SYD = Not Very Nice

The Sydney Airport (SYD) has always seemed fairly pleasant.
Nothing spectacular mind you, but nothing horrible either.
Until now. We should have know something was wrong when
we arrived on our way to Hobart. We decided to spend the
night at an "inexpensive" hotel near the airport. To catch
a shuttle to the hotel, it cost $6 per person each way to get
to the hotel. Yikes!

We had a really nice stay in Tasmania and our flight from
Hobart to Sydney was uneventful. We decided we would stay
at the airport since we didn't really want to spend the night
at a hotel and go through that whole shuttle situation again.

Now, here's another major flaw with Sydney's airport. The
Domestic Terminal and International Terminal aren't connected.
You can catch an airport bus (for a fee) or a taxi (for a fee) or
a subway (for a fee). Of course the bus only runs until 8pm,
the taxi would be exorbitantly expensive and the subway was
hard to drag bags through. I've never been to such a place that
made it so difficult for it's patrons to just complete the basic
act of traveling!

After we finally reached the International Terminal where we
hoped to find a cafe or someplace to hang out for the night,
we were informed by a man in a sport coat (see photo) that
we could not stay in the terminal since it closed at 11pm.
Aargh! We were "welcome" to be herded into a tiny area in
the basement area, where we and 50 or so other folks would
also be spending the night. They then started to close down
metal gates with bars down over the walkways to the rest of
the terminals and the exit doors. Only one door was left
unbarred and if you left, you couldn't get back in! It felt like
a concentration camp! Then, when it didn't seem it could
get worse, half a dozen women in yellow vests walked around
and asked everyone to see their passport and flight itineraries.
One guy asked a vest-wearer, "I have nothing else to do, but
come to the airport and hang out? Of course I have a ticket!"

We survived the night and didn't get much rest, but eventually
the rest of the airport opened up to us, we took a shower and
were on our way.

I found out that the city of Sydney literally sold the airport to
a second party and this huge business conglomerate is alienating
not only international travelers, but local Australians as well.
All in the quest to make a buck. It was a pretty bad experience
and the city of Sydney should be ashamed of itself!

On the Way Home

At the beginning of the day, I was faced with 44 hours of traveling
to get home. Yes, I like traveling, but even for me, that's a long time.
My "day" would take me from Christchurch, to Sydney, to Honolulu,
to Dallas, and finally to Grand Junction. A very long trip indeed!
My longest layover (9 hours) was to be in Honolulu. I've never
been to Hawaii before so it turned out to be a real treat. My friend,
Liz, who we travelled with in Peru and Ecuador was staying the week
in Hawaii and was renting a car, so she generously offered to take
me on a ride around Oahu.


Nine hours isn't a lot of time, especially when I had to get back to
the airport to catch my flight to Dallas laster in the day. So, to get
a brief overview, we took off to the north shore. Along the way, we
went by the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Much of the center of Oahu
is rural and mountainous, filled with large farms like this one.


We ran across this fun sign in a small town named Waialua. Just a
sign of things to come.


We saw all kinds of surfers off of Puaena Point and the biggest waves
I had ever seen. They were HUGE! I had heard that the waves on
the north shore were big, but it was way beyond my expectations.
It didn't make me want to be a surfer anytime soon, but if there
are any surfers reading this, this is the place you want to be!


All along the rest of the north shore it was really beautiful. Kind of
like the Hawaii you picture in your mind and not the urban, big
city feeling of Honolulu.


We also drove by a number of fruit stands. We stopped at one and
they had great fruits and vegetables of all kinds. Some of which I
hadn't seen before. Lots of Pineapples, Papayas and Bananas.


Liz bought lots of fruit for her week-long stay and we both had
fun enjoying the smells of all of the fruit, including the Papayas.


As a vexillologist, I enjoyed seeing the Hawaiian flag, blowing in
the breeze.


My brief tour of Oahu was soon over and I had to get back to the
airport. Liz and I said our goodbyes and she went her way and I
went mine. Hers, hopefully a fun, weeklong stay in the islands, and
me, many more hours of flying and waiting before getting home.


I wasn't that thrilled with Honolulu's airport. It reminded me a bit of a
more tropical LAX, built about the same time I'm guessing, but at least
it was more organized, laid back and gave you the feeling of place.
I enjoyed the gardens outside of the gate area. Very tranquil.


Before getting on the plane, I noticed this mural. it reminded me a
bit of the Paul Gauguin murals we saw in the airport at Tahiti. It was
a nice calming scene before getting on a 7 hour flight.

DEN+LAX+SYD+CHC=UGH!

I'm sitting in Denver at the airport and I'm wishing that the
next 24 hours were over. That's how long I'll either be
flying or waiting in airports over the next day. 19 of those
in the air. After bidding Lynn goodbye at the curb, I started
this journey. A very long time from now, I will be in
Christchurch.

SBN-DEN-LAX-SYD-CHC

After 21 hours of in-air flight time, we made it
to Christchurch. Another summer on the Ice for us.
Sleep was the key word for us as we went to bed at
the Camelot on the Square at 7:30pm and woke up at
6:30am. All is well as we get our small amount of
Extreme Cold Weather gear this morning and then
head out to enjoy as much of Christchurch as we can.