Through the Eyes of a Wombat

After much traipsing around the countryside, I'm back in Australia.
Getting up at 7 in the morning is never my idea of fun, but thats just part of the deal taking the bus in New Zealand. Still, the scenery was very scenic (?), river gorges and tunnels making the land look very much like Japan up in the mountains.
Lunch in Palmerston North, then out to the airport - for an International Airport, it was smaller than Canberra, Customs and Immigration was a lone old bloke at a table, and the 737 we were flying had to hold at the hold point for two Piper Cherokees.
Ahh.. a lovely place to fly!

Melbourne Immigration have gone a little downhill since I was last there. Last time, it took a mere 30 minutes from landing, wheels on the runway, to standing outside the building - and that was a full 747. This time, with a mere 120 passengers it took over half an hour simply to get to the front of the Immigration queue ( which I considered jumping, but Amanda and her crowd frown upon that, over here...). This time around, just about everyone had Australian or New Zealand passports (funny, that), whereas last time there would have been a lot more foreigners on the aircraft, so the Australian queue was shorter... At least from then on it was smooth going, baggage was circling already (but thats probably because it took me so long to actually get there), Quarantine was easy carrying very little food, and I'm shortly sitting on the bus to the long term carpark... trying to remember which bus stop to get off at.
Dad parked the car before leaving, but I wasnt actually with him at the time, so I only had my memory to go on as to where to depart the bus, and from there actually finding the car was another adventure in itself. Mum had said that it would be easy to spot, because its 'right near the bus stop, and its got a bike carrier bracket on the back'.
Yes, the bike carrier isnt visible unless you are standing behind the car, and ... right near the bus stop in which direction??

Wandering around, holding the keys in the air, periodically pressing the 'unlock' button and trying to find any car that flashed orange and beeped turned out to be my salvation, and I was soon on my way to Sale.

Early to bed, the time difference made the day longer, I felt like it was two hours later than it is (and indeed I still feel like that).