Farewell Australia

Sad, sad day leaving Australia 'cos we have had the best time with all the family and friends and had the most amazing adventures in the 6 months away from the UK. Very hard saying goodbye to my twin brother and partner Sally but we are determined to come back for a visit in a few years.

It was raining as we drove to the airport, shame really as we had hoped to get the last glimpse of Sydney in the sun as we flew overhead.

I hate flying, it makes me very nervous. After all, if we were meant to fly surely God would have given us wings! So I was most relieved that the 8-hour flight held no surprises. Very little turbulence made me a very happy lady. Almost perfect weather when we landed with a pleasant 23-degree temperature. Through immigration without any dramas and even the baggage pickup was quick for a change. But trying to find where the hotel shuttle bus went from was a nightmare. We must have seen most of the airport before finding ourselves at the bus stops. Then Ian went to ask one of the officials which stop to use and was told we needed to buy a ticket before we could board and that was at arrivals about 700mtrs back the way we had come! A few expletives later and a rather brisk walk eventually saw us clutching the tickets and 30 minutes later on our way to the hotel. The bus journey took over an hour. It was 8 pm and the traffic in Hong Kong was a nightmare. All those taxies vying for business and holding up the bus. Still, once we arrived we were given a decent room, twin beds and a small bath with shower over (feel quite at home as that bath is the same size as the one we removed from FS over a year ago!) and....... overlooking the air conditioning in the yard below!!! Exploration day tomorrow. What will we find to do? Knowing us....loads.