May 31st to June 1st, 2019
Our flight to Australia was not until the afternoon. We had talked about getting up early and going to see part of the Pearl Harbor Memorial. Because of the 3-hour time difference, getting up at 4am came naturally and we decided to get ready and go for it. We also thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to tire ourselves out so we would be more likely to sleep on the 11-hour plane ride to Sydney, Australia. We took an Uber and got to the park around 6:15am so we could be one of the first in line when they opened at 7am for the walk-in tickets. We were the third in line, and I was glad we were there early as the line was totally crazy by 7am. We only had time for one of the monuments, so we did the USS Arizona. We walked around the museums and watched a short film before the boat took us out to where the USS Arizona remains under the water. Learning more about this part of our United States’ history was very impactful. Even though we will have to come back to spend more time at the memorials in Pearl Harbor, I was glad we got to see what we did this morning. We also learned more about the role South East Asia played leading up to the war, which is another place we are visiting. My eyes filled with tears a couple times during the tour as it is hard to imagine the terrors of that day. However, I was thankful for the opportunity to learn more and be reminded of some of our own United States’ history before we reach our next world destination.
We took an Uber back to the hotel to pick up our bags and got to the airport. Once on the plane it was 11 hours to Sydney. We landed and got our bags and then had a very difficult and expensive time getting our rental car. We finally made it to our hostel downtown Sydney around 11pm.