The Australian Adventure

This week, reader from the Borealis, I went further South than I've ever been in my life, on a work trip to Sydney. My phone also told me I was 7500 miles from Helen, which I suspect is the most we've ever been physically separated. I'm here to tell you we survived the experience; read on for the full details of the Australian adventure.

Sydney is a lengthy flight over the Pacific from here, and involves crossing the dateline. So, I dutifully took off at 20:30 on Monday night here in the US, flew for 14 hours, and landed at 06:00 on Wednesday morning in Sydney. Tuesday had disappeared, and it's never coming back; instead, I got two Fridays, which I guess is a good deal.

On landing at Sydney I failed to get through the automated passport gates, so my first conversation with an Australian on Australian soil ended up being with a border guard. With the informality we might stereotypically expect of that country, he let me know that, "Mate, you put your names the wrong way round on the electronic visa form". This came back to haunt me on the way out of Australia, but more on that later.

This was just a short trip, so I didn't see much of Sydney, but in any city that's built on the planet's biggest natural harbour (and of course, those of you with a geography O Level are now screaming that our very own Poole has the second biggest), you'll never be that far from the water. And so it was for me, staying right by Darling Harbour, and walking half a mile or so to and from the office each day.

It's not a bad view, is it?

The route took me past the Australian maritime history museum, and overall the place felt a lot like Southampton or Portsmouth - a maritime city with a lot of heritage. Behind the museum was the Welcome Wall, naming many of the immigrants who landed here (although sadly it didn't specify which type of bread they may have stolen to get that free ticket):

Australia had a few surprises for me: firstly, the place was really clean. I wasn't expecting it to be mucky, but San Francisco is not a particularly clean city, and the contrast with Sydney was noticeable. Secondly, everyone I met in Australia was unfailingly polite and softly spoken, in contrast to the stereotype we hold in the UK. I thought the place was great, and I hope we can go back and spend a bit longer exploring at some point.

Australia has border guards on the way out too. Again, I didn't get through the automated gates, and at the first exception processing border guard, I had to wait because apparently I was a 'C'. The second guard wandered off with my passport, and spent a good 5 minutes thumping a keyboard, before coming back and saying, "Yeah, when you filled in the electronic visa thing, you got your names the wrong way round". I know, mate. I know.