Australia

We had an exceptionally late start today for two reasons. First, Millie crawled into our tiny full-sized bed at 2AM, so I left and crawled into her bed, then she followed me. We finally finished the bed shuffle with me alone in her bed, but it made for restless sleep. Then, Nick and I had…

These transit days posts always feel so boring to write. But gotta keep the streak going. Our flight was at the sweet spot time, 11:30AM. We were up and at breakfast by 8, packed and in a taxi by 9:30, and through security by 10. Australia has the world’s most efficient security lines. No ID…

Our plan when we woke up this morning was to visit the gallery and then spend the afternoon at Bondi Beach, but we never made it past the first stop. We never would have had this on our agenda but then yesterday we saw a lady with a bag that said “Ron Mueck” on it.…

Millie is finally sleeping in (thanks to blackout blinds in this hotel) which is great but meant we were almost too late for breakfast! Luckily we made it and filled up, then took our time getting ready for the day. Millie kept drawing pictures of us together and I briefly considered disowning her after seeing…

It feels like we walked most of central Sydney today. We started by walking to Hyde Park and then up through it to the barracks. All morning it threatened to rain but held off. Nick planed our day, as he does, and so I hadn’t done any research on what the barracks are. As we…

Standard transit day today. We were packed and checked out just after 9AM. Millie is still not great at packing her own stuff but she is amazing at asking for “jobs” and completing them. Today it was collecting all the dishes, making the beds, moving furniture back to where it belongs, and taking the trash…

We did perhaps the most Australian thing we could have done today (other than get killed by a snake, spider, or riptide) and visited Steve Irwin’s zoo. From the exit of the highway it becomes a shrine to him, first you drive 12km along Steve Irwin Drive, and then you are greeted with this sign.…

We were all up early again due to the Australian early sunrise. They don’t do daylight savings and so it is bright daytime well before 6AM. It’s very disorienting. We had a slow morning. Millie FaceTimed some family and I made a big breakfast. Eventually we left and drove to the nearby Mooloolaba Beach. In…

Classic pack up morning. We checked out of our Airbnb at 10 and called an Uber to take us to the car rental place near the airport. A few funny things: When I was packing up milie’s shoes I had to laugh at how much glitter I’ve been carrying around. Then, in the uber she…

Yesterday was so nice, we decided to have it twice. We actually didn’t set out to repeat the day, but as it unfolded, that’s what happened. Millie was up at 6:30 because the sun rises so early here, and then shines directly into her bedroom. This meant she was grumpy from the jump. Nick and…