Tuesday, May 19th, 2009, Sydney, Australia
Bob: Sitting still for 15 hours in a seat, no matter how comfortable, is a very long time to sit and we were quite happy to disembark in Sydney on Tuesday morning. We had to wait in long lines to process through Immigration and Customs, of course, but that was only to be expected. The Australians were screening the incoming horde with the aide of drug-sniffing and food-sniffing dogs, and the funniest moment of the day came when a very excited beagle found some food in the purse of the woman standing right next to us at the luggage pickup carousel. The beagle was just so excited and friendly and hopeful to get a treat, while the lady was so upset and embarrassed at having been caught with contraband, and the young Customs Inspector was so earnest and serious, that it all formed a laughable contrast. After watching the threatening ($60,000 fines!) government video on the plane and the "Great Beagle Bust" right next to me, I fully expected I would have to throw out not only the junk food we had brought with (home made brownies and a bag of pretzels), but also the home made jam we had brought with for Neville and Lynn, our hosts in Sydney. I didn't really care about the junk food all that much, but I did care about my homemade jam as I do every step in the process from growing the dratted bushes in my front yard to boiling the fruit and putting it into the jars. Given all that work, I decided it was worth a try to ask the Customs folks if I could keep it. So I dutifully marked an "X" in the space indicating I was bringing food into Australia and was directed into a special "quarantine" line with some really impressive luggage scanning machines. I feared the worse, but when I told the young lady exactly what food I was bringing into Australia, she just waved me through without even having my luggage scanned. Thanks, mate! And that was just the first of the nice people we repeatedly met on the streets of Sydney during our first day in Australia. When we were standing in the train station to get into town, a lady on the platform tried to help us with our hotel location, and likewise an old gentlemen on the street outside the Museum train stop directed us to Wentworth, where we finally found the Travelodge Hotel. We found a convenience food store just around the corner from the hotel on Oxford street, and there we picked up enough groceries to have some odd meals at even odder times while our biorhythms adjusted to the huge time shift over the next couple of days, something like a 9 hour total shift from D.C. time. |
Monika: We woke up early Australian time and suddenly it was Tuesday. We were served a nice breakfast, filled out our immigration and customs declaration and even a health form with information on where to reach us in case one of our fellow travelers had the swine flu. The Australian authorities seemed very clear that all food should be declared. We quickly finished the rest of the pistachio nuts that we had brought, since nuts were one of the forbidden items and decided to tell them about the jams and other snack foods we had. After getting off the airplane we waited in a long line for immigration. Suddenly a customs officer asked us to stand in a single line and another officer came by with a drug-sniffing dog. This provided some nice diversion before we easily got through immigrations and then got our luggage. I noticed, that we both were somewhat groggy, when I looked back at the luggage that already had passed us and saw my suitcase taking yet another turn around the carousel. I quickly got it and then Bob found his and we went through Customs. They did not object to jam and pretzels and we were waved through without our luggage being screened. After getting out, we first found an ATM and then headed to the train station. I was taken aback that a one way ticket to downtown cost 14 Australian Dollars (from now on anytime I mention dollars, it will be Australian money). We later found out that the shuttle bus from the hotel would have only been 12 dollars. Oh, well. Down on the platform Bob discussed with a friendly local lady which station would be the closest to our hotel. They settled on the Museum station rather than the central rail station. When the train came, I was surprised seeing a double decker train rather than the usual metro type train. When we went into the train and tried to figure whether to go up or downstairs with our luggage, a man offered me a seat right there, so we did not have to schlepp the suitcases up or down. Museum station was next to a big park with a war memorial. This was indeed the closest station to our hotel, but it was also an old station with no elevator or escalator, so we had to schlepp our suitcases up two flights of stairs. But packing light, made this not the chore it had been on the Tube stations in London, when we used the underground there. Up on the street, Bob got out his GPS while I looked at the map trying to orient myself. Immediately an friendly, elderly man stopped and asked "Where are you going, love?" I told him the street name of the hotel, and he grabbed my hand, pulled me to the street and showed me exactly were the street was. I thanked him, while he went on his way. By now I concluded, that Australians are probably the nicest and most helpful people I have met so far. This has happened in no other place we have visited; I have always had to find someone to help. |
Bob: After a lunch of muesli and strawberry yogurt mixed together (Yum! Monika had pretzels and Coke, another balanced diet!), we both collapsed into bed for the afternoon and roused ourselves only with difficulty right as the sun was setting around 5 p.m. As I was unpacking some of the power cords and battery chargers from the outside pockets of my suitcase, I thought that the zippers where not as thoroughly zipped shut as I typically do and somehow the contents seemed to be bit disordered. But I found everything I was looking for and I knew I was really groggy, so I mentally wrote off the disorder as due to the tumbling around that our luggage had been subjected to in transit. Trying to convince ourselves and our bodies that the Sydney 6 p.m. was now dinner time, we trundled off to find some groceries. My GPS indicated a store located about a kilometer away, but on our way over there we fortunately ran across an IGA store roughly two blocks from our hotel. Although small, the store had the milk, yogurt, ham, cheese, bread, salad, and soda drinks that we were looking for, so we trundled right back to our hotel room to have a couple of ham and cheese sandwiches plus a noodle salad for dinner. We finished off with some of the home made dark-chocolate brownies that had survived the Australian food importation screening for our dessert. Then I started our trip journal while Monika read in our guide book what we should do and see in Sydney, after which we both watched TV and read until our eyes simply closed down for the night. |
Monika: In the hotel, the concierge was again all Aussie friendliness, and gave us a room although it was only 10AM and check-in was officially at 2PM. We thankfully got to our room and freshened up and rested. Our room was on the 12th floor and I enjoyed watching the traffic on the street way below. We went out again to find a grocery store. Not too far from the hotel was a little IGA store, were we got luncheon and breakfast stuff. So we had lunch. I now just needed to find a wine store for some liquid refreshment. So off we went, until a couple of streets down I saw something called a "bottle store". Sure enough it was a wine and beer store. While Bob remained outside taking picture of an old abandoned department store across the street, I went in and asked a very nice elderly clerk for some white Zinfandel. I was, very politely, informed that in Australia they don't have White Zinfandel only White Shiraz, again a blush. I purchased a bottle and we went back to the hotel. After a glass of wine and some pretzels I kept trying to read, but my eyes just would not stay open. It was 1:30 and so we decided that it was a good time for a nap. We both conked out. After three hours of sleep, I woke up rather refreshed. I decided I should wake up Bob, so we would be awake for a few hours, before trying to fall asleep for the night. We didn't do much, except eating dinner (ham and cheese roll and some Tai noodle salad we had bought) and watch TV. I washed out my shirt that I had worn on the flight. We read some and by nine my eyes again would not co-operate, so I gave in, turned around, and fell asleep. |
| Index |
| Prolog | Map of Australian Walkabout | Epilog |
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