Australia Adventure - Day 1

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Hi All!

Well, we battled the traffic to LAX, sat on the runway for almost 3 hours after boarding, and Maureen didn't get the upgrade to Business Class and was scrunched in Enonomy--but we finally made it into Sydney. We bought our rail/bus/ferry passes straight away (see, we're speaking Australian already!) and got ourselves to the station closest to our "apartment". It was a pretty good walk from there pulling our suitcases along, but that just got us in shape for all the walking we've been doing since we got here. Had some lunch at a local gem (check out the picture of the greek salad) and walked to the shopping center to find a grocery store. Walked back to the same area for dinner that night as we hadn't purchased food due to the sticker shock and the fact we weren't thinking clearly yet (that cleared up after a few hours nap after lunch).

Things we have learned so far: food costs at least twice as much as back home (and beer is about 3 times more); no two toilets have the same flushing mechanism; you need your hotel card key to use the elevator and to turn on/off the lights in your room (this one took a little while to figure out); the bus system is impossible to figure out; you have to watch your step on the uneven sidewalks and not be looking around or else you fall and roll to the corner (Mike was kind enough to pass this info along to Maureen so she did not suffer the same fate). We tried watching a cricket match but we still didn't learn what the heck that's all about.

The advice we got from Lyndsey was right on--pack half the clothes you think you need and take twice the amount of money!

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Photos

Greek Salad?
Our first Australian meal--Mike got this Greek Salad with no lettuce but a huge chuck of fresh feta! Maureen had a chicken, bacon avocado sandwich--with no chicken.

Foster's
It may be how to speak Australian in the U.S., but this is the only sign of it (ha ha) we have seen here.