Due to time restraints (Holly and I wanted to swim in the ocean before the sun went down that evening), We decided to only go to three vineyards. The first one we went to was the Hope vineyard. The building sat on a large piece of land that had a wide open field behind it. Ann and Keith once came to a concert that took place on this large grass lawn. Inside, we were able to taste the wine and also walk through the facilities. There where large barrels that housed the wine stacked in a large barn attached to main building. The hostess was very friendly. We talked to her about being from Kansas while we tried varius wines. We told her that we planned to go swimming once we finished at the vinyards. IT was 65 Degress outside and she thought we were crazy!

We checked out of the hotel and made our way to Sydney Central Station where the bus picked us up. Due to the time gap between hotel check out and bus departure, we had some time to kill. Once we were at the train station and knew exactly where our bus was going to be, we decided to get some lunch and have a picnic in the park across the street. The sun was out and the weather was incredible so we sat on the grass relaxing and ate our food. 

Once it was time to leave, we grabbed our bags and walked over to the train station. While we were waiting to board the bus, some creepy old guy came up and started talking to Holly. Apparently he didn’t notice me. He was asking her for a lighter then told her that he always looks a woman in the eyes because it is impolite to stare at their boobs. Weird. Then he asked us to look after his bag as he went to go look for some papers for his tobacco. The minute the bus driver told us we could get on the bus, we left the crazy guys bag and boarded. Don’t know what ever happened to him but we didn’t stick around to find out. 

The bus only had a handful of people on it, mostly senior citizens. Holly and I relaxed as the Australian countryside rolled past us. The view was beautiful and what I had come to expect over my past week in the country. The view out the window was filled with rolling hills and dense, green forest. After a quick nap, we eventually arrived in Port Stephens where Ann and Keith were waiting to pick us up. 

Ann and Keith were very friendly. They reminded me of my great aunt Lora and great uncle Doug. They were always correcting each other and Keith had stories about everything. It was very kind of them to pick us up and let Holly and I stay with him.

It was dark by the time we reached Ann and Keith’s house at Fingal Bay. Being fall/winter in Australia, this happened around 6:00pm. Ann and Keith had planned to take us out for dinner so once we brought our bags in and freshened up, we all made our way to the Fingal Bay Bowls Sports & Recreation Club where Ann And Keith are regular visitors. Ann was a frequent player of lawn bowling and both had many friends at the Recreation Club. We had a lovely dinner with a bottle of wine. Friends of Ann and Keith would come up to say hello. Holly and I would always have to explain that we were from Kansas. Actually, Holly did most of the talking. I just sat there and ate.  Once everyone had more food than thought they could eat, we headed back to the house. We all sat and visited for bit before heading to bed. Holly had been to Ann and Keith’s once before for Easter. I think this allowed them to be more comfortable with us staying in their house. It was also made it easier to just sit and talk with them. As with most people I had met in Australia, they had questions about the United States as well I had questions for them about Australia. After everyone finished their glass of wine, we all headed to bed. Tomorrow, we travel to the Hunter Valley vineyards. 

Our perfect weather has come to an end. We started the morning early because my incredible girlfriend was willing to go see Hubble in IMAX (the same “Worlds Biggest IMAX” screen we had watched Pirates of the Caribbean in.) Being a space nerd, I loved the movie.  NASA footage shot with an actual IMAX camera was the only proper way to show off this screen. Too bad the movie was only 45 minutes long. I could watch science for hours! One perk of going to the IMAX theater was that we got to use our ticket stubs in various restaurants at Cockle Bay Wharf. For lunch, we ate at Blackbird Café where Holly was able to get a free drink. After lunch, we got some Galletto (buy one get one free) and made our way to the Chinese Gardens.  

Today we wanted to go to the Sydney Opera House. Because it was cloudy and there was rain in the forecast, we elected to complete all our outdoor/walking activities. After we got our Galletto, we walked south to the Chinese Gardens.  The gardens were filled with Chinese décor and native plants that wrapped around a small pond. We walked around looking at the various plants and structures. I love bamboo. It’s such an interesting plant. I know the Chinese use it for building and I love how it looks. In the gardens, they even had black bamboo which I had never seen. We spent some time in the gardens just sitting and relaxing before we decided to leave and go check out China Town just a few blocks away. China town was smaller than we thought it was going to be. It was one street that had various shops and restaurants on it. Each restaurant had a person standing out in front. They would come up to you and pester you with a menu. Holly was nice enough to say “No. Thank You.” I would always ignore them. 

We were losing daylight so we decided to head over to the Sydney Opera House, stopping at our hotel along the way to drop off some of our bags and grab a drink. We rode the bus over to the same spot we got off when we went to the Royal Botanical Gardens. Once there, we checked out some of the shops before we got to the opera house. I needed to start looking for gifts and there were some cute stores that I knew would have something I could bring back to America. After picking something out, we made our way to the Opera House.

The Sydney Opera House is a beautiful structure. It has a very unique concrete design that is covered in tile. We wanted to take the tour but this was easier said than done. A “Yo Gabba Gabba” show was just wrapping up and there were kids everywhere! No one would give us clear directions about where we needed to purchase tickets so we had to traverse flights of stairs numerous times trying to find someone to sell us some tickets. All while navigating through noisy, crying children. 

Eventually, we found our tickets and made our way to the lower level and waited with the group for our tour again. Before we could begin the tour, we had to do two things. First, each person/couple had to get their photo taken in front of a green screen before we could go. Second, the tour utilized wireless headphones so we could hear the tour guide and also hear some videos that played through the tour. Once everyone sorted out their technical difficulties, we began the tour.

The tour comprised of a lady showing us around the building and also showing us videos on various monitors placed throughout the opera house. For reasons that were beyond me, we weren’t allowed to take photos inside the concert hall. Of course, this didn’t stop me from trying. Holly was certain I was going to get us kicked out. Another thing I learned is that someone could take the tour and not see inside the concert hall. If you can’t see inside then what is the point? Before we could go into each hall, the tour guide had to go check with someone to make sure we were allowed in. Why wasn’t this determined before we started the tour? Our guide was very unorganized. If we were unable to see inside the concert halls I would have demanded our money back. For how impressive the Sydney Opera House is, I was very disappointed in the tour.

After we looked at the last room that was dedicated to the man who designed the building, Jørn Utzon, we made our way out of the Opera House. Along the way, they had for sale the photo they took of us at the beginning of the tour. The photo was of Holly and I, superimposed on a photo of the concert hall. For $50, we could have that photo, a DVD, and a brochure. What a rip off! Instead, I walked up and took a photo of the photo. The person behind the counter didn’t like that and ran over to tell me I couldn’t take a photo. I said, “Thanks. I got it.,” and we walked out. 

The rest of the evening was spent walking around the outside of the Opera House. We enjoyed how the lights shined on the tile roof (it was night by the time we finished the tour.) Both the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House were beautiful. It was getting late so we decided to head back to our hotel and pack for early checkout and our long ride to Fingal Bay.

We made our way out of the insects and reptiles into the more cuddly animals on display. First we stopped at the koalas. They were quite cute sitting up in their trees sleeping. Many people have told me that they are extremely lazy and all they do is sleep and eat. A lifestyle I could get behind. Next were the kangaroos. They had boxing kangaroos on display. These were behind glass because they are extremely dangerous and can easily kill you. Their tail can support their whole weight and the use their feet to deal a devastating blow. Crazy! Lastly, we went into the butterfly room. I’ve never see so many butterflies. They kept landing on my head and it took everything I had not to smack them (I don’t really like bugs.) One landed on Holly’s hand while we were standing there. So cute. We made our way through the airlock and on to the aquarium.

The aquarium was my favorite because of all the strange looking sea creatures. Jellyfish, squid, and eels all look like they are from another word. Who needs science fiction when you have the deep sea! The corral’s color shined so vibrantly. It looked like an oil painting. We eventually made our way to the shark tank. It was composed of two long, glass tubes. As we walked, all the sharks and other fish could swim overhead. It was very interesting seeing them all coexist in the same tank. They swam right up to the glass and we were able to get a detailed view of them. Man do sharks have some teeth. Definitely would not one of those to get ahold of my leg. There was a sign that said due to the curvature of the glass, all the creatures were 20% bigger than they appeared. This really made us not want to get into the ocean because those sharks already looked huge! We continued through the aquarium, looking at all the vibrantly colored fish. There was a tiger string ray that looked really cool. I’m always amazed when I see those. They look like they could just fly through the air like a space craft. Once we saw enough fish, Holly and I decided to go get a bite to eat before going to the Royal Botanical Gardens.

I was happy that the weather was holding up while we walked around Sydney. When we got to the Royal Botanical Gardens, everything was bathed in an orange hue from the sun. It was quite beautiful. For being in the middle of the city, the Gardens were very peaceful. You could tell they must have a full time crew because everything was watered and well trimmed. We walked around looking at the different plants, most you would never find in Kansas. We only walked the lower gardens because we wanted to make sure we made it to Sydney Tower before the sun set. I wish the weather had cooperated the rest of the time we were in Sydney because I would have liked to walk the rest of the gardens. We walked down to the edge of the harbor and took in the view of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. I enjoyed just standing next to my girl and soaking up the sun and the cool harbor breeze.

It was the time to make the journey to Sydney Tower. From the Gardens, we could see the tower along the skyline so we thought we had a good idea of where it was at. Unfortunately once we were in the in the city, things became complicated. We had a general idea of where we were going but eventually had to consult the map. Thankfully I had my little navigator with me. Eventually, after WAY to much walking, we made our way into the tower and headed up the elevator.

The view from the top of Sidney Tower was incredible. We got a 360 degree view of the entire city from an altitude that rivals the Empire State Building. The windows were at an angel which allowed us to look straight down. Our hard work paid off because we got there right as the sun was setting. It was very beautiful. We stayed up there picking out the different places we had had already been and the ones we had yet traveled to until it was time to leave. I would say that sunset was a great way to end the evening but we still had lots and lots of walking ahead of us.

Once we exited the tower, we made our way to the train station. Our plan was to take a train to Luna Park then walk back to our hotel, crossing the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It’s quite impressive how many people the can fit inside one of those train cars. When we made our way inside the train car, there was only one seat left so I gave it to Holly and stood the remainder of the trip. After we completed the train ride across the bridge, we disembarked and decided to look for a place to eat.  Kirribilli Woodfire was a nice little hole in the wall that we got some pasta and a Caesar salad. When we got off the train, I was surprised how dilapidated this part of the city was. My first thought was we were going to get mugged. Then I noticed people were dressed up and enjoying the weather. Being in Australia, I soon forgot about that feeling and continued to enjoy the night as we walked to Luna Park.

If clowns freak you out, Luna Park is not for you. To enter the park, we had to walk through the mouth of this giant, evil looking clown that was covered in incandescent bulbs. Once we summoned up the courage, we walked through the clowns’ mouth and made our way through the park. We walked through the park checking out the various rides. Because tickets were so expensive and we didn’t feel like riding something that would make us lose the dinner we just ate, we decided to take a romantic ride on the Ferris wheel. The view was magnificent. As we rode, we looked over the Sydney Harbor Bridge, the Opera House, and the city that were all bathed in a multitude of colors. After we disembarked from the Ferris wheel, we decided to find some cotton candy. You can’t go to an amusement park and not eat cotton candy! Australians call it fairy floss.

Now it was time for the long walk back to our hotel. Earlier in the day, we decided that we would go to Luna Park then walk back across the Sydney Harbor Bridge instead of walking the bridge on a separate day. I’m glad we chose to walk it at night because the view was magnificent. Before we came to Sydney, I had seen on the news that there was a special light show where laser art would be projected on the top of the Opera House. From the side of the bridge we were on, we could clearly see the show. I’m so lucky to have a girl like Holly who would put up with me stopping every 10 feet to take photos. It took many tries to get a good one but I finally did. We made our way across the bridge and back down to the streets below. Before we arrived back at our hotel, we decided to end the night with a bottle of wine. We had to walk up and down a few streets but finally found a restaurant that would sell us a bottle. The gentleman was kind enough to let us try a few before we settled on a bottle of Yellow Tale. It was now time to rest and relax in the hotel and get ready for day 3.

Today was the start of our adventure in Sydney, wine country, and the blue mountains. We had to take the train from Bulli to Sydney with one stop along the way to switch trains. The train system is very impressive here. They are electric and can get you to almost anywhere you want to go. It took a little over an hour to get to the station in Sydney. The ride was very relaxing. The track traveled through the mountains and, when we weren’t going through tunnels, the view of the countryside and cost line were incredible. Once we got to Sydney, we exited the train and made our way through the station until we reached the surface. With our giant suitcase, backpack, and camera in hand we made our way through the city and attempted to find our hotel. 

I’ll say this up front. I couldn’t have navigated the city without Holly. She says she has terrible map reading skills but I disagree. I’m sure I would have ended up in the ocean if it wasn’t for her. Plus she kept track of all the locations of our destinations and the times and manner in which we would arrive there. I couldn’t have done this without her.

With that said we did run into one little problem. We had a general I idea of where we needed to be and were walking towards Cockle Bay Wharf but it wasn’t until we walked across this long bridge to the other side of the harbor that we realized that there were two hotels of the same name that were within four blocks of each other. The one we needed was back across the bridge and two blocks recessed from the bay. It was an honest mistake because we walked towards the first hotel with the name we needed. Once we got pointed in the right direction, we walked until we found our hotel. We checked in and made our way up the elevator to our room. Much to our surprise, we had to use your room keycard to activate the elevator. We stood there and waited (we thought the elevator was going up) only to have the door open, and someone else step in who know what they were doing. They swiped their keycard and we were finally on our way to our room. The room was the same way. There was a slot by the door where our keycard went. This activated all the power in the room and had to remain in the slot for everything to stay on. Because the room was so warm, we just left one keycard in the slot while we went out in an attempt to cool the room (it didn’t work.) Like everything else in Australia, the hotels are slightly different from their American counterparts.   

After a quick rest, we walked down to the wharf in search of food. There was plenty of places to choose from. Italian, grills, and Thai were all an option along the bay. We chose a restaurant that had a good selection of meats. We sat down and ordered. It was quite cold being next to the water. Holly and I were underdressed and the gas heaters placed around the eating place were insufficient. As with most meals I have ordered in Australia thus far, everything was over priced. We ordered the meat sampler. It consisted of Beef, Chicken, Pork, and Lamb. Unfortunately, each serving was enough to feed one person. There was no way were going to be able to finish all of it. We wanted to take the leftovers with us but they wouldn’t let us. The server (who didn’t speak very good english) tried to figure out a way for us to sneak us out but wasn’t able to. We thanked him for his effort and left. 

We walked to the end of the bay to the movie theater. It is advertised as “The Worlds Biggest IMAX.” We say the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It wasn’t bad. A fun time to have with your date. I was a little disappointed because the geek in me knew that the movie wasn’t shot in true IMAX 3D so it didn’t look as good as it could have but Holly enjoyed it and thats all that matters. 

During part of my first week in Australia, Holly had to go to class. I decided to accompany her to campus those first few days. The campus is quite beautiful. Its very different than the limestone buildings atop Mount Oread that I am use too. All the buildings look similar. Much like an office park. The campus is exactly 60 years old. Inside they have lots of vibrant colors and modern furniture. The campus is spread out amongst dense vegetation. There is also an abundance of wildlife on the campus grounds. Mostly various species of birds that we do not have in Kansas. Holly jokes that I’ll never need to take another photo of a bird after the amount I took while on this trip. We will see…

To get to campus, we had to catch a train in Bulli to Wollongong then get a school bus that ran from the train station to the university. Public transportation in Australia is quite impressive. It will be mentioned many times throughout this blog because we had to use it to get everywhere. From the trains we used to get to the major towns to busses used to get around in the city, everything was fairly priced and ran smoothly. 

I wanted to list a few differences I found between college in The United States and Australia. First is the terminology. People in Australia call university ‘uni.’ They also have trade schools that are similar to our community colleges. But where we (or maybe its just me being lazy) use the term ‘college’ and ‘university’ interchangeably, Aussies have a very clear distinction between the two. When I would use them interchangeably, people would get confused.  

Next is campus life. The campus tries to connect the student body with the many forms of nature that encompass the grounds by providing a variety of locations for people to sit and relax. “No Worries” is the slogan for the people of Australia and the campus life reflects this. There are benches where people can sit in the shade and watch the birds throughout campus. It rained most of the time I was there so students weren’t out as much. Holly said, during warmer weather, people are usually out laying on the lawns, reading and playing music. She said people are more social and relaxed compared to students at the University of Kansas. There was also a large selection of restaurants on campus. We only have five different companies that are on our campus but Wollongong had many more. The food was also much better. Lost of meals prepared fresh. The last day we were on campus, Holly and I got some chips (french fries) to snack on from the bar on camps. They actually serve alcohol to 18 year olds on campus! If they did that on KU, the number of alcohol deaths would skyrocket I’m sure.    

I got lucky that the time I was able to go on this trip was at the end of her school year and Holly only had to go two days. I didn’t mind because I got to take many photos and see what going to school was like for her these past few months. School is much more enjoyable when you don’t have to go to class and can just wonder around campus. 

Miles

Camera

Nikon D5000

AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm lens

Nikon GP-1 GPS

Two Nikon 7.2v batteries

Two 16 GB SD cards 

Computer

2009 Macbook Pro 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 8 GB DDR3 Ram

1st gen iPad 3g 64 GB

500GB iOmega eGo portal harddrive running True Crypt

iPhone 4 32 GB

Today is whale watching today. Thankfully I am not jet lagged because today was going to be a long day. I think all those nights of staying up late and not being on the rest of the worlds schedule has finally payed off because today I felt fine. The day started out with my amazing girlfriend making my crumpets for breakfast. Yummers! We took two cars today on our holiday. In the first car was Louise, her daughter Tayla, her friend Nadine, and her two daughters, Mia and Alli. In the second car was Louise’s parents, Rod and Rose, Holly, Chen (the other foreign exchange student), and myself. It was a two hour drive so we were crammed in the back seat for the long journey. Rod has done more traveling than anyone I have ever met and it was very interesting hearing some of his stories as we drove along. Rose and Rod would also tell us about different landmarks as they came up along the road. We stopped at a lookout point that looked over the seven mile beach. The sight was magnificent! There was also a couch (or a lounge as the Aussies call it) that was just sitting there.

We continued our journey until we finally reached Jervis Bay. Louise packed a lovely picnic and we all ate lunch in a little park that sat on a cliff overlooking the bay. We ate for about an hour while the children enjoyed the playground equipment. Then it was time to go whale watching.

We walked down to the dock to get on our boat. There were many boat cruise companies with various ship sizes docked. Ours was a smaller boat. It had four outboard motors and seated approximately 30 people. It was open to the sea so the first officer provided us with wind breakers if we needed them. We pulled out of the harbor and headed for open waters. 

The weather was beautiful. It was on the colder side being out on the water and the wind was blowing but I was just thankful that the weather was behaving because Holly told me it had rained all the week before I got here. One of the first things I noticed, being out on the ocean for the first time, was how blue the water was. I’m used to being in Kansas where all our water is brown so this is a welcome surprise. We made our way out and began to sail along the cost. It was mostly rock and cliff face but I still found it beautiful. The captain told us what to look for when whales surface. It was going to be a team effort finding the pod of whales.

As time went on, still no luck. The captain then brought the boat near an alcove where we got to see our first glimpse of marine life. There were a group of seals resting on a rock face. The captan stopped the boat and we all got out of our seats and started taking photos. The seals were up there pretty high. We all wondered how they were able to get themselves up there when all they have are slippery fins. 

The boat pulled out of the alcove and we continued our search. It had been over an hour since we first set sailed and I was beginning to get cold and a little board. Where were the whales? We pulled out from shore farther than we had been and turned our engines off. Everyone was searching the waters but no luck. The captain gave the call and we started to head back to port. Shucks….

When we got back into the bay but before we got back to port, we took a tour of the cost line. We first saw some seals laying in the water. They put their fins up in the air and were using the sun to elevate their body temperature. It was very cute. We then sailed past Bowen Island. The water was so clear! You could see all the seaweed on the ocean floor and the occasional fish swim past. I’m going to miss this water. We began to make our final run back to harbor. As we did we passed the Aurora Australis. It is an enormous ship used to break ice. They keep it docked in the bay until someone needs it. You could actually see a few crew members on deck. I took their photo of course. We finally made our way to port, docked, and exited the boat. It was a shame we didn’t see any whales but it was hard to complain about the view and snuggling up with Holly on the back of the boat.

To warm up, we all decided to go back to the park where we had lunch earlier. Holly and I decided to get have a Chai Latte at a little cafe down the street. There were a few shops and restaurants lined up next to each other. The smell in the air made us hungry so we ordered some chips (french fries) with chicken salt. They were way better than anything you get at Mc Donald’s. After we ate we made our way back to the family, packed up, and headed home. It was a very enjoyable day and I am glad that everything worked out so I could get down here in time to go on this trip with the family. 

My flights was uneventful though it started off a little rocky. There was a serious storm that went through Kansas City four hours before I left and I was worried that my flight would get canceled. Micro tornados were popping up all over town and the storm was headed straight for the airport. I kept checking my airlines website to make sure my flight was delayed or canceled. 

As we (Brian, his sister Amanda, and myself) were driving towards KCI, we drove through some intense rain. People were pulling off to the side of the rode to wait it out. Screw that! I have faith in the power of the Murano and knew it could make it through. Besides, if a storm is going to take me out I would rather it happen while I was trying to survive than when I am just sitting there waiting.  

Once we got to the airport, it was time to wait in line. Holly told me that I didn’t need to arrive three hours early but I knew better. I first waited in line to use the airlines automated ticket system. When I finally made my way to the machine and swiped my card, it told me that there were no reservations. I was starting to get concerned. Did the travel agent not do her job? She had been so helpful that I didn’t want to think that. After asking one of the airline ticket agents for help and receiving none, I went and got in line to talk to a representative to get some help. Reaching the front of that line after 45 minutes, the attendant told me that I was in the Premiere (first class) line and that I needed to be in that line over there. Which just so happened to have the most people in it. Being in this line brought on its own set of challenges. There was a family that had been there since 11:00am. They kept cutting in line because there tickets weren’t correct and they attendant couldn’t get it right. There was a girl who’s passport was expired and she started balling because she hadn’t check this stuff before hand. But eventually I made my way to the front of the line and got my ticket. 

Finally aboard my aircraft (a Boeing 757), it was only 1 hour, 25 minute flight to Denver. I sat next to a lovely lady who was going to see her niece graduate high school in Texas. The flight was showing an episode of The Office (“The Stinger.”) The layover at Denver was uneventful. I forgot my notebook in the car back in Kansas City that had all my contact and flight information in it so I bought another. Brian sent me a picture of that page and I transcribed it into my new notebook. I’ve been using it to take notes of what I’ve done each day so I can remember everything when I finally update my blog. I bought some lunch at the same cafe dad and I did when we went to Comic Con last year then boarded my plane. This flight was much more boring because I sat between two older men who both had headphones on. The man on my left was reading a book. The man on my right was watching Avatar. I watched along with him though he didn’t notice. I’ve seen that movie enough thus I don’t need audio to know what is going on. From Denver to Los Angeles was a two hour flight aboard another Boeing 757. During this flight they showed the same Office episode again but thats all right because I listened to it while reading an interesting article I found in the seat in front of me about Bear Grylls, the coolest guy alive. Did you know that he survived a fall into a 19,000 foot crevasse only to regain consciousness swinging on the end of a rope? 

After landing in Los Angeles, I found a currency exchange kiosk so I could get some Australian money without getting charged extra fees. Waiting to board the plane, some American guy came up to me and started telling me about how he just moved down there and all the things that I will find different. He then started to tell me about this movie I should see that discloses how evil America and some companies are. First off dude, I know companies and the United States do some shady shit. Second, I DON’T CARE what you think! Can’t you figure out that I don’t want to talk to you when I am reading my book or checking things on my iPad? I don’t have a problem with a little casual conversation but if you are going to tell me your life story and your political views then you can just shut up right now and leave me alone.

Now the real fun begins. After boarding my flight for Sydney, I had to sit on the tarmac for 30 minutes while the ground crew fixed something. Thankfully, I had two really cool girls sitting next to me. They were on their way to see their boyfriends they had met in Las Vegas. We chatted on and off throughout the flight which made it much more enjoyable. No one can really prepare you for how long a 14 hour 25 minute flight is. If I ever felt like I couldn’t take it I would just remind myself that astronauts cram themselves into the Russian Soyuz spacecraft for two days so I think I can handle riding a bus for fourteen hours. I had the window seat which made sleeping easier. I was able to take some Tylenol PM and sleep the majority of the journey. The flight was on a Boeing 747-400. This plane is MASSIVE! It was a double decker and seated ten wide in coach. I don’t care what people say, I love flying. The fact that humans figured out how to get a piece of aluminum that big in the sky and keep it there for 14 hours will never be lost on me. 

I’ve never really been scared of flying. So many things can kill you during the journey that I don’t really think about it. If the crash into the ocean doesn’t kill me, the water temperature or the air temperature will. There were monitors throughout the cabin that they showed various movies and T.V. shows. They also would show a map of where we were, how fast we were going, how far we had to go, how far we had traveled, and the outside air temperature. At one point, the outside air temperature was -65 degrees Fahrenheit!

Though it was nighttime, you could occasionally see things outside. I saw some lights on the ground which I’m pretty sure were from Hawaii. Eventually the moon came out and you could see the clouds and the ocean below. The view was incredible and made me think about how small the planet is and what a technological accomplishment I was undertaking. 

As we approached Sydney, approximately 45 minutes before touchdown, the sun began to rise above the clouds. I got some good pictures that will be on this site and Flickr once I return. Once we landed, I had to make my way through customs twice. The first checkpoint went smoothly but I got pulled aside at the second checkpoint. During the flight, we had to fill out a customs card stating where we were going and if we were bringing anything with us (food, seeds, medicine, etc..) Mom had given me some Skittles and I had declared them. They want to keep the continent quarantined and take this very seriously. I had to lay all my bags on the ground and step away from them as a drug dog went along and checked them. The dog was a Beagle so I wasn’t too scared. 

I then made my way to my shuttle that I had arranged before my trip. Peter, my driver,  was very helpful. He told me about the sites we were driving by and even stopped at a spot that overlooked Bulli (the town I was staying in) so I could take some photos. We left the overlook and finally made it to the house I was staying at. I unpacked and hugged my girlfriend. It was only 9:00am when I arrived so I had to socialize with everyone though I was ready to go to sleep. It was a very long day of travel but I was finally glad to be off the plane and with Holly.