Day 1 of our Oz adventure

 March 20th late afternoon

That final trip from Auckland to Sydney went brilliantly, a very short delay of 30 minutes before boarding our Qantas flight was no more than a slight hiccup. We got talking to other passengers about their experience in NZ and the time flew by. Even the three hours seemed to go quickly, had in board entertainment, not that there was much I wanted to watch but the kiddy channel had a Disney film on so that was my viewing for the journey. 

Last sighting of the NZ coastline

And first sighting of the Aussie coastline

On arrival at the Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport it seemed to take forever until the cabin doors opened to allow us all out. No point in standing getting crowded by those other passengers, instead we watched the luggage being taken off. Suitcase after suitcase was literally thrown onto the trolley cart. No finesse at all and if breakables were in those suitcases, well I hope they were all very well wrapped!

Finally our turn to disembark but before we could collect luggage we were asked if we had anything to declare. What I hadn't realised was that some shells were part of the banned goods.  Luckily we had ticked the box with outdoor activities such as hiking being near water and in forests etc and mentioned to that security guy about the shells. Turns out though that it is only closed shells that they were interested in not the Paua shells I had in my possession so he stamped the docket with nothing to declare and waved us through. I get to keep them after all.

 

From the airport to Hornsby was much easier to do by train than by car, especially if you could get the through train that only stopped at four stations rather than the 'all stops' which took in about 18 or so. Within 30 minutes we had arrived and met by my brother and whisked away for welcome back drinks at his home.

New adventures now begin, and more to blog about no doubt. How often depends on what we do and of course the Ghan will be the main adventure but that won't be until early April.

And the lovely laughing sound of the Kookaburra greeted us as we arrived. Quite what I will think of them when they start at first light tomorrow, well it's something we both will have to get used to again I suppose.