Australia 2004, part 5: WINE-ding our way home

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Bob’s lookout

We travelled the 332km back to Cairns via the inland route, stopping off at a few lookouts along the way.

Bob’s lookout
Cooktown to Cairns
Cooktown to Cairns
Cooktown to Cairns
Cooktown to Cairns
Coming down to Cooktown

We had one night in Cairns, where we stayed in a Holiday Inn. Rather than brave the town, I opted for my first ever experience of a room-service dinner which was surprisingly pleasurable. (Actually, this remains my only room-service dinner, although we did have room-service lunch in Sydney before flying home.) Our table was set up by the huge windows overlooking the harbour and served with what I considered to be a finesse well beyond the grade of the hotel. These days, I would take photographs but we have none at all.

The following day we flew back to Sydney, and the day after that we embarked on an overnight Mount ‘N Beach Safari. This was a trip we had booked before leaving home: the first day was to be spent touring Hunter Valley wineries, and the second day included visits to Nelson Bay and Port Stephens to drive on sand dunes and go on a dolphin cruise. After my accident, we phoned to cancel on the grounds that my injury would make it very difficult. However, the company could not have been more helpful and assured us that they would choose the wineries with ease of access in mind. I am so glad we went, because the first day especially was a real highlight.

A misty Hunter Valley

We were picked up early and driven out to Hunter Valley, still shrouded in mist when we approached. True to the company’s word, the driver took us to wineries where he could park close to the door and there were no steps. Obviously, we couldn’t buy much wine because it had to fit into our luggage, but I think we did acquire three bottles. We stayed overnight at the Hunter Valley Resort where we had lunched earlier in the day. I remember sitting outside at a lovely table, with delicious food and a glass of wine, and feeling very happy and relaxed. The resort also has a brewery, so in the evening we sampled its products too. It was a special day – and so it should have been. It was my birthday! But do we have any photographs, other than the one above? Nope, that’s it. What were we thinking? I can only assume that the wine addled our brains.

The following day was slightly less successful. We were picked up after breakfast by a different guide, and taken for a drive on the sand dunes near Nelson Bay, then to Port Stephens for a dolphin watching cruise. The dune trip was fun, and in no way affected by my gammy leg.

After lunch, we boarded the boat for the dolphin-watching cruise. This was very tricky for me, and once settled in a seat I found it difficult to move again, especially at the speed required to get to the front of the crowd to see dolphins. So I didn’t see any – John did, but something went wrong with the camera, and after a few shots looking back at Port Stephens we have no pictures of this either!

Port Stephens
Port Stephens
Port Stephens

We returned to Sydney for one last night before flying home the next day. I was very well looked after in all airports and on all flights  – until we got to Heathrow. We were met from the plane and got a ride through the corridors on a motorised buggy, which was fun, but were then dumped in an unstaffed area for passengers requiring assistance. Someone was supposed to come to wheel me onto the plane before general boarding, but only one staff member appeared and he took the other lady who was waiting. A few minutes later, she was wheeled back, loudly declaring “But I don’t want to go to Glasgow! I’m going to Newcastle!” By the time I finally got to the plane, many others had boarded and I had to hop through the crowds on my crutches. My carefully chosen aisle seat had been swapped for the other side so that I couldn’t, when safe, stretch my plastered leg out into the aisle, but had to cram it under the seat in front the whole time. (We found out later that a bigger plane had been put on the route to bring back the golfers from the Open which had just finished at one of the Scottish courses. This meant that seat bookings were all rejigged.)

Once home, I was faced with several more weeks on crutches and in physiotherapy. As I said in an earlier post, I still feel the injury today and will probably never be completely free of it. I bitterly regret that moment of carelessness. However, we had an amazing holiday despite the accident, and would love to return to Australia some day if that sort of travel ever becomes feasible again.

Australia, New South Wales, Queensland , , ,

62 Comments »

  1. It’s a rare story where the injury comes before the alcohol, its usually the other way round? Or maybe I just mix with the wrong crowd! Australia looks amazing, I wonder at what point it will be realistic to think about making the big ticket trips again? Perhaps anxiety has the better of me at the moment, but I can’t imagine straying too far from home.

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  2. I’ve yet to have a room service dinner, though I did stay in a hotel in America where we got a giant pizza delivered right to the comfort of our huge king size bed, which I honestly probably preferred to anything the hotel would have made anyway (also a fancy room service breakfast delivered in a hamper once when we managed to snag a heavily discounted room at the Witchery in Edinburgh some years back, but that’s the extent of my room service-esque experiences). Glad you were still able to enjoy your wineries tour, even if the dolphin experience was a bit of a bust, but the flight home sounds like a complete nightmare! You’re lucky you didn’t end up with DVT from not being able to move your leg!

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    • I much prefer getting out and about to eat, but room service was much more convenient on this occasion. I’d about had it with hopping around by then! The long flight was ok because we’d upgraded with airmiles and I had a lot more space to move, or to lie down with my foot up. I admit DVT did worry me a bit though.

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  4. Pity about losing pictures of your dolphin trip, especially as you weren’t able to see them from the boat yourself.
    In the old days before digital cameras I once shot a load of pictures over Christmas only to find later that I hadn’t put a film in the camera!

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  6. I will echo many others in saying I do hope you both get to do more travelling down in our parts. I could even offer my services as a travel guide! We have enjoyed the Hunter Valley and as you know the FNQ area. I still can’t get over how you managed the humidity with a leg in plaster!

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  8. So glad you had such a lovely time visiting the wineries, but after that everything sounds a bit of a hassle 😦

    Still you have all the memories, even though not all the pics . . . and one day hopefully you’ll be able to return. Thank you so much for sharing your fabulous trip. You’ve inspired me to consider doing something similar with my RTW

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  10. Apart from the “obvious”you both had a good holiday in Australia. South Australia is the largest producer and exporter of wine so we very rarely get produce from Inter-State. Sometimes from the Margaret River area in WA, but very little – if any from the Hunter Valley. My own favoured region is the Limestone Coast of South Australia – some really excellent reds produced there with a couple that can only be bought at the Cellar Door. That aside, I am so very glad you enjoyed your holiday and I agree it may be quite a while before such travel is available again – we wont even open the border to other states let alone overseas..

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    • I remember going out for dinner here with a couple from France, and they were astounded by the range of wines from different countries that was available. They only ever had French, in the same way that you only get South Australian. I see that as an advantage of living in a non-wine producing country!

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  11. Glad you enjoyed your holiday, despite your injury and well done for braving it out. I hate flying via Heathrow. The other London airports further out are ok but Heathrow is the pits- must be one of the world’s worst as far as major city hubs are concerned. Last time I got a packet of two sandwiches out of Heathrow, my favourite type I always like, at twice the price of anywhere else yet they were completely inedible- one single bite was enough despite being hungry. Heathrow is a grubby dive. Same trip I stopped at Changi Airport in Singapore where you could eat your lunch off the floor ( I’m not joking, I would do it happily its so clean and polished) with indoor gardens, loads of green spaces and fantastic wide seating areas kept spotlessly clean. Yet there’s still such a superior attitude towards all things British, by the British public. In reality, we are miles behind.

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    • You are so right – we avoid Heathrow if we can (or we did when we could travel) and would always go via Schipol if possible. Around this time though, John accumulated a lot of BA air miles, and to use them we had to go through Heathrow, or occasionally Gatwick. I agree about Changi, I remember loads of orchid gardens. Our transport systems in general compare very badly to most major European cities we’ve been to.

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  12. Hi Anabel – it does sound that at least you had a fairly enjoyable time despite the hiccup – one of those nuisance ‘bumps’ – but at least it wasn’t worse. The views you’ve shared sound wonderful … I hope you get out there again … and I hope to get there one day – love the sound of Hunters’ Valley … and the views over the ocean once back in Sydney … stay safe – Hilary

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  13. Anabel – Accident? I am going to have to catch-up on my reading. I know what you mean about old injuries. I fully regret ignoring a bad ankle that now talks to me daily. Sorry about the discomfort – now I need to go read the story! -Susan

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  14. I’m still working my way back through your posts so have yet to read about your injury, but having spent eight weeks in a moon boot and 12 weeks on crutches last year I can totally sympathise. It’s so very difficult to go anywhere with ease. I was very grateful we had no overseas trips planned at the time. You spent your last few days in some beautiful areas. It’s gorgeous around Port Stephens and these are the sand dunes we talked about a few weeks ago in one of my posts.

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  15. Ah, the Hunter Valley, not somewhere I have managed to visit yet. I was hoping to get over to Oz this year, but it looks unlikely. Annoyingly so as my grandsons get older and so do I!

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  16. The Hunter Valley is lovely & the semillons in particular are great from there. Hopefully you get to come out here again some day. And yes, Heathrow needs to be better at pretty much everything.

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  18. I was wondering if you still felt that injury…sucks. I never ordered room service because the prices would always make me gulp. It looks like you had a great time none the less but what a bummer that you could not see any dolphins. It sounds like Heathrow needs to be better in dealing with people who have disabilities.

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  20. Your birthday at Hunter Valley and the wineries sounds like a perfect day – I love the shot of the misty valley. Love the pics of the beach and dunes too, it looks gorgeous there 🙂

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  21. A wine tasting, now you’re talking. Lead me to it. Sorry about your accident but glad you made the most of it, somehow it’s easier to cope with these things on holiday I find. I broke an ankle on one holiday, my husband broke his heel on another and we had a bad car crash in the early days of holiday making in Spain and spent 3 weeks in hospital, 3 of my best weeks ever though as everyone from the surrounding villages came to visit us, bringing bottles of wine and sherry which the nuns (nurses) doled out to us generously every lunch and dinnertime.
    Your images illustrate the tale very well and you don’t need any more. Sometimes our urge to keep on taking pictures can spoil the moment, so you did well not to bother.

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  22. Hi, Anabel – With all of your travels, you’ve seriously only ever had one room service dinner? I bow to your restraint!! 😀
    I’m sorry to hear that your injury still continues today. I am incredibly impressed by your positive spirit that ensured you had a wonderful holiday regardless. This is a wonderful reminder that even though we cannot always control our circumstances, we do have charge of our attitudes!

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  24. You never know… some day you may find you can return for a long, leisurely trip.

    Funny about the pictures of food, though. Before digital cameras, I’d never have dreamed of taking pictures of something like that. Then I discovered how many you can take. Toruble is remembering to delete the rubbish ones!

    Glad you had a good trip, even with the foot.

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