Melbourne, Australia
Visiting Family
Monday, July 30 to Tuesday, July 31, 2007
A very long flight.
I left Santiago, Chile, on Monday, July 30, at 10:45 p.m. and arrived in Melbourne,
Australia, via Auckland, New Zealand, on Wednesday, August 1, at 8:30 a.m.
It seems like a very long time to travel, but in fact, it was
only about 19 hours of elapsed time. I guess 19 hours is a long time after all.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
I got off the LAN flight from Santiago, Chile, to Auckland,
New Zealand, at around 4:00 a.m. local time.
I actually slept on the flight, which for me is very unusual. After having a
coffee at the Auckland airport, I waited in the transit lounge for a
couple of hours and was soon on my way to Melbourne, Australia.
Melbourne on a cloudy morning.
Melbourne looked quite beautiful as we flew in on our
approach to land at Tullamarine Airport. But then, I hadn’t seen it in
a while, so I guess I was feeling a bit nostalgic.
My brother John and my dad picked me up from
Melbourne Airport. We had a coffee, packed my bags in the car, and headed to
Frankston—well, actually Pearcedale, where John and Di live. My
dad and Verna live very close by, so we all had lunch at John's home and
chatted, joked, and generally caught up.
John, Di, Dad, and Verna.
My other brother, Lawrence, came over that night, and we
chatted, joked, and generally caught up as well. At around 9:00 p.m. local time, I
was completely exhausted and went to bed. I slept undisturbed until
5:30 a.m. the next day when I woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
John and Di took me into Frankston with them. They
completed some errands while I did a bit of window shopping. I had an early
night in anticipation of the trip to Mount Hotham the next day and skiing in
the Australian Snowy Mountains.