(Australia) Almost home! Friday April 2nd

Friday, April 2^nd

 Our watches tell us it is 1:30 pm on Good Friday, but I think we’ve already had one of these!  We left Adelaide at 9:30 am on Friday morning and flew to Sydney where we had 3 hour layover.  We regretfully had our last Australian latte, washed it down with a glass of wine and headed home.  Our plane left Sydney about 3 pm so we set our watches back to 9 pm California time on Thursday.  We weren’t particularly tired, but after dinner and a movie, we both took a sleeping “tablet” to try to help us start readjusting to US time.  Well, they worked – we both slept about 8 hours and woke an hour out of San Francisco.  We’re now in the air again on our way to Houston and then BR!  

 

This has been a trip of a lifetime for us and I think I can say for both of us that we enjoyed it even more than we anticipated doing so.  Other than the weather being warmer than average, the trip was about perfect.  The people were so friendly, the scenery was beautiful, the food was delicious, the wine was fabulous, and we didn’t have a wreck!!!  It just didn’t last long enough!

 

I will say now that we are on our way back home (and I’m sure Mark will remind me of this the next time we go overseas) that I didn’t need to pack about half of what I did.  It might have been different if the weather had been as expected, but due to it being so warm, we ended up wearing the same clothes over and over.  We were fortunate though to be able to have clothes washed several times or otherwise ……..   

 

We loved hearing from everyone along the way.  It made us feel like we weren’t so far away from home.  Skype was great – we just wished the time change difference hadn’t prevented us from “talking” more to home.  Mark and I talked about on this trip how much technology and communications have changed since we camped (?), then lived in England.  When we were traveling around Europe we would go to the local post office once every two weeks to call home.  You’d go up to a telephone operator’s booth, give them the phone number to call, and then go sit on a bench and wait until they could get your call through.  Then we’d talk to my mom or Barbara and Gwin for what seemed like just a few minutes due to the cost of the call.  Otherwise our only communication was written letters that were mailed to us to American Express offices.  We had a tentative schedule of where we were going, so we could receive mail at AmEx offices which would be held for us for 2 weeks after it arrived.  Mark used to say he dreaded mail day because I would get so homesick after reading our letters.  I would hang on to them and read them for days!!!  Oh well, thank goodness times have changed.   

 

So……..

Best things we brought……..Laptop and all of our maps

Worst thing we brought…….Jackets

Why we stuck out……..We looked like tourists because we were never without our maps and camera.

What we felt good about………Successfully driving on the left and having no accidents

Our routine that developed…….Even though I’m a detail person, I made the overall arrangements for the trip and Mark had little more than a general idea of our plans.  Every day he would look at me and asked me where we were going the next day.  So every night he would research where we should go and what we should do the next day.

What we ditched along the way……..Maps, guidebooks, local info (all except wine touring maps).  We realized how much those things weigh as we were packing up each morning. 

Anticipated, yet not accurate……….We expected the Australians (Ozzies) to be more like the British people.  In many ways they are in their phrases (Blimey, lovely meal, etc.,) and foods, but they don’t seem to want to be considered connected to the British.  They are more laid back and casual and all seem to love America, and Americans, as they called us. 

Things we missed about home…… Absolutely with no doubt our family, friends, and Abby and Molly.  Other than the physical distance between the US and Australia, I could easily live there. 

 

All day long we have been reminiscing about the last two weeks and little things keep popping into our minds.  We hope we don’t bore you all with pictures and stories when we get home – just tell us enough is enough!

 

We’ve got about an hour til our next flight, so we’re sitting here discussing our travel bucket list and chatting about what’s next! 

Love you all and can’t wait to see everyone.