Category: Travel

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Thursday/ Cape Town bound

I’m back at Johannesburg’s Oliver Tambo International Airport, and getting ready to travel to Cape Town.

Returning my rental car ..
.. and checking my two bags
My magnificent flying machine at the gate here at OR Tambo International airport.
The Embraer E195 jet is made by the Brazilian-led multinational manufacturer Embraer SA and is the largest member of the Embraer E-Jet family.
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Tuesday/ a drive to the city 🚗

Here’s my round trip that I made on Tuesday, with a few stops.
I thought to stop in downtown Pretoria and walk around a little bit around Church Square, but decided against it.

I made my way to the city by using the Old Johannesburg Road, and then came back via the N1 highway.
The South African Air Force Memorial is a memorial to South African Air Force members who have died whilst in service of the South African Air Corps and its successor, the South African Air Force from 1915 to the present during times of war and times of peace. It was inaugurated in 1965.
Here’s downtown Pretoria, in a street crowded with minibus taxis. Honk honk! all the time. Are they honking at me? you think. No, at prospective passengers on the sidewalk.
This is not a tree. It is a cell phone tower.
Now making my way to the east side of the city along the M11 route. Many of the streets are lined with jacaranda trees like this one.
Inside the enormous Menlyn Park mall off Atterbury Street.
Sign outside the Starbucks store. The mall has a Seattle Coffee as well as a Starbucks.
A display in a store, offering some nice lighting options to help mitigate the darkness of load shedding (blackouts).
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Wednesday/ arrival in Johannesburg 🌇

All went well with the flight to Johannesburg, and our Boeing 747-8 pulled up at the gate at Johannesburg’s Oliver Tambo International Airport at 9.20 am this morning.

Johannesburg— also known informally as Joburg, Jozi or Goudstad (Afr. for ‘The City of Gold’)—  is South Africa’s biggest city, and the capital of Gauteng province.

Frankfurt-Johannesburg is a 10h 35 m flight across the length of Africa.
The obligatory airplane engine picture, from my perch on the upper deck as we approached Oliver Tambo international airport. These are General Electric ‘GEnx’ engines.
In the distance, obscured by the haze, is downtown Johannesburg, the city that is the real El Dorado (the city that gold had built).
The main Witwatersrand gold reef, Earth’s largest known reserves of gold, was discovered in June 1884 on the farm Vogelstruisfontein by Jan Gerritse Bantjes, son of Jan Bantjes, and this triggered the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the founding of Johannesburg in 1886.
The ‘Queen of the Skies’ at the gate at Johannesburg’s Oliver Tambo International Airport. This one was christened ‘Niedersachsen’ (Lower Saxony, a state in northern Germany).  
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Tuesday/ southbound ✈️

It’s Tuesday night here in Germany, and it is time to fly south, on the redeye flight to Johannesburg. It leaves at 10 pm and arrives at 9.30 am in the morning.

Our magnificent flying machine is a Boeing 747-8. Lufthansa has 19 of them, and 8 of the older Boeing 747-400.
I am sure I will sleep on the flight, because I had to check out of the hotel before I could take my afternoon nap of the last few days.

The streetcar on the No 17 line at the Festhalle/ Messe stop.
The check-in lounge at Frankfurt airport’s No 1 terminal.
The view to the outside is somewhat obstructed by the lines on the windows. I will try to to get a picture of our Boeing 747-8 as we board or after we have landed in Johannesburg. 
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Sunday/ arrival in Frankfurt 🏙

My flight went without incident, and I took a train and a tram to get to my hotel here in Frankfurt.

Just about an hour away from landing, somewhere over the British Isles. The Airbus A340-300 has FOUR main engines. The newer jets such as the A350 and Boeing 787 have only two. More efficient (less fuel) but more risk in the case of an engine failure?
On the tarmac at Frankfurt airport— the view from the bus that will take us to the terminal.
Here comes my train. The train station is underneath Frankfurt airport’s Terminal 1, and the S8 or S9 regional train will get one into the city.
Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station).
Heading outside to catch the tram (streetcar) to the hotel.
A little later, after I had settled into the hotel, I went for a walk in a park called Senckenberganlage.  It got to 16 °C today (60°F) but will fall back to 10 °C (50°F) tomorrow.
The tower is the Messeturm, or Trade Fair Tower, 63 stories and  257 m (843 ft) tall.
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Saturday/ at the airport 🛫

It’s a cloudless afternoon here at Seattle-Tacoma airport, and I’m waiting for my flight to board.

I forgot to take a picture of the Lufthansa bird at the gate before coming up to the lounge, so for now an online image will have to suffice.

Lufthansa is the largest operator of the Airbus A340-300, with 17 in its fleet. The airplane was built from 1991–2012 and was replaced by the Airbus A350-900. (Boeing offers the 787-9 as an equivalent airplane).
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Friday/ my bags are packed ✈️

Flying northeast out of Seattle for some 10 hours and 5,100 miles, will get you to Frankfurt.

I am bound for Frankfurt on Lufthansa tomorrow afternoon— the stop on my way to Johannesburg, South Africa.
I will stay over for two nights in Frankfurt.

I double-checked, for Germany as well as for South Africa:
Travel is allowed;
Quarantine is not required;
Proof of a pre-departure COVID-19 test is not required;
Visa is not required for Germany nor for South Africa (US passport holders).

So I am just about ready to dislodge myself from the comforts of my home and go board the flying machine that will take me across Canada and Greenland to Europe.

My phone is all set for international use (how did we ever travel with no phone?), my debit card for those foreign ATMs, and my credit card with its RFID chip.  I already have some Euros and South African Rands (paper money).
New for this trip to the set of gadgets & cables in my bag: a portable charger for my phone. Electricity is in short supply in South Africa (rolling blackouts).

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Tuesday/ the last of the 747s ✈️

The sun sets on an era of aviation manufacturing as the very last Boeing 747 lands at Paine Field after a Jan. 10 test flight. The jet was delivered on Tuesday to Atlas Air, which will operate the plane for freight forwarder Apex Logistics. One side of the aircraft is painted in the colors of Atlas, the other side in the livery of Apex.
[Jennifer Buchanan / The Seattle Times]
Somebody told her that there was a place like heaven
Across the water on a 747
Yeah we’re living in
In a modern world
And pretty soon she’s really got the notion
Of flying out across the big blue ocean
Yeah we’re living in
In a modern world
– From the song ‘Calling America’ (1986) by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)

The last assembled Boeing 747 had left the Boeing’s widebody factory in Everett, Washington, on December 6, 2022.
It was delivered to Atlas Air today: a 747-8F (Freighter) with plane number #1,574 and registered as N863GT.

Pan-American Airways was the launch customer for the first 747 passenger jet created, the 747-100.  The airline ordered 25 of the exciting new ‘jumbo’ jets, and the first one was delivered in January 1970, and christened by First Lady Pat Nixon.

 

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A very long Tuesday/ home 🏡

I set out from Brisbane International Airport this morning at ‘Tuesday’ 10.40 am, and arrived at Seattle airport at Tuesday 10.50 am.
We had crossed the International Dateline in the Pacific Ocean, of course— and since Daylight Saving Time had ended in the USA over the weekend, the time difference is now 18 hours.

Boarding our Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner from United Airlines in Brisbane.
I spent 2 hours in the security queue (as Australians call it). All the frequent fliers grumbled that they ‘had never seen anything like this’ at Brisbane airport.
The Brisbane River and Moreton Bay, shortly after takeoff. The airport runways (Brisbane Airport has two) are visible at the left.
Arriving at a soggy San Francisco International airport 12 ½ hours later.
These international-to-domestic connections are a lot of work: I had to clear passport control, catch my checked bags from the baggage claim, clear customs, re-check the bags, change from Terminal G to E (a long walk), wait in the security line one more time, and only then go and find my gate in Terminal E for Seattle.
At the gate right next to ours, an announcement said the San Francisco-Austin flight had been cancelled.
Arriving at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport’s Terminal A.
At this point my plane is a ‘domestic’ arrival, so I didn’t get to walk across the new skywalk .. and it only looks warm! It was all of 44 °F (6° C) outside.
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Monday/ goodbye to Cairns 🌺

I’m back in Brisbane, and will go home on Tuesday morning.
This afternoon I went to the shoreline by our lodgings in Cairns for one last look at the Coral Sea.

The artwork is called Telescopus (2008), by artist Dominic Johns.
The bird on the tarmac at Cairns is the Qantas Boeing 737-800 that flew us to Brisbane.

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Saturday/ a drive up north 🛣

Looking south from the Rex Lookout on Captain Cook Highway, near Wangetti, Queensland.
We rented the black Kia Cerato in the corner of the picture.
Mangrove swamps on the beach, near Captain Cook Highway on the way north.
Four Mile Beach at Port Douglas was overcast and windswept today, but there were still people making the best of it on the sand. There was a designated swimming area with a net in the water, but the surf splashes over the net, so swimmers and surfboarders wear stinger suits.
Here we had arrived at the Mossman Gorge Visitors Center, and had taken the shuttle bus to the Mossman River. The elevated walkway goes to the swimming area and the trails nearby, in Daintree National Park.
The swimming area in Mossman River.
The Rex Suspension Bridge over Rex Creek. This newest version of the bridge was completed in 2010.
Looking up while doing a 2.4 km circuit trail in the rain forest between Rex Creek and Wurumbu Creek.
I collected fungus pictures, and this one had a striking orange color. I believe this one is called orange peel fungus (Aleuria aurantia).
A pool in Wurumbu Creek that had a steady flow of water into and out of it, with little fishes in it as well.

We rented a car this morning and drove up north along the coast to Port Douglas and Mossman Gorge.

 

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Friday/ a scenic train ride  🛤

The obligatory pre-departure photo, on the platform at Cairns Station.
These are the cheap seats (our seats) in what is called a ‘Heritage’ car. The ‘Gold’ cars have lounge-style seating. This car was built in 1944, said a plaque by the door.
On the way to the stop at Freshwater Station. It’s sugar cane country around Cairns.
There are 15 tunnels on the way to Kuranda. Construction of the track was completed in 1891. At one point some 1,500 men, of Irish and Italian descent, was at work on the track.
I was just lucky to get this shot of a creek running down on a steep cliff-side. The foliage is dense alongside a lot of the track on the hillside.
This is Kuranda Station. The village of Kuranda and the tourist attractions (markets, bird world, koala sanctuary) are reached by walking up a few sets of stairs.
We stopped at Barron Falls Station on the way in, and this is the picture from the way back. Barron Falls is on the Barron River, of course.
These platforms are for maintenance crews, and not for passengers.
The tight four chain (80.46 m radius) turn at Stony Creek Falls and Stony Creek Bridge allows a full view of the train. At the front are two Co-Co Diesel Electric 1720 Class locomotives, each putting out 1,000 hp (745 kw). There are 14 cars.

We took the scenic train ride from Cairns to Kuranda village today.

 

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Wednesday/ downtown Cairns 🏬

We are frequent users of the bus that runs along Lake Street by our hotel and into downtown Cairns, even though it is just seven or eight large city blocks.  It is just too hot and humid to walk that far.

These pictures are from around downtown Cairns.

This picture on the side of a rubbish-and-recyclables bin on the street says in the fine print that it shows ‘Coral spawning, showing suspended sperm and egg bundles’.
Artwork that says ‘Tales from the Deep: Evil Bleach’.
From the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) web site:
‘When sea water is too warm, corals will expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues— causing the corals to turn completely white. This is called coral bleaching. When corals bleach, they are not dead. Corals can survive a bleaching event, but they are under more stress and are subject to mortality’.
I took a dip this afternoon in this very large saltwater swimming pool, called the Cairns Esplanade Lagoon. The water is lukewarm in the shallow parts, and a little cooler in the deepest part of the pool (1.6 m/ 5 feet). The pool was constructed in 2003 and is said to be able to accommodate 1,000 bathers. That’s the sea in the distance, but there are no waves or surf in the calm and shallow waters between the coral reef banks and the land.
An iconic Cairns palm tree, carrying a poster making some political statements. (A quick check on Google shows that Cairns has indeed the highest crime rate in Queensland, but it is still a very safe place relative to other cities in the world).
I am spotting far fewer Teslas than I had in Brisbane. I guess that is to be expected, if only due to the much smaller population of Cairns. One can definitely drive up to Cairns from Brisbane using the Tesla charger network— just not very far west, away from the coast.
There are several of these magnificent Banyan fig trees close to the esplanade.
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Tuesday/ Fitzroy Island 🐚

We went out to Fitzroy Island today, officially Fitzroy Island National Park.
The island lies offshore from Cape Grafton, 29 km (18 mi) southeast of Cairns.

Our catamaran vessel set out at 8 am, and we were back early afternoon.
It was overcast at our arrival, and windy. The wind only worsened, and soon we learned that our planned glass-bottomed boat trip out to one of the reefs had to be cancelled. (The wind makes the water choppy and murky).

The walk through the forest to Nudey Beach was nice enough, though— and it was the first time that I had set foot on an entire beach of dead coral.

The view from our catamaran vessel as we approach Fitzroy Island. It’s hard to make out in the picture, but there is a hotel (lodge) dead ahead on the island, and the thin strip of sand visible on the right where the island meets the sea, is Nudey Beach.
The jetty at Fitzroy Island as we were disembarking. It’s a 45 minute trip from Cairns to the island.
Looking up as we are making our way to Nudey Beach through the forest.
Nudey Beach as seen from the hiking trail.
These beautiful yellow flowers were on a hibiscus tree of some kind, on Nudey Beach.
The entire Nudey Beach is filled with the calcium carbonate skeletons of dead coral. (There is a strip of sand by the waterline). Coral is a sessile* marine animal. Coral relies on its relationship with plant-like algae to build the largest structures of biological origin on Earth.
*Sessile: (of a plant or animal structure) attached directly by its base without a stalk or peduncle.
There is nothing nude about Nudey Beach: not on the beach and for sure NOT when it comes to going into the water. The Intrepid One among the three of us donned a stinger suit, snorkeling gear and flippers, to explore the shallow waters. We were told lucky snorkelers or divers might run into sea turtles. Conditions today were far from ideal, though, with a northerly wind pushing in towards the land here.
A big bluebottle jellyfish (Physalia utriculus) that we spotted from the jetty, as we were preparing to leave.
A big jar by the diving shop was marked ‘Vinegar for bluebottle and irukandji stings – DO NOT REMOVE’. Deaths from stings are rare, but some 50 people were hospitalized for irukandji stings in the 2018-19 season.
Going back to Cairns.
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Monday/ arrival into Cairns 🏝

A 1990s tea towel depicting Cairns.  I had taken the picture a few days ago at an exhibit at Queensland State Library.
Here’s our Boeing 737-800 on the tarmac at Brisbane airport. A ground personnel person from Qantas came running up and said ‘No pictures, please!’, so I couldn’t take one from the top of the stairs at the tail. Aw.
As we approached Cairns, the turquoise and teal colors of the shallow waters and reefs on the seabed started to appear.
Here’s Cairns, population 150,000 or so. Latitude-wise we’re now 17° south of the equator, the closest I have ever been. (Flying over the equator doesn’t count, and some years ago I did spend 2 hours in the lounge at the airport in Lagos, Nigeria, 6° north of the equator).
It was 32 °C (90° F) here today and very humid. We couldn’t check into the hotel with our early morning arrival, so we walked to the downtown Cairns shopping mall for cool air and for a bite. (It was a slog). Here’s the 1926 Grand Hotel right across the mall.

 

We made it into Cairns, with a 6.05 am departure out of Brisbane.

We took a taxi into Cairns, which was just a few miles away from the airport.

 

 

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Sunday

We are leaving Brisbane at the crack of dawn Monday morning, to fly up to Cairns in tropical Far North Queensland.
I took the No 100 bus to the city one last time, and on the way back I stepped off at Woolloongabba station to look around for a last little bit.

Here’s The Gabba, the cricket grounds and stadium that is officially called The Brisbane Cricket Ground. The 2022 International Cricket Men’s T20 World Cup is underway, and Zimbabwe and Bangladesh squared off right here this afternoon. (Bangladesh won by 3 runs).
The bus from the city has taken me past the old Moreton Rubber Works Building (constructed 1890) by The Gabba several times, and I finally got to take a decent picture of it today.
Finally, a stop at the Coles grocery store. DC Coffee is a Melbourne-based specialty coffee roaster. (I haven’t tried the coffee, but I like the packaging).
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Friday/ Surfer’s Paradise Beach 🏄

My brother and sister-in-law and I made a trip to Gold Coast today to check in with my niece, and to check out the famous beaches there.

This is Surfers Paradise Beach, just south of Main Beach on the Gold Coast shoreline.
A dozen named beaches with swim areas line the coast here, with lifeguards and even helicopters overhead now and again. The beach looks empty, but there were several dozen people behind us on the beach at the swim area. It was 29°C (84 °F) today but it felt hotter. We just went in for a quick dip in the surf, and took a few pictures (that’s my brother and my sister-in-law).
Lots and lots of high-rises: private apartment (condominium) and holiday apartment buildings, as well as resort buildings and hotels, line the street called Surfers Paradise Esplanade.
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Thursday/ the Sunshine Coast ☀️

The drive time from Brisbane up to Noosa Heads was a little over 2 hours.

 

 

We drove up to the Sunshine Coast today, and stopped at three beaches for a little time in the sun and in the surf.

First, we stopped at a coffee shop at King’s Beach in Caloundra. My coffee of choice here in Queensland is a Long Black: 2/3rds boiling water into a cup then extracting a double shot of espresso (60ml) over the water.
P.S. What I am actually having here is a cup of Long Black with milk .. so is that a Short White Long Black? 🙂
King’s Beach in Caloundra has a wide and clean beach with well-appointed facilities. The surf was great and the water temperature very pleasant.
King’s Beach also has a saltwater swimming pool. The seawater in the pool is replenished with a pump and drained back into the sea.
Noosa Heads is at an estuary, and right by the large, scenic area with a mountain summit walk and trails of Noosa National Park. This picture, taken from the boardwalk, is just east of the Main Beach there. More and more rocky outcrops start to appear as one continues walking.
This is Sunshine Beach, just south of Noosa National Park. Surfers from Sunshine Beach Surf Club are in the water in the distance.
Every now and again on the Sunshine Motorway (Route 70), there would be a bridge crossing a body of water, with residential developments visible in the distance.