Oz

Well hello from Sydney!

We set off from Switzerland on Monday morning and caught a plane which got us to London around lunchtime. Since we had time to kill until our flight at 9.30 pm, we headed out to West London (where else) and went to the bank, Post Office, etc to sort out last minute stuff. At 4.00 pm, with still a while to wait, we thought that the best way to make time go quickly is to go down the pub, so I calmed my last minute "can't-believe-we're-about-to-leave-Europe-for-ages-
and-go-backpacking" nerves with a few G&Ts in the King's Head in Earls Court. Kirstie joined us and it was really nice to be able to say good bye properly (drunks hugs, running after the train on the tube platform at Hammersmith, waving manically, etc).

Now, trust me I am very very ashamed to say this and realise that it makes us look slightly ridiculous as we are supposedly backpacking for the next year, but the fact of the matter is, we were unbelievably lucky and got First Class seats all the way down to Sydney. Makes me cringe just to write this, but I do want to write it as I am sure I will enjoy remembering the lovely experience when stuck on a 1940's bus going around hairpin turns up some mountain in South America. Won't go on and on about it but the flight over was so, so nice.

We arrived in Sydney yesterday at 7.00 am local time to a glorious hot and sunny day. Getting through customs and out of the airport was a lot less painful than we had anticipated, and we were at Aurelie and Shane's house by about 9.00 am. Having our first shower in 36 hours was definitely a highlight (for ourselves as much as for each other!). Gary suggested we walk down to the wharf in Neutral Bay and get a boat out to Circular Quay, which was a fantastic idea as my very first sight of the harbour as we approached it from the sea was breathtaking. As Gary pointed the Opera House, I replied "Oh yes there it is, the Sydney Marriott" - the hotel was neatly lined up right behind it... I am slowly getting over not working for Marriott any longer... I swear (not missing it that much right now!).

We spent the evening with Shane and Aurelie and had the obligatory BBQ in the garden - lovely. We got to bed at 10.00 pm and slept until about 6.00 am so should hopefully fight off jet lag pretty quickly.

The weather forecast is 40 Celsius today! Sunburn here we come!

C.