Moving to Sydney - Part 1
When I was declined for a work permit in Germany (jeez - what do you have to do to get one of those), it was decided that we would be moving to Sydney. There was only one problem - the apartment in Germany. It was my job to go back and clean up.
I booked the flights and got a great deal - the itinerary took me from Auckland to Sydney, Singapore, London and Cologne (in January) and then back from Cologne to London, Los Angeles (generous baggage allowance) and Sydney (in February) and then back to Auckland for Christmas.
My backpack was packed. I said goodbye to Mum and got on the plane. There was no turning back now - I'm moving to Sydney (via Germany). Goodbye Auckland.
Since I was flying Qantas over Asia, ended up transiting through Sydney and got a preview. The weather was awesome. They were forecasting 38 C that day - by 10am, it had reached 31 C.
Here's the view I had for the five (!) hour stopover. The city is in the background.
After taking off, we had a great view of the Sydney suburbs.
As we flew over Australia towards Singapore, we had a great view of the desert.
Here's the view coming into Singapore.
I had four hours on the ground at Singapore, but I didn't mind. The shopping, or should I say looking at potential shopping is fantastic. Consumer electronics are so cheap there. I only spent money on three things in Singapore. An hour's worth of internet time, a book - "The Beach" by Alex Garland (which has been made into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio), and a shower. Having a shower (even at the airport) during a long stopover makes a huge difference to how you feel.
After the transit time, it was off to London. The flight left about half an hour late, which means we we about half an hour late into London. Here's a photo of Canary Wharf from the air.
Being late into London has its advantages. The airport is so busy that there are not enough gates for all the planes. That means they have to bus passengers out. This, in turn, means that you have no hope of catching your flight if you're late. :)
Here's the sunrise that I should have seen from a plane on the way to Cologne.
And here's a photo of the Concorde.
Because the next flight to Cologne was late that evening, British Airways put me on a flight to Duesseldorf instead, and paid for a taxi right to my door in Cologne. I didn't mind, really! :)