Day 1

our flight from Los Angeles to Sydney was great. We flew in a jumbo top 747 Longreach plane and we were in the upper deck right behind the pilots. Had tons of room and our seats actually reclined to full lay down position although they were still pretty narrow. I must have had some sleep on the plane as i wasn't just dead tired. i know ned took several naps. the food was plentiful and incredible. business class service was great. arrived sydney about 10:30 PM their time. They are 17 hours ahead of dallas time. Our bags arrived (hurrah) and we headed to our first night's hotel - the holiday inn at the airport. got all checked in and we were in our room by 11 PM. We did clear customs and immigration in the Sydney airport and that was a breeze - no lines. Ours was the only flight coming in that late at night.

Got a few hours sleep and are now in the Qantas club lounge waiting for our 945 AM flight to Cairns. It is overcast here in Sydney and in the 50s.

So far everyone has been super nice. We found out this morning that we want "flat white" coffee when we want coffee with cream...We should arrive Cairns at noon today and be met by someone from our Seachange Apartment staff for transfer to our hotel.

Here is our itinerary for the next several days in case you wonder where we are on a given day:

In Trinity Beach (north of cairns) until Thursday noon.

Thursday fly back to Sydney and stay there until morning on November 27.

November 27 AM fly to Auckland and stay until Wednesday, November 30 and then fly home.

i'll update more as our trip continues.

the bottom line of this posting is if you can possibly afford it GO BUSINESS CLASS. being upstairs in the plane there were only 16 seats and 3 flight attendants serving us constantly. There was no noise, good food and plenty of space for us and our stuff.