Our vacation began on Wednesday morning in Colorado and after many, many hours of travel, we landed at the Sydney International Airport just after 6AM on Friday!  Nothing like that kind of a time change to make you feel like you were cheated out of some good vacation time!

Cousins David and Henny were at the airport to meet us and Allen had already arrived and was waiting for us.  Customs took about an hour and we learned that the key to traveling with food out of country is to declare it at Customs and the more processed the food, the less likely they'll care. 

We went to Vodafone and got a local SIM card with some prepaid credit.  Definitely a cheap and simple option when traveling for just a week.  We were lucky to have had a global phone, but even if we hadn't, buying a phone with some prepaid credit enough for a week was around US$35, which is what Allen did.  The nice thing about cell plans in Australia was the you were only charged for outgoing calls; incoming calls did not go against your minutes!

Henny - as consistently organized as ever - called ahead to arranged for a shuttle to pick us up and take us to the car rental place.  We went with the cheapest of all car rentals (East Coast Rentals) and their facility was not actually at the airport, but for the price we paid and the great service we received, I would certainly consider them again.  We hired an 8-passenger van, which made driving in the far narrower lanes of Sydney streets a bit hairy, not to mention having to drive on the left side of the street.  It was a no-brainer that Paul would be the only one driving during our vacation. 

We didn't take a photo of the rental car, but this borrowed photo was essentially it - a white Hyundai Imax 8-Seater People Mover, aka minivan, aka The Bus

David drove separately and led the way to Chatswood's The Sebel.  The Sebel Residence contained permanent residences as well as serviced apartments, which were available for rent.  This was where we would live for the duration of our stay - a 3 bedroom, 3 bath, furnished apartment that was rented for us - yes, rented for us! - by Cousin Henny.  Under who's direction we don't know since she brushed off any insistence that we cover the costs and told us to talk to her dad and my uncle swiftly deflected any questions on the subject and told us to work it out with Henny.  Talking to the residence's receptionists was useless as they confirmed that credit had already been transferred to cover the costs.  Hrmph! 

Needless to say, we are endlessly grateful for the incredible generosity and hospitality our Sydney relatives showed us on this trip.  This was just the beginning...day 1!  We were the last of the out-of-town relatives to arrive and our cousins, particularly Cousin David, must have made an endless number of pick-ups and drop-offs, yet we were greeted with such warmth and welcome - it meant a lot to us.

So, the following photos show the spectacular views we enjoyed from the balconies of our apartment on the 25th floor.  An almost 270 degree view of the city - and what a beautiful city it is!

A view of the Chatswood train station, which was only a 5 minute walk from The Sebel

Inside the apartment, looking down the hall from our bedroom to the living room

The living room, taken over by the girls and their stuff.

The bedroom Paul and I were going to use, ended up being where Paul and Abby slept while I kept Kayleigh company.  Letting the girls share a room meant that they kept each other up so much that no one in the apartment could sleep.  2 of the 4 walls were floor to ceiling windows and sliding glass door to access the balcony.  With mirrored closet doors lining a 3rd wall, it really felt like we were sleeping in a glass aquarium - neat!

For lunch, Bo-Fu and Bo-Mu (Uncle and Aunt) met us for yum-cha (known as dim-sum in the U.S.) at the Westfield shopping mall across the street from our apartment.  It was our first time realizing that mall food in Sydney is NOTHING like the pathetic options we get in the U.S.  A food court is not what you would imagine an American food court being, containing the same set of fast-food chain franchises everywhere you go.  Of course, McDonald's and Subway can be found, but in general, each vendor is an independent owner and the extent of the menu selections are astounding.  Flavors are unique and the service is excellent.

Yum-cha was delicious, but quite frankly we were so tired that I really couldn't concentrate on the food.  Another "problem" was that Henny and her husband Oliver brought their precious newborn baby, Johan, to lunch and we were much too busy cooing over him to focus on much else!  Hendra, Henny's second brother, whom I met for the first time, was there with his whole adorable family as well.  We got to meet Hendra's wife, Stephanie, and their sons Jayden and Ethan, who are roughly the same ages as Abby and Kayleigh.  

After lunch, my parents went to visit Bo-Gong and Bo-Po (Great-Uncle and Great-Aunt) while Paul and I took the girls back to the apartment to try and get some rest, which didn't happen since Abby and Kayleigh found it much too funny when sharing a room that they just ended up giggling and playing in their room for a couple of hours.

Allen was finally able to check into his hotel (he was staying at the Hotel Ibis in downtown Sydney) after lunch, but he met up with my parents and us shortly after and we walked around Chatswood to familiarize ourselves with our surroundings.  Not straying too far from The Sebel, we realized what an amazingly central location we were at to A LOT of shopping, dining, and the public transport!

Dinner was a simple one.  Everyone was super exhausted by then, but we were determined to stay awake - Abby didn't succeed - until a more reasonable bed time, so we headed just down the street to a Japanese ramen noodle house, Makanai.  So wonderful to get a warm, soupy bowl of noodles!  (And no, it's not the same kind of instant ramen noodles you're probably thinking of, favored by the cost-conscious college student all across America!)

My Chicken Karaage Ramen Bowl

Paul's Chicken Karaage rice dish

Interesting wall art!

Abby konking out before we even ordered dinner!