Wanderung 33

Drive to Sydney and flight home

The long odyssey home began with an early morning start at Jeffie`s place, which I deeply regretted because it would have been fun to discuss Australian politics some more with her over breakfast. But she had to work, and we had to catch a plane in Sydney, which was several hours up the road, so we left shortly after 7 o`clock. Our Apple Map app estimated a bit over 3 hours, and that may have been accurate in ideal conditions, but in the end it took us a bit over 4 hours.

Part of that was just the necessity to stop for food and an unusual stop for a bathroom break where we found a bush with the most curious, bristle-like, vivid red blossoms which I had ever seen. Those en-route stops delayed us about half an hour, but the rest of the delay was the heavy traffic jam in the tunnel that the motorway uses to reach Sydney`s airport. That section was a slow crawl that lasted about another half an hour.

Just outside of the airport, we branched off the toll road to refuel the car, as that was in our rental agreement, and that ended up being the worst driving of our entire time in Australia. I had targeted three gas stations a few blocks off the motorway, but I was caught by central barriers in the streets that prevented me from crossing over to them, and then by a sequence of prohibitions against right-hand turns and against left-hand turns.

When I finally was able to turn, we were lost and I was caught in a maze of one-way streets that often ended in dead ends! Argh! We finally found a gas station to refuel the car, and then had to work our way back down to the access road to the airport, Marsh Street. But there were signs prohibiting entrance (to trucks , as it turned out), so I once again had to abort a turn, go ahead to find a safe place to make a U-turn, and then come back and find the entry point. Wow, was that a totally frustrating experience!

It was with a sense of relief that we turned in the rental Kia Rio at the International Terminal and headed inside. That contrasts, really, with the sense of regret that I had turned in the Hyundai at Perth airport after our drive around West Australia. The two big differences were that the Hyundai was a MUCH nicer car than the Kia, having a rear-view camera, cruise control, and a much more comfortable steering wheel, and that the driving in Sydney had been so bloody congested and frustrating.

Monika had worried about Qantas taking our luggage--envisioning having to leave her suitcase (my suitcase would qualify as a carry-on in a pinch)--but that turned out to be a completely unnecessary worry. The Qantas clerk at the desk was, like all their employees that we had contact with, very polite and friendly, and she processed our pieces of luggage through without a hitch.

We then waited for our plane, which was for me a needed time to relax and decompress after that drive. Like all good airports, Sydney airport offered a decent free Wifi option, so we caught the news that the gay marriage plebiscite in Australia had passed by a 62% to 38% margin, which made us VERY happy. I think a lot of Australians were celebrating that outcome, and their Prime Minister was quick to call for immediate legislative action, but then I had to get on the plane and turn off the Wifi.

The Qantas flight to Dallas was a bit over 14 hours long, which was shorter than the 15-hour flight from LA to Sydney we experienced on Wanderung 26, but still very, very long. Fortunately, Monika had cleverly procured a bulkhead seat for me, so I could move my legs around regularly during the flight, but she could not get two, so she sat a couple rows behind in an aisle set.

That allowed me to sleep a bit, albeit in snatches, after the evening meal, which is a godsend on such a long flight. We were roused by the steward for breakfast with about two hours left to Dallas, so the night aloft passed fairly quickly, although the break around midnight to serve hot chili dogs in the cabin puzzled me a bit. Still with that and then breakfast, we did not go hungry, and the quality of the food on Qantas was generally quite good. Hint: if you choose hot chocolate as your preferred drink, you get Cadbury hot chocolate plus a bonus Lindt chocolate ball!

We were completely exhausted by the time we arrived home, but the house was still standing, which is always a relief! We had to cope with jet-lag again, which we had avoided on the trip out by the simple but slow expedient of taking a cruise ship across the Pacific Ocean! All in all, we saw many new corners of the Pacific and Australia, and had a wonderful time, and we hope the Gentle Reader has enjoyed reading the journal of our adventures.