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September 22, 2009 - Leaving Sydney and Arriving in Perth
We were up at 4 am this morning (still don't have that time thing down right). At 6:30, we were packed and down in the lobby checking out to catch our airport shuttle. A couple of last thoughts from Bondi Beach.
First, not sure if they do this all over Australia or not, but there is a practice I would like to highly recommend to the American Hotels. In our room, we had small bottles of shampoo and conditioner (you know the ones that if you don't use you grab them all up and take them home with you?) And little bars of soap. They also had a bottle in the shower. (I am on Daniel's computer and cannot put pics in like I normally do, so you will need to click on the links). Anyway, this bottle is attached to the wall and would do no one any good to take with them. It can be used as a soap and a conditioning shampoo. The maids refilled it every day and it was big enough that everyone with you can wash properly and you don't have to waste those little bottles! Just think if every hotel went to this system and did away with the little soaps and bottles...think of all the plastic and trash that would be saved out of our landfills! And think of all the money hotels would save!
And, secondly, I figure you deserve to see the view from our hotel window in Bondi. It was not very pretty, so if you stay at Swiss Grand Resort and Spa, be sure to request an ocean front room.
Then we piled into a taxi. And I do mean piled. We were picked up in a shuttle that held 9 people! Unfortunately, they weren't anticipating our pile of luggage. By the time we had picked everyone up, there was luggage everywhere! I would have taken a picture, but I wasn't sure how everyone would feel about that.
We arrived at the airport and it was a pretty simple matter to get checked in. The one snag was the size of our luggage and the amount of it. It was going to end up costing us a few hundred dollars each leg of our trip to carry our luggage. Since we were international travelers, Qantas gave us a waiver for our journey (THANKS GUYS!!!).
The flight here was 5 hours long. The aircraft personnel were exceedingly friendly (joking around with the passengers). We were delighted with the real cloth coverings on the pillows, the real glass to drink out of, and the ice cream that we were served for a snack. We watched Angels and Demons and overall had a lovely flight.
We disembarked from the plane and Lizzie was there waiting for us! Here, they still let people come to the gates to greet passengers. I can't tell you how neat it was to see my long time friend in person and give her a hug. We chatted while Daniel and the kids snagged the luggage from the carousel. Then Lizzie called Steve and we went out to meet him. He had brought his work van to carry all of our baggage in and Daniel. Lizzie drove Jack, Katrina and I to the hotel and Daniel went with Steve.
We are staying at Mindarie Marina (suggested by Lizzie). We have a three bedroom villa and it is lovely. I'll get a video while we are here. We got our stuff in and I went to the front desk and arranged our transportation for our dolphin swim on Thursday and our trip back to the airport on Friday.
Lizzie came by and picked Katrina and I up and we went to the store. I needed some laundry detergent and I picked up some items for our picnic tomorrow and breakfast on Thursday (we have a kitchen here). The supermarkets are laid out basically the same but the packaging is all different and the eggs are not kept in a cooler, though they are near a cooler. Back to the room to find Steve, Charlotte and Alexis here chatting with Daniel and Jack. Put away the staples, then off we went to see some sights. With 8 of us, two vehicles were required. We drove to a nearby Memorial Garden to see kangaroos wild and free hopping around like they owned the place!
We took some pictures, but it was heading towards dusk and my camera wasn't equipped to take photos in that light when the roos were a bit far away. But, for fun, you can see Katrinawith a kangaroo and then a kangaroo with a joey poking his nose out to see what's going on. That is something I have never seen in person. Lizzie and Steve joked about the first place they took us to was a cemetery, but it was really cool seeing the wild kangaroos. We also saw a couple of rabbits...and here I thought they were all on the other side of the rabbit proof fence!
Then we went to a jetty to see the sunset, but it was too cloudy to see much of one. The guys all did pick up a bit of gelato...that is some good stuff! And then we headed back to Steve and Lizzie's. It was around 6:30 which felt like 8:30 to us, which lately has been our bedtime. Lizzie was asking me questions and I had to have sounded pretty stupid (or drunk), I was having a hard time putting a coherent thought together.
We made homemade individual pizzas (excellent fun for everyone)! Lizzie and Steve provided all kinds of toppings and the kids played Guitar Hero and Mario Kart while Charlotte studied a bit for a big test. About 8:30, I noticed Katrina's eyes were drooping, so I suggested we call it a night and Lizzie and Steve ferried us back home.
It has been a wonderful visit so far. We are chatting like we have known each other all of our lives. We are looking forward to spending most of today with the Bezants as we enjoy a lovely breakfast this morning here at Mindarie Marina and then go to see Kings Park.
We did learn something very interesting to us last night. Tips are not expected here. Waiters and waitresses get paid minimum wage, not less and minimum wage here is 13.70 and above an hour (it varies by age). That explains the higher prices here, and in reality, probably makes them not as high as they seem. Of course excellent service can be tipped as a reward, but Australians do not expect it. Lizzie and Steve were amazed at all of the workers back home that 'expect' tips...hair dressers, maids, valet parking attendants, etc....
Well, woke up at 4 this morning and I have spent the last 90 minutes on Daniel's computer. Getting on the internet is expensive here in Australia(20.00 a day or 40.00 a week). We were lucky enough to find a free service in Sydney, but here we are paying, so we are sharing one computer. I'll try to touch base every day!
