Day 15-17: Flying to New Zealand

Let me be very clear about something.  United Airlines can go eat a bag of shit.  Yes, we got to fly to New Zealand for $30, but that's by using our frequent flyer miles.  Any airline would have done that.  To this point, however, United has:

-Lost Molly's backpack

-Not updated our records, causing a 24 hour delay in retrieving said backpack

-Turned over the process of tracking said backpack to a company that doesn't track bags outside of the United States, EVEN THOUGH THE BAG WAS LOST IN CANADA

-Neglected to even mention that Australia requires a visa to even connect through the Sydney airport

-Not allowed its employees to help secure said visa, even though it only takes 5 minutes to do online (the only bright spot so far was Wayne and Carl, the two attendants at luggage, who helped walk us through this process, even though United didn't let them do it for us.  Thanks!  You guys truly are awesome.)

-And lastly, if you look at these two pictures from either side of where I was placed on a 14 hour trip from San Fran to Sydney:

You'll notice what is missing--Molly.  They didn't even place us next to each other, but rather in middle seats directly in front and back of each other.
-Also, service on the flight was mostly non-existent, when not rude or dismissive, and the older woman sitting next to me, because she couldn't speak very loudly, was often simply ignored when she asked for something
Way to go, United, you bunch of mostly incompetent and, recently discovered, corrupt (Hey Jeff Smisek, why aren't in the safety videos anymore?), assholes.

But we did land in Sydney, after 14 hours.  And we had a ten hour layover, so we left the airport to wander the city.

As you'll note in this and other photos, seeing Christmas decorations when it is 80 degrees out is a little incongruous.  

Also, the train to downtown from the airport costs $18 Australian (henceforth to be known as Dollareedoos) each way, so we decided to save some money and just try to walk out from the Airport.

Have you ever tried to walk out of an airport?  It's not easy.  No one expects you to, so even finding a walkway to the edge of the airport is sometimes difficult, if not impossible.  After jumping a few low fences bordering car lots, and walking beside a major road, we found a bike path leading to this park.

One giant rugby pitch bordering another bordering cricket fields.  I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.

The batting cages even had adorable pipes in the shape of wickets for bowling practice.

More walking led to a neighborhood, with more ice and snow based decorations.  We had, meanwhile, stripped to t-shirts for the first time since hiking in September.

The bike path kept going, on to a little river leading into the city.

Yes!  Watch out for the Pedestrians who may or may not be about!  Those ruffians may be up to hijinks before you know it.  You velocipoedists should be on your highest alarm.  I love funny street signage.

The curved beak on this bird was also unfamiliar, so we very slowly tried to follow it for a few minutes to get a good picture.  It was bit shy and kept turning away, though.

I'm not sure what this tree is, but it was blooming with purple flowers everywhere, to the point where, from a distance, the foliage seemed to be a wonderful lavender color.

We came upon another train station, and from here found that only four and a half dollareedoos would get us downtown.  So to the waterfront we went!

This is the town hall for Sydney.  Its main clock tower is a bit taller, but it is remarkably similar in style and scale to the courthouse in Lockhart.  Much fancier, and right in the middle of downtown, but I suppose all cities have to start small before they become metropoli, and old town halls don't grow larger as they get older.

Cockle Bay:  We decided that all major cities now must have Ferris Wheels before other cities will take them seriously.

The other side of the bridge in the above picture is Darling Harbour.  A nice little walk, and gives a sense of how much water surrounds the city.

But we had a flight to catch. Fortunately, we gave ourselves plenty of time to get back to the airport, because when we tried to purchase a return ticket to the airport, we found that none of the ticket machines would take our credit cards.  Thinking that Chase had decided (for the second time this trip) that our cards were stolen, we had to find a cafe with WiFi to make sure our cards weren't locked, and when we found they weren't, had to walk another mile to a station with an actual ticket window.  Fortunately, a real person could actually take our cards (evidently US credit cards have to have someone actually inspect your signature when you sign the receipt while in another country) at Central Station, but we had lost enough time that we had to pay the $36 dollareedoos to get directly back to the airport.

Once checked in, we perused an airport book store, and found a book on craft beer in the world!  See if you can spot the error in this entry on Harpoon.

And here's our plane to take us to New Zealand.

Remember how United sucks?  Air New Zealand does not, in any way, shape or form, suck.  They're awesome, and friendly, and helpful, and made this last leg of our journey pleasant, even though we arrived at midnight.

Molly on the jetway.

Good bye, Australia with your visa requirements, dollareedoos, and other adorable place names!

You are picturesque, to be sure.

But we're going somewhere where there are no poisonous snakes, poisonous bugs, poisonous mammals, or other things that may kill us.

We are off to New Zealand!