Tuesday, August 26th, 2025
We had an 11am flight out of Sydney to Busselton in Western Australia. We flew with a regional airline called Jetstar and they did a few things differently than the US. First off no one ever asked us for any ID. We never had to show passports or anything with our name or picture on it.
Your carry on luggage has to be weighed when you check in and each person is allowed 7kg. Anything above and you pay extra which we had when we bought the ticket. Even though your carry on is weighed when checking in it is weighed again at the gate. They have a cute little rolling cart with a scale on it and 2 people went around checking carry-on and charging if it exceeded the 7 kg and you had not already paid for the added weight.
The plane was not full so Kathy and I had a row of 3 seats to ourselves which was nice. The flight is a 5 hour flight and there is a 2 hour time change from Sydney. They serve food and drink on the plane but everything, including water, is a charge. Nothing is free. They came through the cabin twice offering but the second time around very few people bought anything.
The scenery out the plane window was beautiful. Very green and in most areas not densely populated.
The coast of southern Australia.
The airport we flew into was a regional airport so not very big. When we turned the corner into baggage claim there was Merv and Michelle waiting to greet us. Our bags came quickly and they were parked right outside the door barely 10 feet from the exit. They also have free parking at the airport!
They have had lots of rain here but when we landed it was sunny and cool. They took us on a ride through Busselton which has an old timey western town feel to it. None of the buildings were more than 3 stories. The town is right on the coast and no condos or high rise hotels on the waterfront.
On the way to the farm we passed lots of cows and sheep and one field that had a ton of kangaroos. They said we would see a lot more and we would be closer to them for some good pictures. The kangaroos are protected even though they are a nuisance animal.
We spent the afternoon catching up and taking a tour of the farm and the flower business. There are lots of flower names to learn and pictures to take. People can come out to the farm and buy arrangements or just pick up some fresh flowers and do their own arrangements. They also ship a lot of flowers to Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. More to come on the flowers.
The farm
Merv & Michelle read the blog and they have remembered that we always keep potato chips in the room when we are sailing so they brought out some snacks that they got just for us.
We had some nice welcome bubbly and a wonderful dinner and caught up on all types of things. It was like no time has passed at all since we last saw them. They have lots of things planned for us during our extended stay including a road trip of south west Australia and we are excited to see it and very grateful for their hospitality and to get to spend this time with them.
The temperature is 46 degrees tonight and we are loving it.