We got to Melbourne Airport with plenty of time, thanks to Nadia's trademark overcautiousness. We checked in and went through security pretty smoothly and then had breakfast before waiting for our flight.

The flight into Aukland was uneventful enough, apart from finding ourselves seated next to someone who lives in the next suburb!

After a short transfer in Auckland, we boarded the long flight to Houston. We managed to get a few hours sleep which we were both very pleased about. Coming into Houston was a little bumpy and the pilot got a bit wibbly-wobbly on landing but it was otherwise fine.

The process through customs at Houston was very quick and easy, and before we knew it we were on a shuttle to get our hire car. Our first real conversation in America was with the Pakistani guy at the rental desk, who of course wanted to talk cricket to the Australians! (And yes, he did mention ball tampering).

We picked up a nice Ford Fushion hybrid, which was a little nicer than we were expecting - it's actually harder to get used to all the push button controls than it is driving on the right side of the road!

Our second cricket reference came just out of Houston when we drove past the site where they're building the largest cricket comeplex in the USA - 14 fields!

We drove about 3 hours here to Austin, stopping quickly on the way for dinner. Our options were pretty limited where we stopped, so our first meal here was at Maccas!