Today we arrived to Australia! 22nd country and 5th continent of our trip!
I’ve been to Australia once before for work back in ~2005 and was able to spend some free time exploring Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef area. Doug came to Australia twice for tennis (2001 & 2003), the final time to play the qualifying round of the 2003 Australia Open tennis! He spent time in Sydney as well as Melbourne. Having only scratched the surface to Australia - and both absolutely loved Sydney - we were pumped to return! And to have a solid four weeks to explore the country!
Trisha
My dear Aussie friend, Trisha, lives in Sydney. Trisha & I met while working at RB (Reckitt Benckiser) during the years 2006-2008. We had complementing roles in the Global Media Team. She was a shining star during my tenure at RB. Sadly we never overlapped living & working in London with RB; we always worked remote from one another, but struck a friendship immediately. We were also an unstoppable team when it came to all things work related. We’ve both left RB, but I’ve been fortunate to see Trisha many times throughout the years, as she’s traveled to NYC. We’ve always been good about keeping in touch, even doing video chats a couple times each year. But getting the chance to catch up in person fairly “regularly” (all things considered, living on the opposite sides of the planet!) has been a real treat and kept our friendship especially close. I’m very fortunate to have her friendship in my life! She’s always available to chat, listen, provide advice, laugh, experience new things and support. I hope Paige & Sadie have several “Trishas” in their friendship life :)
Throughout the years I’ve always wondered aloud to Trisha when I’d get a chance to visit her on her home turf Down Under. As soon we’d made our firm decision to travel as a family, we didn’t hesitate including Australia on the list of countries we’d visit. I still remember excitedly video calling Trisha, telling her that we’d be coming to visit her in person finally!
Feet On the Ground
We flew from Denpasar, Bali to Sydney. There were two notable things about the flight: 1) It was the longest flight - by a wide margin - that we’d taken in the past six months. Most flights we’ve taken are max 3 hours. Not since our flight from San Francisco, California to Montreal, Canada (5 hours 21 mins) back in end July, did we have a flight over 3 hours. We’re on the move quite a bit, which makes for shorter hauls between destinations. 2) It was only our 2nd overnight flight of the trip! The only other overnight flight we’ve had was also back in end July, from Montreal, Canada to Reykjavik, Iceland (stopover en route to Faroe Islands).
*Sidenote: The flight board showed that the flights to Wuhan (and a number of other Chinese destinations) were “No Operate”. The current corona virus outbreak is no joke. It’s spreading quickly throughout many parts of the world. We’re keeping tabs on it and taking the precautions we can to stay healthy, namely washing our hands and using antibac sanitizers. It will potentially alter our future travel plans (i.e. no Hong Kong at the end of April), but we’ll see how things progress.
All four of us managed to get ~3 hours sleep, which is the best we could have hoped for, I think. We landed to a VERY long immigration line but passed quickly through baggage and customs. We walked out to the Arrivals Hall and there was Trisha’s lovely face to meet us! What a joy. So surreal to be here visiting a longtime friend. We were all excited :)
Toastie Brekkie in Oz
We drove the short way to Trisha’s St. Leonard’s apartment. We made a quick pit stop at a coffee spot around the corner from her place (not to sound cliche, but we desperately needed one at that point!). At the apartment we were greeted warmly by a full house of Ben (her boyfriend), Marilyn & Roger (her parents) and Tony (her older brother). They kindly had a whole spread of breakfast ready & waiting for us, our first “toastie” of the trip! We quickly learned that toastie is basically a grilled sandwich. Toasties are tasty!
Exploring Crow’s Nest
After a shower (yay!) we headed out with Trisha & Ben to explore their neighborhood, aka Crow’s Nest village. So many cute restaurants, cafes and shops. We hit up a few and then grabbed a bunch of groceries. Trisha & the girls got a head start at the grocery store while me, Doug & Ben went to get a coffee nearby. Having not familiarized myself with the Aussie coins yet, I was struggling to find the right combination of coins to pay. The kind & witty cashier took pity on me and we quickly struck up a conversation. When he found out we’re from New York he hollered back to a colleague of his, an American also from NYC. We had a blast riffing with the NY guy and his Aussie workmates. So fun (and bizarre) to be back in a place where we speak the same language as the locals, and can pick up a conversation with ease, well beyond the token hello or thank you :)
It’s worth noting that it was ridiculously hot our first day! 90+ degrees with the sun baking down. It slowed us all down as we walked around, but we managed to log a few great hours out & about before we yearned for the creature comforts of AC again :)
High/Low
Trisha & Ben took the lead on making tasty chicken schnitzel sandwiches for dinner. We introduced them to High/Low and went around the table to share. For all of us the high was our arrival to Australia/reuniting with friends/kicking off our time together! Can't wait to create more amazing memories here in Australia together!
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