We left Montgomery, Alabama at 5:15 PM on Tuesday, September 21st. A big thanks to Mickey Burnet for getting us to the airport in plenty of time. Our flight was on time and our good luck continued all the way to Australia. No lengthy delays anywhere. Even though the Dallas/Fort Worth to Los Angeles and the Los Angeles to Brisbane planes were full, we had great seat-mates who provided us with useful information and entertaining stories.
The first family, a young couple with two daughters, was traveling from London, England, where he had been working for four years, to the city where the parents grew up, Aukland NZ. After a week in Disney World and a week on the beach in Australia, they would complete their journey and the girls, six and eight, would finally be living close to their grandparents. The dad, who sat on our side of the isle, gave us the name of his favorite restaurant in Auckland and suggested a few sights to incorporate into our visit to their home country. Although we all traveled on the same plane to Australia, we did not see them again until they were deplaning in Brisbane.
Our second set of seat-mates were from Australia and on their way home from a two week vacation in the US. Their holiday started in Hawaii, then to Disney Land in California, and on to Las Vegas, Nevada. These grandparents visited magical places without benefit of children or grandchildren. As it turns out, they were able to recommend several places to visit in both Melbourne and Sydney as we toured around the country, and we exchanged contact information so we could visit them at their island home, just outside Brisbane, if we have time.
I guess the most unusual part of the overseas flight was going through so many time zones and crossing the international date line. I had not changed my watch from Alabama and we were being served dinner at 3:00AM and preparing for sleep by 4:00. After several hours of good sleep it was time for breakfast at 5:00 AM Australia time and it was always dark. We left Los Angeles in the dark and arrived in Australia as the sun was coming up.
Going through customs was a breeze and Brian was waiting for us, so off we go to Palm Beach, AU. Both pictures are from Brian's balcony He lives on the second floor of the apartment complex and is just steps away from this beautiful beach. In the first picture, the red shingled house just this side of the two story white house is reported to belong to Paris Hilton's family. Although Brian has never seen Paris, he has seen paparazzi on the street in front of the house.
Even more exciting to me are the whales we saw swimming in the ocean, one was jumping plus we saw several other water spouts from the view below.
- and to think Brian gets to see these wonderful sights every day!
Until next time, S & C
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