Catch up entry

So we drove from Ithaca to New York city for 4 1/2 hours and then took a flight from NYC to LA for 5 1/2 hours. Then we got on the flight to Australia which was 16 hours. Luckily my brother warned us about a medical condition called cheek fatigue .  We experienced it. The flight over wasn’t bad although obviously long. I got some sleeping pills and I slept. Even better so did David which is unusual. David slept so much he missed dinner. It takes more than a sleeping pill for me to miss dinner so I ate. I also know how planes dry out the skin so I took a little facial mask with me. David will upload those pictures. I look exceptionally well.  

From take off.....

 Crossing the date line........

 Thanks 

David and I are both having trouble with the concept that we are in tomorrow while the folks back home are in yesterday. Bill Bryson had a great comment saying stop trying to get your head around it and accept that you lost 24 hours of your existence

New prod new product for us

Saturday

Saturday

After a 12 hour sleep we got up at 8 for a 9:00 am pick up to the airport. Just our luck a passing pedestrian turned us onto the local Saturday "farmers market" and when she suggested they had egg and bacon sandwiches Melanie was off like a shot.

What a neat place with all sorts of foods and produce and nicknacks set up in a local square.  Next to Melanie's sandwich booth was a stall with Turkish grilled breakfast sandwiches surrounded by more than enough treats to keep us there all day. Also lots of veggie and vegan choices. 

Back to the room, quick pack and off to the airport. Our flight was on Jetstar. This is Qantas's cheap airline and that it was. Leg Room was a little bit less than normal and tea was four dollars a cup yes they charge for tea. If you wanted warm tapwater that was free but that's it.     

More Friday

So the blogger app appears to be no more so forgive the unclever distribution of pictures 

Friday

Friday:

One really should slow down when reading signs. I see "ePass" and "fastPass" and "eVisa" and they all register as the same thing. In any case after standing in an ever growing line we took our paperwork to a kiosk and lo and behold it kicked out some tickets sending us to step 2. Now to find a a sign that says "step 2". Yup. There it was between three other long lines. At step two you stick in your ticket and you get your photo snapped and take your returned ticket to step three......  nothing to declare and you're done. Really quite easy. Then off to find the shuttle to the hotel. We were told it would be free but when asked we were advised "there is nothing free in Sydney"

Our shared van to town ran through some university areas before letting us off between King's Cross and Potts Point. It was too early to check in so we dropped our bags and took off for the Botanical garden by way of the naval yard. 

By the time we met my new friend the dragon we were getting pretty exhausted and stopped for a drink where Melanie could not understand anything any Aussie said. Then up the stairs into the Botanical Gardens where we were treated to exquisite plantings, trees, birds, spiders and views. Sorry Amy to mention spiders. 

Alice Ploss posted some wisdom on one of our early posts- when you feel like you are on a ship you know you are tired. So much for our plans to hit Chinatown our first night. Limped home guided by a friendly native (who had no compunctions about sharing his thoughts on our current administration. 

We often joke about having reached the age where we take advantage of the early bird special. But 3:30pm Sydney (which apparently to our bodies was 11:30 the previous evening) was way to early for that. Although the nice folks at the restaurant took pity on us and were kind enough to prepare an early version of that night's special of barramundi on smashed peas - which was spectacular. Hmm suppose I should have taken a photo of that. Also had chunks of potatoes fried n a syrup. Incredibly yummy. 

Across from our hotel was a wonderful organic supermarket. Those of you from Ithaca it's like a green star. We had tons of fun roaming around looking at all the goodies.

 Sorry if my posts are going to be mostly about food. This morning we went out for breakfast and came across a farmers market. It was great fun. I had my first day  Bacon and egg rolls. I expected something like McDonald’s but it was delicious I talked through the man who is cooking  and he compared our president  to what he dropped in the toilet this morning.  His words not mine. Then I came across a man with a black cockatoo to on his shoulder. The cockatoo was a baby. Pretty big baby. David will post pictures later.  I’m having a hard time understanding what people are speaking. We are n the airport  on the way to Karen’s. That’s a 3 1/2 hour flight. In a few days we go to Hobart which is an eight hour flight including the lay over. This is one big country   Temperature is in the low 80s yesterday and today. My body to get used to her in a little bit but I am drinking lots of water

Getting ready

Been a long time since our last post but we’re getting excited to start off on our jaunt to Down Under.