Australia Bound

My girl loves to pack!

We are Australia Bound!

Final packing.

Our bedroom always looks so bare when we leave as

the renters don't want to be looking at pictures

of our family as they lay in bed!

Loading time!

Passports ready, here we go!

There is a certain driving energy before a trip.

I love it and I'm also very glad we are not in it all the time.

It is like there is a little mountain to climb everyday-

once climbed, you begin again the next day until departure.

 

There is a pulling away from your life and community

and the feelings increase as the departure comes closer,

You longer live in the carefree, you have a job to do.

You cannot allow one hour to turn to the next,

there is a deadline and you can't physically

or emotionally get away from that reality.

 

But the deadline is adventure and a fun driving excitement

that accompanies the mountain of departure!

Every good trip begins with Starbucks!

Beginning in Oahu.  We had a long wait as our

luggage was delayed a bit.

So we made the most of our time!

Dinner by the hotel for a one night stay, up

early the next morning for our Australia flight.

Checking in is a bit different for International flights.

Before the sun is up.

I was reflecting on my hair in braids, like my mom

when I was 2 and we traveled internationally to

Switzerland.

Waiting for the long flight!

Here we go!  Just a little over 9 hours to go!

Grateful for sleep as this little one is not much

into watching videos.  Thankfully we had two

sweet ladies on the aisle who liked enjoying

Cambria and she was very pleased to just

stand in the aisle to pass the time.

International Date Line...so we "gained" a day.

Arrival!

We noticed some differences right away.

A bit of a bummer.  We missed our flight to Gold Coast

due to a bit of a delayed flight and we had to

actually go to another airport for the Gold Coast

departure.  We made the best of it and got a hotel,

which made us really happy after our 9 hour flight.

Andrew and I also had a great run together

in the morning exploring a little bit of Sydney.

I love being in a new area exploring, it is

so inspiring to me and I genuinely feel

a happiness inside!

We decided to spend some time in they city

while we waited for our flight.  Our family loves

exploring cities.

Little one had to take a nap.

subway

Passing the time....

Hello Marriott, hello Gold Coast!

So very tired!

He found a play car outside the grocery store.

We quickly discovered how expensive food

is in Australia, so we made friends with

the grocery store and would carry our bags

up to the room. We enjoyed Australian

yogurt,

Just being silly

Our view from our lanai

The pool

These boats became important later.  Bobo and I took

a walk on the first morning to see where we were as

that first evening it was dark by the time we settled.

We found this fellow by the pool.

Morning run.

Doing school...in the mornings on this first week Andrew would

start school with them while I was on my run and then we

would venture out into the day!

Just being a pool babe!

Foreshadowing for the boating adventure.

Yummy feet!

The kids were so excited to see Surfers Paradise sign,

they had seen this in a UTube video.

A big stretch of sand!