Day 1 is a puzzle because we missed a full day between Day 0 and Day 1 …hmm….Depart from LAX at 10 PM on Friday, travel 15 hours and land in Brisbane at 5 AM on Sunday. What happened to Saturday? Is this time travel that happens when you travel clear across the globe or is this jet lag causing confusion? Once at the airport, and after clearing customs (they did let our dear Kumar Patel and his wife bring in the delicious Gujarati snacks of Khakra, shakkar para, etc. that we enjoyed through the journey), we were reunited with the advance scout team already in Brisbane.

We walked from one end of the terminal to the other end and to a parking lot to board our bus – raising many curious eyebrows at this train of 60 year old teens in uniform – only to find out that the bus could not fit under the overpass and the red and blue train retraced its path back to the original end of the terminal where the tired travelers finally boarded the bus to The Sebel Apartments, Maroochydore.

Well – after all that travel, waiting for the bus and the one and a half hour bus ride, we were still too early to check in to our rooms L. What is a few more hours of waiting when you have already been traveling for 24+ hours (and for some members 48+ hours)? It was time to soak in the beautiful small town, the roadside cafes and the gorgeous beach while waiting for our apartments to get ready. We were reminded along the way that we are in a different continent by the beautiful and colorful new birds that seemed to have come out to greet us (the red and blue one is not a bird!).

Finally we got to check in to our apartments – great balcony views and modern facilities. But those that thought of settling in for the rest of the afternoon and evening were in for a rude awakening when vice cap Mihir called for the sore and stiff muscles to be put through a stretching routine before being done for the day. Masood got extra credit for going the extra mile during the stretching session with his ballet stretches!

With jet lag finally wearing us down, everyone quietly turned in for the night, looking forward to what is supposed to be a rest day tomorrow (or is it??). Thanks to Laurie Caracciolo for her contributions to the blog!