Alice Springs, Australia--Sydney, Australia--Day 62

Today Emma, Victoria and I got up and checked out of the hostel and spent the morning walking around Alice Springs running some errands as well as checking email before meeting up with Uli from our Outback trip to get a taxi ride to the airport. It was lucky because Emma and I were on the same flight and Victoria and Uli were on the same flight. We also ran into Emma’s friend Nick (who hung out with us last night) only to find that his car had been broken into last night, which was a shame since he now had to wait around in Alice Springs to get it fixed.

We met up with Uli and got our taxi to the airport and checked our things in. I was the lucky person who had to get all of my bags searched and checked for explosives while going through the x-ray machines and the guy was actually really nice about it all and assured me that it was just random that I was picked, not because they actually thought that I had any explosives.

Anyways, surprise, I didn’t have any explosives and so we said goodbye to Uli and Victoria and Emma and I sat down to wait for our Quantas flight. Emma got up to get something to eat and when she walked away someone came up to me and said hello. I looked up and found that it was the girl from Sydney (remember, from the Sri Lankan family) that I had met a few days earlier. Apparently their flight had been cancelled yesterday and so they had to take this one! Her brother then came over and started chatting to me and I looked over my shoulder and saw their dad waving at me. I just had to smile to myself as they were so nice, but I hadn’t anticipated seeing them again. Luckily I was with Emma and I didn’t have to find myself in an awkward situation sitting with them on the plane or anything.

They left and Emma came back and then I went to get something to eat. Pretty soon it was time to board and it was really exciting being on the plane with Emma, since I haven’t been on a flight with anyone I have actually known! Even though we hardly talked through the whole flight since there was a movie playing, it was still nice to have someone there with me. Our plane landed into Sydney and I could hardly contain my excitement since I was going to get to see Emma (two Emmas, I know it is confusing) who was my roommate while I lived in New Zealand. She was going to meet us at the baggage claim and I could not believe that I was actually in Sydney.

We got our bags, Emma (from NZ) showed up, and so it was all very exciting all at once. We got our bags and the three of us headed down the train to take back into the city. Luckily, Emma (from NZ) was there to show us how to get around because I could hardly pay attention since I was so excited. We said goodbye to the other Emma (not from NZ) and Emma (from NZ) and I caught the bus back to her apartment, which is in Glebe, an area near the University of Sydney. After dropping off my stuff, we headed back out to get some dinner near the Opera House where I took a few pictures and we watched the ferries go by for a bit.

We had dinner at a pancake house which was really good and then we headed back to Emma’s apartment (or as they say here, flat) and got my stuff ready for my trip to Dubbo tomorrow!




(c) 2004 Sarah Galbraith. All Rights Reserved.