OZ (?) week 1 – have we ever been as busy?

All I can say is it was a b….y long flight, made  more bearable by the company offered by Gerry and Fiona, both from the emerald isle, and their young family, for whom they kept apologising unnecessarily, as considering the conditions and their ages, behaved wonderfully. We chatted through the flight and made the 13 hour drag a pleasure.

If you read this Gerry and Fiona – thank you.

 Disembarking was the usual fiasco, with those wanting a rapid escape, up and in their overhead boxes, luggage out, clothes changed earlier, and down towards the exit as fast as you can dispose of that stuff off a shovel. Conversely you get the ‘I’m in no rush; I’ll sit and wait till everyone has gone’ crowd. These stalwarts are good to their word and refuse to budge, leaving their luggage in the overheads and making it awkward to reach your own cases. Lastly you have the ‘go with the flow’ crowd, the members of the flight who get themselves prepared, coats on, baggage ready and stand on guard in the aisle waiting for general movement anticipating a slow but steady stroll to the door – no chance! Have you seen all the rabble pushing and shoving and elbowing their way past everyone with a snarl on their lips and a challenge to all passengers to say something about ‘behaviour’ and ‘good manners’?

But guess what? The lines of jolly holiday makers start to move, and the cheery sound of all the miserable sods saying, ‘thank you, we’ve had a wonderful flight’ with a much sincerity as ….. well let’s not start on the wrong foot.

We soon hit and negotiate the various controls, and make contact with the real world, then find ourselves in the land baggage reclaim.

The writer finds himself acting as guardian to the case chariot, upon which our luggage is stacked ready for the last hurdle. A lady standing close to the writer makes comment regarding the trouble my “sister” is having with my huge case (smooth), then mentions that my “daughter” (smoother) might be needed to help.  Blushing I explain that the two are a generation down from her assumption – I like this country!

Soon we hit and negotiate the various controls, and have contacted the real world, we find ourselves in the land of duty free, purchasing the dread alcohol and finally arriving at passport control.

We then go on out into the real world where the sun is shining and it's just like being at home, NOT!

Outside we meet with SIL1 and GD2 BF (boyfriend). We start our long journey to the cars and join the research project of the game the lifts play with potential passengers called “I bet you can’t guess which floor we are going too!”

The struggle to capture one of the lifts continues with the lifts getting a winning score by refusing to stop on any of the floors requested and still disgorging passengers coming to the lift from the upper floors.

With a big fight continuing between 3 lifts and 50 people each with a baggage carrier, we decide to retreat as there no way to win.

It is decided to split the party into two groups, 1 pushing trolleys,1 collecting the cars.

The strategy works and in no time (20 minutes) we are loaded and on our way to Matilda Close.

The journey is between 50 and 60 minutes and is primarily underground (I feel like mole), but we burst into brilliant sunshine and discuss the virtues of a “bar B  Q” for the evening meal. I should mention that we have been offered tomahawk steaks – how could we resist.

It’s about time for breakfast and it is decided to frequent a local hostelry to request said meal. D2 elects to have poached egg on smashed “avo” and toast. SIL1decides upon a firm favourite of his “scrambled egg, bacon on Turkish toast”, the writer goes for pancakes with fruit and, (wait for it) ICE CREAM, at ten in the morning a total sin.

After a relaxed afternoon we prepare for the aforesaid steaks later in the day. Having been advised by a friend to salt the steaks and leave marinated a few hours prior to cooking, the only advise the writer could offer was, when cooking the delicious hunks of meat to cook slowly and to keep turning over, a method we tried at home with great success.