Australia!

It's 4 am Brisbane time and given that I've been in five different time zones in the past week and traveled to the other side of the world in the opposite hemisphere, my body feels confused enough that it could be in either sleep or wake mode and be alright. I've tried to balance the two over the past 48 hours.

The last leg of our trip was a 10 hour flight from Honolulu to Brisbane. We had such a relaxing time on the beach during our 22 hour layover, despite spending about three hours in traffic trying to get around. We were using a very rudimentary tourist map, but it was enough to lead us to Waikiki where we spent all afternoon swimming. We weren't used to such strong waves knocking us around, and Graham and I both ended up with cuts and bruises on our feet from the rocks on the ocean floor. It was well worth it though, and we ended our day with a meal at a Korean restaurant well away from the tourist areas.

courtyard at the airport: excellent idea

Our AirBnB host was eccentric and very helpful, although the heat and humidity got to us with there being no AC on his apartment. The pane-less windows had only slats that opened, so along with a box fan, we enjoyed the sounds of the city all night until a crying baby next door woke us up for good at about 4 in the morning.

Our flight that morning was uneventful until we landed at BNE and were told, after a few people stood up to get into the overheads, to sit back down. Then the flight attendants came down the aisles and after opening all the overhead bins began spraying aerosol cans of... disinfectant? It seems to be a new procedure since talk amongst passengers led to no conclusions. After deplaning, we went to customs where the first Aussie we encountered chastised us both for not knowing where we were staying beyond 'Brisbane'. Because "Brisbane is a big place". Additionally, "cousin John" is inadequate info for customs.

Finally at home and after showers, we had a wonderful meal. A home cooked meal is always very welcome after you've been consuming airplane food and backpack snacks for the majority of your meals. With it being winter here, the sun set at 5-something which really threw me off after being in Seattle where it wasn't completely dark even after 9. We ended up going to bed before 8.

It's nearly 5 am now and I've been writing this on our drive to the Gold Coast Half Marathon. The sun won't be rising for another hour, but we've been told it will be beautiful over the water.