DAY 17
Week 3
ADELAIDE (South Australia, AUS) to TERRANORA (New South Wales, AUS)
Friday May 28th, 2004
TODAYS MILEAGE – 1096 miles or 1764 kilometres
TRIP MILEAGE – 14561 miles or 23434 kilometres
We grabbed the 8AM Qantas "kerosene canary" out of Adelaide, which got us into the Sunshine states capital bang on 10 o'clock. Trever & Sonia took my luggage and off I went with my camera, laptop and a day bag with some clothing an toiletries.
I was putting a lot of faith in the Australian Passport Office's 14 day guaranteed service and if the truth be told, I only had myself to blame for the situation I was in, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
By 10:30 that morning, I was front and centre at the Passport Office - "I'm sorry, the courier had not arrived, he should here at 11" was my response. Oh well, I wandered off, grabbed a paper and a coffee and came back at midday to find the office closed from 12 to 1 for lunch. I go back 1:30 and am met with "The courier arrived but we don't have your passport, could you come back on Monday and we'll see if we can find it".
Rather than going off, I calmly produced my documentation and advised the lady that I had paid the expedite fee and was guaranteed a 14 day turn around and would she mind taking a quick look at the stated reason for the urgency in replacing the passport. "Oh, you're returning to the US tomorrow, which is your principal place of residence." She then leaves the counter and comes back with her supervisor who offers me a refund, but I have to come back Monday as the cashier was sick for the day. The supervisor is all apologetic and the like but out of the blue asks if anyone had checked the diplomatic passports. Bingo, we have a winner. They sent my passport in the wrong airbag.
The supervisor was happy, I was ecstatic but the woman serving me was still in "Government" mode when she asks me for photo identification in order to collect my passport. You're kidding right - why don't you look on the inside cover, it has my photo on it. Nope, not good enough, it had to be a drivers license or government issued ID. I pull out my Idaho driver’s license and my Green Card and the woman just hands over my passport. Talk about dealing with the brain dead. I had to get out of there before my IQ dwindled like theirs. 
It was now 4PM and with passport in hand, I grabbed feed before heading over to Suncorp Stadium to meet up with Fluxy, Sonia, Skidders, Philthy & Jodes to watch the Dragons and the Broncos with our front row seats at the Friday night footy.
• BRISBANE ~ Suncorp Stadium (Queensland, AUS) Bronco's -v- Dragon's
Here's a breakdown of the travel times and distances in getting over there:
5.7 miles or 9.2 kilometres
• Travel Time: 12 minutes
1008 miles or 1622 kilometres
• Flight Time: 2 hours 24 minutes
∗ BRISBANE ~ Domestic Terminal (Queensland, AUS) to TERRANORA (New South Wales, AUS)
82.2 miles or 132.2 kilometres
• Travel Time: 1 hour 47 minutes