Suddenly Sydney

Lego Christmas tree!

On Tuesday, December 2nd, my boss pulled me into a room and told me that I might be needed in Australia at some point before Christmas.  On Wednesday, December 3rd, he told me I was needed in Sydney until Christmas break, oh and could I please leave ASAP.  So on Thursday, December 4th, I woke up at 3.30am to catch a plane to Sydney. It's only a 3 hour flight, but with the time change you lose 2 hours, and by the time I arrived at the office at 10am Sydney time, I'd already spent 7 hours travelling.

The original idea was that I would live in Sydney (in a firm-funded apartment) until Christmas to help out with some extra work that had arisen due to some recent legislation, but my own schedule - as always - was  more complicated than that.

Rob's parents were due to arrive in Auckland on Thursday, December 11th and spend the weekend with us before they left to explore the North Island on their own for a week until we could join them (and Rob's brother) on the South Island on the 20th.

So, on December 11th, I flew back to Auckland to spend a fantastic weekend with our visitors (more on that later).

On Monday, December 15th, I flew to Sydney, and my plane landed at 9:45am.  Approximately one minute before my plane landed, one man with one gun took 18 people hostage about 1km from my office, bringing Sydney to a halt.

To say the rest of the day was tense would be an extreme understatement. There were rumours of bombs in the CBD and additional attacks. In one rumour, affiliates of the gunman were targeting Americans (the cafe was near the American consulate), and people warned me against going out for lunch. After lunch, we were told anyone who was scared could go home, but train lines were stopped and people were afraid to take buses. As for me - my hotel was also in the CBD, so it wasn't any safer from the alleged bombs than the office.

By the time I woke up the next morning, three people were dead (including the gunman) and the rest of the city, including me, got back to business as usual. I attended the Sydney team's Christmas party (after which I found myself at a karaoke bar with, among others, the head of my practice) and then on December 19th I came home to Auckland.  By then I hadn't even started packing for our three-week Christmas trip, so spent every spare hour doing so before our 8am flight on December 20th.

To be fair, I did manage to have a bit of fun while I was in Sydney. Coincidentally, my good friend KS was also in Sydney for work the first week I was there, and we and another of her friends, S, spent a weekend in Nelson Bay (I've been there!) and had a couple dinners in Sydney.  We even interacted with some Aussie wildlife - S and I spent an hour ignoring a massive cockroach in the living room of our Nelson Bay rental, and we nearly ran over a small dragon* while we were driving back to Sydney!

*There's a chance that it was just a GIANT lizard, but I'm sticking to my story.

Top: Nelson Bay; Our new friend Max playing with sea gulls; Middle: The fingals of Fingal Bay; Bottom: Searching for tea in Tea Gardens

Top: Visiting the Opera House after work; Bottom: The flags at half mast on the Harbour Bridge following the Sydney Siege