And now to Sydney!!

Packing is a woeful and exasperating experience, even if you have it done by one of the master packers of the universe. We were up at seven and ready to go by 8.30. The trip to the airport took 20 minutes and we arrived at 9.10, a full fifty minutes before we had to give the car back. We were both a little sad to part with our Toyota Landcruiser, which we both had grown to appreciate. In general humans tend to have a love hate relationship with cars and we were definitely in the former camp about this one. This, despite the fact that there was no step to help Rosemarie get up and into the cab.
As it had Northern Australia Plates I tend to think the manger in Perth wanted to move it off his lot and get it somewhere else, but if that was his motive, we were more than pleased to help him.
Our arrival at the airport for a 12.15 flight left us with over two hours to kill, which was lucky as one of our cases was a full three kilos overweight. The very kind lady, who thought we were English idiots explained to us that we would have to pay for the overweight. Our second case was over weight as well.
The result, we ended up in the airport lounge repacking our suitcases on the floor. This had to be done with some decorum so that all the other travellers couldn't see our clothes apparently.We removed a bottle of whisky we had bought for David, put our coats and a couple of pairs of shoes into our rucksacks and then went back for reweighing. Luckily for us both cases were now within the weight limit.
The flight itself was enlivened by our neighbour, called Chelsi (sic) who was working as a nurse in London, she was a real character who had come back to Adelaide for two weeks for a family wedding. The conversation never stopped and as a result the trip passed in a flash.
David and Zoe were waiting for us at the airport and met us as soon as we were out of the gate. Cue family celebrations of a major proportions.
We drove back to David and Zoe's palatial new house and had a quiet afternoon of drinking and chatting. The first third of our adventure is over we have arrived at our Christmas destination, the next three weeks will be time of celebration and for family. Like millions of others around the world we are looking forward to the festive season.