We made it to our interim lodgings in Manly, a suburb of Sydney known for its beaches and surfing, by 7:30AM Sydney time, with very little trouble – despite our mountain of bags!

Rather than napping, we decided to take the town by storm.  I rushed out to finalize our Australian bank account and figure out how to get health care. Meanwhile, Miranda and the boys explored our new accommodations.  While waiting in lines completing these tasks – it turns out that Australia also has lines, though they are masquerading as queues – I had time to reflect on what I learned from my hours of catching up on super hero movies on the airplane. My key finding was this:  While increased agility, spidey sense, and web slinging make perfect sense, it never occurred to me that a side effect of being bitten by a radioactive spider would be unrivaled stone skipping skills – well done Peter Parker….

Lake and Finn enjoying the beaches at Manly, NSW

Next I met up with Miranda and the boys.  We all hit the Manly beach for a lovely afternoon, until about 5PM, when the entire Albany Stamps family bit the dust and fell into a deep, deep sleep that would take us until 1AM the next morning!   Ahh, moving to the other side of the world!  In case your’e wondering what “bit the dust” looked like, please refer to this shot from our dinner – a delicious pasta made by Miranda:

Goodnight, sweet Finny