Day 0ne – 11 October 2022

 

Springtime in Sydney is quite nice as usually it is quite warm with stable weather.  I have not been here at this time since 2019 with Covid travel restrictions preventing such travel. 

 

Bev had travelled to Sydney a couple of weeks before me as it gave her an opportunity to catch up with friends and family without me getting in the way. 

 

I arrived on a Tuesday having taken the very early flight from Wellington.  The flight was uneventful with the main change being that most people were not wearing masks.  As a precaution I wore mine throughout the flight believing that it was better to be safe than sorry. 

 

Arrival in Sydney was a real surprise as there were queues everywhere, although I did manage to find a Nothing to Declare lane which sped things up.  Several other queues were the length of the baggage conveyor and continued snaking toward other conveyors, making for a very crowded arrivals area.  However, once through it was a walk to the train and in contrast to the July trip I was on a less crowded train.

 

I stopped off in the city to get a new SIM for my phone as I had managed to lose my Australian one.  Telstra happily replaced it by setting up an e-SIM which means I can keep my NZ and Australian one on the phone without changing anything except in the settings.  No more risk of losing the little things.  I gather that in the US you can only get an e-SIM for your phone and provision is made for two of them. 

 

Bev was working that day and had left me instructions on what I should cook so off to the supermarket I went and got some stuff for her dinner.