Wednesday, June 4, 2008

We're home!

Posted At: 10:54 pm by Chris Fransen - Comments [0]

Monday, June 2, 2008

SUNDAY, JUNE 1

John was up really early this morning so he went for a drive - he wanted to check out the Pinal Air Maintenance facility but couldn't get very close. While he was driving out there, he spotted a well fed coyote crossing the road by way of a crosswalk. By the time he got stopped and got his camera out, the coyote had vanished. He also saw a couple of roadrunners (Lizz and I haven't seen any of them yet). Once he got back, we got going early this morning so that we could visit as much of the Desert Museum as possible without melting. We arrived just before 8:30 and were invited to join a tour that started at 8:30. The tour guide was knowledgeable but rather scattered and long-winded. She "cut us loose" after about an hour and we headed to the desert loop walk before it got too hot. The park was really interesting - and it was fun to compare the Australian desert to the Arizona desert. We saw quite a few animals (in cages), including:

Bobcats

Margay

Gray Fox (note that he has a blankie)

and a

Javelina

Of course, there were coyotes and lots of birds and lizards. The walk had a lot of shade spots and water fountains and actually only took a half hour to walk. After the trail, we decided to find somewhere a little shaded so we visited the hummingbird enclosure. They had quite a few varieties of hummers - and the staff was spraying the trees in the enclosures when we were there.

This little guy was "bathing" in the drops left on the branches.

When we left the hummingbirds, it was very hot and we decided to leave. We headed back toward Tucson and then took a drive out to the Biosphere. Unfortunately, we weren't there at the right time for a tour and it was too hot to sit around and wait. After a quick stop for dinner stuff (don't like buying too much at once), we headed back to the condo to relax before dinner and a hot tub (again, it was our private tub).

Temperature: 39 C - sunny

Western Whiptail Lizard

Cardinal

Jojoba tree

Giraffe shaped cholla cactus

MONDAY, JUNE 2

No one felt like doing much today - so we went shoe shopping. Lizz and I were both looking for work-type shoes (not sandals) and we came to the conclusion that Arizona in the summer is not a time to look for closed toe shoes. We stopped at a Walmart grocery store (no clothes, just grocery items) and were surprised to find that the prices at the Safeway were better than at Walmart. Oh yeah - our Safeway cards work in the States - it even works if you don't have your card and you give your phone number!

The afternoon was spent lazing around - Lizz napped, John watched tv, and I took the computer onto the deck and worked on photos and this entry. It was nice and hot on the deck - and I only came inside when the sun actually made it's way toward me and my feet were starting to fry (they haven't been exposed to the sun much as I've been wearing runners and socks nearly all the time). No photos today.

Temperature: 40 C - sunny with some wind

Posted At: 4:50 pm by Chris Fransen - Comments [0]

Sunday, June 1, 2008

FRIDAY, MAY 30

A very long day - we were up really early at the hotel in Sydney. The bed was one of the most comfortable we've had on the trip but the hotel was very noisy - we kind of expected that as it's close to the airport - people were coming and going at all hours and while most tried to be quiet there were a few people who decided to hold conversations in the hallway - and they echoed. Oh well - we got to the airport before 7 a.m. and checked in easily. After that we wandered around doing some last minute shopping and finishing our coffees and then water before going through security. A little more shopping and then we went to the gate area. Prices in the international departures area were definitely better than ones outside that anyone could access. However, the best prices were in Alice Springs and Cairns (both at the airport and in the towns).

Boarding the plane went smoothly and then.... the pilot announced a "glitch" with the auxillary power - which would be ok once the plane had the engines running. After that, we had to sit at the end of the taxiway and burn off some fuel as the plane was overweight. We left Sydney an hour late, which had a lot of the passengers frantic because they had a short window to catch connecting flights in Los Angeles. We figured we'd be fine as there was a 3 1/2 hour window before our flight left for Phoenix.

The flight back was really rough. Apparently, there was "weather" that hadn't shown up on the radar systems and we kept running into it. We had 4 Australian nurses sitting near us who were heading to Las Vegas - they were quite entertaining as was the male flight attendant who was giving them a hard time. After lunch (or dinner) was served, the lights were turned out to encourage people to sleep. (And yes, they got the food right for me again - I am so impressed!) I dozed for a couple of hours - not sound sleep but somewhat restful. John had a harder time napping - probably only about an hour. We got to LAX at 7 a.m. and the auxillary power failed again. This meant that the luggage had to be unloaded by hand instead of the conveyer belts so we had to wait for a long time to get our bags to take them through customs. By this time, another 747 (from Brisbane) had also arrived so there were a lot of people in line. There was a security official who was trying to speed things up - she was actually laughing and joking with people and a lady behind me said "Oh they must have given lessons in being nice to the staff at LAX" - this got a bunch of us laughing. Once we got through the line, we were supposed to put our bags on the transfer conveyer but, because our flight was just over an hour away, we were told to take our luggage and walk to Terminal 1 where we would need to recheck the bags and get our boarding passes before passing through security again. Terminal 1 was a long way from the Terminal we were in - when we finally got there, we checked the bags and got our boarding passes. Once in line to go through security, I went to hand John his boarding pass and noticed that both passes were in my name with my seat number!

I left John in the lineup (he was letting people go past him) and raced back to the airline counter - I got another client rep who quickly fixed the problem then I ducked back under the barrier and we started through security. There were 3 lineups to go through the checkpoint: one for casual travellers, one for people who needed extra assistance and one for experienced travellers. We started out in the casual traveller lineup and then decided that after all the airports we've been through on this trip, we could classify ourselves as experienced travellers. That lineup was moving quickly as everyone knew that liquids/gels had to be in a plastic bag, shoes had to be removed and laptops taken out of bags. It worked - we whipped through the line and got to the gate for the flight with about 15 minutes to spare.

The Phoenix flight wasn't very full and we made good time - we actually got in a half hour early so we had collected our bags and were waiting when Lizz called to say her flight had arrived. The terminals were a distance apart so we decided to catch the shuttle bus (one shuttle for all the various car rental places) from our respective terminals and meet at the Dollar car rental desk. It takes about 10 minutes for the shuttle to get to the rental centre and John went to arrange the car and I watched the suitcases and waited for Lizz. Of course it was a tearful reunion when she walked in a few minutes later *s* (BTW - Thanks, Arke, for taking her to the airport so damned early in the morning).

Our rental vehicle is a Jeep Patriot - we had a choice between that and a PT Cruiser and John figured that we could fit more luggage into the Jeep. Lizz only brought a backpack (so she didn't have to worry about checked luggage when she changed planes in Seattle) but we have 4 suitcases and we had to stop for some groceries. We all needed something to eat so we found a Macdonald's and had a quick bite and then headed out to the condo in Oro Valley. By the time we got here (and stopped at Safeway for groceries) we were exhausted. We put the groceries away and chatted for a few minutes and then it was naptime. I set the alarm for 2 hours later so that we wouldn't sleep too long - we really need to get back on track with the time (and Arizona was a great choice as they don't have daylight savings time so the time here is the same as at home). After dinner, we talked a while longer and then headed for the hot tub. There are two on the property and we went to the one closest to our condo. It was wonderful - there was no one else there and one of the lights wasn't working so we could sit in the tub and watch the stars. The hot tub helped take the travel kinks out and then it was off to bed.

Temperature: 40 C - sunny

Living room

Dining room

Kitchen

Bedroom

Sunset

SATURDAY, MAY 31

After a 9 hour sleep, we were feeling pretty good. We decided to drive to Tombstone to see the historic western town. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive down to the town - our first stop was Boothill Graveyard. Admission was free and we wandered through the sites, reading the markers

and marvelling at the cacti which were flowering. After that, we went into the town. I think we were expecting a town like Barkerville but it's not like that. It's very commercialized and touristy (but not in a good way). We didn't stay in the town long - just enough to take a quick walk down the main street and look in a couple of shops. We were only out of the vehicle about 20 minutes and it was sweltering when we got back in. We started back toward Tucson and stopped at a Jack in the Box for lunch (Lizz has been wanting to go to Jack's since we stopped going to Tacoma for hockey games).

Another stop at the Safeway for more groceries (steak to bar-b-q since we have a bar-b-q on our deck) and then back to the condo to watch the hockey game. Erik called to say that he has Wednesday off so he can pick us up and to see how our flight(s) were. It was good to hear from him - and I was impressed to hear that he had used his computer phone program to call - it was clear and not much delay.

After the hockey game ended, we headed to the hot tub - and had it to ourselves again. Now it's bed time - if we get up early enough, we're going to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum - we hope to get out and see a lot of it before the temperature gets really hot in the afternoon.

Temperature: 40 C - sunny

Cactus Flower

John and Lizz at Boothill Graveyard, Tombstone

Sign outside the OK Corral

Sign outside the OK Corral

Posted At: 5:48 pm by Chris Fransen - Comments [0]

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Not much to say about today - we left Polkobin Hill at 8 a.m. and stopped at the Pokolbin Village Resort to check the internet and to look up travel directions to get to the hotel. We decided to drive towards Newcastle and make our way to Sydney via the coast. At one beach (the name is escaping me at the moment), we saw 17 freighters lined up waiting to make their way into port. As we were looking at them, I saw a movement in the water and we spotted dolphins. I actually managed to get a partially clear picture of one of them.

. We meandered down the coastline until noon and then decided to head for Sydney as we didn't want to hit the city at rush hour.

It didn't seem to matter that it wasn't rush hour - traffic was heavy. I was trying to navigate by the map we had as well as the road signs and somehow managed to point John towards the wrong exit - so instead of taking the Harbour Bridge we ended up taking the Harbour Tunnel. They are both toll roads but the tunnel doesn't have cash booths. Ooops! Of course, taking the wrong way into the city meant the instructions we'd written down earlier in the day weren't going to be much help. After a little agonizing, we pulled off the freeway we were on and headed into a residential type area. Finally we found a business and John went in to see if they could give him directions. The lady was fantastic - she even went out to her car and got her road map to help him see which way to go. It turned out that we were only about 8 blocks from the hotel.

The hotel room is pretty tiny - but we're not going to be here for that long. We'll be up by 6 tomorrow morning and off to the airport soon after. Our flight leaves at 9:45 and arrives in Los Angeles at 6:05 a.m. We have a 3.5 hour stopover in LA and then off to Phoenix where Lizz's flight is supposed to land 5 minutes after ours (at different terminals of course!). Qantas has been having labour problems recently but, according to the tv, they are targetting domestic flights and Melbourne is the targeted airport. Whew!

Will post again from Tucson - when we've recovered from the flight.

Temperature: 20 C - overcast with showers

Shelley Beach

Coal loading docks at Catherine Hill Bay

Posted At: 1:50 am by Chris Fransen - Comments [0]

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

When I got up this morning, I opened the blind in the kitchen and found myself looking at a kangaroo. Of course, we headed outside with cameras and it was worth it.

I got this photo of a joey - first one we've seen.

We didn't feel like doing much today - especially not sitting in the car for any extended period of time. I was going to call Lizz to confirm plans for meeting in Phoenix but the phone in our unit was not working and the reception staff didn't know what to do to fix it. We decided to head to the info centre near Cessnock to find out where we could find internet access in the Hunter Valley. There were 3 choices - and one was just down the road from our condo - just not where the receptionist had told us it was. After a quick stop in Cessnock for some groceries and lunch at Maccas (who don't have internet access) we headed to the Pokolbin Village Resort where we discovered FREE internet. We sat on their veranda and uploaded the blog stuff and chatted online to Lizz. We were there for quite a while and no one tried to speed us up or suggest that we leave. It was great.

Once everything was updated, we decided to drive around the valley a little more and see if we could find the lookout which was marked on a map we had. It was a fairly long drive up the hill - on another ridge at the top -

but the view was awesome. When we came down off the mountain, we noticed this mailbox

and it reminded me that we hadn't mentioned the mailboxes here. It seems that you can use anything that will hold mail for a mailbox - we've seen old stoves, beer kegs, plastic buckets and lots of others. I can't imagine what Canada Post would say if someone tried that at home. (There are more pictures of mailboxes in the Pokolbin Hill section of the photos).

After driving around awhile, we spotted a couple of winery signs that we really liked.

I can't believe that our time in Australia is almost up. Tomorrow we head to Sydney to stay at a hotel near the airport before our flight on Friday. We're sad to be leaving and we're already trying to figure out how to manage another trip downunder.

Temperature: 19 C - mostly sunny with a few showers

Another mailbox

Kangaroo at sunset

Grapevines

Posted At: 10:37 pm by Chris Fransen - Comments [0]