Australia July 2008 - Day 5 - Wednesday, 16 July 2008

Today in a nutshell:
- Waterloo
- AFTRS
- Surry Hill
- Off to Cairns (airport bliss)

We spend the morning taking care of our last packing efforts. We enjoy breakfast at home and then head out to Waterloo to visit Chad’s former internship location – AFTRS – the Australian Film Television and Radio School. I get to meet some of Chad’s co-workers and see part of the FOX studios grounds in the Entertainment Quarter. We enjoy the EQ Village Market and grab a great Ethiopian lunch with Fiona (a co-worker). After lunch we enjoy a made-to-order Nutella and banana crepe with fresh cream. (yum)

We visit Chad’s apartment location (the Meriton) and the hostess let’s us check out a room for the sake of posterity. Chad walks me though his old haunts and takes me on his daily work route through Centennial Park – one of the most serene places in Sydney I’ve seen so far. (Think of something similar to Central Park in NYC.)

We head back home via bus and prepare to depart for Cairns. We make it through check in and security in less than 10 minutes. Did you hear that my American counterparts? LESS THAN 10 MINUTES! There was no hassle, no fuss, no shoe removal, no third-degree questioning, no triple bag review – nada. I have decided that Australia is a MUCH BETTER place to fly than our securi-hyped misguided TSA-ridden country. (so there, take that George!)

p.s. Wanna hear a joke I heard from an “unidentified” airline carrier employee? What does TSA stand for? Thousands Standing Around. (ha ha)