Notes from Australia – Post 1

Readers Note: My father told me a little bit of knowledge wasn’t a dangerous thing so long as I remembered it was only a little bit of knowledge.

With his words in mind, this first-time visitor to Australia offers “Notes from Australia – Post 1.”

John
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We flew to Australia via Qantas.

I’ve flown trans-Atlantic more than 70 times, but this was my first trans-Pacific flight.

Based only on that flight (LA to Brisbane direct) Qantas coach “beat” any trans-Atlantic airline coach I’ve flown the past 20 years, including American, BA, and Delta often, and Aer Lingus, KLM, Air France and Lufthansa less frequently.

Qantas’ seating wasn’t, IMO, that much better than that of the trans-Atlantics carriers I’ve flown, but the food and service definitely were.

We arrived at a very busy time on a Monday morning when many international flights coming in were “stacked-up” after delays due to turbulent weather.

Brisbane’s airport has a passenger-friendly reputation; and that’s how we experienced it that Monday morning.
Two "passenger friendly” examples:

Even at a busy arrival time, luggage trolleys were easily available, and they were free.

And you could take the trolley literally to the door of your cab or to the escalator head that would take you down to the train platform where you’d ride into the city center.

More about transportation in another post.

People?

Wonderful, so far, and as with transportation, more about them in another post.

Three short items:

1) In the last three days, I’ve been to various parts of Brisbane as early as 5:30 am and as late as 11:00 pm.

I’ve yet to see a person who in America would be called “homeless,” or in many parts of Western Europe would be called a “rough sleeper.”

I’ve not asked our son or daughter-in-law about why I haven’t seen “homeless people” because our time together has been grandkids, and family and friends, and “what to see tomorrow” talk.

And I haven't brought the matter up with Brisbaners.

But I’ll “stay on it” and keep you posted.

2) Australia’s money units are in decimal form.

BUT!

No pennies: the five cent piece is their smallest value coin.

So what about $6.22 and $6.23?

You guessed it.

The Aussies round up or down on the nickel.

3) Do kids in Brisbane play tick-tack-tow?

Yes, but they call it “noughts and crosses.”

More soon.