My first day in Australia, from completing a 22‑hour journey to exploring Sydney Harbour and settling into life “down under.”.
Although the flight was comfortable on the Quantas plane that I flew on it was too long to be sat on a plane for. The 90-minute stop in Singapore allowed me to stretch my legs but nothing else. I was pleased to get off the plane after my 23½ hour journey.
Arrival in Sydney.
Getting through customs and immigration at Sydney was fairly straight forward for me. I used the disabled line and was quickly whisked through immigration, the only hold up was strangely by the air hostess in front of me. Her passport and visa were questioned for some reason and after questioning her for a while she was escorted to an office to be interviewed. This didn't put me at ease, but when I approached immigration, the man scanned my passport and handed it straight back and told me to enjoy my stay.
I soon joined others, on Australian soil, or the arrivals hall in the airport anyway. We had to wait for a couple of people who did seem to get held up but we were soon taken, by our tour guide, Brian to the coach that would take us into Sydney. Brian handed everyone some information about our tour of Australia. There was a lot of information on it, some of which he told us was incorrect and would change. It was nice to have the information that he gave us but the text was very small and in different colours, fonts and styles making it too difficult for me to read even with my reading glasses on.
Our hotel for our stay in Sydney.
We were taken through a few of Sydney's downtown areas on the way to our hotel, the Furama Darling Hotel, on the edge of China Town and our tour director, Brian, pointed a few things out to us as we travelled. When we arrived at the hotel, we all sat and waited for a while whilst Brian organised our rooms and keys.
After checking in I had breakfast in the hotel restaurant, it was nothing special but it filled a hole. After breakfast, Steve, one of my new companions walked with me to the shopping centre nearby. Of all the things I had forgotten to pack, I hadnt thought it would be my belt. My shorts wouldnt stay up without one so we wandered around some shops until I found one. The Sydney hills were too much for me and I was puffing like a steam train. I dont think wearing the compression stockings was helping and my legs were very swollen. After buying a belt we took a slow walk back to the hotel. I went for a rest in my room before meeting with the rest of my new companions in the hotel lobby to go on a Sydney Harbour Boat Tour.
Sydney Harbour Boat Tour.
We taken to the dock area, where we would board the boat. Luckily for me my brief rest had let the swelling on my leg go down and I felt much better. When we arrived our tour guide, Brian, collected our tickets and while the others briefly explored the harbour area for 20 minutes I rested up and waited next to the boat we would be going on.
After a short wait, we all boarded the steam boat. We were given soft drinks, coffee or tea and some very nice scones with jam and cream. As the boat moved out from the dock and we finished our drinks and scones, we all moved upstaits to view Sydney from the boat deck. It was great to see all the sights from the deck of the ship, as we passed by many of the famous landmarks. The trip gave us great views and a good idea of what to expect to see in the next couple of days.
When the trip was over, some of my new companions continued to explore on their own but I went back to the hotel to rest up some more. It wasnt long after returning to the hotel that I was fast asleep and all of the previous 3 or 4 days travelling caight up with me and I slept all the way through to the following morning.
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