Day 282: Flores to Bali to Cairns to Port Douglas — Grateful for New Airplanes and Grocery Stores — Botanical Ark Retreat!
Yesterday Margaret started writing about this “beast of a travel day.”
Here’s the summary of our 25+ hour door-to-door trip, beginning at Sea World Club in Waiara, Flores, Indonesia and finishing at The Botanical Ark Retreat outside Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia:
- Drive from Sea World Club to Maumere Airport (pickup around 12:30)
- Fly from Maumere to Denpasar Airport in Bali (flight was delayed 2 hours)
- Drive from Denpasar airport to nearby Anvaya hotel for a 4 hour stay (check-in, order room service dinner, download new Netflix shows, short nap for kids)
- Drive back to Denpasar airport
- Fly from Denpasar to Cairns (flight was delayed about 90 minutes, landed 8am, 2-hour time change)
- Pickup rental car and drive an hour and 20 minutes to The Botanical Ark Retreat (arrival around 3:30 after stop at Woolworth’s Grocery)
I’ll pick up at midnight, waiting for our flight to Cairns.
All waiting rooms seats were filled so we sat on the floor. There was some confusion about our departure gate and eventually we all moved to a new gate for boarding. The kids were in a post-snooze zombie state, happy to watch their new shows. We were sitting near a mom and grandma unsuccessfully attempting to wrangle / entertain two young boys and I was more appreciative than ever for Apple and Netflix.
We were flying on Jetstar — the low budget brand of Qantas. There were no blankets, pillows, bendy ear pad headrests, nor sleep mask / kits of any kind. But it was a beautiful, brand new Airbus A320. After several flights on shitty, old, Indonesian (love the people, food, beaches and vibe but not their flight safety record) planes I was so relieved to feel completely safe as we took off.
We had middle and window seats in two consecutive rows for the four and a half hour flight. The kids slept pretty well but Margaret and had a hard time getting comfortable.
We landed around 8am in Cairns, rented a Toyota Rav 4 and drove north towards Mossman.
Despite our exhaustion, Margaret and I both had an unexpected feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. We had completed the “developing world” portion of our trip. Not including our week in Singapore, we have been in the developing world since July 9 (80% of our year thus far) and in non-English speaking countries since we left South Africa in late April. It was surreal to pull out of the airport into a world that looks very much like the US.
We drove north along the beautiful Queensland coast, with rainforest on the left and Pacific Ocean on the right. The weather here in Australia’s “Sunshine State” was perfect.
First stop: Groceries!
The Botanical Ark Retreat is “self-catering” so we stopped at Woolworth’s (Wooly’s!) in Mossman to stock up. Once again we did not expect to be so excited for the “simple pleasures” of a legit grocery store — using quotes here because even though most Americans take grocery stores for granted, a massive air-conditioned building filled with countless delicious items is far from a simple pleasure for most of the world.
We split up our list. Willa came with me and James went with Margaret. 30 minutes into our visit I had barely gotten through two aisles — spent several minutes just staring at the 10 different choices of cheddar cheese.
Another 25 minutes north in Port Douglas, through several narrow dirt roads (thank you Google maps offline functionality!) we pulled up to The Tranquilla Villa at The Botanical Ark Retreat.
The Tranquila Villa is a special — and appropriately named — place. The property is owned by Suzi and Alan Carle, was first a subsistence farm, and in 1990 became a private ethno-botanical garden.
The house has a big open living area that opens out to an even bigger porch and a man made freshwater pond / swimming hole. Suzi stopped by to say hello and give us a tour of the place. She and Alan live in another house on the property. They used to live in this one and raised their two girls here.
We quickly knew that we were going to love this stop. This house, surrounded by nature, a fridge filled with our own groceries, a car to explore — nothing better!
We relaxed for the afternoon. Margaret and I napped while the kids played on their own — *not* something that could have ever happened earlier this year, especially in a new location. We then all took a swim in the pond. I played Yahtzee with Willa and James (they both beat me). Then I took a short walk with Willa to explore the rainforest while Margaret and James played checkers.
We marinated and then grilled chicken (on the barbie!), made a salad and enjoyed dinner on the porch.
The kids were beat. They fell asleep quickly and Margaret and I went back to the porch for a glass of wine, some blogging and reading.
Ahhh! Right now, life on the road, is good.
