The Long Journey There

Sunday, 05 June, 2005 by Cheryl W. Colan

Travel day. Not much to report. There were a few late-comers to the airport, but all of us checked in on time. The airline wanted us all to check in with the same person because we were on a group ticket, so we formed a line within the people-corral and let others pass by us as check-in staff became available. We got into a lot of interesting conversations as new people made their way through the line and wanted to know what was happening.

We told all the students to ask that their luggage be checked through to Auckland. Roger went through first and promptly forgot! He had to go back and ask the airline staff to pull his bags and retag them so he wouldn’t need to re-check them in Los Angeles. There was a long delay while they tried to do this, and I don’t think we ever found out for sure whether they had retagged the correct bags. We got to the gate just a few minutes before boarding began.

One of the students gave us a scare. Mamie had checked her luggage early on, and then we could not find her going through to the gate. Nicole’s mom thoughtfully stayed back to watch for her and tell her we had all gone to the gate. We were worried maybe she had gone to the gate on her own, and then one of us would be waiting behind in vain. Mamie was not at the gate, and we paged her twice but she never answered. Finally we simply had to board the airplane and hope she got on. At the last possible moment she came running on to the plane. She had been having lunch in an airport restaurant and did not hear the pages.

In Los Angeles, the Air New Zealand employees were extraordinarily helpful. One of them noticed straight off that our luggage was checked through to Auckland, but that it could have been checked through all the way to Brisbane. They said we would not have had enough time to pick up our luggage and recheck it, that we would either have missed or delayed our flight. So they managed to have our luggage retagged through to Brisbane, which saved us a great deal of difficulty. The only other problem was me. Their computer kept telling them my Australian visa was invalid and that I could not board the flight. One of them phoned Australia on my behalf and got the issue straightened out. I was so grateful.

The long flight was cramped. The in-flight movie was “Be Cool,” with John Travolta and Uma Thurman. I had never seen it before, but enjoyed it. As always, the food was very good, especially compared to U.S. airliners fare. My feet have never swelled before, but on this flight they ballooned. It was a relief to deplane in Auckland, though we needed to get right back on the next plane to Brisbane.

Our flight to Brisbane was three hours long and uneventful. The plane was not full so I got to go to the back and put my feet up for awhile. Linda and my mom were seated together behind me, a dangerous combination. They were slap-happy, and I still don’t know which of them decided to bop me on the head. They had a good time.

Most of us changed our U.S. dollars to Australian at the Brisbane airport. I had my first ginger beer, which was wonderful. Roger got some licorice and shared it with the rest of us. Our coach picked us up around 11:30 a.m. and we began the long drive to Hervey Bay, minus Roger’s and Linda’s checked luggage, which never arrived. Later we learned Linda’s luggage stayed in Auckland and Roger’s had gone to Los Angeles - but both were delivered to us at Scrub Hill before we left for Fraser Island.

Aside from those few hitches mentioned we had a pleasant travel experience. Mamie sat near the front of our coach and plied our driver Paul with questions. We stopped at Aussie World for lunch, and were at Scrub Hill by 4:00 p.m. on June 5. Auntie Mally and Auntie Rossie were waiting for us, and hung around while we unpacked. Gail and her husband Charles turned up right after we arrived as well. All of us got settled quickly in our cabins. I made a run into Hervey Bay with Charles and we picked up pizzas and cokes for our evening meal. We were all so tired we went to bed early. It was good to reunite with friends we made last year. Once again, after around twenty-two hours of travel, arriving at Scrub Hill felt like arriving home.