Crossing the international date line is a startling experience that demonstrates a certain artificial quality for measuring time. Saturday, April 22, never existed as far as we know because we left home in a taxi at 9 pm on Friday, April 21, and arrived at our hotel in Melbourne 25 hours later — at 3 pm on Sunday, April 23. Although always a long trip to Australia, our was made longer by a two-hour departure delay at the San Francisco airport.

We disembarked the aircraft in Sydney down the stairs and onto a bus that took us to the international terminal for immigration and customs before boarding our Melbourne flight.

Our hotel, the Wyndham, is in the “Legal District” near four court houses. After settling into the room (actually a tasteful one-bedroom suite), we walked a few blocks away to Hardware Street for dinner. A two block long section of the street is a small, quaint promenade with numerous restaurants. Bev and I shared the specialty, Chicken Max, at Max’s — grilled chicken breasts stuffed with feta, spinach, and pistachios — along with wine from Australia’s well-known Yarra Valley.

The adventure continues tomorrow!!