Arrival: Sydney

Arrival: Sydney

We have officially left New Zealand and have embarked on our next adventure in Australia. The flight and (surprisingly) security leaving Christchurch were easily navigated and flawless. A 15 minute delay(which doesn't even register for us U.S.ers) was explained and apologized for by the pilot before departure. We also got a full meal, drink service, and an ice cream bar on a 3 hour flight! Made it through customs and agriculture check without a hassle even after declaring that we had been on a farm recently and had TONS of camping gear which we meticulously cleaned and carefully packed. With promises of a Warm Showers host close to the city of Sydney we set out into the muggy late afternoon heat, opting to take the train instead of a taxi. We pulled the backpack straps out of our S&S coupler cases, grabbed our panniers and joined the masses on the crowded rush hour train.

We arrived easily at out destination station and walked the three blocks to our hosts beautiful building. Dave and Nancy were wonderful hosts offering us dinner, the finest of Australia's beers, a super comfy bed, and of course a much needed warm shower! We chatted until late, something that seems easy to do when you pair up cycle tourists. They got out the maps of Australia and we swapped cycle travel stories and talked about the differences between cycling in the U.S. and Oceania. Excited by our hosts stories we brought out and rough sketched our route immediately outside Sydney and about 100k up the coast. The next morning we were up early navigating the trains and streets through morning rush hour. We arrived at our hotel hours before check-in and dropped our bags off for storage and commenced watching the street for any and all taxis that could be ferrying in our moms from the airport. They arrived and tipped the driver before we could explain what we had learned about not tipping in Australia. We all exchanged hugs and stories about airplane flights and bee keepers, sheep farmers and news from home. The birds sang in the palm and plumeria trees overhead and it was so good to have family close. We strolled to the waterfront, then through Kings Cross stopping for a snack and tea. All a bit jet lagged we headed for the hotel and checked in to our apartment, complete with kitchenette and bunk beds! We all headed for bed with visions of sightseeing dancing behind our eyelids.