Australia - Week 4

So on to our final week back home. Saturday was taken up with a joint birthday celebration for Linda and Andrew at their house in Paterson. We drove up in the late afternoon - quite a nice drive and VERY rural by the time we arrived. The girls would have loved the farms and cows etc that were all over the place except they were too busy watching Shrek for about the 80th time on their iPods! We had dinner at the local pub and ended up back at their house playing poker for a very high stakes tournament ($5 buy in). In the end it came down to Mindy and Alex...and Alex's skills won out in the end.

Sunday was kicked off by bacon and eggs on the BBQ then 9 holes of golf at Paterson golf club. The previous night I had asked Andrew about our tee time and received a smile and was assured it would not be necessary. Well, far from there being a crowd, there was not even a place to pay! It was an honour system where you put your money in a box on the 1st tee. Certainly the country town experience. We then said goodbye to Alex and Ange who were heading up the coast for a week...sad but only one of many goodbyes to come over the next week.

Monday night was spent catching up with old school mates. Adam, Daniel J and Daniel W were have known each other since the 7th grade and it was great that we were able to get together and go over old stories and catch up on what we have all been doing for the past few years. Daniel W drove to my house and picked Adam from the station, then we headed up to Johno's house at the Terrace. We met his wife Kim, who could not have been nicer...then after a beer, went to the fancy "Muree Golf Club" for many beers. 8 schooners each later and we were ready for dinner, more beer and a weird compulsion to go looking for some more alcohol. Canadian Club and Ginger Ale was found and an amazingly small amount actually drunk while watching an episode of the "Young Ones"...another part of our youth!

After a great breakfast Tuesday we headed back to Newcastle. Before we left, I had received a call that Alex and Ange were heading back our way to spend some more time with us! So that afternoon we went to the cinema and the girls were treated by cousin Alex to see Toy Story 3...Mindy, Angus and myself wandered around a shopping mall, drank coffee and relaxed as much as we could with a 6 month old in tow.

The rest of the week was spent seeing people and kind of saying goodbye. A couple of visits to see Aunty Betty including catching up with Kevin and Glenys were a priority. We went up to see Mick and Margaret on Wednesday night...another fun evening as expected! On Thursday Daniel and Alethia came up for dinner and we said goodbye to them. Friday brought the final farewell to Mick's family when everyone came over for pizza. It was difficult to say goodbye to everyone as expected but we had a wonderful time and hopefully will get back a little sooner than 4 years for our next visit.

Saturday was departure day. We managed to stuff everything into the car and then said farewell to Mum. This was very difficult for everyone...it is getting tougher now because the kids are old enough to understand what is going on as well. I like to avoid a drawn out goodbye so we got away nice and early for the airport. The journey was relatively smooth...arrived OK; rental car dropped off; checked in bags; got to immigration THEN had to fill out 5 departing passenger cards; claimed back the tax paid for the opals...then went to the gate with about 15 minutes to spare before we boarded!

As expected, the flight was a nightmare. Naomi is now too tall to get comfortable and so as a result, our trip was about 10 hours of her squirming around not sleeping...and us therefore not sleeping much either. Mindy had Angus on her lap, I had Fiona lying on my lap...and Naomi kind of bounced around between the two of us. It was at this time that I brought up the fact of us only having 90 minutes to make our flight to New York! I assumed it would be OK but still knew we would have to hustle to make it.

So...touch down in LA...first obstacle - get the gate checked stroller. Luckily it was waiting for us immediately off the plane. Then to immigration where we lined up...not too bad. Then the agents took a whole group from BEHIND us to another line where they moved more quickly. Through immigration, then to baggage claim. Fortunately the bags came out relatively quickly and so then on to customs. There were two lines and looking ahead, I picked the one that had fewer people in it. Well, I did not realise that the OTHER line was being serviced by TWO agents...so we were stuck while people were flying past us. Eventually got through...45 minutes gone. Now all that was left was to get the bags to the conveyer belt for our next flight...get out of this terminal and into another terminal two away...THEN back through a security checkpoint...THEN to race to our gate.

So, we find our terminal and hit the line for security. Only about 10 people in front of us, 35 minutes until the flight leaves...not a problem. However, the line seems to not be moving. 10 minutes later, we had 8 people in front of us. I realised we would miss our flight if not bumped up so requested to get this expedited from the agent. Fortunately he let us go next! So now just a simple matter of removing Angus from the sling; taking off 4 pairs of shoes; removing the liquids and my laptop from the bag; then pushing a camera bag; laptop bag; 4 carry on bags; a stroller and all of our shoes through the machine! Then get dressed on the other side and get to the gate. As time was now VERY close, I ran ahead with Naomi (and the stroller, laptop bag; camera bag and two carry on bags) and made it to the gate as we were being paged. Literally, we got on the plane, stowed our bags, sat down and they shut the door of the plane. 5 more minutes and we missed it. So - exhaused; tired and hungry...we tried to relax for our 6 hour flight across the country.

Everything else was uneventful. All our bags arrived OK. Rita and Cam picked us up and everything fit back into our van. Of course, we were smashed by the heat wave and time change but we made it in one piece, without missing any planes, so no real complaints.

We all had a fantastic time and have to get back to reality. Now I have 6 months with no vacation to look forward to. At least the cricket season is still going on - Staten Island game this weekend!