Exhausted after four connections, two overnight flights and a whirlwind tour of Manila, we arrived at last, in Australia, our final destination on this RTW trip. We flew to Melbourne (not Sydney, as portrayed in the cover photo), as that is where we had to pick up our dog, Kyuss, from quarantine. While we traveled, we were lucky enough to work out a deal with our tenants to watch our dog, allowing him to stay in our house, his comfort zone. He loved them, which made us feel at ease about leaving him for so long. Two weeks before we arrived in the land of Oz, Kyuss was sent first to LA, then flown to Melbourne. Since Australian quarantine laws are so strict (there’s no Rabies in Australia, and Aussies would like to keep it that way), most animals are required to spend time in a quarantine facility. Thankfully, the rules were changed recently, reducing Kyuss’s stay from three months to 10 days. We arrived on a Thursday, and he was being released Sunday, meaning we had three days in the Victorian capital.
Paul’s sister Lindsay met us once again, as did his middle sister Mel. We also have some friends in the city, so we were able to all meet up and enjoy a dinner at a trendy Melbourne restaurant, followed by drinks at some hipster bars. We also drove to the coast with Lindsay and a friend for one night, but it was way too cold to enjoy the beach.
- The cold. We should’ve timed our return better. Though it isn’t snowing, it’s really cold compared to the heat-stroke inducing weather we endured just before arriving.
- The extreme costliness. It’s hard to get used to Western prices again after getting by on so little for so long. Two weeks prior, we were whining that $6 was too expensive for a 60 minute massage. Now, we’re paying $12 for a domestic beer.
- Flushing toilet paper. Asian sewer systems can’t cope with anything other than human waste (and even then, they can’t really cope with that), so toilet paper is not meant to be flushed. There are small buckets next to all the toilets in which to place used toilet paper. It seems kind of gross, but it’s a lot better than having toilets overflowing with human excrement. For the first couple of weeks in Australia, I kept looking for the TP bin.
- Free tap water! Since we had no desire to spend time in an Asian hospital, we stuck to drinking bottled water. We got so used to carrying bottled water to restaurants, and making sure we purchased water before going to bed at night, that we keep getting excited when we get free water at restaurants. We love that we can drink straight from the tap again.
So excited to be able to drink from a water fountain.
It’s a huge, secure facility in the middle of nowhere, that looks and feels like a jail. 
Security had to buzz us in, and there were different security checkpoints. Eventually, Kyuss was wheeled out in his large travel crate, and all three of us were incredibly excited. Thus reunited, we began the eight hour drive to Adelaide. 