We were invited to Australia to attend Julia & Luke’s wedding at the end of October. The timing worked out with a holiday on a nearby weekend and our schedules were flexible enough that we could pull off a short trip. It had been quite a while since we had visited Steve and Brenda, and also Alyssa was also attending, flying in separately from Osaka.
So we worked it out – flying through Itami airport, then Haneda, and finally to Sydney. The day of departure was a busy one though – I met up with an old coworker who was visiting Japan after he left it 11 years ago. I took him and his travel buddies to lunch at Steakland, the Kobe beef place that always has big lines but reasonable prices. It turned out nicely, and we enjoyed talking about “the old days” in Japan, and how things are going for them now.
Then it was back to do the final packing, meeting up with Kuniko and on to the airport. We arrived hungry, and even though the airline offered us an earlier flight we decided to keep our original one and get dinner at Itami Airport instead. We went to a Chinese place for noodles and gyoza (but didn’t enjoy the Dragon Highball), and then to the “winery” there to have some wine (from elsewhere) with a few light snacks. The winery was having an all you can drink of one of their wines – it was some kind of cloudy fruit wine… yikes.
But then we had a chance to board the plane and make the easy 45 min flight to Haneda. We had just 80 minutes there before our next flight took off, and I was off to sleep in economy. We ended up sleeping about seven hours of the nine we were in the air. Upon landing there was some pretty heavy rain – that was a bit unexpected.
We lined up at immigration, but it was a little confusing. One sign said “passport Self Service” and the other said “All Other Passport Holders”. We didn’t have any ePassports but some airport staff came walking through the “Other Passport” line and pulled us both out and sent us to the ePassport line which was much shorter. We have been through a lot of international airports and rarely has it been this unclear what to do.
We grabbed our suitcase (intact) but there was a huge line for customs. Apparently we were low risk and didn’t need a search. Then we met Steve outside, he had a big smile and an umbrella, along with some water and a couple of pastries just in case we were hungry. What service!
The rest of the day was spent relaxing and catching up at Steve and Brenda’s place in Mt. Kembla, and nothing much had changed. It is still a beautiful spot, with a view of the ocean and Wollongong in the distance, warbling parrots and other wild birds, and the feel of living in a rainforest. Alyssa and her friend Adrian were also staying there for the wedding, and it was weird to see her all the way here in Australia instead of at a random bus station somewhere. Brenda had Steve had put together a big Indian dinner – two different curries plus salads and pappadam. Everything was really good and it was amazing to just kind of plop ourselves right back into their family life. In the background Julia was on the phone making final arrangements and getting ready for the big day tomorrow.
It was a great start to our short trip, and luckily no jet lag with the tiny time difference. Tomorrow will be our first Australian wedding experience!
