After waiting around in Los Angeles airport for what seemed a very long time, surrounded by foul mouthed Australians we boarded the giant Airbus and got ourselves comfortable for the 15 hour flight. It was a big old plane which had some real oomph going down the runway. It also had a funny affect on Toby because within 90 minutes of being on it he’d been to the toilet 3 times and sick twice! Post puke he settled down for a nice sleep and although he looked very pale his sleep made him better! We’re not sure if it was tiredness or excitement but whichever at least it didn’t last the whole journey!
Other than that the flight was pretty uneventful although the good thing about this new plane was that it had a camera on its tail so you could sit and watch the plane flying through the air. This made particularly interesting viewing at landing as you could watch us come in over Sydney and then land on the runway. It was reassuring to see how much runway was left once we had slowed right down – I’d always wondered how much space was left and now I know!
After whizzing through security we collected our bags and then stopped by the Vodafone shop to get our phones working. At this point the repercussions of being stuck on a plane for so long were starting to kick in. As I stood in the Vodafone queue I could see two little boys getting into all sorts of trouble!
With the phones sorted we left the airport to find the taxi rank and it was like we’d never left Seattle – it was pouring with rain! It still felt nice and warm but we hadn’t travelled all this way to see rain! The taxi ride to Coogee didn’t take long and 29 hours after we left home we had made it to the hotel. A it a early the room wasn’t ready so we left our bags and went to the beach.
As we walked along the beach we saw some strange blue jelly like creatures lying around. As it turns out they are called blue bottles which were like mini jelly fish (prawn sized once peeled) and with a long dark tail – about the width of a piece of string. The string is the part you have to avoid because that’s what stings you – although they can’t sting the bottom of your feet or your hands for some reason. This knowledge, gained from a lady walking along the beach and once informed of this Toby freaked out! The beach was now a very scary place to be!
By the time we discovered this Toby and Harry’s trousers were already wet from running in and out the sea so we decided to walk along the beach, up the cliff at the end and start round the coastal path to Gordon’s beach. If you carry on you reach Bondi but we saved that for another day when we were dressed more appropriately and not sweating!
Throughout this short walk Toby continued to ask if there were blue bottles about, didn’t like the ants and was generally scared of everything. Australia clearly had a funny affect on him as spent the entire two weeks being a big girls blouse!
We were still waiting for our room to be ready so we walked back through the small town of Coogee which was very similar to a English seaside town. It had a bit of a run down feel about it but at the same time, unlike English seaside towns, it had some fab looking coffee shops, bars (which children are allowed in!) and restaurants. As we walked the streets we reminisced about kebabs, Indian takeaways and proper bakers with real loaves of bread! Yum!
As it was only 11:45am we went to a bar for a drink – Tracy was instantly feeling right at home! Again, it felt more English than American because just after mid-day there were lots of people in their with pints of beer and wine and kids were in there! While having a drink we got the call from the hotel to say our room was ready so we went back and checked out our ocean view room – home for the next 8 days. It definitely was a room with a view.
After unpacking it was time to go get some lunch so we went to the Black Pony and had some lovely crispy chicken, snapper and fries. All separate dishes, not together. After leaving there it was next door for some stocking up on bread, fruit and wine for the room and an ice-cream for dessert for the boys.
With our goods deposited back at the hotel and toby still scared of blue bottles we decided to spend the afternoon down by the pool. A lazy afternoon was required and well deserved – even if I do say so myself. After some sun and a swim it was back up to the room for showers and watching some TV lying in bed.
At 7pm the first few Tracy snores began. By 7:30pm the boys were out for the count and by 8pm it was a room full of sleeping people.