On 29 July 2009, we embarked on our much anticipated OE. We had 5 months ahead of us, with our only concerns being to entertain ourselves in the world and make it to Germany in time for Christmas.
Our journey began with a frantic race to catch the bus to Auckland City (Thilo's time management skills were a little lacking when it came to packing) then Mia gave us a ride to the airport. The four hours that had to be killed there were made a lot more exciting by a totally unexpected visa issue for Thilo (those sneaky Ozzies make every non-kiwi pay for the privilege of entering their country).
When we got on board an Emirates Airlines airbus A340 from Auckland to Melbourne, we were very relieved to finally be underway. Our exhausted selves were greeted by our friend Dmitri and chauffeured to his apartment in Brunswick. We spent two days exploring the city, including sitting in on question time at the Victoria state parliament, sampling Middle Eastern food and making the most of the trams and trains. We also had dinner with Lara's primary school friend Melissa -their first meeting in 18 years- and her 3 children. The much hyped local cupcake shops were actually not all that easy to find; we had to go to St Kilda before Lara could indulge herself. Then, at 4 o'clock on the Sunday morning, poor Dmitri had to get up to drive us 60 km out to Avalon airport, where we caught a Jetstar flight to Sydney.
