Day 1

2011
Monday, 5 September


So the first leg seemed to go off without a hitch although it was a long day.
Needed to be up at 4am to get ready but I woke at 3am and couldn’t get back to sleep despite my best efforts. Dad was staying the night as he’d arranged to get on the same flights as me. At 4:45am we were out of the apartment and wheeling our bags to the AirTrain for a 5am departure. Got to love living on top of the railway station!
Twenty minutes later we were at the airport checking in for our flights. After a brief visit to  the Qantas Business Lounge our flight was called and we boarded the first leg of the journey. An hour or so later we were in Sydney.
The First Class lounge was the busiest I’ve ever seen it. We couldn’t get a table but sat in the seats and had a lovely breakfast sent to us. Nobody does airport lounges better than Qantas. Naturally we also had a glass of Verve Cliquot however an ordering mishap actually had us ending up with 2 glasses each. Not to be deterred we drank both of those and then ordered a third. Finally it was time to board the plane.
Our seats were in the last row of business class which was conveniently close to the bar and the toilets. Our hostess, Fiona, poured us each a glass of Billecart Salmon (my favourite champagne) and we took off. Over the next few hours we proceeded to drink Qantas out of Billecart Salmon champagne and then finally settled down for few hours kip.
Thirteen hours later we were touching down in Johannesburg to one of the softest landings I’ve seen a pilot make in a while. Smoothly passed through customs, collected our bags, and met our driver. I attempted in vain to get a SIM card from two stores at the airport only to be told that they had both run out. Wasn’t amused.
We checked in to the fantastic Fire & Ice hotel, freshened up and then met in the bar for a pre-dinner drink. The bar, called the Milkshake Bar, was very swish with extremely friendly staff. Highly recommended. Then we were off to dinner to what Dad had billed as the best seafood restaurant he has ever eaten in. Very big call.
Our friend Nigel, real name Alicea, met us at Pigalle and we immediately downed a very fine bottle of South African Sauvignon Blanc. The waiter brought out a platter with live examples of all the days crustaceans. We decided on baby lobster, langoustines, and giant tiger prawns. The seafood was certainly some of the best I’ve had and cooked perfectly. With another couple of bottles of wine in us though, the 22 hour day was starting to take it’s toll. We said goodbye to Nigel, had a quick nightcap in the hotel and then shuffled off to bed. That was the end of a very long day.