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| Hong Kong International Airport. |
Definitely on the home stretch now, and my four month trip was about to draw to a close with just one more flight back to Melbourne. I boarded the plane at Hong Kong without any dramas. Lunch was served at lunch time (pork stir-fry, salad, chocolate and another can of James Squire ale). I mostly just listened to music from the on-board entertainment system and drifted in and out of sleep.
Because I knew the quantity of food provided on flights was insufficient for my high consumption needs, and because I'd had some food left over from London, I'd taken some with me on the flight. So I ate my last two salami, cheese and tomato rolls, then ate the aeroplane tea consisting of salmon, rice, salad, and chocolate and ice-cream for dessert.
A few hours later, the plane was touching down at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne. In terms of getting back home from the airport, things had worked out quite conveniently because my sister Leah was also flying home for Christmas from Darwin where she moved to a few years back, and our flights arrived at Tullamarine within a few hours of each other, so Mum could pick us both up at the same time.
I departed the plane, safe and sound in Melbourne. My passport, being one of the more modern ones, had a chip inside it so I could use the new electronic passport checkers and avoid the queue. I then collected my bike box and tried to get it through customs. The bloke reeled off all the forbidden items and asked if I had any of those things, which I said I didn't. He asked what kind of bike I had, and how much tread was on the tyres (because a tyre with tread could be carrying foreign dirt which could contain unwanted bacteria/diseases/etc. Reluctantly I admitted they had a bit of tread, but claimed the tyres were clean, because I didn't want the hassle of opening the box up. Nevertheless, the bloke wanted to check them, so he opened the box up and inspected them, and gave me the go-ahead.
It wasn't hard to find Mum, Tex and my sisters Rachel and Silkom - my youngest sister Silkom had made a huge sign for me, in contrast to the surrounding standard sized names; it was quite an amusing sight.
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| Finding my little sister at the airport was easy. |
My family was indeed happy to have me home and see me again - as I was to see them!
Coincidentally I also ran into some other friends at the airport - Rob and Liz - and said a quick g'day. They were waiting for one of Liz's kiwi friends to arrive I think.
We dropped my luggage off in the car and then waited for my sister Leah to arrive, which didn't take too much longer.
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| Silkom had a similar sign for my sister Leah to find her at the airport. |
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| Three of my sisters, Rachel and Silkom with Leah |
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| On my trusty iPhone which made it through 9000 km of bicycle touring unscathed. |
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| Silkom casually hanging out with some statues at the airport. |
The only sister missing was Rosanna - she was still living in Europe and wouldn't be joining us for Christmas - she'd be spending Christmas with her in Antwerp, Belgium with her boyfriend Sam Conix's family.
We drove back to Mt Franklin where Mum dropped us off at Dad's place at about mid-night (we would be heading to Mums place for Christmas lunch the next day). The first thing I did when I got home was say hi to Dad and the very excited dogs, Siena and Jet.
It was good to be home!
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