Arrival

Leaving was bittersweet - there is so much I'm going to miss from home.

My departure from the airport was uneventful. I shared some beers and some Chex Mix with my dad and brother before I passed through security on my own. Of all the people I am leaving behind in this move, none of it feels like 'goodbye;' it's all just 'see you soon.' That's a good feeling.

I climbed the stairs up to my Business class loft (really just a fancy term for a seat that fits someone my size properly) and safely stowed my carry-on. I had a window seat, which was great, as I could pass the flight starting at the NOTHING that we flew over during the 14-hour, all-night flight.

In hindsight, there were some distant lightning storms that flashed outside my window - that (and the fact that, up that high, you are able to see every single star) made it well worth it.

I won't go into the grizzly details of the in-flight entertainment - let's just say that Disney television is not what it used to be. Also, there are some frightfully terrible child actors out there. Painfully bad.

At any rate, the flight went by rather quickly, thanks to several meals, several glasses of wine, and what I can only call the longest sleep-that-wasn't-exactly-sleep ever recorded. Australia greeted us with a phenomenal sunrise of pinks and oranges as we landed.

I am going to say something about landings: landings are my basis of comparison for airlines. Having flown on a handful of them, you start to notice the subtle differences between the varying levels of finesse for each pilot. Some of them make you doubt as to whether or not you've actually touched the ground. Others have you wholly-convinced that you've torn into the tarmac with shards of what used to be the landing gear right before scraping off the bottom 36 inches of the hull of the plane. This experience was thankfully the former. The pilot set us down with what I would consider less jostling than some of the trembling that minor turbulence caused us in the air.

After exiting the plane at 6:30 am and walking through a very long, very empty airport, I encountered a tactic that I have only seen employed at such mega-corporation headquarters such as Disneyland: the gift shop ambush. This occurs when the only way out of a ride, location, etc is blocked by a marketing explosion. What was once a quiet stroll through a deserted airport quickly became a thrash through an obstacle course of duty-free goods and unwitting victims of this trap. I threw some elbows, shouldered some people into a display of Red Label, and finally made it down to baggage claim to - you guessed it - claim my baggage.

No complaints about customs or anything like that - kept the guilty sweating to a minimum and I breezed right through.

As the door opened I got my first (well, this trip) taste of Sydney. A chilling breeze bit at my face. And the knowledge that the temperature would not rise much during the remainder of the day made me smile. I hopped in a cab (after waiting in an incredibly long line, for whatever reason) and was on my way to my temporary housing.

Which was quite nice! I am on the 24th floor with a great view of the downtown area including the Sydney Tower (the equivalent of the Space Needle, decked out with multiple restaurants - I think every city is supposed to have something like this).

View from my balcony

By the time I showered (in a shower which, apparently, was built for someone half my height), and changed and kinda arranged some of my stuff, it was 9-ish and I figured I'd walk over to see where the office was.

It didn't take long.

The office is all of 2 blocks away on the 11th, 16th, and 18th floors of Darling Park. The folks there were incredibly accommodating considering I was showing up tired and unannounced (I had at least shaved). I was given the grand tour, got a loaner laptop, got to officially meet everyone on the team, discovered that their micro kitchens are stocked with Cadbury candy, and then sat down to let everyone know I had arrived safely.

Looking up at my office from the courtyard.

After checking in with loved ones, I gathered my things and wandered off to the Sydney Aquarium in a desperate attempt to stay awake. Needless to say, it worked.

The aquarium was incredibly fascinating. It started off a bit slow (unlike the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which reels you in right away with otters), but made up for it tenfold in the end. Case in point:


Ok, there is a large greyish-white surface above the head of the scuba diver (we were viewing this from underwater tubes). Is it the ground? Is he upside down? No! It's a stingray.

This was probably the largest ray I've seen in my life. A good 6'+ from tip to tip. Simply massive. It was swimming around in this viewing area with a couple of nurse sharks; massive beasts, but generally non-aggressive and harmless. I happened to catch them at feeding time which meant everyone in the water was a little more energetic - or on edge, considering the divers.

After wandering through the aquarium, I had purchased a two-pack and headed next door to a wildlife habitat, owned by the same people / conglomerate / mafia as the aquarium (hence the discount for purchasing tickets to both). It was pretty great - got to see a bunch of native Australian critters. They started off with insects - which was fine. I got to pet a 10" stick insect and see how big and furry a wolf spider is with 50 babies on her back. Then they got into the other spiders. There was a golden orb spider, a spindly monstrosity the likes of which I would never want to see outside of a 3" glass display. And they also had a pair of Sydney Funnel-Web spiders, one of the most poisonous spiders in the world. I had constant chills until I exited that area and moved on to the other beasts - I don't do spiders.

I also got to pet a snake and a bearded dragon.

There were other, more cuddly beasties there. They had the usual fare, with koalas, wallabies, and kangaroos. All in all it was very enjoyable.

Speaking of enjoyable, the weather has been gorgeous. Chilly, chance of rain, and not too much sun.

A view of Darling Harbor

I wandered around the city a bit before I was ready to collapse. I made a stop by the new Apple Store (which, consequently, is 3 stories tall). I also found a small Turkish deli serving doner kebabs. Ranked among the best I've had. I would have set up a bank account too, but August 4th is apparently a bank holiday. Official business will have to wait another day, I suppose.

There is just so much to see here - my coming days will most certainly be full.