So the best laid plans and all that.
The plan had been that our last day would be 'maximised' with time with respective families. Stuart would take the car back to his parents and I'd spend time with my family at my sister's. We'd have an evening meal with her, with my brother, mum and step father coming over and brother would use our step father's car to drive us to the hotel around 8pm. We have to be checked in before 8am for long haul flights and a 10hr lay over in Hong Kong. My step father would drive himself and my mum back home in my brother's vehicle, so he'd return there and change vehicles before going home. They're all relatively close to each other in Australian terms. 10-15 miles for the rest of the world.
The reality is that I'm currently sitting in the airport hotel. I've been here since 3pm (hubby took his parents' car back whilst I showered and rearranged the luggage.). We've ended up bringing ourselves to the airport because my step father's vehicle would not start yesterday afternoon (we found out at 4:30pm on a Friday afternoon, when he tried to go to shooting club and no go) and whilst they have breakdown cover, it doesn't cover them for breaking down at home. It's also in an underground car park so no moving it ¼ a mile away to get help...
evening meal became lunch, and we had to leave just after 2pm.
My sister didn't want to drive us here because of driving home alone in tears. Understandable, we're very close and unless a miracle happens is the last time I see her dog Bella as well. Instead, she's had to pick up and drop off both parents whilst her ex dog sits. Bella is also sulking because she's very sensitive to my sister's emotions.
My brother decided to get very drunk last night whilst out (he only drinks when he's not driving the next day and he drives for a living). So we've not seen him. He was still drinking at 2am this morning apparently.
We're also a bag up on what we brought over. Luckily long haul allowances are 2 hold bags each up to 23kg (each) and we came out with only the 1 each, so gaining one is no big issue. It's full of stuff my mother wants me to inherit. Either yarn, knitting book (which weigh a lot) or material for a patchwork quilt, plus 2 patchwork quilts (one is super king sized!) and several china ornaments we've had to purchase lunch boxes to get them home. Luckily yarn and material work as padding.
And so the long journey home has started 6hrs earlier than expected.
Apparently, both flights will be 5 minutes shorter than advertised, so we land in Sydney on Tuesday morning at 5:55am (local time) and hopefully will be home before or just after lunch. We have to do the shopping and go to the post office before getting home though.
I'm not sure landing 5 minutes earlier is going to be noticed. 
