We were pleased that it only took about an hour to clear passport control, get our bags and clear customs. The women who checked our passports was very funny. She asked where we going after New Zealand and made a face when we told her next stop was Australia and said that we should skip that and just here longer. We had gotten off the plane pretty fast and go to the luggage area before most, so of course our bags were among the last to arrive so we had a wait in line. The man at customs was also funny – after asking if we brought any fruit into the country, he leaned forward and asked “Do you promise?”

We landed before seven, so we texted Ryan to let him know we were here. He checked out of his hostel and hopped on a bus to the airport. We found a food court in the departure area and camped out and when in search of coffee and got a very nice chocolate croissant. They had a McDonalds that offered “Georgie Pies” and “Massive McMuffins”, but we decided to save that for a later time (and we wanted to wait for Ryan to see how hungry he was).

There were big, big hugs all around when Ryan found us a short while later. We swapped stories, got the rental car and left the airport in search of adventure.

Ryan drove since he’s driving on the left side of the road for the last year. Ryan bought a GPS, so getting around was pretty easy (and traffic wasn’t bad). All our cell phones are working, so we were able to look at smart phone apps to find restaurant reviews. Heather found a cafe in the general direction of the house where we were staying and off we want.

We found the “Humbug Cafe” in a quiet neighborhood – had tables outside and inside. Really good food – smoked salmon omelet, Reuben sandwich, breaded schnitzel and more. Heather, Ryan and I split a delicious kale smoothie. We were lucky to find the place today – they were closing for two weeks for the holidays (seems to a thing here). The women at the register was from Melbourne and gave us list of things to do there.

After brunch, we went to the AirBnB house were we renting and met Dion, our host. Very nice guy and beautiful house overlooking the harbor and downtown. Three bed rooms and two full baths.