Long Ride Home

The trip to Hawaii took 10 1/2 hours. We all got a chance to sleep on the cargo floor some. We arrived in Hickam at 3:00 am. the first task involved getting to Billeting to store our bags and reserve a room for the night if possible. At that time of the day we had to do another "bag drag". We are getting quite good at that! LOL. We were able to get a couple of rooms for the night, but of course couldn't check in until after 2: pm. We were able to store our bags though so we could catch "The Bus" down to Waikiki to the Hale Koa for breakfast. I remembered those wonderful buffets from 30 years ago and hoped they would be the same. My husband and son weren't as enthusiastic as I was so I hoped it was. It took aver an hour to get down there. We found the way to the buffet which was on the Lanai overlooking the beautiful landscaping. We ordered coffee and started in at the tables of food awaiting us. It was just as I remembered it The Kona coffee was worth the bus trip if nothing else. But, the fresh fruit and juices were my favorite. We enjoyed every bite!! We then walked the beach and enjoyed the grounds. Truly one of the prettiest places in the highly commercial Waikiki.
I had a few last minute gifts I wanted to get before we came back, so I went to the nice BX there at Hickam. Then we got our room and went to bed to get some sleep because we had to get to the terminal at 1:00 in the morning for roll call to Travis.
We were already manifested through. There were at least 4 flights to Travis the next day. We got into Travis about noon. Since there weren't flights to Scott, we had to get a commercial flight in to St. Louis the next day. We called Stan's Chaperon Service to take us to a hotel near the airport. We got a good nights sleep and the hotel had a shuttle service to the airport. Were worth the stay. The flight to St. Louis was about 3 1/2 hours long. We arrived there at 6:30 pm and got to the train to catch it to Scott AFB where Dani would pick us up. We were plenty tired and slept pretty good. Saturday we rested before we travel to our house on Sunday. It's been an exciting trip and one we will remember for the rest of our lives.

To the "Bush"

We were scheduled to go to our time share in Kyneton, northwest of Melbourne (Mel bun as the locals say), on Friday, but Rob had gotten Steve and Ron some very good tickets to go see a "footie", Australian Rules Football, game Friday night. Rob's team, the Western Bulldogs were playing in the season opener. So we decided to go to the resort on Saturday morning instead. We picked up the 8 passenger van on Friday and drove to the grocery store, instead of walking, to pick up a few items to take with us.
Victoria had been having fast-burning bush fires and in fact they had evacuated the resort the week before so we were concerned but we were assured that it was safe there. We had to check as late as the day before and checked the local news to make sure that no new fires had broken out, so we started out early Saturday morning. It was very easy to find and as they advertised it, it was in the "bush". As we drove into the resort, we saw three kangaroo feeding on the resort grounds.
We had gotten a two-bedroom unit with two couches that made out into a bed, so we had plenty of room. The units were individual cottages set far enough apart that each one had its own privacy. We decided to drive into the town to get some more food for the refrigerator. It was just a little over a mile into town. We checked out the facilities while there.
When we returned to the resort, Rob and the kids played putt-putt golf and Ron and I checked out the nice, covered heated pool area. It had a sauna, a hot tub and a children's play area. The resort had it's own lake stocked with fish and had paddle boats for rent. The game room had all kinds of pool tables and games for the kids as well. We would have plenty to keep us busy. On Sunday we decided to drive to Hanging Rock the scene of the movie, "Mystery at Hanging Rock", the movie about the 4 girls and a teacher who disappeared into thin air in the early 1900s. It was a hard climb so some of us did not make it to the top. It was very scenic. We went back to the resort and Ayley got bit at least 10 times by gigantic fire ants while playing out side. We doctored her as best we could and decided that we would leave early the next morning and head back in case she needed to see a doctor. Steve also wanted to check on the flight that was to leave on Wednesday going back to the states.
When we got back on Monday, we called and the flight was still on. We decided that it would be best to leave that afternoon on the train. We still had our rail passes so we could travel to Sydney, then by city rail to Richmond where the RAAF base was. We had reserved a room at Richmond Inn because it was just across from the last rail stop. We could sleep Monday night on the train and would arrive at 7 am Tuesday in Sydney.
We also had an all day pass for the Sydney city trains, which was included in the Backpackers Rail pass package that we had bought in the states. When we got there, our room was ready so we could leave our bags and have a place from which to call RAAF Richmond at 2:00 Tuesday afternoon to find out if the plane was taking passengers and to get on the list in case it was. We had heard that it might not since there was some special cargo that needed to fly and they could not passengers. We were doing a lot of praying. At 2:00 on the dot, Steve called and they took our information and put us on. We were very relieved. We met another couple that was staying at the Inn and that also planned to go. The next morning we caught a taxi to the terminal at RAAF Richmond. We cleared customs and boarded the plane almost an hour early. Next stop Hawaii.

Planes, Trains, Automobiles, Boats, Trams, and Buses plus foot power

By this time we have tried almost every form of travel. This day we took another bus tour of the Great Ocean Road, one of the prettiest views of Australia. (And it did not disappoint us!) We rode along the southern beach on the west side of Port Phillip. This is where most of the surfing competitions are held each year. We drove through seaside towns with vacations homes galore. We got to see Koalas in the wild and wild parrots. The parrots ate right out of our hands. When we got to the southern most point of Australia we took a inland route to a rain forest. The trees were huge and the ferns as tall as a house. Beautiful!! We then ate lunch at a small cafe and then joined the ocean road again. This side was where all the ship wreaks were. In fact it is called Ship Wreak Coast. We also started to see some unusual rock formations like the London Bridge (it fell down a few years ago) and the 12 Apostles. It was breathtaking!! The most beautiful sites we had seen since we've been here! (and we have seen many) Then it was back to Melbourne and catch the train home.

Off to Tasmania

The next morning or the same morning, I guess, We rode in the taxi for 30 minutes to the Melbourne airport. Our plane left at 7:00 for an hour flight to Hobart, Tasmania. We picked up our rental car and with our trip mapped out, thanks to Rob and Steve who did the planning. Our first few stops were along the coast. We saw the Tessellated Pavement that was caused by the earth's cooling. the next stop was the Tasman Blowhole , Tasman arch and the Devils Kitchen which were magnificent natural rock formations. The guys had planned the Convict Driving Tour which included going to Port Arthur and the Penal colony ruins. This was the prison for the worst offenders of Australia in the early days of the country's foundation. It was very harsh. The guided tour was very interesting and we got to go out on the tour boat to Death Island where hundreds of prisoners were buried. We could have spent a lot longer here but we wanted to go see other sites. For lunch we found a small bakery where we ordered fresh meat pies and pastries. Next we drove back to a small town named Richmond where the first Catholic Church and bridge was built by prisoners in 1834. After that we stopped by one of the local vineyards, The Puddleduck. We were through in time to turn in our car and catch our plane back to Melbourne. We got back in time to go to bed and get a good nights sleep.

Port Phillip & the Fairy Penquins

Ron, Steve and I headed for for a day trip to Port Phillip. We had booked a tour so we rode the train downtown and met the tour group close to China Town in Melbourne. We are getting pretty good at riding the rails!! Our first stop was at a Conservation Park where we could get up close and personal to Kangaroos and other animals. We got to walk around the park and feed the Kangaroos. They were very friendly and would eat out of your hand. We also saw Koalas napping in the trees. They sleep 20 hours a day and eat the other 4 hours. What a life. The Emus were very aggressive, Ron got his hand bitten when he tried to feed them. We decided they weren't that hungry and walked on. We stopped in a little seaport to eat some more fish and chips. We learned that Flake Fish is really Shark! It was a beautiful view of the sunset. We drove on to Phillip Island where we could view the fairy penguins after the sun goes down (9:00) along with hundreds of other tourists. The penguins come in and burrow in little holes in the beach every night after a day of fishing. The foxes are their predator so the conservationist are building little boxes in the areas where they come in to save them from the foxes and other enemies. We were not allowed to take pictures because of the flash. We got back to our train stop at about 12 midnight, we got back to Rob's house after 1:00am and had to get up at 4:30 to catch our taxi to the airport where we caught our flight to Tasmania. To be continued.....

More from Down Under

We have been busy seeing lots in Melbourne. One day we took the city tour and got to hop on hop off in the city. This was the first time we went in to the city on our own. The train system here is fantastic!! You can buy an all-day pass and travel wherever you like. We toured the City Museum and learned about the early gold fields. One of the largest pieces of pure gold was found in this area. We met Rob for lunch at the Crown Casino (huge place with lots of different food). Rob works next door to the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. The next day we were going to go to Phillips Island to see the Penguins but the forecast said the temperature was going to be in the TEENS. We decided that the kids would not do well in that heat. We decided to go to one of the larger air-conditioned malls and try to keep cool. (where there was a Target and Big W [Wal-mart]. We left the kids at home with Dad and Grandpa. We had to ride the train then get off and catch a tram to the Mall. It was nice when we got there but later in the day they turned off the air and it started to get a little warm. Not knowing the outside temperature we left the Mall and waited for the Tram and we knew it was HOT. When we got home we found out it was the hottest day in history!! 116!! I've never been so hot in my life.
Today was our 46th Wedding anniversary and we decided to do something with everyone. We thought about going to the Dandenong Mountains and ride the scenic Puffing Billy steam engine but right before we left we checked the train schedule and we discovered that all trains to the stop where we would catch it were cancelled because of bush fires in that area. Back to the drawing board. When we found out that St. Kilda Beach was having a Festival with live bands and lots of food, and fun for the kids we decided to go there. The weather was back to the 80's and a nice breeze was blowing. St. Kilda is world famous for it's beaches and it has one of the very first amusement parks. It's kinds of a Yuppie place with lots of places to eat along the strip by the beach. There were lots of entertainment for all of us. We got to try some Aussie hamburgers with carrots and beets on them!! A lot of kite surfers were out enjoying the nice wind gusts. It proved to be a good alternative. The weather is going to be nice the rest of the week.