Last flight for awhile?!

Finally... I have flown across the Pacific, hopefully for the last time for awhile. I have landed permanently (?!) and the wedding is six weeks away. This time, I flew from the Midwest of the US, so the flight was longer, but it actually went better. I had to get up at 3:30am in the Midwest, and went to sleep on the plane. I had a stop-over in Phoenix, which was a bit confusing, since the airline only gave me one boarding pass, but had to actually use the same boarding pass to board a second plane. From there, I had a 12 hour layover in Los Angeles. Luckily, my bags were checked through so I didn't have to deal with them, and I have a friend in the area, so we had a wonderful time taking the bus to Santa Monica and strolling along the beach. After spending the day in Santa Monica (and I was lugging my carry-on with me the entire time), I was tired and went to sleep on the plane again. I woke up for an 11pm (California time) dinner, watched Toy Story 3 (fell asleep during it, but resumed it later), and an episode of 30 Rock. Being so tired was definitely helpful in tolerating the long flight, since I slept through most of it. On previous flights, I had been miserable trying to sleep but unable to get very comfortable. When we landed in Auckland, it was 5am and still dark. I was hoping it would get light before the plane departed, since I had a window seat and wanted to see New Zealand from the air. Unfortunately, the plane took off in heavy clouds, rain, and darkness, and sunlight only greeted us when we rose above the thick clouds. I saw nothing of New Zealand but the inside of the airport and thick cloud cover. I'm inspired to go back, but as I've learned more about their weather and water temperatures, I'm glad to be in Australia. The cloud cover didn't really dissipate until we got close to Sydney, and I was greeted by lovely fall weather and my future bride. This all went a long way towards making me feel like I was home.

Coming to take me away!

F.  is now on the plane headed to the States to help me sort through my possessions and to meet the family. Then I'm off to Australia to get married!

Houses and people living in them

<p>My observation was that although I had read that Australians have very large houses compared to other nations,&#160; I was seeing more extended families in those houses,&#160; so the space was being used by more people.&#160; However,&#160; checking further into the statistics,&#160; the US and Australia have the same number of people per household.&#160; I suspected and confirmed that my observations were skewed because I was seeing largely first and second generation immigrant neighborhoods. New homes in the US were becoming some of the largest in the world,&#160; but with the artificially created boom now over,&#160; that may change. The US and Australia are adjacent in the <a href="http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_ave_siz_of_hou-people-average-size-of-households"> global statistics</a>. </p>

Other Hoosiers!!

While sequestered in the purgatory that is the Homeland Security stockyard at LAX, ran into two other Hoosiers who were returning from Perth - a guy from Bloomington and a woman from ? who is a math teacher.

Driver's license

Woohoo! Instructions: use existing stateside license (including motorcycle) for first 6 months. After that, show proof of living in Australia for 6 months and convert to New South Wales driver's license. (in the Queen's English... licensing / licence; hmm...)

No written test, no driving test - that's only for people who have no previous license (licence), people who violate the rules, or the elderly.

Rumor: lose your New South Wales license (licence)? Fly over to Indonesia and pick up a license there for $30; use it to drive in NSW.

Wedding Factory

The Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney are a wedding factory. There were three weddings going on when we visited on a Friday afternoon.

Wedding Factory

The Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney are a wedding factory. There were three weddings going on when we visited on a Friday afternoon.