…My very first ever morning of waking up in Australia!
Admittedly, not the brightest of days to wake up to (it is midwinter, after all), but what an experience it is to wake up here. While I imagine it’ll be some time before I’m fully settled, I’m determined to do my best to get to know the huge city that is Canberra. But first, I’ll begin with the journey here.
From the long ol’ drive South from Billingham to Heathrow Terminal 5, the subsequent transfer to Terminal 3, and even going through the first round of security checks, it didn’t feel particularly daunting. My parents stayed with me right up until I went through to the departures lounge, and then I was on my own. I had a wander through Duty Free, where everything was still fairly expensive and unnecessary, so I just headed straight on down to my gate, where on the way, I felt I had a fairly iconic moment of spotting a great Qantas fin towards Gate 35. As it was, it wasn’t my plane, but the kangaroo logo is still quite a sight.
First through the gate, I was told my boarding pass would need to be reprinted, ultimately because of an upgrade to the somewhat roomier World Traveller Plus, which also boasted better food, and more film choices on the in-flight screens.
We were delayed slightly by a few passengers being late, who the captain kindly decided to name and shame while we waited, but between his amusing comments with regards to his late passengers – “We can set off now that our last few passengers have joined us only four minutes after our take-off time”, and watching The Ghost Writer, an utterly confusing thriller, the first 10 hour flight seemed to be over in no time.
We soon touched down in Bangkok, where the weather proved to be incredibly hot and humid. The local time was about 8:00, but whether that was morning or evening I couldn’t work out. I’d only managed a couple of hours sleep on the first leg, so I was already tired, and hadn’t noticed that I’d left half a bottle of water in my bag as we went through another stage of luggage screening. The security seemed less than impressed.
About 90 minutes after disembarking, and no fewer than two hand-luggage checks, we re-boarded the plane. Thanks to Jasper Fforde’s series of books, the journey again seemed to fly by (no pun intended!) We also now had to fill out our landing cards, answering questions such as “Are you bringing soil into Australia?” and “Have you been to a rural area, or in contact with livestock in the last 30 days?” The answer in both cases was no. It’s also the first plane I’ve ever been on where the passengers have been sprayed twice, just to ensure that they aren’t bringing any insects in with them. Maybe being a little bit paranoid fellas?
We finally touched down in Sydney at about 4am in the pitch darkness, although by the time I’d been transferred across to the domestic gates, the sun had rose, and after getting my bag checked for the 397th time, I was put on the flight to Canberra. Although I was now back in the leg-crushing Economy class, the aerial view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House more than made up for it as we headed towards the capital city.
After landing and baggage collection, I was met by representatives of ANU, along with a handful of other students who’d been on the same flight from Sydney. From there, a talkative chap from Murray’s coaches took us to our accommodation, but unfortunately, as long as he was wearing a “Murray” cap, I could only think of this man:
He seemed well informed though, and was able to point out many of the sights.
Finally reaching Burton & Garran Halls at about 10am, my senior resident Brendan (originally from Melbourne) showed me to my room, a nice little place with the most basic commodities. The kitchens are a fair trek away, but at least I should be nice and slimmed by the end of the year! I had a much needed shower, bought some bedding, but by about midday, I couldn’t stave off my hunger any longer.
Taking the brave decision to wander into town because “surely it’ll be easy to find the main shops from here”, I eventually ended up in a little cafe conjoined to the information building of the City. Apparently, as Canberra is a carefully planned city, the designer, Burley Griffin, decided all the roads should create geometric patterns, making it very easy to lose bearing of which direction you’ve come from. From there, I managed to find a small supermarket to buy in a few vital supplies to keep me going, before heading back to my room, where I fell asleep by about 5pm.
And here we are now. After a largely refreshing 16 hour sleep, I have awoken on this chilly Sunday morning in Aus. It has now finally dawned on me just how daunting it is that I’m in Australia for a year, but I felt like this when I first began at Sheffield, so I’m not too worried. I’m going to go and explore the campus today with a bit of luck, ready for orientation week beginning tomorrow.
I’ll leave you all with the fact that my average speed in the 36 hours or so from 10am on Thursday morning was approximately 300mph. Not bad, eh?
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