ON OUR WAY TO THE GREAT DOWN UNDER

Well after a gruelling 29 hours of airports and planes we have arrived in Sydney.  We had to wait for Laureen’s bag to come in on a later flight – but the good news is it came in.  So thankful for all the new scanning (not really new anymore) but they could track her bag from the little baggage tag they stick to the back of your boarding pass.  They knew exactly where that bag was – all this new fangled electronics stuff really impresses seniors like us.  So rather than wait who knows how long for delivery  to the hotel, we waited only about 40 minutes for it to arrive and then quickly made our way to the shuttle to the hotel.

A bit about the skycouch we had on Air New Zealand…unless you are two small children or 2 very thin and flexible adults…save your money!  We laughed so hard trying to figure out how it was you were supposed to get comfortable on this thing.  If you put the foot rests completely up, they you couldn’t get off the damn thing to get to the bathroom and if you did get them up and wanted to get them down, you needed to bend yourself into a pretzel and still have the strength to pull leg rest up and then quickly push it down while pressing a button on the arm rest … believe me the video wasn’t very helpful in telling you just how to do this – it all looked to be so simple.  At one point, Laureen wanted to go to the lav.. and then walk around – so I took this opportunity of 10 minutes alone to try and get comfortable – I ended up going in head first and on my stomach with my legs in the aisle and couldn't get out.  I had to wait for her to come back to help me out of the predicament I found myself in.  I did have 5 glorious minutes of sleep as it was the most comfortable I had been throughout the 12 hour flight. 

Once we had landed and made our way to the Great Southern Hotel, we dropped our bags and headed for the closest bar.  Yep we did – and it was right across the street.  They offered cold beer, a bite to eat and free wifi – exactly what we were looking for.  So although not quite organized or clear thinking enough to write the blog, I at least was able to get mail, check facebook and have a bit of a chat here and there.

So after 13 hours or rest and sleep it is now 4:00 am and we find ourselves up, showered and ready to start first day in Australia.  But of course at 4:00 in the morning we are alone and it is dark and we can’t get outside to get a muffin and coffee for 3 or 4 more hours.  Just in time for us to head to the Sydney airport to continue on our 5 hour flight to Perth – ahhh home for 8 days. 

Had a picture to post with this entry - but I may have "lost" my camera....at least it is the beginning of the trip and not the end.  I think I might have left it at the pub where we had our lunch yesterday so because they don't open until after we have left Sydney, I will contact them later today from Perth to see if they have it - if so, I can pick it up in a week - if not - then I will be shopping in Perth for a new Sony Cybershot....sigh*...thank goodness we were at the beginning of the trip and not the end.