Sydney and Home, Part 1

Yesterday, Connie and I moved from the Dawn Princess to the Sydney Hilton and explored the town. We bought day passes on the monorail, which came with 20% discount coupons for most of the museums and sites in town.

Our first stop was the Powerhouse Museum, dedicated to engineering design and fashion. They had a large display on lace: metal lace, traditional lace, lace made from paper, and other unique experiments on creating lace for practical and artistic use. The lace made via CNC machine using titanium (woven at 2000F!) and stainless steel were particularly unique. Based on one design, Connie may crochet our next airplane engine. [picture pending, but can be seen at: pic.twitter.com/ukmsL8d ] They also had a space flight section, with both Soviet and US satellites, and an exploratorium. Connie and I skipped the section on the Wiggles -- too Barneylike in design. Only a five-year-old could get more than ten feet in there without wanting to turn around, badly!

Later, we explored the nightlife in Darling Harbor. The South Korean Navy was back (or have they been here all month?!?) and Sydney was out in full force. The area was filled with street musicians; nightclubs spilled out into the pier; children (of all ages) entertained themselves in the massive playground of jungle gyms, rope ladders, and assorted equipment in the park/gardens. Young ladies, dressed for trouble, mixed with sailors and young single men. Apparently, school/college ends this week for their hot summer season and Christmas. Connie's leg acted up early, so she got some sleep, but I went back out to wander the madness until the cooling rain began to fall -- scattering all.

This morning, I got up with the sun, as usual, but promptly went back to bed. Our breakfast plans were to wander until we found a nice cafe, but the streets were a steam bath, literally! Soaking with sweat, we ended up back at the hotel buffet, which soaked our wallets for more money than I care to admit paying for breakfast. After playing the repacking game to get all our luggage underweight we made a bouncy sojourn to Sydney International. Our gate, 51, is on the other side of a maze of shops and restaurants clearly designed by the same people who do mall parking lots and casino floors. Now, we wait for our flight to leave. More in LA! :)

[picture pending, but can be seen at: http://t.co/m0L4GYl ]

Last Day At Sea

The seas are calm. It is warm again! We are in the Tasman Sea a day out of Sydney, where tomorrow our journey with the Dawn Princess ends. Last night, there was a "Captain's Circle" party for those who regularly cruise The Princess. There was a couple with over 1,000 days at sea -- almost three years. We are somewhat less traveled, although the 90-day around the world cruise did sound appealing...

Today, we are enjoying our balcony by the sea watching the birds work the gentle waves and warming wind. We have but a couple of minutes of Internet time left, so this will be a quick post. Forgive us if we do not reply to e-mail until Sydney.

Until Then...

-Rob :)

Sunrise (I Think)

[Tuesday, 4:40am local time]

I am, as usual, up at dawn. The ship's channel on television says we are in Rough seas with waves reaching 15 feet and 60 knot winds with occasional rain. The spray of the waves breaking against our ship is reaching up to our balcony on deck 9. Somehow, I suspect the waves are higher than 15 feet. I can hear our neighbors, but not in a fun way. The ship itself is creaking and groaning like an old car driven by a fugitive running for his life. I love this weather, but most do not. We are truly in the circumpolar current with nothing, save a few small islands, to stop the storms and surges circling Antarctica. Connie, looks at me enjoying the ship's action, rolls her eyes, and goes back to sleep.

Done in Dunedin

[The Ship is about to leave so no time left to jump off and upload pics until Sydney.]

Today was our last day ashore in New Zealand before beginning our return. Connie and I walked the little neighborhood of Port Chalmers in Dunedin (pronounce like "Done Eden"). This little borough is filled with monuments. The Scots, who settled this city known as the gateway to Antarctica, gave it the Scottish name for Edinburgh back home. Byrd, Scott, and many other Antarctic explorers used this town as the jumping off point for their expeditions according to the small maritime museum just off the dock. It was also home to several intrepid sailors, including one who received the US Navy Cross for his valor at Guadalcanal, despite serving on a NZ ship at the time and only noticed posthumously "in dispatches" by Her Magesty's forces -- apparently colonials still did not rate in WWII despite their critical role in England's survival. Sad.

Anyway, eschewing the many excursion options, we walked the town until Connie's legs ached. We did not make it to the top of the main hill, but beyond some statues, the only view is of a couple of unpopulated islands that stand between us and the shores of Antarctica. The water temperature was a balmy 55F (13C) in the harbor. Tonight, we wander around the South Island via the Antarctic Ocean. Tomorrow, we roam the inlets of Fiordland onboard the Princess and head home...

Last Day in NZ

It is november 26 at about 7 am

This is our last day we can go ashore in NZ.  All I can say is wow.  If you have ever been to Big Sur and thought it was beautiful, you would LOVE New Zealand.  It is all rolling hills, wild ocean shores and forests of some of the largest tree ferns, pines, etc. i have ever imagined.  Every turn brings up another amazing vista.

Yesterday we saw some Hector's dolphins in the bay of Akaroa.  They are small and extremely rare.  We also saw the world's smallest penguin.  It was a relative of the blue penguin.  Cute. We were supposed to swim with the dolphins, but they didn't want to play.  Oh, well.

Today we are in Dunedin.  Pronounced something like done-doo-een.  Odd. We don't have a shore excursion today, so we will probably just wander around.  Hopefully Rob will find another internet cafe to post some pics.

Bye for now!

Wellington

It's November 24 at about 3:55 pm. We are in Wellington, NZ. It's the home of Weta Studios, the ones who did LOTR, The Hobbit, Tin Tin, Avatar....etc. We even drove past the various buildings used by the studios. Except for the Weta Workshop, none were labeled and looked very ordinary. Our tour guide knew them because he was actually an extra (elf-type) in the LOTR series. I think he might be in the Hobbit because he couldn't talk about it. I have his photo and will check when I finally see it. This town is really psyched about the premiere of Hobbit which is due in four days. There are posters, statues, banners, everything. We even met Sir Richard Taylor from Weta at the Roxy theater where we saw a short DVD about Weta. That was a real treat, he rarely does appearances or interviews. We also visited several filming locations. No props are left, but they had still frames from the movie and showed us the exact tree/hill/ etc. that was used. Very interesting.

Cruising the Shire (Revised)

Today in Tauranga we boarded the bus to Matamata, where the Shire set for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies were located. It was an hour long ride, but the journey was worth it. The Alexander family farm, on which the Shire resides, is beginning to turn the town into a working attraction. Now that filming is complete they are making the Green Dragon a fully functional pub with banquet facilities. Six gardeners maintain the grounds in exactly the fashion prescribed for filming. This makes for a beautiful blend of New Zealand and English flora counterpointed by the realistic looking Hobbit holes.

With the expansion for filming the Hobbit, there are now 45 houses in Hobbiton. Of course, only a few are deeper than a couple of yards. Most open just far enough for a person to stand in -- Peter Jackson insisted that every door be filmed half-open upon request. Most look so authentic, it could come right out of middle ages technology. There is one structure, however, that is truly artificial: the oak growing out of Bilbo's roof! It is stainless steel and fiber glass with plastic leaves. Apparently, the set designers went so far as to copy the bark from another tree onto its surface to facilitate duplicating exactly what was required. According to the guide, it is really freaky to see this green oak standing above the snow in the middle of winter. There are no conifers in the immediate area. The birds will use the tree in the spring and summer, but it apparently disturbs them as well and they seldom stay in it very long. The detail is amazing, though. A person would never know unless they were told or touched it.

We saw a real thatcher working on the roof of the Green Dragon, one of only two structures in Hobbiton with a thatched roof. The other is the post office, which is partially built into the ground and partially thatched. The guide did not know why that was done. Every residence has a mailbox in front with the picture on the box identifying their profession. For example, Samwise's box has flowers on it to indicate his role as gardener in the community. Similarly, the "hen and egg" man has a picture of a chicken on one side and eggs on the other.

We wandered (on the path only!) throughout. At the party field, the guide told us about the filming of the dragon firework scene. Apparently, only the transformation of the firework into the dragon was done via CGI. If you listen to the scene, you will supposedly hear a hysterical scream like a little girl. That supposedly really came from the actor playing Merrie or Pippin, nobody knows which, when the rocket launch inside the tent turned out to be real and surprisingly powerful. It was "discovered" during a review of the night's footage (and they supposedly spent the entire night filming it) and Jackson put it into the sound track.

Bag End
After our group of twenty four had seen all that could be seen, we boarded the bus for bathrooms and tea at the souvenir stand. The Dawn Princess cannot leave the Bay of Plenty until the tide is right at nine tonight, so I hope to have this posted before my turkey saturated family and friends arise Black Friday Morn. We both missed being with everyone and hope all are well in our absence.

More soon...

Thankful in Tauranga

As I am writing this, it is sunrise on Thanksgiving morning. As my lovely wife sleeps quietly beside me, I am watching the beautiful sunrise while we wait just outside the Bay of Plenty for high tide to let us into Tauranga. Life is truly good and I have much to be thankful for…

Awk! In Auckland

We spent Wednesday morning in Auckland – a port city that is on both the East and West Coasts of the Northern Island of New Zealand. There is a “neck” that splits the North Island into two sections and Auckland sits on that neck. Making up most of that neck is a dormant volcano field that makes this spread out, American style city a beautiful place to visit by bicycle or car.

We met a friend just off the boat. During our car trip in the Southwest US, we met Bryan Taylor bicycling his way along old Route 66 while we both were sheltering from a sandstorm at a Painted Desert Ranger station. Connie has kept up correspondence and he offered to show us Auckland if we ever got here and so he did.

We started with the gannets nesting site preserve on the Western side of the island. What had started in 1972 as a few remaining birds out on an isolated rock by a public beach has turned into a bird city that reaches the shore cliffs. As the birds’ needs expanded, the human available areas have been shrunk. They have been joined by a few other shore dwelling species with gulls working the areas looking to steal an egg or chick for a quick meal, squealing, “Mine! Mine,” as they play chicken with the sharp beaks on the nests. If gannetts were not one of the clumsiest birds on Earth, the seagulls would die very quickly. In the spat below, one of the two neighbors ended up falling off the cliff very comically. Unfortunately, (or fortunately for the bird) I could not get into video mode fast enough to catch the debacle!

Going Over!

After the gannet sanctuary, we wandered over to Mount Eden, the tallest of the volcanoes that was an ancient Maori Pa (fortress) and the starting point for surveying all of the North Island. There are over a dozen such shield volcanoes within the city limits with monuments and prominent buildings on the summits of most. This ancient cinder cone was covered with grass and terraced with a handful of trees along the rim. The terracing and trees made for excellent cover while anyone scaling the volcano was totally exposed and forced to drop their weapons to get to the next level – at least before the day of modern artillery and paratroopers. Also on the rim, at one side, were several surveyor markers and plaques marking and commemorating the location as the starting point for all survey work. Around us we could see the layout of the entire city with clear views of both Eastern and Western port facilities as well as many of the surrounding volcanoes. I spotted a needle tower that Bryan said had a restaurant at the top, but Connie wanted to eat closer to the ground.

After a short stop for some fine food, Bryan found a wool yarn store for Connie to explore, which took most of the rest of our time we were supposed to be in Auckland. New Zealand is known for its wool, but it turns out to be rather hard to buy within the country. Most goes to China to be turned into finished goods.

After the yarn store, WE returned to the ship on time, as usual. However, once again there was some official excursion that was two hours late coming back to the ship so we spent a good part of the evening cleaning up and enjoying each others company viewing the harbor from our stateroom. Apparently, this delay will cost us an early start tomorrow in Tauranga.

As the ship was departing, we noticed two South Korean warships were on the opposite side of the Hilton hotel that made up our dock. They were offering a public viewing of the docked vessels as a part of what looked like a friendship Port of Call. If we had realized, we could have easily snuck off for one more adventure so close. There was so much to see in Auckland and so little time, we will definitely have to return…

Bay of Islands

November 20,  at 1:45 p.m.

Wow, did we have a great time.  We tendered to the local port and then boarded a catamaran (again) for a trip around the Bay of Islands, New Zealand.

On the way out to one of their most memorable landmarks, the hole in the island, we had an escort of bottlenose dolphins.  A real treat.   They played in our wake and came right up to the side of the boat.  We could almost reach out and touch them. They played around us for almost an hour.

We continued on to the hole and the captain drove our boat through it to the other side.  We only had 8 feet of clearance on each side, so he had to be a little careful.  Luckily the waves weren't too bad.  It did rain most of the day and we all got soaked, but it was well worth it.

Yes,  dolphins!!

Feeling Better

November 19 at 10:00 am.

Yay!  I am feeling much better.  it's still a little cold outside, but I am going to get on deck if it kills me. I've seen enough of the inside of this stateroom.  I  hope Rob doesn't come down with it now.

There's a chef challenge going on in the Vista Lounge in a half-hour.  I won't stay online for too long.  Don't want to miss that.

Met some really nice people from Chicago in the elevator.  They are in a different dining room so we hadn't run into them before.  They also did the back-to-back cruises, same as us.

Well, we will be in New Zealand tomorrow morning.  We have a catamaran cruise around some wildlife areas and maybe through a large hole in the rock.  Can't wait.

Bye for now!!!

A Whole Lotta Cold Water and Not Much Else

It is Sunday Noon local time here as I write this, although there is nothing around beside the ship to care about clocks and the concerns of humans. We are somewhere in the Tasman Sea between Sydney and New Zealand with no land anywhere in between (as far as I know). Those of you reading this, if you can get at Google Earth, let us know by leaving a comment if we are wrong and there is a rock out here somewhere. Connie has a cold today and has taken to bed without me. I am on the balcony enjoying the gentle susurrations of the wind and waves as we wend our way. There are small birds out here working the waters for whatever they may wrest from the sea. It is very tranquil and restful.

Agincourt the Day Before the Eclipse

The day before the eclipse, the Dawn Princess stopped in Port Douglas and I got a chance to dive a second time at Agincourt Reef. The water quality was not what I remembered. It was heavily stirred up from multiple groups of discovery scuba divers and snorkelers. Quicksilver, charged with managing the reef, now restricts open water divers to the same small section as everyone else. Don't get me wrong; they are still a class operation, but the cruise ship tours do not get near the shelf or the pristine surrounding waters that I remember. Oh well, even the snorkeling area has 50 feet of visibility.

Picture uploads pending...

One other whine moment: the cruise ship passengers shared the platform with a snobby group of professionals and alumni from MIT in Port Douglas to see the eclipse. Let us just say a few noses look down on us humble amateurs. Ironically, we learned the next day that Port Douglas and Cairns were rained out. Many of those on board who encountered them had a gentle laugh upon hearing.

Leaving Sydney

Just finished watching the Dawn Princess leave harbor. Sydney is supposedly one of the most beautiful harbors in the world. A few pictures:

Just a Drill (More on the Eclipse)

Good thing too! It would be REAL embarrassing to sink while still tied to the dock. Here are a few quick pictures from the eclipse:

After steaming hard all night, the Captain managed to get out of the clouds just in time for the eclipse. Cairns and Port Douglas were rained out. (More on that later)

Notice the sunspots. The nice ring on the sun that you see is a minor defect in my filter (I think...)

Just as totality occurred, we caught a flare.

Totality! More from the reef (the day before) in the next post...

While we are here in civilized Sydney (Internet connection with streaming being my new definition of "civilized"), I hope to satisfy the request from our fantastic followers of a few more pictures. I did not get a quality picture from totality, but I think the following are interesting: But first, the "abandon ship alarm" just went off. Back in a few minutes (hopefully)... :0

Hello/Goodbye Sydney

November 17  at 3:15 p.m.

Sorry we didn't post yesterday. It was an at sea day and a little dull. We got into Sydney this morning.  We left the boat to go through customs again and then got back on.

We will sail today at 4:00 p.m. for New Zealand.  This will be a little further south in the South Pacific than we have been before.  We're not talking the warm friendly South Pacific everyone thinks about.  We are going to be in the no-man's land between Antarctica and the rest of the world.  The only difference between this part of the world and the Antarctic Ocean is a line drawn by oceanographers and penguins.  I don't think we will actually encounter either of these groups, but you never know.

The next two days will be at sea and we might not have access to the internet.  If we do have access, uploading photos might not be possible.

One thing I really have to do is get some more jigsaw puzzles when I am in port next.  I'm tired of the only four available currently.  I meet a lot of really nice people working the puzzles though.  Oh well.

Rob is going to try and post some photos before we leave port.  

Another Day at Sea

November 15  3:00 p.m.

We are having a nice calm day at sea today.  We have a group gathering with the captain tonight and then a formal dinner night.  Should be fun.

Rob has been relaxing and trying to work out a kink he got fighting the rocking of the catamaran from our last excursion.  I think he zigged when it zagged.  Anyway, he has a muscle pull and is not comfortable.  Hopefully this day of rest will set him right.  I've been getting him stuff from the buffet to keep him occupied.

We have officially looped on the jigsaw puzzles on board. I just helped complete the one of Singapore for the second time.  I really should request new ones for the next leg of the journey.  I was told we will receive new cruise id cards tomorrow night before we dock in Sydney.  They we just have to get off using our current cards and get back on with the new ones. Today is Thursday, we get to Sydney on Saturday at 8:00 am.

I hope to do a little shopping before getting back on the boat. It  leaves again at 4:00 p.m. so I have to be careful not to miss it.  Don't want that oops.  We will be at sea for Sunday and Monday and reach the north island of New Zealand on Tuesday the 20th.

Can't wait!!!

Eclipse Day

November 14, 7:30 p.m.

We got some great photos of the eclipse this morning.  Will post when we are closer to shore and have better service.

I also went to the spa this afternoon.  Fun, but rather ordinary.  And, of course, there was a sales pitch.  She thought I should spend $300 more in product just because. Sorry.  No deal. 

Getting dressed for dinner now.  If I can get Rob moving.  Looked like an interesting menu.  So far it has been a little ordinary.  Can't brag about the steaks.  Sort of tasteless and squashed into perfect but unnatural shapes.  Like they have been frozen for a while.

Oh, we have matching hers/his manta ray magnets on our door.  Really cute.

More soon.!

Eclipse Starting

The sun is just coming up.  Rob is in position to start photographing the eclipse as it starts.  This is really exciting.  We don't even have to leave our stateroom.  It's all happening on the port side, where we are.  We're set up on the balcony.

More soon

Agincourt Reef-Port Douglas

November 13, 7:00 p.m.  Port Douglas

We just got back from the Quicksilver platform out on Agincourt Reef.  What an experience.  I (Connie) snorkeled for an hour. My jaws were sore from biting down on the snorkel mouthpiece.  I have got to learn to relax.  They were feeding the fish right where we put our fins on to slip into the water.  I had little striped fish flitting around my ankles as I got ready to go in.  Cool.

I also got to go on the semi-submersible submarine.  I saw a lot of stuff on that as well. I saw a lot of staghorn coral, boulder coral, brain coral...etc.  I also saw a sea turtle.  Woot!

Rob got in two dives.  The boat had to wait for the divers to get back from the second one before they could get back to Port Douglas. Yes, Rob was the last one on board. But the photos he brought back were worth it.  

Rockin' and a Rollin'

The ship is really rocking right now.  Must be some higher waves.  Once in a while it lurches a little.  Kinda fun. 

I have discovered that there is always a jigsaw puzzle in progress just outside the library.  I meet the nicest people there.  One lady told me about her "evil uncle" that would steal a piece of their puzzle. Then when they were done except for that one piece, he would produce it from his shirt pocket and laugh when they got mad.  The last puzzle we did here had one piece missing.  We left it completed so others could see what it looked like when done.  About a day later, the last piece appeared in its place.  I think the spirit of the evil uncle is on this ship.  Ha. Ha.

Well, It's about 6:50 p.m. here on Nov. 12.  I'm going back to the cabin and see what Rob is doing.

Ta for now. 

Townsville That Wasn't

It's November 12 at about 9:10 am. here in Oz.

Well, we didn't go ashore at Townsville.  The weather report said high winds and seas so they couldn't even get the tenders into the water. Lots of people were disappointed, but the up-side is that we will get more time in Port Douglas.  That qualifies as a Yippee for me (Connie).

I can't feel any unusual movement on the ship.  They have really good stabilizers. I keep looking to see if we have another dolphin escort today.  We've had them off the bow at least twice on this trip.  Fun to see. Rob saw flying fish one day.

We're drying our gear on the balcony. I've had enough sun for a while. I just hope the weather clears for the eclipse in two days.  The captain says he will chase clear skies as far as he has to so we get a good view of that. So many people came on this trip just to see it.

Well, here's a picture of Brisbane....

This is outside the planetarium.

Knuckle Reef

Sunday, November 11, at 6:10 p.m. Aussie time.

Wow, what an experience.  I (Connie) got to snorkel on the great barrier reef.  I saw lots of fish, corals and an epaulet shark.  It wasn't very big, but then I didn't really want to see a big one.  Rob got one dive in and it was OK. More from him later.

The trip back to the boat was a real wild ride. Lots of people were getting sick, but of course Rob was on the top deck enjoying himself.  I didn't have a problem, surprisingly, but two people in our corner were barfing up a storm. I just got another little bottle of wine.  Works like a charm.

We got fruit on the way out, a nice lunch while we were at the reef pontoon, and cakes and chips on the way back.  It was really funny to see the crew trying to stay on their feet as they were passing out sick bags, ice, and towels.  Some looked like they were dancing. Sort of a catamaran cha cha. Funny.

Well, Rob will post some more stuff later.  Toodles!

Airlie Beach

We are anchored off Airlie Beach at the moment. Waiting for our shore excursion to meet and get on a tender.  Today we will see a pontoon tethered over the great barrier reef.  We get to snorkel, dive, etc when we get there by catamaran.

Yesterday we spent sailing around Willis Island, a sea bird sanctuary.  We got dive-bombed a few times.  Couldn't tell what kinds of birds they were, but we have pictures to identify them by when we get a chance.

It is really hot here. I (Connie) got toasted yesterday.  We were hanging around the adult only pool in the back of the ship.  Sorry, aft.  Gotta speak the lingo, eh?  It is actually November 11 today at about 9:20 am.  When I post this it will put home time on it.

Well, gotta run.  G'day everyone!  Adventure awaits!

At Sea

It is Friday, November 9 at 10:00 am here in Australia.  We are cruising north up the coast toward Willis Island. We were in Brisbane yesterday.  That was a really fun day.  The botanic gardens were beautiful.  Saw my first ylang ylang tree.  They say its flowers are the basis for Chanel No.5.  Who knew?

We are trying to get some laundry done, they are a little busy right now.  Then I will be going in search of the elusive diet coke.  Only available certain places at certain times. Maybe after that I will relax in the lukewarm hot tub. (bit of a misnomer there). Met some really great people so far.  They are the absolute best part of this trip.

 More soon.  (Connie)

Bwahahaha! We're Alive Again in Brisbane!

Hello everyone! Sorry about being off the air if you were following us. Our ship service lacked even the ability to regularly send text. Yeah. However, we got ahold of a burner phone with 5GB of capacity after we heard the Aussies on the ship never lost cell access. As of Brisbane, we are alive again! :). As a further test of our new connectivity, we will be linking pictures and sounds to a few of our previous postings. More Soon! --Rob :)

A Day at Sydney and Then to Sea

Hello, everyone! The Dawn Princess did not leave Sydney until Tuesday, November 6th at 1:00pm local time, so we spent much of the interim wandering the area around our hotel. Down by the Ferry Docks we came across a group of aborigines street musicians in native garb selling music CDs, boomerangs, and other uniquely Australian items. After a short listen, we bought one of their CDs and enjoyed some lunch. We also explored the Royal Gardens near the famous Sydney Opera House and watched the harbor traffic. The wind was blustery, but mostly sunny with temperatures in the frigid 20C (~70F) -- or so the locals considered it. Most were wearing coats. We were in classic Wisconsin summer wear the entire time.

When we finally boarded the Dawn Princess earlier today, we discovered that almost no Americans are on this cruise, yet we somehow got paired with a mother and daughter from WI at dinner! Unfortunately, the third couple took one look at us Americans and loudly asked for a table for only two. OK. Their loss. We spent a pleasant dinner with the kind ladies from Wisconsin, discovered we shared the same travel agent, and both had worked for the State at one time. The quality of our Internet connection is... variable. More later. We will touch this up with a few pictures and sounds soon.

Some of the music they were playing... -Rob :)

Sydney

SYD--OMG
We are finally in Sydney!  The Four Seasons hotel is wonderful, the ride from the airport was great and I think we actually feel like it is morning instead of home time.  It is officially 9:07 a.m.on Monday, 5 November here.  Back home it is 4:07 p.m. on Sunday, 4 November.

The jacarundas are in bloom, the sea air smells great, the opera house is gleaming in the sun and tomorrow we sail off to the Coral Sea.

I must say, the wider seats of Virgin Australia were most welcome. The food was good and plentiful, the flight attendants were helpful and polite. I just can't say enough about how well we were treated.

The big surprise came in LAX.  We were actually directed to a shuttle bus service that would take us to the correct terminal for no charge and with no need to go back through security.  That was GREAT!

We met a really nice girl in LAX. She shared our power strip to charge up her phone.  Her name is Cheetah Rodriguez and she was also on our flight to Sydney where she is going to school. She is a rugby player studying underwater archaeology in Tasmania.

More updates after we get on the ship.

Trying to Fly

Man, am I tired. We are in hour 2 of our layover in Minneapolis (MSP) with two more to go. Despite the airline computer's best efforts, we will be spending more time in the air than waiting in airports, but not by much. The airline staff are definitely colluding with us to achieve this goal. In Madison (MSN), we were the international flight standard 2.5 hours early for the flight to deal with TSA, but before we could even get in line the airline computer refused to recognize our visas. After an hour of hand-to-hand combat involving the entire front desk staff, the Delta desk was able to wrestle two seat vouchers for the flight that would get us through security and to the gate desk where they could assign us seats to LAX via MSP, who we were assured would not have this problem. Madison TSA are vastly improved in quality since our last attempt to breach their lines and we managed to quickly pass through with only a couple of comments on "new rules" and the usual searches. In Minneapolis (MSP), we have been playing hide-and-go-seek with the gate all over the airport as a broken plane is blocking the gate where ours was supposed to dock. It has not quite been like the end scene of Airplane but we have now visited every terminal here except F and we have over an hour left before the flight is supposed to leave... More at the next stop! -Rob :)

Preparing for the Journey, T minus 2 Days

Well, it is very early Thursday morning and we have been shifting our hours to match Australian time. At this point we need to stay up until at least 7am, but it is UGLY trying to stay up during the wee hours! :) The rest of the world is asleep and the TV is saturated with infomercials and Kevin Costner movies. Between laundry loads I was cleaning the basement until the mountains of dust overwhelmed my lungs. Connie is working on "projects" between her own cleaning jags. Slowly the bags we plan to take on our trip are filling up. A pair of blue jeans from one laundry load, the converter from our last trip rediscovered while cleaning the den -- we slowly push forward our preparations for the Saturday AM departure. Every item is debated over before being added to Connie's premiere luggage. We are aiming for only one checked bag each, but it is a struggle. I want all my dive gear, but that is more than an entire bag by itself. Camera gear also needs consolidation and consideration. We will be gone a month -- a month spent traveling from equator to the edge of the Antarctic Ocean and back. This is going to be so cool! Right now, though, our goal is to just stay awake...