The Big Trip - The Prologue
Well it all started about 18 months ago, around the time of the rugby world cup in 2003. We had a rather excited phone call from Jenny's big sister Sue to say that her eldest 'child' Barney, who was in his late 20's, and girlfriend Ingrid, were going to get married. This was going to create a few logistical challenges as the happy couple were now living in Australia. Jenny and I have not done a lot of travelling outside the UK. Jenny had been on family holidays on the continent as a child and a Mediterranean cruise. I had been to Boulogne for the day and had never flown in an aircraft.
OK so we will need to find out where to go, how to get there and passports might be a good idea too! After many weeks deliberation, we worked out that we wanted to stop in Singapore to break the journey and leave the jet lag there. We would arrive a few days before the wedding and spend time with the family in Melbourne, before travelling down to the wedding which was a few miles south of there, and then go off for a few days holiday before flying back from Melbourne, possibly via Bangkok, and then to home. Things that were rejected included doing the Red Centre as it would be the summer and far too hot. Sydney, Perth and the Gold Coast were also off as they were just too far in the time that we had available. Adelaide was considered but again it was just that bit too far in the timescale. The more we read about Victoria we saw that there were plenty of interesting and different things to do there. Another consideration was that we did not wish to spend our limited time flying around within Australia.
So what else might we need? If we were going to drive to places then we would need international driving licences. We did find a website and sent off for them but in practice the car hire chap just looked at the UK licence. To go to Australia you need visas. The tour operator did say that they could arrange them for a fee but also that we could do them ourselves via, yes you have guessed it, a website. Your visa is then a number which customs officers can call up. We did take a paper copy because we are like that, but we did not need it.
The car rental was all arranged on-line as was the swimming trip that we organised. The accommodation for the first week also had to be organised as we were staying on in Barwon Heads for an extra night before setting off on the second part of the holiday. This did get a little complicated at times but, through the wonders of email, it all got sorted. Jenny did a lot of work ensuring that we knew where we were going and what we would see and be able to do before we left again by various websites that she found - hey she isn't a professional researcher for nothing you know.
