May 30th: Packing, Plays & Planes

Day 57 (Day 32 in Australia)

10:15am: Our last day! We’ve just dropped Sophia off at Deakin University. At lunchtime we shall go back to see her in a play called “Faith, Fear & a Home-Cooked Dinner”.

In between it is packing! We’ll be returning with one case more than we arrived with so we need to make sure that one case is a max 32kg and the other two a max of 35kg between them. Plus two cabin bags at 7kg apiece.

The weather has been glorious for the entire trip except for a couple of hours torrential rain that prevented a better view of Mount Cook in New Zealand and 2 days of low cloud that prevented the helicopter-hike on the Franz Josef Glacier and seeing any views at all in the Blue Mountains.

Typically, as I type (at 11am) the forecast for 8pm tonight when our Uber arrives is very heavy rain. Timing will be everything as the front door to Phil & Carolyn’s beautiful home is 60m from the roadside.

C’est la vie! Comme ci comme ça! Mange tout Rodney!

12:00pm: packing update: it’s going to be tight! 😬

2:30pm: the play (actually 5 short plays) was great, as was Sophia. Now for a late lunch and then the serious packing.

Flowers for Sophia after the show

5:30pm: packing panic was a false alarm. My luggage scales had flipped to pounds rather than kilos! Weight-wise we are under. The only worry now is how much the cases will get thrown around by baggage handlers and gifts get damaged. We should have just bought everyone a t-shirt with a kangaroo on it like what I suggested!

Time for a cup of tea and chill for two and a quarter hours until the Uber (hopefully) arrives.

6:30pm: just said our goodbyes to Phil (via WhatsApp from Hong Kong) and then to Carolyn (lots of hugs) as she goes to watch Sophia in the 2nd performance of her play.

“Parting is such sweet sorrow”, R&J, Act 2, scene 2

Uber due at 20:10

19:55:00 msg from Uber, “Your driver has cancelled”

19:55:01 explosion building inside me.

19:55:05 msg from Uber, “Another driver has been found”

As if international travel isn’t stressful enough!

20:03 Uber arrived. Journey uneventful. Arrived at Melbourne Airport at 20:38, very busy. Skipped through the crowds because we’re “shpeshall”.

We had a chat with an Aussie on his way ‘home’ to Thailand after visiting his first grandchild. Subjects covered everything from working for major corporations (Shell in his case) to the price of Vegemite in airport shops.

Then we had fun in duty free which is something we never do. Nearly bought a 5 grand bottle of brandy but at the last minute I remembered I don’t drink brandy.

Flight took off 20 mins late (don’t they always?) at 23:55.

And breathe!





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