First, I arrived last Saturday, tired and cranky from the 14 hour plane ride but happy to have made it across the Pacific in one piece. I cleared customs (nice bloke, and he didnt pick a random page in my passport to stamp! I hate when they do that...) and went to get my baggage to get them through customs. Only Big Blue and Blue Jr didnt make it. In fact, when I alerted the baggage guy that my bags were not there, he said "No worries!" and took my claim tickets and wrote "MISSING" across them. What? Then he told me to go through since I had nothing to declare. Um, what if I wanted to declare something? I wanted to declare that they better FIND MY FREAKING LUGGAGE!!!. So instead, I went through customs at Sydney to catch my domestic flight to Canberra. When I exited customs, I realized I was hungry so I stopped at the only place available....McDonalds which here is called "Maccas". Six chicken nuggets and some fries and a coke later, I was slightly less cranky.
Then my wait began. I had a six hour layover in Sydney (so I had plenty of time to clear customs.....pttthh) then a 20 minute flight to Canberra. I wandered through every shop in the airport. Then I did it again because I only burned up an hour. Then I decided to watch some of my downloaded shows on my kindle. What a life saver that was! As Im waiting, I hear "HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!!!!" being screamed throughout the terminal. I didnt get up to investigate because it was echoing down the hallway but these are not good impressions to make on someone who just arrived here. The flight to Canberra was like any Southwest airlines flight. Up, hand out drinks, land. I was grateful for that.
When I got to Canberra, my sponsor S was waiting to pick me up. That too was a great relief. Unfortunately I had no baggage to claim. I filed a complaint with the Qantas counter and she took me to my new apartment. It is pretty nice and I will post pictures once I get some of my stuff here. What a relief to have my bed made, some food in the pantry and such. That is one thing they really do well here.
I checked back with Qantas and they told me my bags were not coming today but probably tomorrow so they gave me a "comfort kit" with shorts, a t-shirt, toothbrush, soap, deodorant, stuff like that. I thought "how nice!" but by day 4 with no clothes I thought "how cheap!". They did give me a voucher to buy some clothes and I ran out trying to find something that 1) fit, 2) didnt cost a fortune and 3) looked halfway professional. I ended up with a little sundress and some flats but I doubt I will wear it again.
Work has been challenging. I dont know what Im doing yet so thats fun, and I dont have access to everything yet so until I get it I cant work. When will they learn to do this stuff in advance of a new arrival???? The upside is that the people are super nice and I will get along with them for sure. I still get lost on the compound but thats to be expected.
Trying to buy stuff here is crazy. Every single thing is about 3 times what it costs back home. It is shocking. I bought dishwasher tablets yesterday. There were 40 in the pack and it cost me about $15...chapstick was $4. Its just nuts!
I did get out and see the sights a couple times and I have to tell you, it is a very pretty town. There is a really neat little market called the Old Bus Depot Markets. It has little crafts, food, and all kinds of stuff. Then one day I walked to the National Library of Australia and saw the lake, the carillons and the ANZAC parade.
So boys and girls, thats all I have for now. Tune in next week for your next installment. Until then, G'Day.
Keep posting! We love hearing about your life there and miss you tons!
ReplyDeleteWhat are you missing the most?
ReplyDelete