On Our Way

We headed to Sydney airport at about 10am and it is a good thing we did, as there were two major accidents along two of the highways we had to take from Penrith to get to the airport. So needless to say it took a bit longer than anticipated. The electricity in the car on the way was evident; we were all so excited to be finally going.

At the airport we took all our bags inside and then assisted with some of the gear that had been driven up from Canberra such as oars, medical equipment, food and tools. Heaps of boxes had to be taken to the Malaysian airlines counter to be checked in. No waiting in line for all of us as there are about 40 of us travelling together. Once we were checked in we had about 1 hour to kill before boarding the plane for what was to be a very long trip.

It was very nice to feel like part of the team as we were all in the same gear and I think it looked fantastic.

People were very friendly on the flight. I had a number of people ask me where we were going and what we were doing. The flight to Kuala Lumpur was about 7 hours and 50 minutes and once we arrived there we had a few hours to hang around the airport. I must say it is an amazing airport. We had a look around the shops and I think there will be a few things purchased on the way back! We then sat down, some had a bite to eat and the rest of us just had some water.



The time passed extremely quickly and we were then on the next plane to Frankfurt. This flight however was much longer, over 11 hours. Needless to say I don’t sleep well on a plane and I probably got about 2 hours total. I did however watch almost all the things on the t.v. screen!

We arrived in Frankfurt, local time 6:20 a.m. and then the job of collecting the bags and gear began. It was amazing to see how everyone pitched in and we loaded a bus and trailer with everything. Adam and David were renting a mini bus so that we would have it for the week and this is where we left them for the time being. We boarded the bus with the other rowers and it was off to Munich. Well actually just outside of Munich.






The bus trip was just over 5 hours with a couple of 20 and 15 minute breaks. We did have some fun on the bus but you could see that everyone just needed to get there, have a shower and a good nights sleep. Lisa tried to take the men’s 8 on at cards, but didn’t fair very well and a couple of the guys ended up crashing.

Everyone is staying at different hotels. The men’s squad at one hotel, the women at another and us the Adaptive crew at yet another. We are staying at the Hotel-Restaurant Gotz in Dachau. There is an amazing history here with the Dachau Concentration Camp. (Something that we are going to go and see, but not until after we race.)

Our rooms weren't ready when we arrived so we dropped our bags off and headed down the street for some lunch. We ended up in an Italian restaurant (I always find that funny, eating Italian in Germany), had a wonderful lunch, then back to the hotel. Brandie, Pete and I stayed at the hotel while, Gene, Lisa, Adam and David headed to the course. They were going to make sure the boat was there and Lisa wanted to scout out the course. We were then picked up a bit later as we were hoping to go for a short row, but we had a few changes to make on the boat.

We have leased the boat from the Italian Adaptive program. It is a Wintech coxed 4 and not that old. It took us about an hour and a half to change a few things and by the time we had it was time to head back to the hotel for dinner which was set down for 6:30 p.m. and we were already late.

We had a fantastic dinner, but way too much food! The owners actually cooked and served us themselves. They were very disappointed in our appetites! We tried to explain that we had been travelling for 36 hours, had a late lunch and hadn't done any exercise!

We headed up to our rooms at about 8:30 p.m. but I stayed awake until about 9:30 so that I would have a good nights sleep. Oh how wonderful it was to put my head down after close to 46 hours!