Welcome to Australia!

Wow. Getting to Australia was both the longest individual flight, along with the longest connecting flights I've experienced yet.  16+ hours gate to gate trans-Pacific flight time from Los Angeles to Melbourne on the east coast followed 90 minutes of connecting time later by a five-hour cross-continent flight to Perth on the west coast. 21 hours in the air.  We left on Saturday night from LA, crossed the international dateline somewhere past Hawaii, and landed on Monday morning around sunrise in Melbourne, only to then fly into the early afternoon to Perth. The flights were comfortable and enjoyable for how long they were, but a bit exhausting as well.  This afternoon our smaller group (we assembled at LAX) is meeting up with the larger group attending this conference and heading over to check in to our hotel.  Then we've been the afternoon and evening off to explore and/or relax and refresh as we see fit until the conference actually begins tomorrow morning.  With so little free time, I'm not going to just hang out at the pool or bar like some of my groupmates are...I'm off to do some exploring! 

 

 

 

 

 

My visit to Rottnest Island wasn't as long as I may have wanted due to our arrival in Perth and ferry schedules, but it was worth it to visit! It's a great day-destination when visiting Western Australia, and Perth. There's so much to do to stay active or relax, from tons of water activities, tours, hiking, biking, birding, and more! Plus it's home to the world's friendliest mammal, the Quokka.

After Rottnest, I went to Cottlesloe Beach and joined many dozens of locals gathered to simply enjoy the sunset. Picnics and lawn chairs and blankets were spread out everywhere on the surrounding hills, as families and small children played in the water or on the sand building sandcastles. It was a great first-day introduction to this beautiful side of the country!