Fiji and arrival into Sydney

It's 6:39 am, somewhere in the middle of the Pacific. We arrived into Nadi Fiji's international airport about an hour ago on Air Pacific.

The flight we just disembarked was PHENOMENAL. We found a one way ticket to Sydney through Fiji last September for $755.00. I think we both wondered how legit this airline, Air Pacific, could be when Qantas (the Australian airline) was charging upwards of $1000 for a one way. But we, on a whim, booked the tickets and decided to deal with whatever awaited us in the distant future.

We boarded the airline, row 54, and settled in. The plane was scheduled to depart around 11:30pm PST, and we had gotten up around 8 am that morning, so we were all approaching exhaustion. Add to that the frustrating ordeals the previous hours had contained, and we were definitely ready for a long night's sleep. As we were waiting for the remaining passengers to board, the flight attendant walked by and said: The flight is rather empty tonight, so in about 15-20 minutes, feel free to spread out a bit.

We claimed our rows immediately - all of us successfully securing a 3 person row to ourselves. With those rows came 3-4 pillows and blankets. We popped sleeping pills - just in case - and settled into a long sleep. I think we all slept for 8-9 hours. We woke up to breakfast - fruit filled pancakes and sausage for me; Omelets and sausage for Mel & Walt - and soon arrived into Nadi.

We walked directly out onto an elevated sidewalk and into darkness accompanied by massive heat and humidity. To be fair, it was only 76 degrees, but the humidity made it feel more like 90. Especially considering I was wearing my fur-hooded jacket.

Walter got attacked by the bugs that were previously attacking the light. I've never heard anyone hurl so many curse words at a bug, but it was fairly entertaining.

"That's one fuzzy bug."

We made it through the transit area successfully and are now waiting at Gate 5 for our flight to Sydney in about 2 hours or so. We scored free internet - again thanks to Air Pacific - and sat watching the sun come up over this beautiful land.

I was surprised to look out into the sunrise and see that the land is quite lush and green. I realize, now that I think about it, that I shouldn't have been. All of these islands which were formed by volcanic action are extremely fertile. However, I had in my mind an idea of beaches and sand and deserts. I often don't think things through, I suppose.

So the sun is rising over the green mountains in the distance, casting beautiful whites, pinks, and slight blues over the sky and land beneath it. I tried to capture it through the window with my camera, but it's a lame attempt at best.
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We got on a plane headed to Sydney about 3 hours after we landed in Fiji. This flight, which was only about 4.5 hours long, seemed infinitely longer than the first 11 hour flight. This seems to be because we slept most of the first flight. We all seem to find ourselves lost in our own books, thoughts, or music on this flight. Finally, we come in over the Pacific and land at Sydney's International Airport.

We stand in line at customs and I admire the native Aussie men. So much to look at. Customs is an absolute breeze, especially compared to the US. The man who is looking over my card asks me a series of questions, ending in: Did you bring any chills from Fiji? I smile my biggest smile and ask in my naive accent: What are chills? Chills, like a chill necklace or bracelet. I smile and shake my head at him. (He means shells, by the way.) I love the accents, but clearly I can't understand it all. Gosh I love the accents.

I ask a cute security guard if I can stand there and wait for Mel and Walt. Of course I can, he tells me. More eye candy as we head out to catch the train.

As soon as I grab my bags and start towards the train, I regret bringing 50 pounds of luggage + a carry on + a laptop bag. If we don't get a car soon, I'm definitely shedding this suitcase. We make our way to the train that heads from the airport down to Circular Quay, which is where Veronica works. Veronica is hosting us while we are in Sydney; she is a friend of Melissa's friend Chalis. The train system is so simple and in just minutes we've arrived at Circular Quay. This is the area of Sydney that overlooks the Harbor/Opera House.

We head straight for Veronica's office, because we've got too many bags to deal with. After about 10 blocks of misery, we make it up the elevator. As we're getting off, we run into a blonde lady who looks like she might know us. "Are you...?" She begins. We nod and ask if she is Veronica - indeed she is. She tells us that she's not feeling well, so she's planning to take us back to her place instead of finishing the day out at work. We grab a bus from Circular Quay down to Kingsford - the area she lives in. As we get off the bus, the smells of the many Asian restaurants overcome us. We are hungry. We couldn't even tell you what time it was the last time we had a meal, because we've crossed way too many time and date zones. We don't even really know what time it is here. We drag our suitcases upstairs (luckily, they have an elevator) and drop them in our home for the next week or so.

Veronica is originally from Canada. She met Melissa's friend Chalis through Bible College. I think they went to Hillsong, but I'm not sure. So Veronica met and married an Australian and she has been living here for the past 5 years. She loves it. She is very sweet and soon takes us out for Thai food. We eat Stir Fry Chicken w/ Garlic sauce and Fried Rice with Tofu. It's pretty tasty, if I do say so myself.

It's almost 5pm as I'm typing now. We are sitting in our makeshift room, which houses a full futon and a twin bunk bed. Smally Wally, as we've nicknamed him, gets the top bunk and Mel and I are going to share the bottom futon. The room is crammed, but it almost makes it feel a bit more like home. We've got very limited internet, because there are no unlocked wireless networks around and Veronica only has 1 hard line. We do a pretty good job at sharing, I think.

Items of note:
- While we were riding the bus from Circular Quay to Kingsford, I didn't notice until about halfway through that we were driving on the left side of the road. Initially, it just seemed like a one-way street. Once I noticed, I was very uneasy for a bit. It will definitely take a bit to get used to this idea, especially if we get a car.
- Veronica affirms that we should try to get a car. She tells us that if we stop by hostel bulletin boards, we should be able to find a good deal from backpackers trying to sell one.
- Veronica also affirms that a cell phone will be a smart idea. I'm pretty sure we're gonna buy a pre-paid with an Aussie number so that we will have the capability to call locally.
- At one point, Mel referenced recent weather as being '50 - 60'. Veronica asked us to convert that to Celsius, but we didn't know the exact number. I think it's somewhere around 20, but I'm not sure. I note that we are going to have to work on this idea, becoming used to the metric system.
- I checked the weather yesterday for this town they call Sydney. Tomorrow is supposed to be around 80. I think we're going to go to the world famous Bondi (pronounced Bond-I) Beach! I'm pretty stoked about this, because I've heard it is amazing. I think it's about a 15-20 minute bus ride.
- The public transportation system here seems amazing. Veronica has told us we can go anywhere from Bondi Beach (pretty far south) to the Blue Mountains (pretty far north) on the metro system. Until we get a car, this is brilliant!

I suppose that is about all the new details for now. My immediate impression of Sydney is that it is amazing. The areas we have been in have been very clean and urban. Hyde Park, as seen from the bus, is beautiful. We drove past a field of males playing football and Mel says to Walter, "Look, there's a whole field of men! Can you appreciate that?" Walter commented, "Oh my gosh, men! They just grow in the field! You can buy man seeds at the store and grow your own men!" I think he might be on to something. There are a ton of hot guys here, I can't even lie. Although the hottest one I saw so far did have a fauxhawk. He would have been much hotter without that... but I can't hate. It's a beautiful city thus far.

- Jeanne