Australia/New Zealand – Days 1 and 2

Portland to Perth, Western Australia

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Well, we’re off! We’ve made it as far as Vancouver, BC. Only two and a half hours into the 28 hour ordeal that is our scheduled flight plan but so far, so good. Wireless access at the Vancouver Airport. Very civilized these Canadians. However, contrary to popular belief, they aren’t *all* friendly up here, if the customs woman is anything to go by. But perhaps she thought it was as stupid as we did that we had to clear customs just to continue to the other part of the international terminal where our flight departed.

The good news is that our Internet-purchased tickets have worked so far. The place we got them seemed a little fly-by-night so that was a concern. The next area of concern is we have no official record that we signed up for electronic Australian visas. So hopefully they’ll 1) let us on the plane and 2) they’ll let us in once we get there.

14 hours later…

We’ve made it to Hong Kong. 14 hours from Vancouver and now a three and half hour layover before the 7 hour flight to Perth. Have to keep reminding myself that once we get there, and have a good night’s sleep, the real trip begins. This isn’t it! As 14 hour plane rides go, it wasn’t bad. Personal TV stations in the seat backs (but very small screens). With some decent movies. The food was marginal and my rear-end has been asleep for 3 or 4 hours, but all in all, not bad. We are starting to get a little punchy though since we’ve now been up almost 24 hours.

Wireless connectivity at the airport. A small concern when we realized we didn’t know whether $40 HK was a lot of money or a little. But we signed up anyway, and discovered it’s about $5.00 and change. It’s now a race between whether the hour runs out on the connection or the battery runs out on the laptop. But, we found a power plug and luckily I brought my UK-style power plug just in case. Not a very convenient location though as you can see from the picture.

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