July 1987: Sydney to Brisbane

SYDNEY TO BRISBANE AND BACK - A GRIMM OUTING

CAST

Jack Grimm - trip organizer, driver, part-time navigator, scout, scapegoat and author

Dorothy Grimm - in charge of logistics (packing suitcases), safety officer (backseat driver) backup photographer, and main antagonist to the former character

Dwight Grimm - sixteen-year old son of Jack and Dorothy, primary navigator and photographer, and full-time teenage pain

Mike Marino - Dwight's friend on visit to Australia from U.S.

Toby Grimm - eleven-year old son of Jack and Dorothy and main antagonist to the two previous characters

Ross Irby – Dorothy’s friend, and former chief of staff of the Alice Springs’ newspaper

Tony and Dorothy Irby - Ross's parents

George and Shirley Brown - friends of Grimm’s and local artists in Alice Springs

LOCALE

Sydney, largest city in Australia and capital of the state of New South Wales (the area between Sydney and Brisbane), and Brisbane, capital of the state of Queensland.

DAY 1 - The signs were not good from the start. First we heard that Mike, who had been scheduled to arrive on Tuesday (the day after we arrived in Sydney), had been delayed a day, meaning we had to stay in Sydney until Wednesday. Next, the MAC flight (the USAF cargo plane) was not going to arrive in Alice Springs until almost 5 p.m. Finally, received a phone call from the Browns, who were to take us to the airport, that neither of their cars would start. I had to drive one of our cars to their house to jump-start George’s wagon. We finally took off from Alice about 5:30 and arrived in Sydney at about 9:00 p.m. (Sydney is 1/2 hour ahead of Alice). Budget Rental Car delivered a car to the air base and we left for Sydney - about 35 miles away. We did stop at the first open McDonalds for our first Big Macs, etc. in over a year. The drive in was a lot of fun. I was not sure exactly how to get to the motel where I had bookings, I saw more traffic than I see at any time in Alice and it was raining. Amazingly, we found the motel without much trouble and got to bed about midnight.

DAY 2 - We couldn’t stay another night at that motel because they were renovating and were booked up, so we had to move to another motel up the road. Other than the fact that there was no heat (they supplied an electric heater), the rollaway bed they provided sagged to the floor, a malfunctioning TV, and the visit by one of Dorothy’s friendly 2-inch cockroaches, it really wasn’t all that bad a motel.

We caught the bus in-town to look in the shops. We first went in an old building, the Queen Victoria Building, which has been fixed up and has five floors of shops. Fortunately, NSW has discovered the value of old buildings and has preserved many of their buildings from the late 18001s and early 1900's. We next went to one of the major department stores. As if the trauma of coming from the small town of Alice Springs to Sydney was not enough, we walked right into what must have been one of the biggest sales of the year. The boys and I calculated that people were coming down the escalator at a rate of 3500-4000 per hour. In that chaos, Dorothy managed to find a pair of shoes that were acceptable (to replace the worn out loafers she was then wearing). After a small problem with no place to sit in McDonalds and a fight on a Sydney street corner, we walked around the shopping area for several hours and then took the bus back to the motel. Later, I tried driving to an area in the eastern part of the city to find a restaurant. I got lost, but in the process found Ross's apartment building. We surprised him as he was preparing supper justifiably so since Ross has turned up at our place many times at mealtime. He drove us to the Kings Cross area (which I will describe later) for supper, then back to his place and I found my way back to the motel.

Day 3 - We got up early to get to the airport at 6:45 to meet Mike. He was nowhere to be seen for quite awhile, because the airline was attempting, without success to find his luggage. Since we had no idea when or if they would find it, we gave the airline Ross's name as a point of contact and hit the road. I drove across the Harbor Bridge in rush hour and headed north on the Pacific Highway. We eventually turned off the main road back to the Myall National Park on the coast (along a fairly good dirt road). We were not able to see the actual beach due to the plants and dunes between us and the water, but we stopped once and walked over the dunes to see the beach. The water was very blue - more so than along the east coast of the U.S. At one point from the road we saw a dingo walking along the dunes. I howled at the dingo: the dingo responded by stopping, turning toward us and standing there trying to figure out what we were doing. We also started seeing kookaburras, which we don't see around Alice, plus a dead kangaroo, and a multitude of black swans on one of the lakes. Eventually, we reached a point where a sign said it was hazardous to go any further (it turned out it was just because the road got rocky - something that would not stop most people in the Northern Territory, but the safety officer would not approve that route. So we turned onto a side road and ended up taking a car ferry across a small river to get back to the Pacific Highway. I have seen pictures of a ferry like that but never been on one. The guy did not have to pull it across, but it was only big enough to carry four cars or in the case of that trip three cars and one caravan (trailer). I found out that day that the fuel gauge on the car did not work (thankfully before I ran out of gas). Also the majority of the Pacific Highway is only two lanes wide (with some passing lanes on hills). Since the school kids were on holiday during that time ~ the roads were crowded so I was finally glad to stop for the night in a small town called Kempsey. We, stayed the night in the best motel of our trip and Mike called home to say he had arrived safely. When his parents asked him where he was he said, "Someplace in Australia."

Day 4 - We left Kempsey and drove to Bellingen. We ate lunch in Coffs Harbor, a tourist town, but there were no facilities on the beach itself. We saw some oldtimers (these guys were certainly not teenagers) out surfing. From there to Brisbane we saw many surfers. We drove on to Muriwillumbah, where we stayed for two nights with Ross's parents. Before reaching· there, we saw a beautiful area at Byron Bay, the eastern-most point in Australia. Just at the top of a hill, before descending into the low country around Byron Bay, we stopped at a lookout and from that point it was possible to see the town, the lighthouse on the point, and much of the surrounding area. We arrived at the perfect time, sunset, and as we stood there admiring the scene, the lighthouse light came on. Although we took photos, it was the type of scene that a movie camera was needed to do it justice.

Day 5 - The view in the morning from the Irby's house in the morning was great - green treed landscape first descending to a stream and then rising to a mountain in the distance. Dwight was up and out early in the morning to take pictures. We dropped the older boys off in Surfer's Paradise, a real beachside tourist area full of high rise motels and condominiums, shopping malls, etc, and a beautiful beach. Dwight and Mike enjoyed their day of playing the teenage scene: shopping (they bought "native" clothes with a Billabong label); wandering around and admiring the women, including some who were topless on the beach, and took a dip in the ocean even though it's the middle of winter in Australia (much of the northern area remains warm throughout the year. Dorothy, Toby and I went to an amusement park (Dreamworld - a poor imitation of Disneyworld, including a version of Country Bear Jamboree using koalas instead of bears and singing Australian songs. I had vowed that I would suffer in silence since I don't care for amusement parks since I am not big on standing in lines or rides. However, it was extremely difficult. The second ride was actually fun. It was a round platform seating six people surrounded by what looked like a big inner tube. The whole thing went around a water course of smallish rapids and at one point we hit the water just right and I got drenched. I had jeans on and they don't dry well. It was much later in the day before they were completely dry. The next ride was a small roller coaster type (two person car) (definitely not my type of ride) and we had to stand in line over an hour. The queues (lines) were entertained by a man playing an accordian and singing songs, including "Oklahoma" and "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again." Eventually, we drove back to Surfer's Paradise, picked up the boys and returned to the Irbys for the night.

Day 6 We drove into Brisbane primarily to allow Toby to visit a friend who used to live in Alice Springs. Since the friend was busy in the morning we first stopped in downtown Brisbane - after much to do. I wasn't anxious to fool with city traffic again and just wanted to drive through the city to the suburbs and find someplace to eat. Dorothy wanted to see the downtown area. We still didn't see much of the central part of Brisbane, but there did not appear to be any distinctive features. Just another fair sized city. We saw the site of Expo 88 which will run sometime next year. While we were having lunch at an outdoor cafe in a plaza there, Dorothy recognized an elderly man in a wheelchair beside of uS as a man we had met and she had interviewed in Alice Springs. He has taught at a number of colleges around the world and written a book on dreams. Also, I told the kids they could each pick out a magazine to read in the car, and in picking up an Australian camera magazine, Dwight discovered they had published a picture of his that he had submitted for a contest. Unfortunately, he didn't win any prizes, but at least his picture was published. I should mention that the federal elections were being held that day and we were accosted by a number of people asking us to vote for their candidates. After lunch we drove to the suburbs to find Toby's friend. Since I didn't know what the rest of us were going to do, I offered to take the boy and his brother along with us to see something. The mother suggested a wildlife sanctuary and we went there. It was a good visit - we arrived just as the baby koalas were being weighed. After walking around the park seeing the animals, everyone got to hold a koala, and then we spent a lot of time in the big open area where we were able to hand feed the kangaroos. After we left the sanctuary, we dropped off the Australian boys and headed out of Brisbane. On the way out of town we drove up to a lookout from where we were able to see most of Brisbane. We stopped for the night in Ipswitch. We ate in a very good small-chain restaurant, named Banjo's (after the Australian poet, Banjo Patterson). For a fast food place it was very good, including the best pork ribs I've had in Australia.

Day 7 We left Ipswitch and headed for the New England Highway. Because of its name and warnings I had received about the possibility of snow, I expected windy, mountainous roads. Although we did see a few mountains, the roads were primarily level, good two-lane roads with little traffic, so I was able to average 100 km/hr. We stopped in Glenn Innes, the center of a well known fossicking area. Dwight purchased a small shovel and sieve and we drove 13 km out of town to a small stream to look for sapphires. It was a fairly warm day, but too cold to do much in the water. We did find a number of very small (too small to cut) sapphires. I would be a good area to visit in warm weather. Eventually, we drove on to Armidale.

Day 8 It was cold and frosty in the morning. We read literature about the district and found a number of things to see to the east of town. We first tried to find an old gold-mining ghost town, but it appeared that the area is being worked again and we were not able to see the town as described. We did see a spectacular gorge back to the area of the ghost town. We did spend some time chasing some beautiful red birds around the small town by the mine so that Dwight could take some pictures. Then, we drove down a secondary road so that we could drive across the Styx River. I saw no boat, but at least we can all say that we have crossed the River Styx. Further along that road we turned off onto a dirt track that ran through the New England State Forest. It was not a great road and since Dorothy does not like dirt roads at all, things were a bit tense. We took a side track to drive down to a beautiful picnic spot (even supplied with tables) right along the Styx River. If we had thought to bring drinks, we could have stopped and had peanut butter sandwiches for lunch there. On the way out of the park, we finally had a kangaroo (actually a wallaby) hop across our path. Even though we have lived a total of three years in Australia, we have not seen very many kangaroos in the wild, so we still get excited when we do see some. We ended up at Point Lookout, from where it was possible to see for probably hundreds of kilometers, including clear to the coast. On returning to the car park from the lookout, we noticed a kangaroo longing on the grass. He didn't seem overly bothered by us so I suggested someone give him a piece of bread. He liked it and when Toby went into the car to get another piece, the 'roo almost went into the car with him. I wondered if he were either a pet of one of the rangers, or hung around the area (like the bears at some of our parks) waiting for a handout. After enticing him to move away from the car, we drove back to Armidale and then on to Tamworth for the night. This stop caused one of the biggest fights of the trip. There was very little traffic on the road and not many people in motels. I asked the motel we stayed in at Armidale to check on openings in Tamworth for me. He said at this time of the year and because there were so many motels in Tamworth, it really wasn't necessary. Besides, his computer was down. I could have insisted that he call but I didn't. Sure enough, there was a convention in Tamworth and most of the motels were full. We did find one, but Dorothy was not happy with it. (Please refer back to the next to last entry in the description for Jack in the II Cast") «Dorothy's comment _ the motel was right on the busiest intersection of two main roads in town and built right on the road (Roadway Inn - U.S. chain and interested in money and convenience, not in comfort of travelers) and trucks roared by all night. I slept with ear protectors on.»

Day 9 We left Tamworth for Sydney. Outside of Singleton we saw a nuclear power plant. Dorothy wanted to tour it but there were no signs about tours. We found out in Singleton that it was possible to tour but only certain times of the day and you are supposed to call ahead. Also at Singleton we turned off the main road to go see a museum at an army base. The museum turned out to be closed, despite what the tourist guide for Singleton said, but we did see a mob of kangaroos, by far the biggest group in the wild we had ever seen. We managed to arrive back in Sydney in rush hour and despite a couple of problems found Ross's apartment to pick up Mike's bag. Ross wasn't there so we left a note. We ended staying in a motel right on the main street of the Kings Cross area. This area is only several blocks long with a couple of short side streets, however it is the red-light district of Sydney. It is an interesting area. There are quality motels/hotels, restaurants and shops there mixed in with the seedier elements. We could stand at our motel window and watch. All of the action on the street. All of the boys behaved themselves, but enjoyed watching the activity on the street. Unfortunately, the Las Vegas-style nightclub was just on the other side of the wall of our room and the native drums were audible far into the night. Ross eventually showed up with Mike's bag and he immediately changed clothes. We went to dinner at The Rocks, an area somewhat similar to Georgetown in Washington. After dinner we walked around the docks to the Sydney Opera House. Dorothy wondered if the rats we saw were marsupial rats. (There is such a thing.) The Sydney Harbor Bridge is beautiful at night and one of those sights that stay with you forever. There is a lot of construction around the waterfront. Australia, and Sydney in particular are gearing up for the Bicentennial in 1988. 

Day 10 We toured the Opera House and went to the Taronga Zoo, which is located across the harbor. We had done both things in 198J.. but enjoyed them and wanted to do them again, as well as show them to Mike. The view from the zoo is spectacular - you are able to see the entire central part of Sydney, including the Opera House and the Bridge. That evening the boys went swimming in the motel's indoor pool.

Day 11 We spent the day shopping. We bought a lens for one of Dorothy's old cameras so Toby can use it. The older boys spent the day on their own. Dorothy, Toby and I took the subway and bus to Bondi Beach and ate lunch on the grass overlooking the ocean. That was about it for the day.

Day 12 We went to Katoomba, which is in the Blue Mountains just to the west of Sydney. The boys were not happy about riding in the car again. This was something else we had done previously, enjoyed it and thought Mike should see it. We stopped at the lookout first and the older boys were not overly impressed - just more mountains. Then we drove to the other main tourist area and rode down the mountain on the cable railway that at one point has the steepest incline in the world. We walked a little ways down one of the tracks through the beautiful forest, to see the underground river and a falls. We took the train back up. (The city of Katoomba actually sits up on the mountain, the rail way runs part of the way. down into the valley.) After eating lunch at a K-Mart (yummy - meals in this family always result in an argument), we returned to Sydney.

Day 13 The older boys wanted to spend the day on their own again, so Dorothy, Toby and I went to a famous flea market in Paddington (a section in the eastern part of Sydney). It was a fascinating place. There were a lot of unique hand crafted goods, some junk some strange clothes, and some even stranger people. I didn't know there were still people around with spiked hair. We spent a long time there and we brought back a number of interesting items (not any of the weird people, though - we can find them here) Toby banged up his leg on some play equipment and was limping around for a bit, but it eventually got well enough for him to walk Okay.

The older boys had left a note at the motel saying they were going to eat dinner at The Rocks before they returned. Ross came over and we drove around for a bit looking at some parts of the city that Ross had not been in before. We ended up in another part of the harbor area where more new building is being done for additional shops/restaurants etc. in time for the Bicentennial. After we returned to the motel and ate dinner, Ross, Toby and Dorothy went to Luna Park, an amusement park across the harbor. I stayed behind at the motel since, as I said earlier, I am not big on amusement parks, and when the boys returned, I didn't want them out roaming around again. When they did return I asked how their day was and about their dinner and they told me but didn't say much else. I went out for a couple of minutes to get some cokes and the motel manager at the desk asked how the boys had enjoyed their tour. I wasn't sure what he was talking about and I guess I looked puzzled. He said that apparently they hadn't told me the whole story, with a grin. So, I asked them when I got back to the room. It turns out they called up a chauffeured limousine service and had them send a car around. They were hoping that they would send the stretched Mercedes, but all they got was a standard Rolls Royce. Apparently, the service called back to confirm the call was for real and the motel manager had to track the boys down, so he knew the car was coming. According to Dwight he got all excited and was waiting out in front of the motel for it. You do have to wonder how many times a Rolls comes into Kings Cross to pick up someone. The driver asked the boys where they wanted to go and they told him to just drive around and show them the city. Since they paid for it, I was never told what those three hours cost them. These are the same two kids who hired a limousine· to take them to the end of the year party in Alexandria when they were in the 9th grade. I could insert a lengthy editorial statement, but won't this narrative is too long already.

Day 14 Well I screwed up again. Dwight and Toby wanted to see if they could get in to see the big Rugby game of the day (Manly Sea Eagles). Dorothy said we better see if we could get tickets. I called a tourist information number and they were not a big help. It appeared the only way to check was to go the Oval. When we got there, people were already streaming in. It turns out there are three games: the under-23 IS, reserves, and the main game (which was to start at 3). It was then noon. To make a long story short, the boys and I got to see an afternoon of Rugby, while Dorothy walked from there to the Opera House which is a long ways and didn't get to see anything she had wanted to see that day. I was definitely in the doghouse. The main Rugby game was good, however, there was a record crowd (over 23,000) and the team we were for, won). We saw Ross for the last time that evening. He had quit his job and was leaving town the next morning, but still hadn't decided where he was going. He wants to come back to Alice Springs. However, for now he is spending some time in Muriwillumbah with his parents.

Day 15 We got up early to drive to Richmond. I had arranged for the airport shuttle bus to pick up Mike at the motel at 7. We left .at 6:30 and reached Richmond about 8. I checked to make sure the MAC flight was flying out and then we went looking for breakfast. We found a bakery, had a snack and returned the rental car. A guy there dropped us off at the base about 9 or so and the plane finally left about 11:45. We got into Alice about 2:30. The Browns, car had started and they were waiting for us (they had also been nice enough to pick up Mike when he arrived) and had dropped him off at our house.