Our Travels Begin

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Well, here is a long overdue entry. I will do my best to keep up.

Alison and I got up and madly threw our stuff together for last minute packing. Anne and Alison got in the car, and I set the alarm. I was so used to getting in the back seat and immediately opened the door. Alison said my name, and I realised the front seat was open. In my panic, I opened the front door and realised it was the driver seat. I obviously revert back to my prior knowledge that the "driver should sit in the left side of the car", when in a rush. As I realised Anne was sitting there, I dashed over to the correct spot, thankfully before the alarm went off.

Alison and I went to the library to see if we could find an Australia Lonely Planet, but none were available. We had lunch at Dimitris (Mom, you jealous?). Then we walked around the city for a while. We got back to the Church and Alison played the piano. One of the ladies from the Church gave us a big hug to tell us goodbye.

A while later, Alister came over to say that Anne would take us to the airport. He walked us outside and gave us a big hug. He kept saying, "It isn't goodbye, but see you later." Anne was driving and as we got closer to the airport, Alison told her to slow down. It was really hard saying "See you later." Anne made us promise to go on the plane and have a good time. We know we will, but still. We told her it was her fault for making us so happy. She told us not to put the blame on her. So we said it was Alister's fault.

We got through and sat down to wait for our plane. At customs, they made me dump my peanut butter. Alison got through with hers. It didn't help that we only had carry on bags. Our flights were cheap flights, so we just brought carry on bags. So, we are travelling quite light for being gone a month.

A lady came by doing a survey on travelling. She asked us a lot of questions on where we travelled and what we did. We combined both of our travels. Then she wanted us to estimate our spending of food, accommodations, and other things. We were at a loss. How do you calculate something like that over 9 months! Then she showed us an i-site logo and asked if we have ever been there. OH YES! I-Site is an information centre based in every city in NZ. They have maps and people to help book tours. We have been there many of times. She basically hit the jackpot when she came to us, as we have been everywhere and done so many things. When she left (we got a free CD), we immediately boarded the plane. It took that long.

When we landed, we went through customs. I don't know what I expected exactly, but they didn't do anything but stamp my passport. That was easy! We then rang our hostel for our complimentary pick up. The first time, it didn't work. The second time, a person picked up, but it cut off. The third time we rang, I finally got to talk to somebody. The shuttle wasn't running, so we had to take the Sydney public shuttle and they would pay us back. We got the tickets. Another couple was waiting there as well. The person in charge of the shuttle told us to go to gate 32. We went there, but the van that was there wasn't for us. Another van arrived and said we needed to go to 34. We went and stood around for a long time. A shuttle came, and Alison tried to tell him where our hostel was. He cut her off and told her just to get in and tell him on the way. The couple that was with us gave us looks of surprise, because of the rude driver. I wasn't going to put my seat belt on, but he was a reckless driver. I thought it would be unwise to leave it off. He stopped at Domestic and said traffic was terrible. He collected our tickets, but we needed them for the hostel. We asked if we could have them back, so the hostel could reimburse us. Blank look. So Alison said it again. He said he didn't understand and I defined reimburse. Alison said, "Can we have the tickets back?" He told us they should have given us a receipt. Alison said, "Well, they didn't." He gave us tickets, but they were return tickets. The driver dropped us off first. The receptionist was really nice, but said they didn't give money back for return tickets. I said, "He wouldn't give the other ones back to us." She raised her eyebrows and said, "That's weird." Then Alison and I went to our room. There were 6 beds, but we were the only ones there." The bathroom had a sliding door, and you could see in it. It also wouldn't latch.

It was getting darker, but we both really wanted to see the Opera House. So we walked to the city (about 1 hour). We went through Hyde Park, which had some kind of food festival. As we walked, I saw something that looked like part of the Opera House, but I couldn't tell. As we approached, we just couldn't wait any longer. We literally ran all the way to the Opera House. There was a concert going on. It was really beautiful and it gave us the feeling that we were actually in Sydney...that we were actually in Australia. This was our biggest reason for coming here (well, the thing we wanted to see the most) and we got to see it on our first day. We walked along and just admired everything. There were lots of expensive restaurants that we were a little afraid to check the prices. The Harbour Bridge was cool to see as well. We headed back and purchased expensive fruit ($1.50 AUD each) and went back to the hostel to have our gourmet peanut butter sandwich and apple. I then rearranged my stuff so I could take my backpack tomorrow for our outing.

We made it!