Day 19: Sydney… we hope!
Today, we had to finish up Great Ocean Drive, get back to Melbourne by noon to drop off our rental car, and make it to the airport for our afternoon flight to Sydney! A little stressful, but nothing we can’t handle!
We got up before dawn and headed out on our drive as soon as we saw the sun rising over the ocean outside our window. The sunrise was fabulous. We stopped at a couple of lookouts, saw waterfalls, drove through the rainforest, and generally tried to get through the sights on our tight schedule.
Today’s drive didn’t take as long as yesterday’s (less sights to see) and we opted not to do any hikes for lack of time. We got back to Melbourne in time to drop off our car, book a hotel in Sydney for tonight, and head to the airport for our flight.
We got to the packed airport (flights have been cancelled left, right, and centre because of this volcanic ash cloud) and just prayed that our flight would go. We checked into our flight, and waited at the airport for news. And as we feared, flights started getting cancelled around us, but this time due to “engineering” issues with our airline! Ack!
With our flight getting delayed and delayed and delayed, we started getting really worried. At one point, they even started boarding our flight, but then actually “unboarded” it because of issues with the plane! Then, they cancelled the Sydney flight after ours, and another couple of flights around the country as well. We were ready to leave Melbourne, but couldn’t!
Finally, after the two remaining flights took off, the last announcement of the night came. Our flight was… a go! As soon as they opened that gate, we ran onto the tarmac and rushed the plane before they could change their mind!
And, thankfully, we did take off. Since we were so late arriving in Sydney, we were also thankful we already had a hotel booked for the night and didn’t have to search for one! We got to our hotel, dropped off our stuff, had some dinner in Chinatown, and went back to pass out, yet again, right before vowing to spend tomorrow doing nothing, or close to it.
Today, we had to finish up Great Ocean Drive, get back to Melbourne by noon to drop off our rental car, and make it to the airport for our afternoon flight to Sydney! A little stressful, but nothing we can’t handle!
We got up before dawn and headed out on our drive as soon as we saw the sun rising over the ocean outside our window. The sunrise was fabulous. We stopped at a couple of lookouts, saw waterfalls, drove through the rainforest, and generally tried to get through the sights on our tight schedule.
Today’s drive didn’t take as long as yesterday’s (less sights to see) and we opted not to do any hikes for lack of time. We got back to Melbourne in time to drop off our car, book a hotel in Sydney for tonight, and head to the airport for our flight.
We got to the packed airport (flights have been cancelled left, right, and centre because of this volcanic ash cloud) and just prayed that our flight would go. We checked into our flight, and waited at the airport for news. And as we feared, flights started getting cancelled around us, but this time due to “engineering” issues with our airline! Ack!
With our flight getting delayed and delayed and delayed, we started getting really worried. At one point, they even started boarding our flight, but then actually “unboarded” it because of issues with the plane! Then, they cancelled the Sydney flight after ours, and another couple of flights around the country as well. We were ready to leave Melbourne, but couldn’t!
Finally, after the two remaining flights took off, the last announcement of the night came. Our flight was… a go! As soon as they opened that gate, we ran onto the tarmac and rushed the plane before they could change their mind!
And, thankfully, we did take off. Since we were so late arriving in Sydney, we were also thankful we already had a hotel booked for the night and didn’t have to search for one! We got to our hotel, dropped off our stuff, had some dinner in Chinatown, and went back to pass out, yet again, right before vowing to spend tomorrow doing nothing, or close to it.
Sunrise over the coast
Sandstone rock formation
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