Day 30 Homeward Bound

So all the ribbons have come together into a beautiful memory of fun, laughter, sights and sounds, and good company.

An even earlier rise this morning to check out and check in – from the hotel and onto the plane. Thank heavens for being at the airport hotel. Once again the porters were there after we checked out to provide trolleys for our bags. We then strolled over to Terminal 1 and up to the QANTAS Business class check in counter for our QF88 flight to Sydney. A stroll through security and immigration, then into the first class lounge to wait for our flight. An interesting place, on an open terrace overlooking gate 15 and not too flash. We grabbed breakfast then strolled around the duty free before boarding our flight. You can’t buy alcohol and take it on board – they check your bags again for liquids just before going down the airbridge. Some Oz government regulation (we reckon the Oz duty free merchants have something to do with it).

Liz had noticed a Typhoon warning in the foyer of the hotel, and we experienced significant turbulence flying through it (though Chris slept through it). We even had to reduce our flying altitude from 35000 feet to 27000 feet. It delayed us a bit, but the flight director said we would make up time.

The cabin crew did a good job, and the meals (lunch and dinner) were scrummy. We continued our photo blog by photographing them. The chocolate date cake was particularly nice.

Chris kept checking the QANTAS in flight magazine, and then made Liz listen to the radio – there was a love song dedication from him to her – sneaky so and so. He had arranged this over two months earlier, picking one of our special songs and having a message announced by the announcer to Liz from Chris before the song played. So, every person who has listened to the Love Song channel on a QANTAS flight during the entire month of August has heard our dedication and we only got to hear it today, because when we flew out on the 1st August they still had the July list playing.

Thanks to the in seat power supply we were able to continue drafting our blog content.

When we arrived at Sydney the customs hall was nearly empty. Priority baggage worked this time, with all four bags popping up quickly. We must have looked like low risks as we were whisked through quarantine – mature couple, travelling in business class with lots of bags.

We were pleased to be greeted by the family - very excited daughter, grannie, sister, nieces and nephew. We piled into the chauffeur driven chariot and were driven home (thanks Sarah). It felt strange – where had the time gone?

It was great to be in our house which Sarah had kept clean. Bella the cheeky cat was not so sure at first after all these humans had been away for a month. However she soon came round to lots of pats.

Last thing to do before collapsing into bed – unpack and find that dirty washing!
Night night all.