Day One – Across the bridge
Off the plane, we cleared immigration pretty swiftly, but then had to face a long line in Quarantine. A really long line. The Aussies take their quarantine seriously, and quite rightly so. A large proportion of their natural wildlife has been threatened, is threatened, or has become extinct due to foreign invaders. In order to enter the country you are subjected to more stringent security measures than you are given to get on the plane in the first place. Your bags are x-rayed and searched, and you are asked a whole load of questions.
Once we had cleared quarantine (My lovely wife had tried and failed to get me confiscated), we were officially in Australia. We had transport arranged from the airport to the hotel, so we felt a little like rockstars as we looked for a suited gentlemen holding a placard with our name on it. Our driver, Frank, was great. He whisked the suitcases from us and led us through the airport to the car. All the way to the hotel (The Grace) he talked about many aspects of Australian life; recommendations of where to visit, where to eat. He wholeheartedly approved our plan to stay here for 5 days, he commented on how it was the perfect number of days to see Sydney – He scoffed at those who thought they could “Do Sydney†in just 2 days. Of course, I quizzed him on the best Pubs, and frantically wrote down names of the 200 or so pubs he began listing. My lovely wife looked disapproving as I scratched of plans for botanical garden walks to be replaced with a “couple of pints†at the Lord Nelsons, in the Rocks.
