Released at last! Mr. Eko’s Sydney to GC Trip

Family Photo!

After 32 days away from us, Mr. Eko cleared quarantine! Whoohoo!

He's in! Barely..

DK and I boarded the plane for a whirlwind Sydney trip at 8:50 am on Tuesday, 12 July. Following our short flight (just over an hour), we grabbed a rental car and made a run for the quarantine facility in hopes of arriving before their 12pm lunch break closure – no problem, we made it by 11:30am!!

At long last - reunited! He was super excited, and as you can imagine, so were we! I think I even got a bit teary eyed.  It took a bit (and a borrowed screw driver) to dismantle his kennel so that it would fit in our super tiny Getz rental car. We managed to get the kennel split in half and in the car after folding seats and doing a bit of push and pull. Kudos to DK on that one! After lining the bottom with toys and bedding, it became Mr. Eko’s seat for the long haul drive home (11+ hours).

View from the Road

For those who were contemplating arriving in Sydney and then “driving up the coast” to visit us – don’t waste the vacation day unless you plan to pull out to the little coastal towns along the way. The highway is essentially a long drive on an inland highway surrounded by forest (most of the time) with very little in the way of scenic views. Internal flights are cheap and well worth the time saved.  However, for our purposes, this straightforward highway was a perfect and essentially direct route to home.

Sunrise at the Beach

 

David and I got a lot of practice driving on the left and took several breaks to play with the Mr.! We were essentially driving straight through the night so we eventually had to stop for a bit to sleep in the car at a rest area around 2 or 3am. At about 4am, we drove the remaining hour or so to the Gold Coast to make sunrise at the beach. Mr. Eko found himself spread between the two of us in the front seat as we cuddled him up while watching the spectacular sunrise! Once the sun was up, it was time for puppy play and a coffee.

No Photo Shop - Spectacular Sunrise!

The homecoming is bittersweet as we are currently without a permanent home and are staying (on an employee rate) in a non-pet friendly hotel. We tried everything we could think of to avoid this, but had to have Mr. Eko go into another kennel situation. Fortunately, it seems like a good spot – 10 acres, other dogs to play with and we can visit, but it is causing us a lot of angst. Please keep your fingers crossed, say a prayer, anything - that we get pet friendly housing soon!!!

We're Here! AM

Day 1 (Ok, so it’s more like Day 1-3 – we lost a day or so in there somewhere)

Bye Bye Farmhouse! Bye Bye USA

DK and I have arrived!  Since we seem to have beat DS by a day and E by a month (they were far too busy playing in LA – hope DS made his flight) we thought it would be appropriate for us to kick off the group blog. And, since David is in the midst of cooking our first meal here in Australia I guess I’ll go first!

First off – I have to say I am quite proud of having had such a highly successful and ambitious arrival day. Secondly, I am wearing shorts and a tank top in the middle of winter at 6:30pm – AWESOME!

Our Life in Luggage

I am sure I’ll have much more witty commentary once I’ve actually slept, but since I know we have a contingent of friends and family back home wondering if we made it safe, here goes!

Quick run down of our first day in Oz (love that word)

-  Flew over fireworks when landing in LAX = super cool

-  LAX to Brisbane = 14 hours in the air, but we scored exit row seats and after watching two movies slept most of the way so flight was not nearly as bad as we feared.

18hrs later - Made it Through Customs

-  Cleared customs no prob, even with a ridiculous amount of luggage (six 70lb checked bags, two boxed bikes and four carry-ons). The only small glitch was when our driver took one look at me (with the bikes on a trolly) and said, “we gotta a problem…” Not to worry – he borrowed a fellow driver's trailer, attached it to his rig.

-  Arrived at Wyndham Surfer’s Paradise – room wasn’t ready so we grabbed breakfast and headed to the bike shop with our boxed bikes.

"We got a problem..." - Too much luggage!

- While waiting for the bike assembly, we shopped for a bed (it is REALLY hard to test beds and not actually fall asleep when you are this tired), grabbed a coffee (necessary after the bed thing) and perused an electronics store, going into sticker shock over the price of TVs.

- Rode bikes (on left side of the road) back to hotel to check-in and shower (yeah)

Wyndham Surfers Paradise - Our First Home

- Rode bikes to the beach – AMAZING! Had to keep reminding each other that we actually LIVE here now! WOW!

- Rode around Surfers Paradise, then back to hotel to call rental agents. Got some apts set up, including one for tonight, then we walked to store for groceries (again sticker shock), made a quick snack and went on our most ambitious ride of the day.

First Stop

- In a two-stop loop, we rode to the bike shop (again) followed by an our first apartment viewing. Had to hit the bike shop again because we realized DK lost his light (forgot to mention his bike box had exploded by the time we picked it up from baggage claim – fortunately bike is Ok, however his helmet didn’t fare as well and is missing a big chunk).

Our Room

- Rode to the “Ashmore” neighborhood to view a duplex – ugh! Older, too small and with a distinct odor. As we left, DK and I were joking with each other about the commentary we’d hear from DS if he had seen it. Looking forward to tomorrow’s visit to the Southport community - wish us luck!

- Mr. Toads wild ride home – in the dark (dark around 5pm –whhhaaaattt??) – exhilarating and a bit scary – this whole left side of the road is going to take some getting used to.

Surfers Paradise

- Home cooked dinner by the DK, blogging and….at last… sleeping! 

Lessons Learned - 1) Dog needs references confirming formal obedience training to help us get into a "pet friendly" location. 2) Must provide own fridge & washer/dryer when renting an apartment. 

Cheers mates!

~A

THE BEACH!