My first trip across the Equator - "The Beginning"

We were on the plane, hours away from the destination when the thought first struck me and sent a funny shiver of excitement through my spine. I had just crossed the Equator, literally travelled to the "opposite side of the world"! By the time the husband's expression changed from an involuntary frown (as my urgent nudging interrupted the movie he was watching) to slight bewilderment, finally turning into an indulgent smile at this "revelation", I was already grinning ear to ear! And "The Grin" just stuck on, all through the 10 magical days spent in that strange part of the world which celebrated Christmas in summer!!
Yes, we were on our way to Australia, a trip planned on an impulse following a crazy conversation with a friend, and I had a very simple 4 point agenda at hand.
So basically, I just HAD to see -

1. Kangaroos
2. Koalas
3. The Sydney Opera House
4. The Great Barrier Reef

This trip was a little different from any other "major" trip we had taken so far. For starters, we had a bunch of friends in Melbourne, our first destination, who were also our hosts (one of them ending up on the couch as we happily plonked ourselves in his beautiful bedroom).

Secondly, the husband did not have a minute point to point workplan for this one, and most of the "planning" had actually been done by me! That was a real indication of how busy the poor man was just before the trip, considering that for him any trip starts with an excel sheet being created and you can see his eyes getting shinier with every detail that goes in there and every hour spent looking for those details.

I had always curled up my nose at this "excessive planning syndrome" that I liked to call it and waxed eloquent how travelling should also be about uncertainties, surprises, spur of the moment decisions and the like. What I had not reckoned was that "surprises" sometimes had a sense of humour, and not to your advantage.

As we stepped out of the Melbourne airport, took the bus for the city, and got down at our stop, we realized that while I had the building number and street name for my friends' address, I hadn't remembered to check their flat number and to top it, our phones weren't working!!

Umm..okay....so that's when I realized I did not really have a very strong stomach for "uncertainties", and certainly not after a 13 hour flight!!

A short walk, a wrong turn, and a few random people later, we were at the building - and it dawned upon us that the 1403 of 1403/8 Waterview Walk could actually be what we were looking for. We dialled into the intercom and there was my friend, indeed!! The Grin reappeared, we got into the lift, and were welcomed into a stunning apartment - my senses torn between the rich fragrance of Chingri Malaikari and the breathtaking view out of the glass walled living room!

As we settled down, I realized one of my friends wasn't there. Well, guess what, the poor guy was apparently waiting for us at the airport - a 30 min drive away!

We'd had a facebook conversation earlier, by the end of which I had thought I had convinced him not to be at the airport, but obviously, I was wrong!

Anyway, we made a call and he eventually arrived, and as we all sat down to a wonderful dinner, I already knew we were going to have one hell of a trip!!!

Here I am, and that...is The Grin :)

Read on - "The Ocean and the Road" :)