Rhys and I are home and happy to be as always.

Firstly I must explain that due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, our request form paperwork didn't reach Kevin Zahner, our wonderful contact and organizer at Angel Flight, until Monday the 5th of December, leaving precious little time for volunteers to be organized.

Because of this we, ( Rhys and I ), were booked aboard REX flights to and from Sydney. Even our Earth Angels, ( our drivers on earth ) were put under pressure but eventually found but only due, I'm sure, to the generous spirit of some wonderful people.

So our journey begins at 5.00am when my alarm goes off and I shower and have a cuppa and pack the last minute things. Getting Rhys out of bed is a more difficult task as he loves to stretch the minute to the last, all of which continues to make me more nervous.

We jump in the car and depart after farewells to David and Carly.

Nearing the airport, I see the plane already landed and panic for a second, thinking what if it took off without us, how embarrassing that would be!! But it doesn't, we have plenty of time and board the plane first and get comfy.

It's a great flight and we stop at Moruya just so Rhys can experience landing and take-off an extra time.

We arrive in Sydney on time.

We meet our kind and gracious, Earth Angel, whom I don't know the name of as he wasn't whom I expected.

Rhys really enjoyed his car, a Holden Caprice V6, with every imaginable control button in the dash board and TV screens in the headrests of the front seats for the passengers in the back. ( I didn't bother with the TV as it was unlikely to have sub titles ).

We arrived safely at the Cochlear Centre and took some photos of our driver and his vehicle.

As it was too early for our appointment we went across to our motel, only a short stroll, and checked in and got rid of our luggage and refreshed ourselves, then went for a wander down the street to find breakfast, which we did.

At 11.15 we got to the Cochlear Implant Centre for our 11.30 appointment.

Rachel was on time as always.

My tune up consists of Rachel connecting my speech processor to her computer and having me listen for noises at differing levels and pitches etc. As soon as I hear the noise I tell Rachel. I have to really concentrate during this as it's difficult to sort out the tinnitus from the noises I'm listening for. I'm sure I get it wrong sometimes.

Rachel then tests me with other sounds during which I have to point to a chart she gives me showing words like faint, soft, medium and loud.

We also go through different sounds. Rachel writes "s" "ee" "sh" "or" and "ar" down and goes through them, saying them clearly so I can both see and hear the sounds then she covers her mouth and I try to copy what I think she says. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I don't but I mostly improve with each visit and that's what it's all about, improvement.

We do the same with words like, orange, pink, yellow and blue. Then rabbit, dog, monkey and fish. Then the months of the year and the days of the week. Leading up to stringing more than one word together without lip reading. ( I can only do this with a couple of words at a time and only if I have an idea, in advance, what they might be).

Rachel tests my hearing with both the hearing aid and the speech processor, ( implant ) separately, in the sound proof booth so she can compare them with previous tests.

That's it, we've finished, thank Rachel for her continuous kindness and help and Rhys and I depart.

The day is warm and humid but we've go a long time till bedtime so what shall we do?

The cheapest thing I can think of is a visit by bus to The Sydney Tower / Centrepoint so off we go. Our bus driver was most helpful and we got off the bus as close as possible and walked through the most amazing decorated streets and arcades, festooned with Christmas decorations. Sydney's much different than Melbourne and I was impressed but in the same token, I'm not a shopper and it made my head spin. How could you possibly decide which shop to go into first? Easy solution, don't go in any!!! Rhys was in complete agreement.

We found Centrepoint easily and paid our money and went into the OZTrek, a unique virtual reality ride across Australia with 180 degrees cinema & 3D technology, with surround sound and motion seating. Good Fun!

We then spent some time up on the observation deck. It certainly does help you to get your bearings and I recommend it if you're new to Sydney.

Rhys and I found ourselves in need of sustinance so after leaving the tower we found a cafe advertising Devonshire teas on special, yum. Rhys had a milkshake and shared my scones, delicious.

We walked back the way we'd come and after asking advice from two lovely ladies we found our way to our bus depot. We then had help from the bus company ticket seller who couldn't help enough, he was great.

We travelled across, what is very new to us, the Anzac Bridge. Most impressive.

We got back to our motel and relaxed, nothing exciting for tea as we didn't need much after the Devonshire tea. Watched abit of TV then went to bed.

Our alarm went off at 7.00am. My phone alarm, which Rhys had no trouble hearing.

I got up, showered and had my morning cuppa while reading my book. Later I tried to entice Rhys out of bed but as I'd said earlier he loves waiting til the last minute, the devil.

We were out the front of our motel with plenty of time waiting for Ian our late notice Earth Angel. He did well and arrived on time despite the rush hour traffic. It took us an hour to get to the airport but I wouldn't know whether that's good time or not but I'm thinking not. We thanked Ian and went our separate ways.

Rhys and I checked our luggage in, no problem.

We then had to go through security again so once again I received special treatment. It's all good and the security people are very kind and thorough.

Rhys and I were quite hungry by then so found something yummy to have for breakfast and somewhere comfy to sit to eat it. I really enjoy airport terminals, partly because I'm rarely in one but because the passing traffic is just so entertaining and the planes coming or going it's just so easy to waste time there.

Our Flight at 12.05 didn't happen until 12.35 for some reason but these things happen and we boarded and headed for home. Some turbulence but only minor and we landed in sunny Merimbula and drove home.