Daintree Rainforest

For those of you that have been checking for updates, we do apologize. The first part of our Australian journey took us north to the Daintree rainforest and completely out of internet range, but we're back! The best part is that we are now armed with a Telstra Wireless Broadband device so keeping in touch will be a breeze (it sounds too good to be true, even to us!)

So, let's backtrack. It has not been hard for either of us to adjust to our new vagabond lifestyle. After picking up our Apollo campa van we spent the first few days shopping to fill in gaps in the supplies. Craig is learning that Lynda does not really like grocery shopping. It is a chore that is meant to be accomplished as quickly as possible even if the store is air conditioned. "Yes, there is a lot to choose from dear, but just look at the choices and pick what you feel like eating." Craig has done a bang up job of organizing our belongings. Thanks to the produce department at Woolworths, we have free organizers and very little rattling behind us when we are driving.
Craig has adjusted to driving on the "wrong" side of the road while Lynda has not. Sitting on the "wrong" side of the vehicle combined with gusting wind creates the illusion that we are drifting into the oncoming lane. On one particular occasion Craig lost ten years off his life as Lynda shouted "move over, move over, move over." After a moment of panic, he realized he was doing everything correctly and it was just his passenger panicking again.

What is there not to like about Australia?

...The beaches at Cairns, Yorkey's Knob, Port Douglas, Wonga Beach, and Cape Tribulation. The water is as warm as bath water. You know it is warm when Lynda is in the water first.
...The weather. Apparently, they are having an unusually warm spring with temperatures between 25-30 degrees Celcius. We are loving it now, but that could mean extremely hot temperatures when summer comes.
...The food. We are eating and drinking our way through the country. Exotic fruit at the Cape Tribulation Exotic fruit farm, cheese at the Mungali Creek Biodynamic Dairy farm, coffee at Maloberti's NQ Gold coffee plantation. Everywhere you go there are food tours: bananas, mangoes, limes, macadamia nuts etc.
...The people. Aussies are so friendly and welcoming. We have met some wonderful people in just a short period of time. Some of them are intrigued by our accents while others are fishmen. Craig is drawn to them like a magnet. Just last night at Lake Tinaroo we met a family from Townsville at the campsite. Within 30 minutes, the husband had invited Craig to go fishing with him when we go there next week. That Craig, he's a fast worker. (Never mind Lynda, the teachers still outnumber the electricians by about ten to one.)

For those of you who want to know about the wildlife, we haven't had any close encounters yet. Unless, of course, you count the baby stick bug that found its way into Lynda's shirt on day two. (Yes, she screamed and people looked at her.) On our 7 km hike through the rainforest to the top of Mount Sorrow in Cape Tribulation, we had the distinct feeling that we were being watched (snakes, spiders, lizards, cassowaries?) but we were too absorbed with the 680 metre ascent and descent to care. It isn't called Mt. Sorrow for no reason.

We are heading to Townsville to see Lynda's cousins tomorrow. We are going to do a much better job of keeping on top of this blog. We promise!

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We've arrived Down Under!

It's half past noon, 7:30 pm back home, 25 hours since we left Kathy and Glenn's place,and we're here. The flight was smooth, but long. The first thing we did was dive in the pool, so much better than stuffy planes. We get our campa van tommorrow, so we took a room where we can stretch out and sleep, maybe after one more dip in the pool.

Los Angeles California

After years of anticipation we have finally started our round the world journey. First stop, Los Angeles, California. Luckily we arrived at the airport early. Who knew that Craig would not only be selected for a Nexus secondary examination, but an enhanced security search? Was it his new shirt? His new haircut? Or should he just have listened to Irene who told him it was bad luck to change his shirt when he was wearing it inside out the day before? Oh well, it was all good as we still had time for a Starbuck's coffee before our plane departed.

Kathy and Glenn met us upon our arrival at LAX. Within seconds of leaving the terminal, we had our first Hollywood experience. Walking beside us was a very petite young lady wearing a floppy hat. She looked like any other traveller, but the paparazzi wasn't fooled. They followed her all the way to her waiting SUV. Who was it? Who knows? We checked out people.com and tmz.com to no avail. Her identity remains a mystery.

More importantly, it was a beautiful sunny day and we were off to lunch at a French cafe in Venice. The rest of the afternoon was spent touring around Santa Monica and later we stopped to quench our thirst on a patio in Marina del Rey before heading home for dinner.

On Monday we braved the big hills and cycled down to the beach and along an excellent bike path through Playa del Rey and Marina del Rey to Venice beach. It took us several hours, but we were entertained by the scenery and all the interesting characters we saw along the way. On Tuesday, Glenn arranged a city tour for us during the day. After many hours sitting on a bus we were thrilled to have an opportunity to get some exercise that night. Kathy took Lynda to her workout class at "Easy Fitness" in Venice beach. There was nothing easy about it. Who knew that Kathy's trainer, Kevin, would be as evil as our trainer, Judith? Glenn took Craig on a 45 minute run up and down the hills of Playa del Rey, along the beach, and back up and down those hills. Wow, you can certainly build up a sweat in this climate.

On Wednesday, we hopped on the Disneyland Express Bus at the airport and made the journey to the "happiest place on earth." What more can we say? Another hot, sunny day in California. Note to self: next time we go on Splash Mountain, ask for the seats in the back of the ride. It isn't called "Splash Mountain" for nothing.

There have been a few bumps along the way. Somehow one of us deleted all of our pictures from the first two days here. Very disappointing, but we can always take some more. Maybe not. The charger with the extra battery is in Vancouver. Many thanks to Peggy as both items are on their way here via UPS courier. Good thing we found this out before we left North America.

We are very grateful to our hosts and wonderful friends, Kathy and Glenn. With so many years of hotel and hospitality experience between them, they really know how to make their guests feel welcome. Our own floor of the house, flowers in the room, a fridge full of food, maps of the area and use of their bicycles. We also have the company of "the girls," better known as E.T. and Speckles. Although we are leaving on Friday, our visit has been too short and we wish we were staying longer. Our goal now is to convince them to come and visit us somewhere along this journey so we can all be on holiday together.

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Homeless and off to Pender

We have packed our bags and rented out our house and now that we are homeless, we are off to Borden's Lazy Acres in Pender Harbour for a little break.

After several weeks of moving and cleaning and more cleaning to get out of our home, Craig, Lynda, and Kristin were very happy to take it easy and do just nothing, ie. "read a book".

Kristin took us on many adventures, collecting everything from shells to crabs to starfish. She also spent many hours as everyone's or anyone's personal chaffeur in the Gator, while she practised her driving skills.

Doug took us out to his favourite spot to try our luck at prawning. It's a tradition for the girls

aboard to kiss the "buoys" for good luck. Kristin took her turn.

Bye for now......Paddle harder Dad!

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