The Big One

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We survived the 15 hour flight to Sydney and it wasn't that bad. It's definately better travelling with kids in many ways because you don't get so bored on these long flights. In fact it's just like a normal day of feeding and trying to get them to sleep! The time seemed to go past quite quickly.

It was the first flight I have ever gone without any sleep. Amelia and Samuel seemed to play tag team so that when one was asleep the other woke up. Samuel hardly slept at all to be honest.

I don't want to go on about it too much but I can't get over how good the kids were. They really rose to the occasion. We didn't have one tantrum from Mimi. A few moments of being over tired, but nothing that a cuddle couldn't resolve. She just did as she was told and loved the whole experience. Samuel was his usual chilled self and just ate lots and took it all in. Slept when he needed to sleep. It was so much easier than with a 6m old Amelia...great not to be breastfeeding.

One word of advice for anyone traveling Etihad. The kids entertainment went down a treat, but Winnie the Pooh should not be confused with "I need a poo" 30 secs before take off. We had to get a flight attendant to open the toilet for us, rush her in, only to be asked "daddy what are we doing in here? No poo poo today".

I'm not convinced that medised worked for us. It seemed to wake Samuel up even more and sleep for shorter time.

Etihad get the thumbs up from me for the food and service. In fact Abu Dabi generally gets the thumbs up. Good playground for the kids at the airport, always a bonus.

When we got to Sydney we had quite a mission getting our baggage and out through biosecurity but only because an A380 had landed at the same time so there were shed loads of people all arriving together. Our taxi driver from the airport more than made up for that. He was so friendly. Even gave us a DVD for Amelia and a discount!

We did declare the fact that we had been on a farm in the past 30 days and thankfully they took it on trust that I had scrubbed my shoes. I don't think we'll mention it in New Zealand as we'll be rriving late and it will add a delay. Naughty I know but I have taken a lot of care to clean everything.

We are staying in Watsons Bay which is lovely. Good to catch up with Sarah the night before her big day.

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