After a few months of saving as much vacation time as I could muster (not quite enough), we left Friday morning for a 2-week international adventure to the Southern Hemisphere. In the next couple weeks we will be making a tour of as much as we can cover between Australia and New Zealand. Hopefully, if we’re not too busy or exhausted, Susan and I will be able provide a comprehensive and well-photographed report of our daily highlights.
Since we’re travelling with Susan’s family, who is based out of northwest Ohio, it was most convenient and cost effective for us to fly from Detroit to begin our journey. Thus our first travel morning started bright and pre-dawn on Friday with a drive from Cincy to Delphos and then on to Detroit. From there we fly to Chicago, then to LA. Just before midnight Friday (local LA time), we departed for Brisbane (a 14-hour flight). Magically, we crossed the international date line and Saturday ceased to exist, so we landed in Brisbane on Sunday morning. However, the fun doesn’t stop there as we had one more short flight up the coast to Cairns (pronounced “canes”) where the vacation really begins. All told, transit took 41 hours of actual travel time including both flights, layovers, and driving, but covered ~55 hours of time considering the time zone shifts. Despite the tedious travel involved, we were very excited to make our first trip down under and couldn’t wait for the real vacation to begin.
Sailing through the clouds (Detroit –> Chicago) 
Lake Michigan melding into the sky (left)
Sunset over Los Angeles (right) 
The flowing coast of Brisbane, Australia 
On the fourth airplane of the weekend 
The landscape of Cairns, Australia
We arrived exhausted and ragged in Cairns around noon on Sunday, with an afternoon ahead of us to see the town. After a meeting with our local guide, we headed to whatever meal is at 4 pm after being awake for 12 hours (and our bodies thinking it is 1 am). We then took a stroll down the boardwalk, did some people watching at the lagoon, and checked out the Night Market. Once we picked up some beer and water, we played cards and tried to stay awake as long as possible so to attempt to adjust to the 15 hour time difference between Ohio and Cairns. Shockingly, not as difficult as one might think. In our zombie-like, sleep-deprived stupor, Susan and our brother-in-law Darin (who does this photo stuff professionally; aka DPH) were able to get some great photos.
View from our hotel room, looking toward the ocean 
View from our hotel room, looking toward the bay (photo credit: DPH) 
Our 50’s style room with beds on wheels (photo credit: DPH) 
Aussie Money (photo credit: DPH) 
Bird chilling in the bay 
Susan doing her thing (obviously.. photo credit: DPH) 
People swimming in the lagoon in the hot Cairns sun
Our local guide let us in on a secret that while internet in our hotel room would cost $11/hour, the McDonald’s down the street offers free internet. So even half-way across the world, we’ll be making some trips to Mickey D’s to post our blog/get out internet fix. Tomorrow brings a full day of sightseeing at the Great Barrier Reef!
So excited to get updates from you guys! I loved the picture flying into Cairns. Don't forget to pay with your coins Monarch side up! Ha ha!
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