We're in Oz but not clicking our heels

Where to begin? I’ll spare you most of the US to Australia transport details, but I do feel the need to share a couple of items. First, Emma is a ROCK STAR traveler. The trip from San Francisco to Sydney takes 14 hours & 40 minutes. Keep in mind that because we live in Oklahoma we’d already been on two shorter flights before arriving in CA. Emma was asleep before takeoff in San Fran & slept until we had only six hours left in the flight. Then she read, colored Pistol Pete and did some Mad Libs (thanks Ellen!) worked in her Brain Quest workbook, and drew for a bit until it was finally light enough to see out the window. I really felt for the parents whose children are non-readers because United’s In-Flight Entertainment System was less than family-friendly. We did not have in-seat monitors so the films were viewed by everyone and out of almost twelve-hours of entertainment there were maybe two hours of shows I would have let Emma watch. Fortunately she’s a kid very familiar with what is acceptable to us and never even asked. Furthermore, she never even watched anything on the IPOD! Yep, you read it here: “Seven-year-old leaves Oklahoma at 4:48pm on Saturday and arrives in Sydney, Australia at 6:20am on Monday . . . without any TV or internet time!” The second moment of transport I feel the need to share is that on this flight I experienced my worst bout with turbulence EVER. Keep in mind that I grew up flying in small planes flown by my dad, uncle and grandfather. With four hours to go in our flight, we hit air pockets so deep that even though we were holding on to our cups of water I got completely soaked. Those of you who don’t know me well should be told that I change my socks if I step on a piece of ice in the kitchen floor. UGH! I was almost dry by the time we landed and fortunately no longer looked as if I’d wet myself when we walked off the plane.

Immigration and customs proved to be an easy process, though not for everyone. Wade pointed out to Emma that packing light was a big benefit for us as several families with multiple pieces of luggage were being sent through x-ray lines or hand searched. We each packed in a carry-on sized bag, though we checked them to avoid dragging them through multiple airports. Each of us is also carrying a small backpack with our current reading books, journals, gum, etc. The customs agent took one look at us and sent us around the search lines. Woohoo!

It was approximately 7:30am Monday morning when we arrived at our hotel. Since we’d crossed the international date line Sunday simply did not exist for us. Wade’s Holiday Inn Platinum Status proved quite useful as we were allowed to check-in to our room at that time and get some much needed showers. Once we felt quasi-human again we decided to go exploring. Our mode of transport for the day? Monorail. Wade wrote to Emma that night in his journal, “I think Mommy was even more excited about this than you were!” He’s probably right. Darling Harbour, the suburb of Sydney where we’re staying, is currently having a Monorail Treasure Hunt, which Emma really enjoyed. We hopped off at the Darling Park Station, next to the Sydney Aquarium. Highlights there included: seeing Perry (for those of you who don’t watch Phinneaus & Ferb, that’s a platypus), observing a fairy penguin feeding, viewing dugongs – only five exist in captivity globally, and touring the shark tank in a glass-bottomed boat. We were so proud of Emma’s interaction with the marine biologist who led the tour. She asked some great questions and listened carefully to the answers. Our visit to the aquarium was split by a lunch break which we spent at Nick’s Seafood Restaurant at Cockle Bay Wharf. Since we spent most of our year landlocked, all three of us get pretty darn excited about fresh seafood. Calamari, crab ravioli, & grilled shrimp were all found on our table but not for long!! We returned to our neighborhood by monorail and were all in bed by 5:30pm.

Tuesday morning during breakfast we found a bird with which we were fascinated. Later, riding the mini-train to Darling Park we asked some Aussie’s what it was. “Oh, that’s a dirty bird! The Ibis. If you’re eating a sandwhich it will walk right up to you and steal it. They’re pests. Always digging around in rubbish bins.” Still, we were amazed by its beak and will definitely post a photo. Tuesday lunch was take-away seafood from Ice Cube on the wharf. I refused to share with the seagulls, but after we were all finished allowed Emma to feed one we’d dubbed “hop-along” as it only had one foot. She really enjoyed tossing bits into the air for the bird to fly up and catch in its mouth. This was the first of many creature encounters she’d have that day as our next stop was Sydney Wildlife World. Just inside the door we were petting a Rainbow Stag Beetle and enormous stick insects. Later in the day we pet a Koala named Marly and Emma was allowed inside the Kangaroo habitat for a bit. While there we learned that they feed the Kangaroo pellets made of grasses and vitamins; sometimes they toss in carrots for teeth cleanings. Years and years ago they introduced natural vegetation that was gobbled up in minutes, so they developed plan B. Only males are housed at the facility to minimize fighting. And, when they do fight they can stand on their tails and use all four feet to box. They can run at speeds up to 60K an hour and jump over two meters high and ten meters long. When our visit to Wildlife World came to a close, we walked back to our hotel. Yes, it’s within walking distance, but we really wanted to try out all those cool modes of public transport earlier. Lest you think all our meals are as glamourous as Nick’s, dinner found us in our hotel room not with room service but with crackers and cheese and peanut butter, the same dinner we had Monday night.

As I write, it’s day three in Sydney for the Watki and we’re in the hotel business center at 4:40am. Since all three of us were awake at 3:30 (which tends to happen when folks go to bed before 8pm), we decided to go out in search of a 24 hour internet place. So we wouldn’t have to get out unnecessarily, Wade called down to the front desk to ask if the convenience store between here and China Town Station is open 24 hours. “Yes sir!” LIES! Now, some might be really bothered by this, but our trio used it as a chance to walk around the area a bit. The temperature outside was pleasant and the area well lit. The only time we were uncomfortable was when a cop car slowed & we were afraid we’d get hauled in for having a kid out on the streets at 4:00am. Adjusting to a 15 hour time difference is proving to be more difficult than our normal jet-lag routine, but if we keep on this track, we’re scheduled to sleep until around 5:30 tomorrow and finally until 7:30ish by Friday when we’ll be in Brisbane.