A Weekend in Sydney

As Margaret was a bit too 'under the weather' to be traveling back to Brisbane on her own, I organised to fly up to Sydney that weekend to visit Michelle and Olivia.. and Mark too. The local doctor wanted Margaret to delay flying for another couple of days, but she wanted to get home as soon as possible and see her own doctor.

So I organised us onto a Sharp flight from Hamilton to Melbourne and then Virgin flights to Brisbane and Sydney. I arranged to leave work early, at 4pm, to get to the Hamilton airport for the 5.30pm flight on the Friday afternoon. I thought I had everything covered....... but of course not!

About 1.30 on the Friday afternoon, I got a phone call from Sharp airlines to say there was a problem... the plane was no longer leaving from Hamilton, only from Portland which is an hour's drive to the south! They could arrange for someone to drive us there, but Margaret and I would need to be in Hamilton by 4.30. So I madly arranged to leave work at 3.30, race home and grab my suitcase, get changed and Michael drove us into town. The mini bus was waiting, we jumped on with another woman and drove off to Portland.

aerial view of Portland

As soon as we got to the Portland airport, our bags were checked in and the plane was boarded. Usually (well at Hamilton anyway), the Sharp people ask if we need a taxi at the other end, they didn't at Portland and we didn't think of it in the rush. We got to Essendon airport only ten minutes after originally scheduled and disembarked. They brought out the suitcases.... and ours weren't on the trolley! I had to track down the attendant and ask them to go and check the plane. By the time the bags were brought out, all the cabs were gone so I had to ask them call for one! We waited for another ten minutes before it arrived so checking in at Tullamarine was a bit hurried. Margaret's departure gate was almost down the end, and she had to use the toilet first and have a sit down to catch her breath so her flight was already boarding by the time we got down there. But at least we got there in time!

(She arrived safely in Brisbane, but still out of breath, so a wheelchair to the front gate was the best option)

My flight left about 20 minutes later and I got into Sydney about 9.45pm. My bag was one of the first off the carousel so I was outside reasonably quickly waiting for Michelle to pick me up. Unfortunately she was stuck in the traffic heading for the pick up zone. Sydney Airport, you may need to rethink how you've organised that!!! It doesn't allow for traffic flow at all! Still she made it there, collected me and we were off to Mary's (collecting Mark and then via Maccas of course).

Sunset, somewhere over southern NSW

Olivia is gorgeous. She was asleep on Mary's lap when we arrived, but I still got to have a cuddle.



The next day, Michelle and I went to Chatsworth Shopping Centre. I'd forgotten just how rude people can be in shopping centres but it was good to be able to look in a variety of shops. I found a beautiful little white ballet dress in Bloch, a dancewear shop. Michelle has threatened to get Mim a pair of tap shoes for her birthday (I've found a large drum set for Olivia in Dick Smith, if you do!!) The sales lady was cooing over Olivia, and trying to sell Michelle a little pair of ballet shoes for newborns!!

Michelle's parking ticket would not read in the machine, despite several attempts by herself and the security guard, so she got let out of the gates for free, yippeee!!

That afternoon we went to Catherine and Dom's for afternoon tea, and to meet Erica. The poor little dear had a bad case of nappy rash.

Me with Erica
Michelle and Olivia

That evening was a wonderful takeaway pizza from Livio's. I still think that he makes the best (and garlickiest) Margherita pizza in Australia! Olivia still preferred her milk on tap, as long as it was still wrapped in plastic... none of that natural nipple in the mouth, thank you very much! She's a young lady who knows what she wants!

Asleep at last!

MOKMOK, OKLOK and MOKLOK (mother of OKLOK)

Michelle dropped me off at the airport, leaving Mark holding the baby. The flight to Melbourne was uneventful, even though I had to sit next to two smelly teenage boys! I had an hour to kill between flights, so I headed to the Essendon DFO and had a look. Didn't even make it into the main part where the clothing was, will have to do that another time. Found Howards Storage World and enjoyed browsing there for a while and then heading back to Essendon airport.

The flight home was uneventful as well, and we touched down at Hamilton ten minutes early. Michael and the girls picked me up. Mim got her ballet dress, Caitlin got some folders she had requested and I got Michael a thing that hangs over the door that he can put his wallet and phone in, so he won't keep running around the house looking for the damn things.

almost home, the Grampians

coming into Hamilton airport