Sydney

We’ve made it to Sydney!

It’s been a long trip. Fortunately the plane ride with Quantas was quite smooth. And despite the long, uncomfortable hours the kids were cooperative all along.

In the early morning we arrived at Sydney airport. After some freshing up we joined the queue at immigration where even before setting one foot into the country we were exposed to the legendary friendliness of the Australian people: the immigration officer told us all about the snow he had in Europe this April and how much he loved the Munich Hofbraeuhaus! Figures, out of all the tills at immigration we chose his… It’s a small world!

Still at the airport we stocked up on Australian Dollars and purchased a prepaid SIM card before heading to the hotel by taxi. All our baggage had made it as well and so we were hoping for a quick, hot shower and a nap in our room. However, because we had arrived so early the room wasn’t ready yet and we took the first nap on the sofa in a corner of the lobby. The lack of sleep was now really getting to all of us. Taking pity on us the hotel staff prioritized the cleaning of the room so we could sneak under the covers just half an hour later. As soon as F and the kids hit the pillows they were passed out. So when I came out of the shower chatting away merrily there was nobody listening anymore. I therefore decided to join in and we were all snoozing away for the next couple of hours.

Getting up again was really hard but we wanted to get some sunlight hours in in order to beat the jet lag. We therefore decided to explore the harbor for a bit.

In order to get there by train we bought “Opal” passes for each of us at the next convenient store. With these prepaid cards you can pay for public transport in Sydney by just swiping the card over a pad at the entry gate. Swipe it again at the exit and the fare will automatically be deducted from the card.