Last Leg on the Elektra

Finally we board the plane again for our last leg of the journey to Melbourne. We, the small Swiss group in the plane make plans for when we arrive in Melbourne. We really have no idea what is awaiting our arrival so we decide we’ll all go to a hotel and find a nightclub. We’ll have a good time in Melbourne.

We're flying over Ayers Rock

The pilot announces we’re about to fly over Ayers Rock and is doing a circle around the famous rock so we can have a good look. I am fascinated to see how flat and dry Australia looks. I can’t see any houses or lakes, just desert and a red rock but it has a strange beauty totally unknown to us. We are now getting very excited about coming to Australia. Only a couple more hours before we land in Melbourne and we are sure the journey on such a long flight was worth it. 

Flying over Melbourne

We’re getting closer to Melbourne and Ben and I, after flying for 48 hours, agree, we’re not getting on another plane again for a long time. We're not sure what's going to happen to us, that has never been explained to us. We assume we'll walk of the plane into Melbourne and get on with our new life in Australia.

We are wrong. We’re being asked to fasten our seat belts; we’re about to land in Melbourne. Again we all look at one another making sure we stick together so we can go to a hotel together.

We land and are told to remain seated. An official comes aboard with spray cans spraying on both sides. We’re not sure what that is all about. Maybe they kill any Europeanness out of us. We’re hiding our faces and cover up our noses.

Finally we’re allowed to exit the plane down the stairs and we’re all ushered into the building into a large room. We’re going though customs and are asked if we had any food. Some of the people had bought bananas in Singapore. They were taken away from them.

         A few more Immigration Officials enter the room and sart calling out our names. As they call our name, they hand us stickers with various colours and patterns on them. Ben and I are given a green and white circle and are asked to stick them on our lapels. Some people are given red stickers, some yellow.

They call Bohlen and Dahler again and when we wave, we’re told to come forward and we’re ushered quickly through a door following an official. We just have time to wave to our new friends from the trip and within minutes we’re on another TAA plane, this time for Brisbane. What happened to us getting together in Melbourne, having a good time?