Sydney – Day 1

24 Nov 2006, Friday – Orientation Day.

The alarm rang at 3.30am so that I could prepare myself to be chauffeured to the airport by cab at 4.15am. Why do I have to leave in the middle of the night? Well, thanks to day light saving in NSW, they are ahead of us by an hour, causing much inconvenience to people whose head of state thinks that day light savings is unnecessary.

The cab arrived promptly at 4.15am and took about 40 minutes to get to Brisbane Domestic Airport. While waiting for boarding at Gate 25, the sun decided to rise…

As if the sun was the signal for the beginning of a new day, the airport ground suddenly came to life! There were cars, carriages, trolleys, conveyor belts etc etc plying around the planes, as if bees going from one flower to the next to collect nectars!

After half an hour delay (I was supposed to be in the air at 6.00am), the captain steered the flying metal against gravity and left the ground. I like sitting at a window seat because the sight below provides me with entertainment. Also, it is one way to see the development of the community / city below from the air.

Brisbane has grown by leaps and bounds in the last 4 years. Shops / Boutiques that shunned the little town forty five minutes away from its famous Gold Coast strip have now placed themselves strategically in Brisbane CBD. Huge shopping centres have taken hold in the city, the streets are more jammed packed with cars and there are a lot more people on the streets now. With an influx of 2000 migrants (from within and outside the country), no wonder Brisbane is filling up so much more faster than what it can actually accommodate. (Especially in terms of housing! Regardless of whether you are wanting to buy one or rent one, the prices are like the plane – defying gravity, sky rocketing above what normal people can afford!)

SMOG settles above the city, as if dividing heaven and earth.

After much “bird’s eye views”, I decided to catch a nap to avoid “fishing” in orientation later. I was so sound asleep that I had no idea breakfast had been served and was waiting for me on the tray table beside my seat!

After gulfing down my cereal, bread and juice, I went back to the window and saw….

The difference between small town Brisbane and cosmopolitan Sydney can be seen quite clearly in the air. While Brisbane still offers much potential with lots of land to develop, Sydney doesn’t have much “land pockets” to fill.

Seeing the sights from above felt like being “the one up there”, watching how beings conducted their lives on earth. Trains and cars plying back and forth looked like ants carrying food back to their queen in the colony. Even the Sydney airport was filled with actions.

A bigger, busier airport compared to Brisbane’s.

After an hour and a half in the air, our feet found the ground and Sydney city came into view.

Sydney’s airport is closer to its CBD compared to Brisbane’s

The airport staff was quick to unload all luggages from the plane's cargo. I even saw them unload my own luggage!

My luggage is the second one on the conveyor belt. Most of the luggages are BLACK in colour... Maybe next time I should buy one that's different in colour so that it'll be easily distinguishable!

Seeing the "luggage unloading" episode taught me something. Never send a luggage that is not totally filled into the cargo because it will 'burst open" under pressure from other luggages that may be put on top of it.

The owner of the blue luggage won't be happy to find his / her belongings OUTSIDE his / her luggage OR having some missing items lying around the airport grounds....

Seeing that I’m late for my orientation, I hurriedly collected my luggage and went to the cab queue. There was endless “supply” of cabs because cabs never stopped coming. Thinking that luck was on my side, I boarded a cab only to find that it was a bad time going into the city due to the peak hour traffic. And to make it worst, there was an accident!

In the end, I was for about an hour. The session had already started and one of the Directors was giving his speech and introducing the company to all the newbies! There were ten of us and after a quick introduction, we got on to be "inducted".

Staying back after the half day orientation gave me the opportunity to walk around our Sydney office and getting to know our colleagues down south. I'll now be able to put a face to the names rather than having to imagine what the other person looks like based on their voice!

Once the "official working hours" are over, I bid them goodbye and thanked them for their hospitality, and started my long walk towards our hotel - Y City South (ex YWCA) at Cleveland Road. I must look odd because I was in my business suit and dragging my luggage down the whole end of George Street! It took me quite a while (almost an hour!) to get to my hotel because I took a wrong turn! I didn't dare to take out my map for fear of giving my "tourist" identity away. Luckily, I managed to trace my steps based on the landmarks that I saw in my cab ride earlier in the morning.

My feet were screaming to be "released" from my leather shoes and I was just totally looking forward to my bed in the hotel room so that I could "knock out" and catch some sleep! What was beyond the door was a little shocking!

The room was the tiniest that I've ever stayed before. It was only enough for a double bed, a small writing desk, a very small cupboard and a very compact bathroom. It cost AU$105 per night!

We were lucky that we even got a room because we found out that that weekend was the Australian Idols Finals! A lot of crazy fans flew to Sydney to watch and support their idol.

Esmond drove from work to Coolangatta airport and took the 7.30pm flight to Sydney. He appeared at the hotel room door at 10.30pm (Sydney time), upon which we went to a nearby eatery at a petrol kiosk for some Malaysian cooking!

We rested up and conserved our energy for the next day.