the kids are already fast asleep, full of anticipation, I book a family ticket for the afternoon tour with Whale Watching Sydney at 1:15pm.
Yay! Maybe I will actually see the long-awaited whales tomorrow!!!!

Full of anticipation, I fall asleep and don't even notice how our view from the window strangely "changes".


For the statistics:
Hotel: Holiday Inn Old Harbour, Sydney

(Update: The hotel is no longer part of the Holiday Inn group and is now called Rydges Sydney Harbour)

Cost: €259 per night in a queen-size room with breakfast
Driven: 72 km
Flown: 1,974 km / 2h55
Animal sightings: fish, crabs, kookaburras, mini-parrots
Weather: sunny at 26°C
Conclusion: A dream comes true - I'm flying to Sydney!!!