Dec
6
Australia is Near
Filed Under Australia/New Zealand 2009/10
Yikes! My trip to Australia and New Zealand is just five short days away. I’m all packed (yep, it’s quite easy when living in one climate and packing for another since clothing doesn’t overlap), and hopefully I won’t forget anything.
The idea of this trip was born 18 years ago when I received in the mail a packet from the United States Postal Service Olympic Pen Pal Club. My grandma had signed me up for a pen pal and I was paired with Elizabeth Costigan in Townsville, Australia. We were both nine years old at the time (in fact, our birthdays are just six days apart), so we began exchanging letters and photos. Through the years, we also exchanged gifts, like t-shirts. I can remember getting a stuffed koala holding an Aussie flag (which is still in my bedroom at home) and a jar of Vegemite (ick, that didn’t taste good then, but I’m willing to take another taste).
Around the time I started college, we started exchanging emails. During my senior year, Elizabeth emailed to ask if I would consider being a bridesmaid in her upcoming wedding. I was so taken aback and flattered at such a request from someone who had never met me, but she said that despite that one detail, she felt that she knew me so well from our correspondence over the years. To this day, I still am so touched that she asked me, but I had to reply with regrets because the wedding fell during my busy last semester of college. Since 2004, I have thought on and off about Australia as my next big adventure, but I’ve pushed it aside for trips to places closer. If I have to travel halfway around the world to visit such a large country (the size of the contiguous U.S.), then I’m going to spend a long time over there.
And so, the timing has finally worked out. I leave this Friday, December 11 and will return next year on January 9. I’ll be spending a lot of time on airplanes:
- Dec 11
- MSP to LAX (Los Angeles)
- LAX to SYD (Sydney)
- SYD to ASP (Alice Springs)
- Dec 18
- ASP to CNS (Cairns)
- Dec 26
- TSV (Townsville) to BNE (Brisbane)
- BNE to SYD
- Jan 1
- SYD to AKL (Auckland)
- AKL to CHC (Christchurch)
- Jan 9
- CHC to AKL
- AKL to LAX
- LAX to MSP
I get jet lag just thinking about it. My basic itinerary begins in the Outback with a four-day safari in the land around Ayers Rock, a.k.a. Uluru, which is in the center of the country. Then I’ll fly to Cairns where Elizabeth, her husband and their two kids, and her parents will meet me. We’ll spend a couple of days there, after which we’ll drive down the coast to Townsville where they all live. Elizabeth has some great plans for us in the days leading up to Christmas, including a day trip out to the Great Barrier Reef for some snorkeling and diving!
The day after Christmas, I’ll fly to Sydney to meet up with my second cousin Joanne. We’ll spend a week there and ring in the New Year with the brilliant fireworks display over Sydney Harbour! After sleeping in on New Year’s Day, we’ll hop on a plane to New Zealand’s South Island for a week-long tour. This will include seeing some fantastic fiordlands and glaciers as well as other “Lord of the Rings” scenery. And then it’s goodbye to the Land Down Under. I know it’s going to fly by so quickly; I’m already sad about having to leave it!
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