Trip to Australia .... July 2009

Day 1 .....

Saturday dawned bright and hot. 4th of July ... National Holiday .... and the day we scheduled to fly to Australia to visit my sister and her family. Our itinerary called for 29 hours of travel from DFW to Perth, Western Australia. 3 flights .... DFW to San Francisco (3 hours) .... San Fran to Sydney (14+ hours) and Sydney to Perth (5+ hours). Economy tickets. Tom had tried several times to get seat assignments in hopes of getting legroom for me (6'0" tall), himself (6'3" tall) and Robbie (6'5"tall) to no avail. So he got the bright idea to go over to DFW early in the day and try to snag good seating assignments. So ... we drove over there ... only about 10 minutes away ... and he was told we were going to need Visas to travel!! Quantus failed to mention that anywhere in our bookings!! YIKES!! So we had to go home ... get out passports .... go back to DFW and deal with red-tape and being put on hold for 2 hours ... we checked our bags at the time, even though it was only 2:00pm and our flight didn't leave until 7:20 that night. I was surprised that they let us check our bags and then leave the airport! But they did!

Back home, the housesitter had arrived and I showed her around the house and the the 3 pages of things I had been writing down to remind her about. She is very responsible and I am so glad she agreed to house/pet-sit for us!! I was concerned about leaving the dogs in a boarding place for 2 weeks. This should be better.

Anna drove us to the airport around 5:30 .... and we cleared security and went to our gate in Termial C. Ten minutes later our flight got changed to terminal E .... so we got to ride the very cool automatic trams around the airport ... no problem. Terminal E is VERY nice. Got there and found out that our flight was lacking a flight crew and would be delayed. Luckily there was an Irish pub near our gate .... A couple of Bass Ales and all seemed fine!

7:20 came and went ... no flight crew ... an hour later, flight crew arrives and discovers two bad tires on the plane ... delayed again .... boarded at 9:00pm and by now our connecting flight in San Francisco is looking difficult to make. We taxi towards the runway .... and turn back .... seems a baggage door was ajar .... went back to the gate .... they slammed some doors ... we turned around and took off at 9:20 .... two hours late.

Oh ... and they lied .... they told Tom we had bulkhead seats with legroom .... not so!! We had seats BEHIND the bulkhead seats .... oh BOY!!

Three hours (and 6 Hot Flashes) later .... we landed in SanFrancisco. 10:20 Cali time ... trying to make a 10:40 flight in a different terminal. We were met by the travel lady handing us Hotel Vouchers ... no chance to make the flight ... but our luggage was available ... go get it! Ha!!! They lied again .... no luggage came out. So off to the Westin Hotel with carry-on's only.

SanFrancisco night air felt wonderful though .... even with HotFlashes!!!

No food since a Subway sandwich at 3:00pm. Ordered Italian to be delivered ... it arrived after 1:00am Cali time .... 3:00am Texas time ...

Oh ... But Wait!! When I got off the plane in San Fran I had 4 voicemail messages .... 3 of them involving our poodle who had escaped the back yard while housesitter was at a fireworks display!! A slat got knocked off our fence and she was GONE. Someone found her about a mile away, after nearly hitting her with their car. Her tags still have a phone # of her previous owner so they called them ... who then called my cell ... Housesitter was beside herself ... searching for the dang dog ... I called her around midnight to tell her Cookie had been found and give her the cell number of the people who had her ....

When I got to the hotel I was able to contact everyone involved via Facebook and emails .... and emailed my sister to let her know we would be 24 hours later than expected ....It's all good .....Tom and Robbie are of good humor .... I'm doing okay ....

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Day 2

Woke up freakin' hot and sweaty in the hotel room where everything is "Green" .... 2 shower heads, one shut off to save the environment ... special soap shaped like a green leaf to remind us of "being green" and saving the environment .... a recycle bin next to the trash bin ...

Tom says .... if they really wanted to be green they would have ceiling fans in the rooms and windows that open to let in the VERY COOL San Francisco Breeze!!! Instead, even with the thremostat set at 65 degrees we were sweaty!! A continental breakfast in the hotel cost $15 apiece .... a warm breakfast, including coffee was $20 APIECE!!! Yikes!!!

No toothbrushes, toothpaste, deoderant, change of clothes .... nothing .... oh well.

Our hotel is right next to the airport on one side and San Francisco Bay on the other side .... so we walked to the Bay and walked along the hiking path for awhile .... it was breezy and actually chilly ... and all our windbreakers are in our luggage .... of course ....

We decided to go back to the airport and check on our tickets and our luggage and everything!!! Tom got us into the American Airline's Admiral's Club which is where I am now .... able to get online ... snacks and drinks available .... still 6+ hours until our flight to Sydney leaves .... and it is a 14+ hour flight .... Oh Boy!!!

On a side note .... we have been fairly calm and polite during all of this .... occasionally scarstic about the cost of things here and such .... but fairly nice to the people involved with the airlines. Some other people who are in the same predicament we are in have gone ballistic .... shouting and threatening and throwing fits about their luggage .... I just can't do that!! We are upset, no doubt .... but shouting at other people doesn't do any body any good !!

Ah-ha!!! They have a Subway sandwich shop here in the airport ..... AND they have the $5 footlongs!! We are going to buy 3 or 4 of them and take them on the plane with us!! Get them to wrap them up 6" at a time .... $10 for a sandwich on the plane is crazy!!! I'm guessing that if a flight takes of at 10:40pm .... there won't be much to eat until what they consider to be breakfast time on the plane ....

Not sure when I'll be able to write again .... hope to include pictures at some point, too!!

Laters ....

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Days 3 and 4 ...

The flight to Sydney was on a 747 .... a huge jet ... the same size as Air Force One .... seats in Economy are 3-4-3 ..... once again Tom was told we had seats with legroom ... once again, he was SO lied to .... when we got to our seats and I saw how cramped they were, I nearly ran off the plane screaming! I didn't .... but I sure wanted to. There was ever less legroom in these seats than we had on the flight from Dallas to San Francisco. And we were going to be in these seats for 14+ hours? OMG!!

There are little TV screen inbedded in the back of the seat in front of everybody ... with LOTS of On-Demand entertainment .... movies, TV shows, documentaries, travel info, and video games. Everyone gets their own headset with the hopes that you will immerse yourself into your own little world of entertainment. When the person in front of you reclines their seatback, suddenly that little TV screen is maybe 6 inches from your face. Lovely.

The food on the plane was actually VERY good. Even though we took off at 10:45pm they served us a full dinner. Wine and beer was also included with free refills for the entire trip, if you could get someone to bring them to you. Given that I was in a window seat, I opted to not drink too much of anything because it was nearly impossible to get out of the seat .... especially when the row in front of yours is reclined and sleeping ....

After clearing the dinner trays and serving hot chocolate or tea and clearing that away, they gave everyone a goody bag with mints and cookies and crackers and candy and a bottle of water and then they turned off the all the lights and everyone was expected to go to sleep. I dozed a bit .... but Tom and Robbie were so uncomfortable that they kept getting up and they would talk to each other ... which over the drone of the engines meant talk LOUDLY to each other. Totally understandable .... but kept me from sleeping much. SO ... I turned on my TV .... only to find out that the whole system was DOWN. Nothing worked. If you had turned your TV off ... there was no getting it back on. If you hadn't ever turned it off, you still had movies and such .... but most of the plane was without entertainment ... kept the attendants busy!!

So ... I turned on my overhead light and read the rest of the flight.

Breakfast on the plane was very good too. Not much room to eat in ... but I do have to say that the food was well done ....

We landed in Sydney LATE and the lines through customs were very long .... and ... well ... we missed our flight to Perth!!

Luckily there would be another flight two hours later. I had no way to let Lori know we missed the original flight. When we got onto the 5 hour flight to Perth, this plane also had no legroom BUT it wasn't anywhere near full ... so after take-off Tom and Robbie moved into seats which were more open!! That left me with an empty seat next to me!! Heaven!!

So anyway .... we finally landed in Perth and our LOVELY niece Kate met us right at the gate ... remember when we could do that in America?? BIG smile on her face .... big hugs all around!!! It was 2:15 on Tuesday afternnon and we had been traveling since Saturday .....Our bags arrived as well .... YAY!

I realized it had been 7 years since I had seen the nieces in person. Kate is lovely!!! She is about 6' tall if not taller and totally THIN ... 14 3/4 years old. The twins, Jess and Andrea are 12 3/4 years old and also slender and beautiful. Robbie fits right in being skinny and tall. Tom and I .... well .... we are what we are!! My sister, Lori, looks great and Derek was working and I actually didn't get to see him until this morning. We were greeted with BIG HUGS and lots of warmth at the Sexton Home.

Robbie, Tom and I were like zombies .... walking tired ... but wanted to try to stay up as late as we could in order to get our bodies on a schedule that is 13 hours ahead of our normal time in Texas. Finally got a SHOWER!!! Blessed Shower!!!

We had some beer and cheese and crackers for a snack .... then Lori took Tom and and I to Freemantle ... a drive along the Swan River .... lovely!! We stopped at a Brewery called Little Creatures ... Derek's brother started it .... it is now a Brewery and a Resturant. It sits right on the Swan River with a lovely view. We had a beer there.

No pictures were taken because our brains were not engaged yet ....

We returned to the house .... gathered up the kids .... and went out for Thai food at a little place called Mai Thai .... All 7 of us ordered a dish and we shared with the table. It was very nice!!!

Pictures were taken .... but not with my camera! Shortly upon our returned home, I crashed and burned ..... Lori and Derek and children are very ACTIVE .... not sure when I'll have time to write .... but will try!!!

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Day 5 ....

Wednesday .... Lovely full night of sleep!!! Yes!!! Feeling much more human now!! Derek arrived home last night soon after Tom and I went to sleep. When we woke up this moring, Derek was in a shirt and Tie and said he had a big lunch to go to today. Good to see him for a moment!

The twins also had to go away with friends for a couple of days .... it is their school holidays and everyone is having trips various places. So it is Tom and Robbie and me ...... Lori and Kate .... and we are off to the .... MALL!! Oh Boy!!!

LOL .... Kate needs a new retainer and that is where her orthodontist is. Lori wants to buy Robbie some "thongs" .... aka Flip-flops .... to wear on the beach. She ended up also buying him a billibong "jumper" .... aka sweatshirt.

Australian Malls also have groceries in them .... a butcher shop ... a veggie stand ... so Lori did a little grocery shopping while in the Mall, too. Then we were off to the shore ... to Cottlesloe Beach on the Indian ocean. The weather is chilly and windy ... but wonderful compared to the 100+ degree temps we left in Texas.

After a lovely walk on the beach we went across the street to a hotel Pub and had a pint and some lunch. I had fish and chips!! Have to do that at least once, here, right??

Lori took us on a driving tour of areas around Perth and the City itself ... then back home. I took an hours nap while the others had tea ..

Derek returned and we all had a beer as we watched the Cricket tournament in England .... Aussies vs the British .... and watching Cricket is often compared to "watching Paint dry" .... LOL .... but Derek enjoys it and was teaching us all about the game. Robbie is eager to learn about all the different sports here in Australia .... Rugby, Australian Rules Football (footie), and Cricket ...

For dinner we all went out to The Yacht Club and had a lovely meal of Corned Beef with roasted potatoes and pumpkin and a side of califlower soup! And .... More BEER!! yay!!

Wine actually seems to be more affordable than beer here!! But beer is the prefered drink of many! A pint of beer costs over $8 almost everywhere we have been!!

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Day 6 ....

Good night's sleep .... it rained on and off all night .... we can hear it and it is lovely to sleep to.

Derek fixed us breakfast and then went off to work again. Not seeing much of him. Kate wanted to go into the city (Perth) and meet up with a bunch of her friends ... so Lori drove her to the trains and let her go off ... Kate is 14!! But I guess she was meeting up with 10-12 other students .... so look out PERTH!!

Lori, Robbie, Tom and I are doing the "touristy" stuff. Today we went to AQWA ... the Aquarium of Western Australia ... http://www.aqwa.com.au/main.asp .... it is set in a habour called Hillary's. LOVED the aquarium ... with the underwater view of all the sea life .... I rode around the whole thing twice on the moving walkway. Lots of sharks and huge sting-rays and a beautiful big turtle .... I'll try to post video from there .... lots of little kids around because of school holidays right now ... but they were fine ... ((Photos and video available at http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v245/cincin21/Australia%20Trip/ ))

We lunched at the Hillary's Markets with a view of the harbour ....

Then we took off to hopefully see some Kangaroos and Koalas!! Lori took us to Yanchep National Park .... http://www.westernaustralia.com/en/Pages/Attraction.aspx?n=Yanchep_National_Park&pid=9001631 It was a nice drive up into Territory that Lori hadn't seen for years ... all along the coast. Seems there has been a lot of growth in the population and building in the areas up there.

We found the park and paid only $10 for the carload of us to get in. Immediately saw lots of Kangaroos !!! I'll post video soon. They let us walk right up to them before hopping slowly away ... very cool!! Then we went in search of the Koalas .... the park is lovely!! Found the Koalas in their habitat ... the eucalyptus trees .... and got very close to them ... also got video of them. There were supposed to be 16 of them ... not sure if we saw them all .... but we saw lots!! Very successful adventure!!!

We returned to the Sexton's and had late afternoon tea ... and some sparkling Shiraz .... yummy!! Lori fixed Salmon filets for dinner .... and we all watched The Man from Snowy River ... one of Derek's fave movies .... and I LOVE the music.

All in all a lovely day!!! The twins return tomorrow and I am greatly looking forward to that!!!

Pictures and videos available at .... http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v245/cincin21/Australia%20Trip/

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Day 7 ....

"Sun showers" on and off all day today .... raining while the sun is shining .... and it is a cold rain!!

Lori and Kate and Robbie and Tom went to the Gym .... I stayed back and chilled. Lori made Shepherd's pie for lunch and started on Scalloped Potatoes as the dish we're taking to dinner this evening. Today is Derek's Mum's 77th birthday and there is a gathering at Derek's sister's home ... Lori is bringing a salad and the potatoes ....

This afternoon we took a trip to the Perth Mint and watched a Gold Pour and heard the history of gold mining in Australia .... no time like the present to begin buying Gold, right?? Lots of pretty jewelry!

We got home ... put the potatoes on to cook. The Twin's are finally back from their trip .... and it is great to have them around. A bit like herding cats at times .... but wonderful ....

Off to Kris and Vic's house .... Derek's parents have 7 children .... Derek and Kris and Karen were there along with their children. Everyone was very friendly .... wine, beer, Cricket & Footie on TV .... good food ... Lamb curry, chicken curry, Lentils ... salad and potatoes .... all yummy. Vic took lots of pictures and promised me a CD of them ... hopefully I will finally have a good pic of Lori and Derek and all 3 girls!! Those are rare!!!

Derek claims to be done with work and promises to spend time with us all this weekend .... we shall see!!

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Day 8 ....

Saturday!! Going out on the boat today .... but before that, Tom and I took Bella the dog out for a walk .... Lori and Derek live just a block from a beautiful park along the Swan River. This park has a dog-run where everyone just lets thier dogs off the leash and they can run. No fences to stop them from going into 4 lanes of traffic ... but all the dogs we saw were acting great ... and Bella was fine. The views are amazing .... and I guess if we were to walk far enough there is a little coffee and muffins cafe where one can sit and watch the river go by while sipping coffee or tea. We didn't walk that far. Young Jessica joined us as she was warming her legs up for a Racewalk that afternoon. Jess is the more outgoing and social of the twins ... Andrea is reserved.

Lori, Jess, and Andy are going to the racewalk ... this afternoon ...... Tom and Robbie and Derek and I are going out on the boat this afternoon ... and Kate is out with friends.

Derek fixed lunch for us .... Sausage Rolls and Meat Pies ... Frozen goodies he warmed up in the oven ... and we watched The Man From Snowy River II!! Then we headed out to the boat .... Derek has a 30 foot twin hulled something or other .... I so don't know boats .... I just like to ride in them!!

Derek took us out on the Swan river and we headed away from the ocean up towards the Swan Valley ... 8 knots is the speed alllowed in most areas ... a bit sedate for Derek ... but lovely for me!! It was breezy and chilly on the river ... but the sun was shining bright!! We went up past two racetracks ... Belmont and Acsot ... and turned around ... as we got into Perth we pulled into a pub on the river called "The Lucky Shag" and had a couple of beers and watched Rugby on the TVs and watched the river go by ... Loved it!!!

Saturday evening the Dockers were playing Australian Rules Football .... aka Footie ... on TV. Derek cooked us a fish and chips dinner and we watched the Dockers go down in their worst defeat EVER ... 130-13 .... even Tom and Robbie and I recognized a team who wasn't trying very hard!! Yikes!! The Dockers are Derek's team ... poor Derek ....

I crashed and burned early on .... like before 9:00 .... being out on the river made me tired, I guess ....

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Day 9 .....

Sunday also dawned BRIGHT and sunny. Lori and Derek and Tom and I drove down to Walter's Point for Coffees by the river .... this is also the cafe at the end of the dog-run area .... BEAUTIFUL spot. And they actually serve full breakfast and lunch, too .... food looked good. Lots of people out on a sunny Sunday morning .... a couple of Lori's friends met us there and I cannot remember their names but I know they have twin sons and that Lori and Derek and kids often go on holidays with this family ...

Tom and Lori and I took Jess and Andy to their racewalk ... I have video of that which I will upload sometime! They did great ... but both of them are complaining about their knees ... at age 12??? Highly competitive family.

Tom and Robbie and Derek are going to see an actual Footie game in person ... not Derek's team ... in fact, their rivals .... but we were here on the wrong weekend for the Dockers to be in town. Lori and I and the girls are going to the Fremantle Markets ... only open on the weekends .... shopping shopping shopping .... touristy type stuff ... all kinds of things ...

Afterwards .... Lori and I took a bottle of wine over to her best friend's house ... they have a lovely view of the river from their deck ... and we watched Perth light up as the sun set. Beautiful. Derek and Tom made dinner .... meats and mashed potatos and green peas ... and wine. All in all it was a successful day ... girls walked well ... boys enjoyed the footie ... Lori got to relax a bit ...

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Day 10 .....

Lori and Robbie and Tom and Derek and I all went out to Carnac Island on the boat. The girls didn't want to go. They claim the boat is too smalll. They are not into the boating thing much at all. We can't get off the boat at Carnac unless we want to swim ... and the girls don't like being confined to the boat either ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnac_Island

Robbie got to drive the boat down the Swan River and into the Indian Ocean where Derek took over. Lori claims the ocean was as calm as she has ever seen it. The trip didn't take long and soon we were anchored in a bay at the island watching the seals loll in the sun on the beach. Sea lions, actually. Derek turned on the music .... made some coffee ... and we all just enjoyed the beauty. One sea lion swam right up to the boat ... but Tom had my camera and I couldn't get him on film!! He was going from boat to boat visiting people who had stopped there for awhile. I did get some footage of a pelican floating around looking for handouts it appeared ....

On the ride back, we saw 10-15 dolphins swimming round and round in cirlces ... we figured they were rounding up fish ... I tried to get them on film too ... but the zoom option just made things blurry ... which makes me sad because they were wonderful!!! But it was great to see them! There is some video available on my photobucket page .... almost looks like shark fins coming out of the water!!

Derek drove us to Little Creatures ... the brewery his brother started and we tied off there and went in to have a late lunch ... beers and pizzas and nachos. I took some pics there so be sure to check out the pics in a few minutes ....

Back to the Sexton household .... dinner at home tonight ... the girls cooked .... pasta and salad !! Yummy!!

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Days 11, 12, and 13 ....

Tuesday ... we went out on the boat to Rottnest Island .... a good 1/2 hour trip across the ocean in Derek's boat. Jessica drove us nearly the whole way!! Yay Jess!! It was a beautifully cool and sunny day and once again the ocean was fairly calm. Derek ahchored the boat just offshore and we all waded to the beach. Robbie and Jess annd Andrea all went one way .... Lori and Derek and I went another. Rottnest seems to be an ideal little family vacation spot. All kinds of things for kids to do ... along with a Subway Sandwich shop and other familiar fast food ... a general store ... bikes to rent ... etc. It seems to be a very safe place to let your kids go one way while you go another! Google Rottnest Island if you want to know how big it is and all of that ... it is big enough to be able to Isolate yourself if you want to .... but also to hold 100's of people during the hoiliday seasons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rottnest

Lori and Derek and I found a pub .... imagine that. A pub with a view of the ocean ... Pics will be in my Australia pics folder. We had a peacock wandering around our table and at one point some ladies got up from their table and left some chips on their plate .... and before they could even move a yard away from their table it was divebombed by seagulls .... 10 seconds later, there were no chips left ... the catsup was all over the pavement ... glasses had been knocked over .... yikes!!!

We ordered various dishes to try and Robbie and Jess showed up just in time to help us eat! We didn't leave anything for the gulls to pick at when we were done. Then Lori and Derek and Tom and I took a stroll part way around the island. The island only uses vehicles to service it ... no personal cars allowed ... so all the transport is by foot or on bike and there are nice paths everywhere. We stopped in at a couple of bays .... every bay seems to have a story or a memory for the Sexton Family as I guess they often spend a week at a time on Rottnest renting a house with friends ...

We all met back at the boat at 4:30 and for some reason only one of the motors would start ... no idea what was wrong with the second one. Derek radioed Fremantle to alert them that we would be coming in on only one motor and it was a tad worrisome ... but it all worked out fine .... It was dark by the time we moored at the Yacht Club and I think I saw the Southern Cross in the sky as we were motoring up the river .... I love being on the water .... so I was very sad to see that part of our trip here come to a close.

Wednesday .... Derek had to go back to work and Kate went off with friends .... we delivered Robbie and the twin's to the Zoo .... then Lori, Tom, and I went to King's Park in Perth. What a beautiful park. A lot of the park is dedicated to the soldiers who have fallen in the wars over the ages .... Memorials for each war and trees planted with little plaques naming the fallen soldier .... the park is 1000 acres and sits high above Perth and the River .... beautiful. We took our books and found a sunny spot and read for awhile .... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_Park,_Western_Australia

I think we spent the rest of the day relaxing at home .... reading and hanging out with the family. Tom checked our return flights and found out that out Perth to Sydney booking had disappeared ... thank goodness he checked .... we were able to get that fixed .... who knows what else we will experience on our return to the US.

Thursday .... Lori and Tom went out golfing and Derek and the girls and Robbie and I went Birthday shopping for Lori. Lori's birthday is Friday July 17th and she is having drinks and dinner tonight at the house with several of their friends and their children. Smartly she is having it catered!!

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Day 14 and Trip Home ....

Friday July 17 .... last day in Aussieland ... and also Lori's Birthday!

Started the morning with girls making Lori Breakfast in Bed ... and then there were pressies and cards to be opened!! I think she got a pretty good haul!

Tom and Robbie and Lori and Kate and I all went back to Fremantle to the markets there to pick up our souveniers for everybody. I wanted to get a Black Opal ring from there, too. Tom nearly choked on the cost ... but the lady came down $300 on the price and then reminded us that we could get a rebate of the 10% tax at the airport ... do overall it was about a 30% discount. It is a beautiful stone, though. I'll need to have it sized ... just need to decide which finger I want to wear it on.

We had lunch at a little italian place in the markets area. Yummy food there.

Back to the Sexton home .... we packed our bags and I took a little nap. We realized that to catch our flight out of Perth at 10 minutes past midnight ... and fly for 4 hours to Sydney ... we will have been awake all day and into the night .... YIKES!! What was I thinking???

BTW .... Lori's party the previous evening was a great success. Lots of friends and family showed up to celebrate her birthday and to meet Tom and Robbie and me. I met the woman who enticed Lori to Australia in the first place .... she was an exchange student to the Univ. of Illinois way back in 1982 .... and was a bridesmaid in Lori's wedding in Australia in 1984. It had been almost 2 weeks since I had worries about politics in America ... but almost all of these women wanted to know about Sara Palin and Hillary Clinton ... and of course, Obama ... They are not very fond of their recently elected leader, either. It was a good evening ....

Back to Friday .... Derek and Lori ,Tom and I went out to Dinner at a local Japanese restaurant for Lori's Birthday. Food was good .... pass on the Sake ... really don't care for it very much. We each ordered a dish and shared. Good way to do things. Back at home we had birthday cake and then it was time to leave for the airport ....

HUGS all around ... tears held back fairly well on my part ... Lori drove us to the airport and we parted ways there ....

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On the flight to Sydney, we each got aisle seats in different rows .... I am not a fan of aisle seating ... I like to lean against a window .... we were near each other but no way to talk. None of us slept on the 4 hour flight .... even though they did turn off the lights. Due to the time change ... we arrived in Sydney at 6:15am and our next flight didn't leave until 1:20pm on that Saturday. We had originally planned to go see a bit of Sydney ... but by that time we had been awake for over 24 hours and we were so tired!! We passed through domestic into the International terminal and once we did that, we couldn't leave the airport. We had hopes of a nice place to have a hot breakfast and some coffee ... maybe read the paper ....

Just for the record .... The Sydney Airport SUCKS!!!!

There was nowhere to get a decent meal anywhere in the International Terminal. You could buy a breakfast sandwich in one place .... coffee in another ... and pay an arm and a leg to do it. Then there were no tables available to sit and eat at ... VERY FRUSTRATING!!! Of course, we were in no mood to deal with it. Ahead of us we had a 13 hour flight in squished quarters and then another 3 hour flight to Dallas .... and we had yet to sleep. Already my feet and legs were swollen and there was nowhere to put them up short of laying on the floor of the airport and putting them up in a seat. The floors were really dirty and I just couldn't make myself do that.

Time passed and we boarded our flight to LA. We thought we got 3 seats in the front of a section ... at least, that was what the picture showed when Tom selected the seats online .... but that didn't turn out to be the case. We were right next to the bassinet section where the babies are and scrunched into three seats with no legroom. I took pics as best I could of how it looked for Robbie and me ... couldn't get an angle on Tom. One GOOD THING that happened .... the flight attendents saw how miserable Tom was and put him in a seat directly behind us where there was an empty middle seat. Robbie and I hoped that would give us an empty seat in our row, too ... but they filled Tom's seat with a tiny old man who was actually able to cross his legs in the legspace ... sheesh!! I was just glad Tom got a little extra room for the flight.

The food on the plane was excellent ... and the service was really good ... but it was a miserable flight. I stayed awake almost the entire flight. If I dozed off ... one of the babies would start crying and jerk me awake ... why can't they have bassinetts for adults??? HUH???

The flight was uneventful and we arrived in LA on time. We only had 2 hours between flights there and we were worried about making our connecting flight to Dallas. The weird thing is ... we left Sydney at 1:20pm on Saturday .... we arrived in La at 9:45am that same Saturday!!! Think about that ....

We moved through the LA airport with ease. Cleared customs without trouble and made it to our gate with plenty of time. My legs and feet we VERY swollen by this time and I just wanted to be home. I was seriously dreading the next flight .... part of me wanted to run screaming into oblivion!! But I resisted the urge ... all I can say is "Thank Goodness for Diana Gabaldon and Jamie and Claire." The book I was reading is an old fave and it helped me get through all of this!!

I was pleased to see that there was acctually MORE legroom on the flight to Dallas. Not MUCH more ... but even an inch helped.

Everything went like clockwork and we were home in a flash. Anna met us at the airport and we were home by 6:00pm. That would be 7:00am on Sunday in Perth .... so we had been awake for 48 hours by that time. Showers!! Then a bit to eat. Tried to stay awake until dark ... but I gave up and went to bed at 8:00.

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Post Trip .... for the record .... Jet lag was way worse upon our return home. I never even noticed it while in Australia .... but it took us/me nearly a week to recover from it after the trip. I went to the gym and tried not to nap .... really glad I didn't have to go to work and function ...

All better now!!

Pictures and videos here .... http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v245/cincin21/Australia%20Trip/