One of the biggest draws Australia has as a holiday destination is simply the fact that it is a very, very long way away. It is actually about as far away as you can get from London unless you have around £14m and are willing to let the Russians blast you into space. This is one of the main reasons I chose it. The other was the fact that David had suggested it some weeks before. In fact, now I think about it, it was probably his idea. Nevertheless, the hugeness of the distance involved is often underestimated, which is why, sitting on a QANTAS flight from London Heathrow to Singapore, I wondered for the sixth or seventh time why I was not blessed with the ability to spontaneously fall asleep whenever convienient. We may be travelling across twelve time zones, but dammit, it’s dark outside and I want to sleep. Essentially, when travelling from the UK to Australia, you get roughly two shorter-than-normal days, depending on what time you leave. On the way back, you get just one monster one. Staying awake, it seemed, was going to be more unpleasant than I had thought.

Oh well, only eleven hours to go.