Only 18hrs to go! .....

Day 26, Friday 27th May and Day 27 Saturday 28th May
The day begins at 7am with a buffet breakfast at the hotel, bleary eyed we eat to keep awake before meeting our chauffeur for a quick transfer back to the airport. The Payer gets patted down again by the female shrouded security lady and the Pusher and Planner move through the xray machine unhinded. We have an hour to kill in the business class lounge and the Planner escorts the Pusher for one last purchase, a postcard of the Burj al Arab and the Burj Kafir. The Pusher meanwhile sits back and observes that this business class lounge is so large that it feels like a normal economy terminal - there are as many people in here than in the general terminal below.
Finally we are boarded for the last leg of our journey and its a long one. 13 hours in fact so we settle back and plan for the day and night ahead. More Moet, more movies, lunch, dinner and some sleep. The Pusher having almost relinquished his duties is celebrating and after a session at the cocktail bar thinks he should just check on the Payer, since the Planner is in slumber land. He creeps up to the front of the business class section and in the dark cabin, lit only by imitation stars on the ceiling of the cabin, he bends down very close to the shadow of a profile in the seat he thinks belongs to the Payer. Low, he gets so close as to discover the stuble of a burly male   - you guessed it, he was stooped over the wrong seat.
Meanwhile the Payer slept soundly in the seat in front.
Morning dawns and we are soon floating down onto Aussi soil at Sydney airport. And with home almost in sight, the excitement is mounting and the Pusher suddenly looses it. First he is pulled aside at security while his cabin bag contents are emptied, only to discover the little cans of softdrink that he had stolen away earlier were the culprits. Gathering his belongings we headed into the business class lounge for a short sojurn. Minutes later staff came running looking for the owner of a brown cabin bag left at security - yes you guessed it, the Pushers second bag ( belonging to the payer) and this time the giveaway cabin bag of toiliteries was the culprit.
We finally managed a quick cuppa and then it was back on the plane for the very last leg. What fun this was. We had a crew of 20 who spoke as many languages and only 15 people in business class. We imagined it was our own private A380 and settled back in the bar for a final round of cocktails to celebrate the end of a simply amazing journey. With so few passengers and the subsequent light weight, we literally floated across the Tasman arriving right on time at 12.45pm. A textbook touchdown and a final wheel through the formalities of customs and immigration. We get another average 'limo' service - this time the driver had boot full of his grandchilds toys, but after putting up a bit of a fight, we decided to go with the flow and just enjoy the last ' free ride'. We are back at Pinesong by 1.30pm and manage
to stay awake until darkness arrives -about 7pm. The finale of  a truly memorable and fun family holiday - such a far cry from the early days of the bach at  Cornwallis  and our very first overseas excursion to Sydney when we were just approaching adolesence.
Thanks to the Payer and the Pusher, and of course the Planner who planted the seed of this awesome adventure some six months ago.