The Long Journey

Thanks to our wonderful friends in Decatur who volunteered to let the girls spend Monday with them, Chris and I managed to get the house in reasonable order and the final bits stuffed into the suitcases before our departure for the Atlanta airport.

The girls had been anticipating this trip for so long and with such enthusiasm that the flight to Dallas seemed pretty dull and ordinary to them. Fortunately, a train ride to the international concourse and some decent children’s play areas helped them pass the time during our layover prior to boarding the flight to Brisbane. Erin also worked very hard at socializing with the fellas in our boarding area who appeared to be headed out for offshore drilling.

Once airborne, Erin fell almost immediately asleep, slumped into an uncomfortable-looking position that she maintained for about six or seven hours. Ali, probably running on sheer adrenaline, managed to stay awake for the meal service and promptly crashed afterward. Both of them slept better than I thought they would, and far better than Chris and I).

I can’t remember exactly how many hours we had remaining in our 16 hour flight by the time we awoke, but I remember thinking “wow, we’re only halfway there”. It was a happy moment when we landed. Clearing immigration was easy, and the girls were amused by the beagles sniffing bags in customs. Thankfully, our last flight departed on time. Three hours later, we were muddling our way through baggage collection in Adelaide.

Really excited to fly to Australia

Checking out the flight bag

Despite the length of our travels, the girls have weathered it surprisingly well. We’re all having moments of fatigue linked to throwing our bodies into a time zone that is 15½ hours ahead of Atlanta (yes, we know we told everyone it would be 13½ hours ahead – sorry!). Naturally, this translates into some moments of crankiness, but those are mediated by the surprises of living in a new place.

One of the first magical discoveries was finding rainbow lorikeets just outside our front windows, where they’ve been feasting on berries in the bushes. Seeing their brilliant colors up close is a startling experience. We took a walk to the playground on Friday morning, and there were a number of the lorikeets munching on fruits or berries in a tree hanging over the playground.

Rainbow Lorikeet on the playground

Another happy find - the beach is every bit as beautiful as the tourism sites portray it.