Sunday thru Tuesday. It’s been a total blur, but we have arrived. The flight over was long, but not too painful. As we were flying from Phx to L.A., we looked at our Quantas boarding passes and realized that we were scattered all over the plane in different seats. They had Hannah sitting alone, rows from us. We assured her that surely she would know her seat mates after 14 hours and 45 minutes together! She was not amused.
In LAX, Poppa got our seating issues all fixed and Hannah could finally relax. We settled in for the long flight. The key to jetlag is to re-adjust your body in flight, meaning you fight sleep as long as possible, eat dinner and then settle in for 6-8 hours of restless sleep in an upright position. And most assuredly, the 6’-5” guy in front of you will lay his seat down on your lap from the moment the seatbelts sign dings, till the moment you land.
Hannah and Tatum were troopers; there was not a complaint at all. Tatum relished having her cousin Michael all to herself, playing endless games of “rock, paper, scissors,… crane, ladybug, leaf”. You get pretty creative after the first 25 rounds, apparently.
We arrived Sydney, after watching the sun rise over the clouds, on a beautiful, clear morning. Off the left wing, we had a tour guide view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House. The Sydney Opera House is a stunning piece of architecture from a distance and up close. Can’t wait to show the girls!
As we were going through customs, we ran into our Canadian friends- the Teicherobs, who were headed to the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns. We will meet up with them in Sydney for the main part of our trip. They have two daughters who are slightly older than the girls, so they will have friends to hang out with too. We said goodbye and headed to get a rental car. “Where are we going?,” asked Tate. She didn’t buy into my “42 Wallaby Way” answer.
So the problem with our blue “touring” mini van (the Blue Kangaroo), we’ve christened her)…it seems someone put the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car. Brave Daddy is our chauffeur and resident good sport as we howl with laughter every time he goes to use his turn signal and instead turns on the wipers. We have the cleanest windshield in Australia! They drive on the wrong side of the road too. It is funny how that messes with your mind when you’ve driven on the other side of the road for 20+ years! Poor Dave tends to drift into his neighbors lane on the left side, but those kind Aussies just give you a little honk or hand gesture to let you know you’re about to shave the side of their Toyota.
We drove to Newcastle and had a wonderful lunch overlooking the Harbor. Newcastle is a beach town with beautiful vistas of the ocean. We noshed on the most amazing Salt and Pepper Calamari and chips. Tate peeled all the yummy deep fried stuff off to get to the prize- the squid. What’s up with a kid who loves octopus and squid over deep fried yum?!
We are spending the next couple of days in Hunter Valley, which is about 2 hours north of Sydney. It is in the Blue Mountain area and is also wine country. The list of local vineyards is huge. It’s Australia’s Sonoma. But we’re here to relax and unwind for the first few days. Hopefully, we will get to take Tate horseback riding- which is all she has on her to do list! Our place here is incredible. Really- it’s a 3 bedroom two story town home surrounded by trees and hills with 3 decks. I’m not sure how we made out so well, but our jet lagged, weary traveler bodies accept it with joy! I think we’ll sleep well tonight!
In LAX, Poppa got our seating issues all fixed and Hannah could finally relax. We settled in for the long flight. The key to jetlag is to re-adjust your body in flight, meaning you fight sleep as long as possible, eat dinner and then settle in for 6-8 hours of restless sleep in an upright position. And most assuredly, the 6’-5” guy in front of you will lay his seat down on your lap from the moment the seatbelts sign dings, till the moment you land.
Hannah and Tatum were troopers; there was not a complaint at all. Tatum relished having her cousin Michael all to herself, playing endless games of “rock, paper, scissors,… crane, ladybug, leaf”. You get pretty creative after the first 25 rounds, apparently.
We arrived Sydney, after watching the sun rise over the clouds, on a beautiful, clear morning. Off the left wing, we had a tour guide view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House. The Sydney Opera House is a stunning piece of architecture from a distance and up close. Can’t wait to show the girls!
As we were going through customs, we ran into our Canadian friends- the Teicherobs, who were headed to the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns. We will meet up with them in Sydney for the main part of our trip. They have two daughters who are slightly older than the girls, so they will have friends to hang out with too. We said goodbye and headed to get a rental car. “Where are we going?,” asked Tate. She didn’t buy into my “42 Wallaby Way” answer.
So the problem with our blue “touring” mini van (the Blue Kangaroo), we’ve christened her)…it seems someone put the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car. Brave Daddy is our chauffeur and resident good sport as we howl with laughter every time he goes to use his turn signal and instead turns on the wipers. We have the cleanest windshield in Australia! They drive on the wrong side of the road too. It is funny how that messes with your mind when you’ve driven on the other side of the road for 20+ years! Poor Dave tends to drift into his neighbors lane on the left side, but those kind Aussies just give you a little honk or hand gesture to let you know you’re about to shave the side of their Toyota.
We drove to Newcastle and had a wonderful lunch overlooking the Harbor. Newcastle is a beach town with beautiful vistas of the ocean. We noshed on the most amazing Salt and Pepper Calamari and chips. Tate peeled all the yummy deep fried stuff off to get to the prize- the squid. What’s up with a kid who loves octopus and squid over deep fried yum?!
We are spending the next couple of days in Hunter Valley, which is about 2 hours north of Sydney. It is in the Blue Mountain area and is also wine country. The list of local vineyards is huge. It’s Australia’s Sonoma. But we’re here to relax and unwind for the first few days. Hopefully, we will get to take Tate horseback riding- which is all she has on her to do list! Our place here is incredible. Really- it’s a 3 bedroom two story town home surrounded by trees and hills with 3 decks. I’m not sure how we made out so well, but our jet lagged, weary traveler bodies accept it with joy! I think we’ll sleep well tonight!
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