Upon landing in Sydney we headed straight for immigration. There were three separate lines at customs for foreigners. There was the regular line, a 2nd line for those traveling in business class with expedited access, and a 3rd line for "Smart gate". Smart gate is for certain Australian passengers, as well as US passengers who have Global Entry which we have. The line for regular immigration was probably about 30 minutes long, and while we had been given expedited customs passes from United before we landed, the line for that was also fairly long. With that in mind we looked for the smart gate line, which I had read about before we left. The signage for the for smart gate was not that clear, however there was an immigration officer who was helping to direct traffic who guided us over to the right area.
We were instructed to scan our passports on a machine and after answering a few basic questions we were given a slip of paper and proceeded to the dedicated customs window where we met with an agent. For those who have global entry, the process is very similar to what you go through when you arrive in the US. The whole process took no more than 10 minutes, if that. We then proceeded to the baggage claim area, where we had to wait for about 15 minutes for a luggage to come out on the conveyor belt. It was interesting because United apparently had an agent at the luggage area who was monitoring how fast the luggage came out onto the belt. Somehow she knew we were traveling in first class and she apologized that it was taking so long for our bags to come out. Again, this was another nice touch from United.
While we were waiting for our bags to come out on the belt, a customs agent approached us and asked to see our declaration form. She was very surprised to see that we had marked off that we were bringing food into Australia, and she actually praised us for doing so because very few people apparently report that. She told us that once we have got our bags we should head over to the special quarantine area. After getting our bags and heading over to that area we waited for about 5 to 10 minutes for a customs agent to become available.
When we met the customs agent who would be examining our food, we got our first sense of how warm and friendly Australians are. Our interaction with him did not seem like something between a government official and a tourist, but much more like two friends who were talking about what they are allowed to do. The agent was so relaxed and easy-going and he spent most of his time with us smiling and laughing and making jokes. If government officials in the US would have half of the warmth and friendliness that this official had then dealing with the government would be a pleasure.
As far as the actual inspection went, he asked us what food we were bringing in, and we told him that we had some bread, some snacks, and meal mart meals which contained meat and chicken. He asked to see just the meal mart meals and after looking at one of the boxes for a minute he said that it was fine to bring it into the country, although he did say that he wished the box would say that the meat and chicken that was in there had come directly from the US as opposed to potentially coming from another country and being produced in the US. With that out of the way we moved into the airport.
We had a flight later that day on Virgin Australia at 2:00 in the afternoon, and while this was a separate ticket I was very much hoping we could use the Virgin Australia transfer desk. Some background: In Sydney airport, there are two separate terminals, the international terminal and the domestic terminal. In order to get from one to the other, you need to take a bus which costs about five dollars per person and the trip takes about 20 minutes. Virgin Australia operates a transfer desk in the international terminal where you can drop off your luggage after your international flight and they will transfer your luggage for you, as well as put you on one of their free shuttle buses to the domestic terminal. This is really meant for passengers who fly Virgin Australia internationally and who have a domestic flights to connect to, and when I called before our trip I was told that I would not be allowed to use the transfer desk since we were flying United from SFO. Even so, I was really hoping that they would allow us to check our luggage and get a boarding pass because we had a lot that we wanted to do and limited time. After exiting into the arrivals area of the airport we asked for directions and turned left and walked approximately 10 minutes to the end of the terminal where the Virgin Australia transfer desk was located. Thankfully, they allowed us to check in without any problems whatsoever. We even asked for exit row seats and they gave them to us with no problem. We make sure to empty our carry-ons out into our checked luggage so that we would have room to put food that we were buying for Shabbos in, and as we left, they handed us free bus passes for the bus that will take us over to the domestic terminal which was a nice touch. However we had other plans and as soon as we got out of the airports we began our aggressive schedule.
By the time we had left the airport it was approximately 9:30 and since we had checked in and had our boarding passes I estimated that we needed to be back at the airport by 1:20 for our 2:10 departure. We first wanted to walk across part of the Sydney Harbor Bridge while it was light, because while we would be back in Sydney in a few days, it would be dark then. Then our plan was to go to a supermarket named Coles in the Jewish area which is sort of like a ShopRite with a kosher section. After that, we wanted to go to Katzy’s to get Shabbos food that Coles did not sell, as well as get food for lunch and supper for that night. Thankfully, Sydney airport is relatively close to downtown and we ended up taking the train to downtown which took about 15 minutes.
We got off at the Circular Quay station which is located right by the harbor area. It was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the upper 70s and we began to look for the route that would get us up to the bridge, however there is no clear signage of how to get up to the bridge. After a couple of wrong turns and a lot of asking directions we finally found the staircase that leads up to the bridge. Note that there is the well-known bridge climb, which costs a nice amount of money and allows you to actually climb up onto the frame of the bridge, however you can walk on the bridge free of charge which is what we wanted to do. After climbing the many steps to get up to the bridge we were treated to beautiful views of Sydney Harbor. We walked for about 10 minutes which got us about a third of the way across and then due to time constraints we turned around and headed back down. Once at the bottom I used my Uber app on my phone to get a car to take us to Coles supermarket. After a 20 minute ride which cost us about 30 Australian dollars we got to Coles and began to shop for food for Shabbos. There wasn't a huge amount of food but there were about four or five shelves of food, including a refrigerated section that had deli and other meats as well as cheese and some fish. The store also had Challah and bread. After paying for our purchases with an AMEX card (no foreign exchange fee), we headed out to grab an Uber to take us to Katzy’s, which was about a 10 minute ride.
Here is where things began to get interesting. It had taken us longer than we expected to find the Harbor Bridge, and we can also spent more time in Coles then we had expected, so we were running a little behind schedule. From Katzy’s it was a 30 minute drive to the airport and so we needed to leave by about 12:55 in order to get to the airport in time for our flight. By the time we arrived at Katzy’s it was already 12:45. I knew that it was going to be a rush but I figured it was doable given that we didn’t need that much food. However, the idea of making the food that we had requested in such a short of amount of time seemed to put the staff at Katzy’s into major stress mode. They were not so pleases that we wanted things so quickly but to their credit they got our food ready as fast as possible. It did take longer than I expected to get all the food that we ordered and we ended up leaving Katzy’s at 1:10. We called a Uber and he was already waiting for us by the time Katzy’s finished up with the food. We got into the car and told the driver that we have a flight at 2:10. Now, coming from New York having a tight schedule like that is not necessarily a big deal, however in Australia apparently it is a huge deal. Our driver was not sure that we were going to make it in time and he kept on wondering why we left so late. Thankfully we didn't have too much traffic and we pulled up to the airport at about 1:40.
And here is where we learned about the magic of Australian and New Zealand airports. There was a line of about 25 people ahead of us in security. In addition, after going through security we were randomly selected for a secondary screening. Even with all that we were able to make our flight without any problems. To recap, we showed up at the airport at 1:39, went through security, got a secondary screening, walked to the gate, I went to use the restroom, and when I came out it was 1:50. Yup, exactly 11 minutes to do all that. Our flight had not yet even started boarding by the time we reached the gate area. The reason why we were able to do all this in such a short time is that airports in Australia and New Zealand are super efficient. When going through security you do not have to take off your shoes, do not have a take off your belt, and just walk through a plain metal detector. It takes four times as long to do security on passengers in the US than in Australia and New Zealand
A few minutes after we arrived at our gate boarding for our Virgin Australia flight to Carins was announced. Boarding was done through the front and back rows of the plane. Here we got another lesson in how efficiently things are run in Australia. It took a total of about 15 minutes for them to load a mostly full 737-800.
We settled into our emergency exit row seats and we actually ended up with no one in between us so it was a very comfortable and roomy flight for us. The general flying experience was really good. We waited just a few minutes for takeoff, and the three hour flight to Cairns was very smooth. The crew passed out snack boxes and offered complimentary drinks. The meals they offered were not kosher, however we dug into our schnitzel sandwiches and fries from Katzy’s which were really good. They were a bit expensive and cost approximately $13 apiece but they were really good and very filling.
We got a good glimpse of how warm and friendly Australians are by nature. The flight attendants working this flight were exceptionally warm and chatty, and I got into a whole conversation with a flight attendant at one point about what routes he flies, where he has been to, etc. If only the flight attendants for US airlines could be half as friendly!!
After making a smooth touchdown in Cairns we pulled into a jet way and made our way to baggage claim. Cairns is a pretty modern small airport. We grabbed a taxi to take us to the Hilton Cairns, which cost about 22 Australian dollars. Upon check-in we were upgraded to a deluxe room on account of us being Hilton gold members, but the upgrade was nothing significant. I was pretty surprised at appearance of the hotel as it has fairly good reviews but it definitely seemed run down to me. The room looked pretty worn out to me, and the bathroom seemed to be in only a little bit better condition. One thing that was nice is that each room has a balcony, and our balcony had a great view overlooking the river.
This Hilton costs 50,000 points per night, and while the room was functional and everything was okay I thought that the price did not begin to justify the room.
In any event we put our stuff away in the fridge and hit the sack early to get ready for our big snorkeling trip on the Great Barrier Reef the next day.
