28billion hours on a plane, and we got here two days from yesterday? I don't understand it either.... Either way, it's 9pm tonight, but my computer still thinks it's 6am, and my body (our bodies, according to everyone else) is extremely confused.
After the customs-sniffing beagle found Brandon's hidden apples (thank you, Mrs. Hans), Brandon was deported. We will miss him. Mostly his guitar. Not really. Fortunately, they let him stay with only a slap on the wrist, instead of a $225 AUS fine. (3 minutes later, he was almost fined $1000 AUS for video taping in Customs...Actually, 10 seconds after that, the same officer also almost fined Dick the same amount, for the same offense.)
But despite all of that, it's been a lot better than it sounds. After clearing customs, we were met by an extremely enthusiastic crowd of Aussies with a big wooden welcome sign. They swept us off to the Hughenden (pronounced hyew-en-den) Hotel on Queen Street (do they realize they drive on the wrong side of the road down here?), and taught us the proper terminology for ordering coffee. (flat white, long black, and many others...)
We spent a few hours exploring the area surrounding the hotel, (thank you Janet for being our tour guide) including a good chunk in the best toy store we've seen in this country (see attached picture). We ate lunch in a market, and toured a $3.5 million house, which we decided not to buy. (Ask the others about the, apparently, extremely inappropriate painting in the basement, which I [Brian] missed completely.)
We wrapped up the day with one last walk to the park, followed by dinner, which ended up being back in the hotel, for many reasons. We sat up on the roof porch, until we were chased off by the GIANT BATS. Locals call them flying foxes, we know them as fruit bats. (Gina is dismayed that they don't eat the ridiculously oversized spiders that hide, in mass quantities, in practically every tree, but that's another story entirely.) They didn't actually chase us away, but they gave me quite the start, because they're seriously the size of sea gulls... only bat shaped... which I was not expecting.
Then we played cards (Jon cheats), sampled Australian beer, learned that tipping is confusing (not for drinks, or meals, but for both, if the drinks are wine, if service was really good, and it's a big deal, and they do a good job, and other factors we can't comprehend), quoted movies, discussed music theory (music people, you know what we mean. non-music people, we're sorry), and lit candles in observance of Sydney's hour of darkness to save the earth (kudos Australia on being green, rest of the world, get on the ball).
So far, it's been a great trip. We'll let you know tomorrow if beer truly does cure jet lag.
Somehow, I doubt it.
