Heading to a land Down Under

Our flight to Sydney left Beijing at 5pm and was 11 hours. I was thankful that it was an overnight so that I could try and get some sleep. I was starting to feel quite jet lagged with the 16 hour time difference and also having spent a couple hours climbing the Great Wall. We flew Air China and after dinner I managed to get some good sleep. The lay flat seats are rather roomy and actually allow for you to get quite comfortable.

We've now also crossed into the Southern Hemisphere so literally all the way around the world from home. We landed in Sydney around 7:20am to a warm 19 degrees. Sydney is 3 hours ahead of Beijing; this time change should be a little easier to switch to. We were first off the plane which allowed for us to breeze through immigration and customs. The airport is already decked out with Christmas decorations. It is somewhat strange to think of Christmas in hot weather but the Aussie's get to celebrate in their summer.

We decided we'd start our Aussie vacation up north in Port Douglas, so after landing in Sydney we had to make our way to the domestic terminal to catch our Jetstar flight to Cairns. This flight was a short 3 hours and when we landed we were hit by the immense heat. I had packed my shorts at the bottom of my suitcase so was stuck wearing pants; none other than black pants. We now had to drive 1 hour north to Port Douglas. It was sweltering and once we got into our rental car we cranked the AC. The outside temperature registered at 32 degrees but felt much hotter. It was a stark contrast to the frigid temperatures in Beijing or even those back home for the week leading up to this trip. But I admit I'd rather have hot temperatures over cold any day.

The drive was one of the most scenic drives I've ever taken. The ride up the coast on Captain Cook Highway provided for some of the most amazing views of the coastline on one side with subtropical forest on the other.

You drive on the "wrong side" of the road here and they seem to have a lot of roundabouts, or at least on the route we took. Z got the hang of this rather quickly though we did end up saying keep left a few times and the windshield wipers got turned on a couple times instead of the turn signal.