Australia -- Travel to Sydney

So we were all set to leave for Australia.  Departure date: December 27, 8 p.m.  Unfortunately, I awoke at about 4 a.m. with what turned out to be food poisoning.  Daddy-J went down about 8 a.m.  By noon, I had been to the clinic, gotten two litres of fluids and some zofran, and was starting to feel like I could actually get on a plane at 8 p.m.  Daddy was still fighting it out, but by 4 p.m. he was looking good.  So we were all set to go. We had collected our Australian exchange family from the airport and they were settling in.  And that's when Miss D went down to the food poisoning.  So at that point, it became clear that our Australia vacation was off to a rocky start.

To make a long story short (too late), Daddy, M-Moo, K-Wiggles, and G'ma Libby all got on the plane on the 27th at 8 p.m.  Miss D and I stayed behind and caught the same flight the next night.  Turns out all the flights went well.  Delta worked with us to change mine and Miss D's tickets (and only charged us half an arm, instead of an arm and a leg, etc.).

So most of our party arrived in Sydney on the 29th (yes, you lose a whole day on the trip out there).  They tell me they arrived at the house without any troubles.  They found a place to have breakfast.  They drove out to Cronulla beach (the closest beaches to the house).  They had Thai food for lunch somewhere.  Daddy lay down to take a nap at about 2:30 in the afternoon and didn't wake up until the next day.  I don't really know... I wasn't there.  

Miss D and I arrived the next day (the 30th) and boy oh boy were we tired.  We survived the flights ok.  I think we were so tired from being sick that we actually slept a big chunk of the flight.  We were able to take on enough food during the flight that we made it to Sydney not feeling to terribly awful.  Daddy, G'ma and the girls were there at the airport to meet us and drive us to the house.

And that was all the excitement of actually getting to Sydney, Austrlia.

The only good part about it was that Miss D and I got to spend part of a day with our Australia family.  They really were lovely, especially since we were impinging on their US holiday by staying in the house and generally getting in their way.  They very graciously drove Miss D and me to the airport for our flights that second night, which made things a lot easier on all of us.

This is a picture of the lovely backyard swimming pool at our house in Australia.

Over the two+ weeks we were there, the girls spent countless hours swimming in this pool.  They all improved their swimming technique immensely, and they had endless fun!

The house was (is) located in Yowie Bay, which is a smaller neighborhood south of Sydney, near Cronulla beaches.

More to come in future installments.

Australia!

Enough said.  First ginormous family travel trip.  Whole brood plus g'ma Libby all the way to Sydney Australia.  Left December 27 and returning January 15.  Tickets bought with airline miles, plus a little zhuge for economy comfort seats.  Free place to stay via HomeExchange.com. No worries about the house and dogs.  No worries about hotels.  Two cars to use when we are there.  A four bedroom house with swimming pool, boat, minutes from so many beaches we couldn't count.  NYE Sydney fireworks. Sydney International tennis (warmup for Australian Open).  We hit the Opera House, Taronga zoo, Manly ferry and Island of Manly.  Cronulla beaches.  Wattamolla beach in the Royal National Park.

I am battling severe jet lag, but as soon as my head clears, I will find all the photos we took (girls got cameras for Christmas) and put together a real blog post and a trip book.

Suffice it to say, we are so glad we went.  Kudos to the Blanch family for holding our hand through our first Exchange. (they have done six previous exchanges!).

Gotta figure out the next move on home Exchange.  Time will fly so fast before the kids won't want to come with is anymore.

A good morning's work.

The girls got up, fed themselves, and spent the morning outside.