The Journey

The last few weeks entailed us selling pretty much everything we own on Gumtree (I maintained roughly 100 ads over a few week) and trying to fit in farewell visits with family and friends, all while still working/studying full time. Our last weekend in Perth was an epic struggle trying to get rid of everything left in our house and cleaning/gardening for ending our rental house lease. We would have actually never got it done without the help of Rosanne, Andrew and Stew - we owe them a lot of Alfajores!

The journey to Argentina began at 11pm on the 9th of June when we dropped off the keys from our rental and went to sleep (with a large golden retriever and a very angry Beaver) at Heather's parents house. After just four hours we had to head to the airport. Unfortunately, the night had been foggy and we suspected the flights might be delayed. Sure enough, most of the early morning flights into Perth were diverted to Melbourne, Adelaide or Jakarta. No incoming flights means no outgoing flights so our flight to Sydney was delayed by three hours! 

For the last few weeks, everyone at Heather's office had been off work at some point sick. Unsurprisingly, Heather had somehow avoided the sickness until the worst possible moment, just about to depart on a 30+ hour journey - this was just the beginning of hours and hours of incredibly uncomfortable travel. 

A quick (and snotty) flight and taxi (with four 23kg bags!) and we were in Sydney. We stayed in a nice hotel in the beautiful Darling Harbour, see view below. 

View from our hotel

We had an amazing dinner at Meat and Wine. Co with some delicious steaks and African hot sauce, definitely recommended it if your budget is supportive, thanks Rosanne and Andrew! The next day we found our first NSW Geocache nearby Zumbos at the Star. We also took a ferry over to the Rocks (great suggestion - thanks Nick!) and then had some silly times at Madame Tussauds (or as Oscar spells it 'Madame Two Swords') where we ran into Harold from Neighbours! 

Harold!

Circular Quay Station

The next day we were headed off to South America! The flight into Santiago was very long, dark most of the time, filled with movies and of course, the of course the recent episode of Game of Thrones Season Three. Heather went through multiple boxes of tissues, a maximum dose of cold and flu tablets and two full bottles of nasal spray. I think a whole 747 worth of people are now sick - oops.

When the sun emerged we crossed from sea to land saw the beautiful Andes mountain ranges for the first time.

The Beautiful Chilean Mountains during the decent into Santiago

We arrived around 9 am local time on the same day we left...two hours before we left Sydney. Then had 10 very long and sleepy hours wait at Santiago Airport. Our new friend Enrico enjoyed some Lomitos with us and helped fill the gap between flights with plenty of conversation and banter.

We arrived at our apartment in Buenos Aires at midnight and finally, after approx. 30 hours in transit (with a combined 3 hours sleep), had a hot shower and hit the sack. Buenos noches!