Home and a Surprise

As we are vectored for an approach to Sydney's runway 25 (that's the roughly east-west runway) I can pick out the lights of Bondi Beach and soon after the welcome sight of the city and the Sydney Harbour Bridge lights come into view. I don't care where you go, flying into Sydney at night has to be the finest view anywhere in the world.

Our Malaysian B777 touches down at 8:15pm and it's then that I realise that my trip of a lifetime is over. I feel a little sad that my travelling mate Ian is still 10,000 km away, back in Mumbai, but I am sure he'll have a lot of adventures and stories to tell when he returns.

By the way, leave all your booze and perfume purchases until you reach Sydney. The Duty Free stores in Arrivals before you reach Customs etc are as cheap as anywhere else and you don't have to lug it far.

Sydney Immigration and Customs are a breeze and it's nice to be able to line up in the "Australian Passport Holders" queue while the bulk of the passengers head for the "Others". The Immigration Officer seems a little grumpy but I pass through ok and collect my bag from the spotless arrivals hall and venture out to a sea of ... not Indian faces, but a mixture which includes Liz, Tip, Charlie, Heidi, Annie and Simon.

Frankly I don't think they thought I'd ever make it ... almost four weeks in India with a hip which needs replacing, a daily inventory of about 10 tablets for heart and diabetes and of course anti-malarials and anti-traveller's diarreah etc etc. But make it I did and I'm thankful that Ian was with me most of the way. It just made things so much easier.

I'm blown away by the traffic in Sydney as Tip drives us home ... no honking, no near misses, no autorickshaws, no cows, everyone in their lanes and with their lights on ... a totally relaxing trip. I tell them all about the traffic in India and the near misses etc.

Once we arrive home it's confession time ... what I was not told while I was away was during the first Sunday while we were in Darjeeling, Liz and Charlie were heading out to her mother's home in Charlie's 4WD and he lost it in the wet and rolled a couple of times. Liz and Charlie walked away from the accident but the Toyota was a total write-off!

The second surprise wasn't really a surprise as they'd told me about it while we were in Darjeeling. Tip and Heidi announced their engagement and apparently Tip proposed on an early morning Virgin Blue flight somewhere between Sydney and Coolangatta. The big day is set down for 30th September 2007. Congratulations and good luck to both of you.

So ... That's my trip of a life time. Ian, now it's your turn to continue the Blog and keep us up to date.

Will I go back some time? Stay tuned.