Landed at 8. Got to hotel at 10. Hotel room is tatty. Hm. Chris thinks about sleeping, but decides against.

Out the door by 10:30am.

By 2pm, we have a mailbox, a bank account, a mobile phone, health insurance, motorist club membership, and some sushi for lunch (A$6.40 for six rolls and six sashimi.)

By 8pm, we have Internet dialup access... and one pack of Special Limited Edition Arnott's Tim Tam Hazelnut Praline. :-)


Comments

fyve
February 5 2002, 03:13:08

yay! claps

wow, you're practically citizens now! ;)

good to see you arrived with no problems of note. hugz

mathan
mathan
February 5 2002, 05:11:11

So it sounds like it's best to just stay up as usual, go to bed early and wake up fresh and alive the next morning.

Did you guys get much sleep on the plane?

danlmarmot
February 6 2002, 12:53:26

Yes, I managed about 7 hours. Unlike most previous long flights, only during the last two hours was I getting that 'are we there yet, are we there yet?' feeling.

Your mileage may vary though. Five hours isn't that difficult to adjust to... but 8 hours difference is a lot (that's London-California.) Expect to get really tired around 7pm, and to wake up at 4am for the first few days!

haenck
February 5 2002, 06:20:47

What hotel did you guys finally settle on?

cpratt
February 5 2002, 15:12:03

Southern Cross Towers. One week, US $599 (checked my credit card account this morning). The first room reminded me of Tbilisi but the carpet was dirtier. It was not pleasant. After the day out getting everything set up, I politely requested that we get a better room... which we did, which is certainly OK, especially considering the price. One bedroom, one huge living room, a kitchenette. A little bit run down but frankly I'm getting the feeling that much of Sydney is run down - looks like there was a big buildup for the Olympics and then folks realized they couldn't pay for the upkeep. Anyhow. I'll post more later.

haenck
February 5 2002, 15:43:52

OK, so the "it's cheap and only for a week" reasoning may have sucked.

cpratt
February 6 2002, 12:34:35

Well, we didn't go with the cheap cheap hotel room @ the Oxford Koala. That would have been about US$350 for the week. We went with the upscale option, but it looks like poor maintenance has brought the place down. This second room is just fine though - making tea right now actually!

trckrfckr
February 5 2002, 07:58:34

wooo hooo

glad to hear you made it safe and sound

keep us posted

ranger1
February 5 2002, 09:42:07

"...and by 10pm, we have control of the entire country. Muhahahaha!"

[hugs] Glad the trip went well and you're both settled.

anonymous
February 7 2002, 00:41:14

Sounds like you are off to a good start! I know all will go well and we'll be cheering for you all the way! Thanks for getting the live journal all set up so that we can 'tag along'. Can't figure how to set up 'LiveJournal user' so I'll just stay 'Anonymous'. XO JMP in London