Traveling to Australia

January 3, 2011.

Christmas is over. We spent New Year's Eve preparing to leave and at last the day came. We had a pleasant New Years Day dinner with the kids on the way to the airport and we were on our way!

We had an Air Canada flight to Sydney with a connecting flight to Melbourne. This time the flight did not seem unbearable. We had the two seats by the aisle rather than by the window. Did the ability to get up at will make it seem easier rather than being trapped by the window unwilling to disturb that sleeping stranger on the aisle? We ate, watched movies and slept the time away.

We arrived in Sydney a half hour late. We went through customs quickly but it took a long time to get our luggage. No one from Quantas seemed interested in getting us to our connecting flight on time. Apparently they just get you on the next flight - no worries mate. But we had Lynne and Thea meeting us in Melbourne and no way to let them know we were about to miss our connection.

We were now booked on the 3:00 PM flight and they were expecting us at 1:35 PM. To complicate matters they were also flying late. They arrived and could not find us. They wondered if we had gone off looking for them.Eventually we all got together and took a taxi across Melbourne to the suburb of Geelong.

We had arrived! The motel was small but comfortable. The receptionist very helpful. She arranged a taxi for 5:30 AM the following morning and sent us off with suggestions for dinner. We strolled the waterfront but it was very cool with a strong wind. We grabbed a quick Calamari and chips from a beachfont stand, investigated the Yacht Club and watched Lynne and Thea ride the Ferris Wheel.



With a 24 hour day behind us and a 4:30 AM wake up call ahead, we turned in early.We got up at 4:30 AM as planned. The taxi arrived on time and we were at the Avalon airport by 7:00. Laurel met us there. We were ready for our flight into the Red Center and the town of Alice Springs! This time all went according to plan. We landed, picked up our car and found our way to the Desert Palms Resort.