Australia - Day 1

We headed to the airport late in the evening to catch an 11:55pm flight. Being that it was such a late flight, the airport was pretty empty and it was a good thing. Justin and I were not prepared for all the red tape we were going to have to go through before we could leave the country. If there had been much of a line, I don't know that we would have made our flight. So here is what we went through:

1. Put all bags through X-ray machine
2. Have bags checked by security while in line for airline check-in counter
3. Check-in at airline counter and pay airport tax of 100,000 rupiah ($10USD) per person
4. Fill out 6 immigration departure cards
5. Go to bank counter and pay fiscal tax of 1,000,000 rupiah ($100USD) per adult
6. Go to fiscal tax exemption counter and fill out 4 forms to receive a tax exemption slip for each child
7. Go to fiscal tax check counter to show that we had taken care of the tax for everyone
8. Go through immigration to have passports and departure/arrival cards stamped
9. Head to gate
10. Give boarding passes and have passports checked again

Then we could sit and wait to board the plane. Now mind you we were doing all this with 4 anxious and tired kids who were ready to fly. I can't imagine what it would have been like had we left during the day when the airport was busy.

So we made it on the "kangeroo plane" (Qantas) and had a good 4 hour flight to Perth, the capital of Western Australia.

Perth is a great town. I would compare it in size to Austin. It sits on the bank of a river. Our hotel was in the downtown area and I was much impressed with how well planned out the area was. The public transportation was easily accessible and much of it was free in the area. There was a huge shopping area and some cafes and restaurants within walking distance from the hotel. Everything was very clean and well-maintained. And most importantly, Justin and I were able to navigate the streets while driving in 2 separate cars on the left side of the road without much problem.

On a side note...for the creators of the Amazing Race. If you want to increase the stress level of the participants and drama of the show, have each team member ride in a separate car. There is nothing like trying to navigate in unfmailiar territory and then getting separated from your partner.

Once we arrived at our hotel, we made a quick trip to the hotel pool, which was freezing and then took a nap.

In the afternoon we headed to a big park in the city, which was also near our hotel, called Kings Park. It was an amazing park with great views of the city. That is where I took the picture above. There were hiking trails and a playground area for the kids among other things.