Visit to Sydney - 19 December 2006 Tuesday

We took a Cathay plane from Hong Kong at about midnight. It would be a 9-hour flight. I could see nothing outside the plane because it was in complete darkness. I could not sleep, but waited for a meal to be served. I seldom eat after midnight, but this time was an exception. Although there was a small television screen before me, I had no interest at looking at the programmes.

Time passed slowly. I was only interested to know where the plane had reached each hour. Bright light could be seen after four hours because Australia experienced morning at that time.

White clouds laid some carpets below us. At that time, the plane was flying into the Gulf of Carpentaria. After an hour, I could see rivers carved their ways in the red-brown land below.

The plane was heading southeastward. As the plane approached Sydney, rivers, houses, grasslands and roads were clearly seen. The Parramatta River could be distinguished easily. Soon the plane descended very closely to land until it finally landed on the runway of Sydney International Airport at about noon.

The officer at the immigration did not say anything, but stamped on our passport our date of entry. Having taken our luggage, we approached to the room where luggage would be x-rayed. I handed our declaration form to another officer. When he learned that we had brought with us some medicine, he began to ask us questions. We replied to him that the medicine was given to us by our family doctor for common colds, fever and headache. He was so kind to write “okay” on our forms and let us go.

After the luggage had been screened, we walked out to the Arrival hall , but we could not see Ho Keung and Yin Ping. I wondered if they forgot our arrival, but the answer was “No”. They appeared before us in a matter of a few seconds. Yin Ping gave a warm hug to Yuen Siu, but not to me. I thought I might be too fat to be hugged (kidding). The hourly parking fare (A$7 for half an hour) was much much higher than that of Hong Kong airport (round about HK$20 for an hour).

It was the first time I saw Yin Ping drive. Not bad at all. She drove past the City proper so that we could look at its buildings and streets. She showed us the Sydney Tower at Centrepoint where we would have a buffet dinner a few days later. Next we crossed the harbour bridge and travelled along several freeways.

On the way to Castle Hill, Ho Keung received a call from Tim. Ho Keung turned on the speaker so that Yuen Siu and I could hear Tim’s voice. Tim said that it was his lunch time and said “hello” to us. Thanks for his greeting!

Yin Ping bought some “wun ton” dumplings from a shop nearby Castle Hill. Finally we arrived at Ho Keung and Yin Ping’s beautiful house at about two o’clock. We slept in the afternoon because we were short of sleep the previous night. At night we had dinner at home with fish and vegetables. Then we took an evening walk to a Coles Supermarket to buy some snacks, buns(A$1/12) and a bottle of mouth-rinsing liquid. That night we were sound asleep!