Down and out down under...

I'll never forget the day I arrived in Australia. I think all Brits are struck by the same sudden sense of being very, very far away from home when they realise where they are. The magnitude of it is enough to make your head spin. Or maybe it's just me. I was quite delirious, I think, having spent nearly 24 hours straight on a plane, bar a short stopover in a rainforest in the middle Kuala Lumpur airport, which was enough to mess with your head by itself. Let's take a minute to consider this - there is a rainforest in the middle of Kuala Lumpur airport. It's literally the only thing of any interest in Kuala Lumpur airport, and it's still more exciting than Stansted. I can still feel the rush of humidity hitting my face as I pulled back the heavy glass door and stepped out of the sterile, air conditioned terminal and into what felt like another world, one that was 40 degrees celcius at 4am at that.

No one said a word as we picked our way through the forest, following the tiny dirt trail. Instead, our ears were assailed by the sounds of birds singing, insects croaking and condensation hitting the ground in heavy drops. Butterflies flew within inches of our faces. It was positively other worldly.

We couldn't stay long though, partially because we were on the verge of dehydration after five minutes in that heat, partially because we did have a plane to catch.

So, back to Australia, Sydney, to be precise where we landed in the mid afternoon after a flight from Malaysia that included two sex and the city films, three very confusing meals (I'm sure we had breakfast at 6pm) and absolutely no sleep. I'd love to cleave to the British stereotype of Australia and say we stepped off the plane into blazing sunshine, but alas, we exited the airport into torrential rain, it being winter in the southern hemisphere and Sydney having just suffered a typhoon. Still, it was a fairly accurate depiction of British summertime, which made the difference in seasons easier to adjust to. I was a bit disappointed I couldn't see the sea as soon as we got to the city - I'd spent so much time watching Aussie soaps and documentaries about Surfer's Paradise, I think I thought the whole country had more beaches than people. In fact, we weren't to see the sea at all for another couple of days when went down to the harbour and took the ferry out to Manly, mostly because it's called Manly and why on earth wouldn't you? But that's a story for another day entirely...