6 December, 2008

Australia: Day 2

What, so I didn't tell anyone I was going to Australia?

Sorry, between work, sleep and play, I forget to update things on the internets, such as my blog, Facebook etc. Anyway, I'm in Melbourne on holiday from the 5th till the 13th (next Saturday)!

Myself, Beverley and her family are visiting Beverley's brother Sam. Beverley's parents Bill and Louise are attending a conference in Cairns on Tuesday, and so will be leaving for that early. Beverley's sisters Jenny and Nicky have things on, and so will be joining us Monday.

Pacific Blue is a really good airline. Sure, you don't get any of the niceties that Air New Zealand gives you like... ... a blanket. It is a nice, cheap flight, and the cabin crew is friendly and energetic. Kinda reminds me of Mile High. The only thing that concerns me was the lack of water handouts. Yes, they offered for you to buy some, but I thought they were required by some air safety something?

Landed in Melbourne safely, where we encountered new ePassport booths, a "quicker" way of clearing customs. Being the digital natives we are, we had to try them. Insert your passport and answer 4 questions; have you had tuberculosis, are you a criminal, have you been to a place with yellow fever, and have you lied. Afterwards, it prints out a little ticket. You then take this ticket to a gate, look into a camera (facial recognition stuff), and proceed. Now that we know what we're doing (it took a second to figure out the order of operations), I reckon it'll be much quicker. One disadvantage though:

I don't have an Australian stamp in my passport!

Upon leaving the airport, the heat struck us. Not as bad as entering Seoul, but still very noticeable. Also, Australians seem to have an interesting sense of art, as the "artworks" along the motorway just seemed to be rectangular pillars arranged in some weird fashion. Except the huge concrete ones on the bridge, which didn't actually support the bridge...

Was mostly uninteresting after that. Went to TGI Fridays, went to Borders, went home and slept. More as I encounter it.