I drove down from Kerry’s on Sunday to
Susan Kelly’s (she taught in the China program after me) to stay the night and
leave my car for this trip. I’ve done this a couple of times, one of her friends
dropping me at the AMTRAK station that I take to Gran Central and then pick up
the bus shuttle to the airport. In the afternoon we watched the great Superbowl
game between Patriots and Seattle Seahawks (Yea! Pats!) while eating delicious
Chili that Sue had made. We killed a bottle of wine and then watched more snow
come down.
In the morning my flight still looked on
time so we shoveled about 6 inches of snow out to the road. Her school had been
cancelled. They said 95 was very icy and it was still sleeting. Some of the
trains were delayed so I opted to reserve a seat on the Airport Shuttle. She took
me to the Marriott and waited to be sure I got off (Thanks so much, Sue!! You’re
the best!) The company had switched from vans to 4—wheeled drive SUVs so I felt
pretty safe. We saw many spinouts off the road as we went in but we managed just
fine. It only took about an hour and a half to get to JFK and the Qantas
terminal.
I had about 4 hours of waiting to make
phone calls and check in with Kerry. They (Boston area) were getting snow all
day and everything was closed. My flight was 2 hours delayed taking off but they
ended up holding the transfer flight in LAX (I had only had a 1.5 hr. layover
there). The flight was long but I was able to sleep. All in all I was from
airport to airport 23+ hrs. but add in another 6 hrs to the airport and
waiting!
Anna is a very good amateur photographer
with a great Nikon camera (want to maybe buy one of these here to use. Very
light weight, great zoom!). She actually got pictures of my Qantas flight coming
in for a landing! We went home and got unpacked. Anna is a friend of my college
mate Betty/Elizabeth, she calls her. We have been on Facebook for several years but
had never met. I wanted to come a few days before the Grand Circle tour
starts on Sunday as we only spend a day and half here. So Anna has been a
terrific tour guide! Hopefully she’ll come to Boston/Cape Cod some time and I
can return the favor.
We had to pick Greg, her husband, up at the
airport after work as he works for Qantas. On the way that afternoon we went by
the Woodland Historic Homestead area, that used to be a huge horse farm. We
spotted a mob of kangaroos resting in the shade in a field. We parked and walked
closer for some pictures. Most of the mob hopped off, including a large male.
There was a female with a huge joey with long legs sticking out of her pouch and
she didn’t move. We got quite close and eventually the joey stuck his head out.
Very cool!!!
Dingoes,
Frill neck lizard,
Platypus,
Echidna
Kookaburra
Australian King Parrot
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
Lyrebird
We had a lovely dinner of roasted lamb that
night that was delicious! I had fought to stay awake and not nap so I would
sleep that night and I did. Greg was gone (he leaves early and gets off work
around 3 each day). He’s a big biker and has several bikes around the house.
He’s done the Bay loop of 210 KM, including a ferry ride at the end of the bay
where it meets the Tasman Sea, called Round the Bay in a Day several times! He
had a bad accident last year where a loose dog ran out at him and he broke 4
ribs, lots of damage to his bike. So he hasn’t gotten back into it yet. Actually
he and Anna met in a bike touring club years ago, married and have one son Tom
who is now 27. She didn’t have him until just before she turned 40! He lives and
works in downtown Melbourne. He got a bachelors and master in
sciences.
So end of my first day Down
Under!
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