View of Sydney at night from the Opera House.
(Ed note: While the pics are not in visit these posts are coming to you in chronological order)
(Ed note: While the pics are not in visit these posts are coming to you in chronological order)
Greetings, Ruers, from sometime in the near future. We’ve meet completed Part 1 of our trip downbound under and I intellection I’d analyse in and get you up to fellow on our trip thusly farther patch on a husbandly flight from Sydney to Hamilton Island.
Takeoff
To tell the truth, our lowercase holiday vay-cay was soured to a wrinkled start. Before leaving Genf back on Dec. 23, a weather analyse revealed a line of thunderstorms pummeling the exact region of Australia we were headlike for, raffish our broad hopes of sunshine. We headlike soured to the airport anyway, and patch making that dash (ooh, uncreased transition) I ran nous first into a Plexiglas surround patch disagreeable to hurry to attain a train. solon on that later, believe me.
At the airport, as we were checking in for Leg 1 of the 25-hour trip to Oz, the desk meeter asked us where our visas were. Visas? What visas?
Takeoff
To tell the truth, our lowercase holiday vay-cay was soured to a wrinkled start. Before leaving Genf back on Dec. 23, a weather analyse revealed a line of thunderstorms pummeling the exact region of Australia we were headlike for, raffish our broad hopes of sunshine. We headlike soured to the airport anyway, and patch making that dash (ooh, uncreased transition) I ran nous first into a Plexiglas surround patch disagreeable to hurry to attain a train. solon on that later, believe me.
At the airport, as we were checking in for Leg 1 of the 25-hour trip to Oz, the desk meeter asked us where our visas were. Visas? What visas?
After a 25-hour trip we finally land in Sydney and head straight for the major landmarks. Here we are in front of the Harbour Bridge...
Yeah, so we had assumed Australia, existence a part of the commonwealth and all, wouldn’t require any primary travel visa. We had assumed wrong. We freaked out a bit, as we know from another travel that visas can verify a hebdomad or so to arrive. Thankfully, it was a short-lived freakout as the line was used to idiots like us and we were able to submit an electronic visa after only a 15-minute or so pullout from the line. Now, while every this hubbub with visas is occurring in the French language, my mentality is play to swell for another reasons. Yeah, well, that Plexiglas wall incident I mentioned briefly early was the equivalent of Wylie Coyote attractive it on the nous with an anvil. As Marc had not seen me perform this feat of great grace, he only had my dazed version of events that I relayed to him in a shell-shocked state of mentality confusion.
Best I can recall, the circumstance went something like this:
Distracted by a wily child, I was hunting oblique while coming soured an stairs to grownup a train to the airfield and had run flooded force into a wall. I’m convinced that if I had been covering forward I would have broken my nose. As it was, I was not covering forward but sideways, therefore prompting the nous smash. As we made our way finished the airfield visa collapse it became clear I had presented myself one lovely contusion mere minutes into our vacation.
... and here we are at the amazing Sydney Opera House. Kirstin, above is in front of it and Marc, below, sports a headset during our architecture tour. We also caught an daytime performance by the Sydney Philharmonic in the opera house's maximal performance room. An interesting fact: the inner acoustics makes mechanical good amplification unnecessary.
Shortly thereafter we were settled in for a 7-hour flight to Abu Dhabi and were kinda hoping things would start feat smoother in very short order.
After seven hours of flying one is tired but not quite to the distinction of clean exhaustion. However, the best artefact to push that distinction is to be stuck in an airfield after those first 7 hours for a 4-hour layover. We arrived at 6:30am on Christmas Eve a lowercase stiff and sore and didn’t find the demand of dope (the one Burger King had oversubscribed discover of it) and unearthly horror movies playing on the restaurant television helping our effort any.
When it came time to distinction up for the next jumping – a mere FOURTEEN additional hours into Sydney – we trudged through the distinction only to hear the threesome best words in the arts language, and no, they are not I love you. They are
“You’ve been upgraded.”
We couldn’t believe our good fortune and questioned apiece other “Did you do this?” “No. Did you?” “No.”
We asked the flight meeter why we were getting bumped into business and all she said: “It’s a Christmas miracle.”
This is when a lowercase knowledge is a bad thing: Life is better in Business Class. See the pillows? After the meal, served on real plates, our way fold discover into beds.
A miracle indeed. Instead of spending the incoming 14 hours in cramped economy, Mr. M and I relaxed in little pods that bifold discover into beds and the Champagne digit could ingest if digit were so inclined. And digit was.
Ahh, so the trip directly started to improve and the grappling symptom even subsided a bit as we headed for Sydney.
Ahh, so the trip directly started to improve and the grappling symptom even subsided a bit as we headed for Sydney.
We all undergo what we do when it rains... head inside for a beer! Marc at the Orient Hotel enjoying a cold pint of something inhabitant (but not Fosters).
Sydney, Days 1-3
Unfortunately, we didn’t get upgraded on the weather, and a steady fall and fateful jet-laggedness has put a bit of a damper on the prototypal few days in Oz. We have managed to wager the major Sydney landmarks, though, and spent a good time at the Opera House by taking an architecture tour then catching a exhibit in the famous house on Sunday night. We also ate sushi at the Sydney Fish Market, walked through the botanical gardens, saw massive amounts of people queued up for Boxing Day sales and caught a showing of Avatar at the world’s maximal IMAX theater.
Kirstin at the Sydney Fish Market. We lunched on fresh sushi and Savignon Blanc.
Sydney is 10 hours ahead of Geneva, and 17 hours ahead of Central Standard Time, and the jet lag has definitely been a factor. We have both been instead narcoleptic and wide awake, though I’m definitely the large wuss and at times plead Marc to head back to the hotel so I crapper rest. It feels like it’s play to uncreased out, though, as we both got more than 4 hours of sleep last night at the appropriate time.
Today, Monday, we’re on a husbandly flight straight north, on our artefact to Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef. Massive thunderstorms there delayed our flight discover and threaten to ready us exclusive for a whatever more days, but we’re hoping the clouds will conception daylong enough for whatever beach and reef time.
I hope to update you again here in a whatever days, in conception to ready everyone in the loop but also because it’s a good movement diary for us. Just as the green bruises outlining my eye become fainter with each passing day, so too do my memories if I don’t jot something down. While those digit are probably connected, thanks for reading along anyway.
