Short but Sweet

That's me!! Short but sweet haha.

No, that was my visit to Gerringong.

Fourteen short hours.

Enough time to meet and chat with each member of a lovely family, sit at a huge table to share a meal, sing happy birthday, sit out a big storm while discussing all things that interest me with like-minded people and then sleep before the big train trip back to Sydney.

The kitchen

The butler's pantry (I want one of those)

Looking inside from the deck

The view from the deck

Table for eleven

Some of our dinner

It was well after midnight by the time I got to sleep, but the bed was comfortable and I slept soundly until 4am and then dozed on and off until 5am. I cancelled the alarm before it went off and I was dressed, packed and ready to climb into the car twenty minutes later.

The Motivator was awake, bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to drive the fifteen minutes to Kiama where I was catching the train. What a trouper.

A good portion of the train trip from Kiama to Sydney had beautiful ocean views and even included a pretty sunrise. The journey was supposed to take two hours and five minutes, but there was a brief hold up just before Wolli Creek, so we were on the train for an extra ten minutes, which meant I missed my planned connection to the Domestic Airport.

I had to wait another fifteen minutes for the next train.

I may have to practice some weight training. I struggled with my two pieces of luggage, especially having to lift them over the large gap between the trains and the platforms! I certainly made good use of the lifts at the stations.

After such a relaxing train trip, it was a rude shock to enter the airport and see the massive crowds of people waiting to check in!

The queue was to the door. I walked past the end of the queue and found a gap further along that I discreetly manoeuvred my way into, without being noticed. Very cheeky, I thought!

It still took thirty minutes to reach the bag drop off. At one stage, a stray piece of luggage had been left in the middle of the check in area, and we (the people in the queue and I) were concerned that an evacuation was in order, but a security guard came along and removed it.

As I reached the check in counter, I received a text from Virgin, telling me that my flight had been delayed by one hour. It was quite a relief because I was beginning to feel the pressure of time.

So I found a juice bar and ordered a 'stress less' which was strawberry, apple and ginger juice. It was very effective.

We finally boarded an hour later than expected and had a perfect flight home to The Bay, until the landing.

OMG

The first landing was abandoned when we were about twenty feet from the ground. It was a very turbulent descent and just as we thought we were home, the engines roared and the plane began a steep ascent back to the sky. The pilot blamed a change in wind direction.

The second attempt was abandoned much earlier. The pilot blamed 'traffic'.

The third (and successful) landing was almost a crash landing! It was turbulent all the way down and we landed with such a loud and back breaking thud, that there were audible screams, grunts, gasps and two women at the rear of the plane who laughed hysterically for a full two minutes. It can only be described as nervous laughter!

What a relief to survive that!

It was great to see Adoring Husband's smiling face there to greet me.

Even though I was very lucky with beds on this trip, I am still looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight.

I need to regenerate and rejuvenate for the next four days, ready for the second leg of my February jaunt. I feel like we've been in Sydney for a month instead of just ten days!

Time to rest now.

Nite all.