Day 1 - 7th January 2009

I was up at 9am today, stressing about my packing. Of course, I'd made a list last night, and packed everything I could think of (including going on the MUD and asking what people usually forget to pack. This was useful since I had forgotten the sunscreen). So after checking my list (again) I had breakfast and played with the dogs for a bit before going outside to meet the taxi at 10:30am.

The taxi was right on time, and although the guy driving it looked a bit scary (he had a bikie beard) he was very nice, and we chatted about the cricket and how people were betting on it, all the way to the airport.

The flight was due to take off at 12 noon, and since it was a Virgin flight, there would be no food provided unless I wanted to pay extreme prices for it. I refuse on principle to buy any food on Virgin flights. If I'm going to be subjected to aeroplane food, I'm not going to pay exorbitant amounts for the "pleasure".

Since I had a bit of time to spare, I decided to be prepared and get some food. There is this place in the airport called "Cocolat & Wicked Desserts" (http://www.cocolat.com.au/) at which I had a very nice cinnamon waffle with whipped cream, honey and strawberries. Since it was at the airport the prices were a bit higher than usual ($6.50 for one 'half' waffle) but the food was so good that I didn't mind.

The timing was perfect, as I arrived at the gate just as it opened. I followed my usual practice of wandering around the gate area in order to stretch my legs, and to get in the line as close to the end as possible. I don't know why people rush to get on the plane. I don't want to sit for 20 minutes in a small space whilst other people are trying to load their overhead luggage - I may as well increase the flight time by 20 minutes.

When I got to my seat, I was suprised to see that it had a little screen on the back of the seat in front of me. Now remember, this is a Virgin flight so you don't usually get entertainment provided by the airline. True to form, there wasn't. The people at Virgin have dreamed up an insidious way to get you to pay more money for entertainment as well as food.

Whilst you're sitting on the tarmac, and for about five minutes into the flight,you can watch 24 channels of foxtel - silently. Then they pass around free headphones, and 10 minutes later a screen pops up saying "If you would like to watch more, please swipe your credit card in the slot next to the screen. It's only $4.95 for 2 hour flights, and for longer ones it's $9.50 - How cheap is that!" and so on. If you don't pay, you get adverts for the rest of the trip. Constantly. You can't even switch the screen off, you have to dim the brightness so that you can't see the screen. Luckily I had a book to entertain me (well not luckily, I always carry a book on flights) and the flight went reasonably quickly.

Then baggage collection. I had a scary moment when all of a sudden bags stopped coming through the on the carousel, but they quickly started up again.
I won't bore you with the travel details. Suffice it to say that I like Sydney's transport system, even if it means lugging my bag from station to station. I only had to switch trains twice and the entire trip (from the airport to chatswood station) took about 3/4 of an hour. Which in my mind is good for a city like Sydney.

I was lucky that the lifts worked, as an unfortunate fellow traveller from the airport couldn't get up the stairs to a platform because the lift was out of operation. She ended up having to go to the other end of the station, use the lift there and catch a train to the next stop, switch trains and then go back.

Michelle picked me up at the station (for those of you who don't know, Michelle is Nicole Hersch's mother - Nicole was studying med in Adelaide and was at our house for dinner a lot) and after a brief snack I went and had a nap.

Then Michelle's mother came around and we had a yummy dinner of lamb, pumpkin, mushrooms and salad. It was very kind of her to let me stay, so I gave her a BIG box of Lindt chocolates (quite frankly I'm going to hide away from them because I wouldn't be able to help myself).

Right now it's 8:20pm and I'm going to sign off because tomorrow's going to be busy.

My week seems to be filling up quite quickly actually.

Tomorrow I've got a plan to meet up with a friend called Shoba and she's going to take me around Newtown from the "local" point of view since I've already done the touristy stuff on previous trips here. I'm probably going to stay over at her place since she's on the other side of the city to where I'm staying and I don't feel like catching trains when I could be having fun. Plus, there will be more time for going to second-hand bookstores!

On Friday I'm going to dinner at Michelle's mum's house. I'm going to be meeting with Justin on Saturday, then on Sunday Michelle's booked us tickets for some weird 8hr show that is apparently very good. Monday will be my "rest" day. On Tuesday evening, Justin, Shoba and myself are going to "The Complete Works Of Shakespere (Abridged) in which they cram all of Shakespere's plays into 97 minutes. I recall something similar being performed in Adelaide at the Fringe a few years ago, so it should be fun. Finally, I return home on Wednesday and have a holiday from my holiday.

I have to say that I'm pretty proud of myself so far. This is the first trip I've had "on my own" and I haven't freaked out or anything. Even the flight wasn't bad, and I usually get very uncomfortable and anxious when flying.


Stay tuned for more of my adventures in Sydney