Day 1

Day 1 of 42 (ish) is in the can and I have nothing interesting to report, but nonetheless, I wanted to mark the occasion.

The longest flight I have ever taken (16 hours), starting the longest out-of-Canada trip I have ever taken (45 days), was extremely full but otherwise very uneventful and passed quickly; lights were low the entire time and my spouse slept pretty much the whole flight.

We navigated the immigration and car pickup faff with minimal hassle, also the driving on the left thing, and got to Hotel Bondi at around noon.

Went for a run (horrible; way too hot; running after 8 AM in a warm climate is never a good idea), hung out on the beach (huge, surfers everywhere), walked down the coast for quite a while, went for dinner.

Yes, it's THAT Bondi; where that big shooting happened; there is no serious evidence of it (TBH we were wondering where EXACTLY it was but don't know the answer). Just a few cops and a drone buzzing around overhead (slightly annoying).

Sydney is resoundingly more expensive than Vancouver; their dollar is close enough to the same that you don't have to do price conversions. Non remarkable hotel $300. Bottle of gatorade $6. Croissant at SYD airport $17. Gas $2.17. etc. According to my Chile friend, salaries are also much higher (at least at the low end of the scale) so net-net, according to him, Australia is cheaper.

Everyone - EVERYONE - here is young and incredibly good and healthy looking. But that may mostly be a) my pro-Australia bias and b) this particular neighbourhood.

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