Day 1

Sue

Our trip started out on the wrong foot. We sat in the Air Canada departure lounge for an hour, eagerly waiting for the boarding announcement. As our time to depart got closer we started to get nervous. Finally we went and asked and the plane was just doing the final boarding. We had missed the boarding announcements cause they were all in FRENCH!

On this flight Amanda was in heaven. She got to sit next the world's cutest guy who even smelled good! Other than that the flight was uneventful.

On to LA ... where we get off the Air Canada plane and we look for the Qantas area. Finally we ask someone at a service desk who kindly draws us a picture, but guess what? It doesn't lead us anywhere!

We have to find the "international terminal" so the search is on. We only had two hours at this point till our next flight left. We asked another woman .. she directed us to another place totally ... lost again .. we find this man who sets us off in the right direction. He starts telling us to take this bus .. then this bus .. and we asked .. where are we going and he points to a building in the distance. We decided .. no buses .. we will walk. So we walked to the terminal, found Qantas FINALLY .. checked in and Adam decided he was hungry. We ended up dragging Adam past Wolfgang Pucks ... past all the Japanese restaurants (the boy has expensive tastes)to MACDONALDS .. where he had a kid's meal.

We then boarded our Qantas plane and we were treated royally. First they serve orange juice .. then hand out little "personal packs" to each person which contains a toothbrush, toothpaste, eye mask and socks. The idea is that you can take off your shoes and put on your clean Qantas socks and not smell up the plane! The plane itself was beautiful all painted up in Aboriginal Dreamtime art. The flight was 11 and a half hours long and not the most comfortable. There was plenty of legroom but the problem was sleeping sitting up and the fact we had two drunk Kiwis behind us.

We got to New Zealand at 5:30 am their time .. and it was still dark out. From the lounge we saw the sun come up over the mountains to reveal a very beautiful country side. Then it was off to Australia.

We arrived in Australia right on time .. at 9:10 am. We zipped through customs cause the custom's officer knew David. It was kind of funny .. he asked why we were here and we told him and it ended up he is also a member of SES but in a different unit. We rushed to the baggage area and waited. And waited. Finally an announcement came that our baggage had to be delayed an extra 25 minutes cause the holds had to be sprayed for bugs. We finally got our luggage and went out to the lobby.

What a surprise we found out there ... it seemed we had most of the people there waiting for us! We had expected David, JB and Jess .. but we had another wonderful surprise waiting for us. Geoff, Anne, Dallas and Kimberly Perkins were there also. Hugs and kisses all round .. It was so wonderful to see all of them again.

The Perkins had to leave (but we will see them again in two weeks) and we headed out to the car park. After a major search of a huge lot for the car (somehow it moved from it's designated spot) we got into the cars and headed to Southgate. This place was beautiful, all sorts of crafts, jewellery and interesting items for sale along the Yarra River. It is a magical place and we watched entertainers perform for the crowd and we browsed through stand after stand of merchandise. JB is a wonderful guide, always filled with little bits of trivia about the surrounding area. After lunch we decided we should head out and we left for Warrnambool.

It is a three hour drive from Melbourne to the 'bool. Adam is now sound asleep (I suspect for the night). We are off to watch the olympics for a bit (too bad about Elvis) and then to bed early.

Take care everyone and we will talk to you all soon.

Continue the Journey