Aug 4-5

We’re flying over the Pacific today. Heading south of Hawaii and Fiji on our 14 hour flight to Melbourne. When you turn the globe just right it’s all ocean in every direction.

The day started a bit frantic. For some reason we couldn’t complete check in online or thru the Qantas app so we needed to talk to a human. We raced to get on the hotel shuttle and found the Qantas counter. The friendly koalas got us old school printed boarding passes. Thanks to TSA pre check we breezed thru security with an hour to spare. Felt like my Dad, the globe trotter that he was, might have been looking out for us today from above. I’m the last one in my immediate family to visit Australia so he knew it had to happen. Thanks Dad.

Since our flight was delayed almost half of the seats on our flight were open. After take off everyone spread out. We already had an exit row thankfully but we have 3 seats to ourselves. We talked about looking to upgrade on our long haul flight home.

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4 hours down. 10 to go. We passed Hawaii but still haven’t crossed the Equator yet. They fed us some breakfast - eggs, sausage, grilled mushrooms and hash browns plus a small cinnamon muffin and a cup of yogurt. It’s 7:31am in Melbourne on Saturday already. A few bumpy patches here and there but otherwise smooth air. Please stay calm for us today mighty pacific. We’re gonna be with you for awhile.

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7 hours down. 7 to go.

Mid-flight ham and cheese toastie!!! We have crossed the equator.

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10 hours down. 4 to go. Currently over the south Fiji basin. Deep sea trenches on both sides. Will be heading past the northern tip of New Zealand in probably another hour.

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2 hours 45 min to go. Watched Cocaine Bear and Women Talking. Also binge watched an Australian reality show called ‘The Bridge’ about a group of people who have 17 days to build a bridge to a small island in the middle of a lake with logs, axes and rope.

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2 hours to go!

Dinner of Irish beef stew with veggies and a chocolate brownie. One last movie - The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert had to happen.

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40 minutes to go and we finally see land!! Exhausted but excited.

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At the hotel at long last!! Time for sleep and tomorrow is game day.