This is my first blog, and I have to warn you – my prose is neither as humorous nor as insightful and erudite as my husband’s. At least my pictures should be in focus, though!
I’m on the flight to Vancouver after a somewhat harried experience at check-in. As it turns out, you DO need a travel VISA to get to AU. Thankfully, the very kind Air Canada employee, after berating me for not looking into this sooner, said that I was lucky since AU visas are one of the few they can do electronically from the counter….for a fee, she said ominously. About $25 later and documents in hand, I visit the airport lounge with a couple of older Japanese businessmen who can’t seem to get the coffee machine figured out and provide some entertainment while I sip my cup of tea.
The flight is uneventful – I’m sitting beside an elderly gentleman on his way to an Alaskan cruise. I thank God for noise-cancelling earphones, as he has a somewhat terrible cough due to his emphysema. Lovely ambient music on Fred’s MP3 (I skipped the prog!) allows me to drift off to sleep for a bit.
I wake up over the mountains – they never fail to fill me with wonder and awe. Alas, they are quickly covered by clouds as we head closer to Vancouver.
Yesterday was interesting. After a teary-eyed (I was the only one who was feeling gooey) goodbye at the airport, I sent the munchkins and Fred off to their own adventure in Ontario.
An hour later, Lucy was picked up by the good folks at K-Lane, and I was alone….utterly alone. So what did I do, you ask? I did what every mom of 3 kids yearn to do when the kids aren’t around – I slept. Then, I slept some more. Then, I went shopping BY MYSELF, just because I could! I only had a few little items to pick up, but the deafening silence at home was too much to handle. And while I was out, I had to keep telling myself that I don’t have to rush home, I don’t have to rush home, I don’t have anyone at home….REALLY weird.
It’s amazing the creatures of habit we are. I am so looking forward to this trip – not only because it’s the trip of a lifetime (thank you, Fred!), but also to break out of some of those routines that rule my life from day to day.
I chatted with my friend Cathy Dodds (nee Hawkins) in Sydney on the phone last night, and she said that we’ll probably head down to Canberra for our first weekend. It’s a holiday weekend for them, so a trip is in order with the family. We’ll be visiting Peter (or Doddsie, as he’s called) Dodds parents, who apparently live on the edge of a golf course that is filled with kangaroos! I squealed with delight, and Cathy laughed and said I would be so easy to please. She couldn’t be more right.
Notes From A Land Down Under 
