The Cow was having a hard time getting to Oz (for the gory details, read her TravBuddy blog) and was starting to doubt that she'd ever actually get there.
Still, she'd finally checked in on a flight to Sydney after lonnnnnnnnngg hours spent in various SA airports, and the prospect of actually boarding a plane that might just go somewhere seemed a little too good to be true.
"You see," Gramsci crackled down the phone as her cellphone battery sputtered its last. "You got excited too soon! The Ozzies are cleverer than the Yanks - they don't bounce you at the outset, they just make sure you don't get there via other means!"