Although my trip really started a little over a week ago, I've been so busy bouncing between locations that I really haven't had time to post anything. So hopefully now that I'm settled in my apartment in Auckland that will start to change and I'll try to summarize my travels so far starting from the beginning:
After a somewhat leisurely morning in Saratoga, it was finally time to begin our journey. Luckily, we didn't have to trek into New York or Boston for our flight and were able to get a connection in Albany. From there we flew to Charlotte, LA, Sydney, and finally to Perth. Took us roughly 33 hours of airplane time and that's not something I can wish on anyone...although the Sydney to Perth trip by Qantas really set the bar for air travel: meal. Wi-Fi, snacks, AND complimentary chocolate! It was a dream come true after crossing the Pacific. Along the way I also read "Down Under" by Bill Bryson, a fantastic book about his travels to Australia some fifteen years before. While he did tend to focus on a lot of the areas I didn't get to see in my brief time on the island continent, it certainly has me excited to go back.
Michael, his daughter Michelle, and her husband Doug picked us up from the airport in Perth right at the gate! Coming from the US that seemed absolutely insane they were able to come right up to the terminal but I certainly wasn't complaining. There were brief introductions, but I think we were all ready to be on the road to Port Kennedy, where Michael and Norma live roughly an hour south of Perth. When we finally did arrive, there were more introductions with Norma and eventually we all just sat down and had a drink talking about the previous (and only!) time we had seen them years ago back in Saratoga. Gramp also came up quite a few times, and I'll say it was really amazing hearing certain stories from another view (when Michael kicked Gramp's ball under a tram as one example) and learning more about my family overall. I even took notes!
Later that evening, Phillip and his wife Mihayla came over with their daughter Lumie for dinner. I spent most of my time with the two year old Lumie who is learning Romanian from her parents and English through exposure. This did lead to some lulls in the conversation between the two of us, but I was able to breach most of the language barrier with stuffed animals: a monkey and a tiger to be specific. I haven't seen Philip since I went to England some ten years ago or more so his last memory of me was that of a pipsqueak. Dinner was excellent, an assorted barbecue with trifle for dessert.
The next day my family along with Micheal and Norma piled into a rented van and headed into Freemantle (Freo), to meet up with Michelle and Doug for lunch. We arrived a little early and our two "tour guides" decided to show us the dock where they as well as Grandma and Gramp arrived in Australia all those years ago...
Nearby was the Freemantle Maritime Museum that had a massive display outside dedicated to some of the original settlers of Australia from England. If you look closely, you might recognize a couple names!
Shortly after we found that board, Doug and Michelle arrived and we went to a nearby fish and chips restaurant for lunch. Ruby, Michelle's daughter, also made a brief guest appearance to lunch talking about some of her crazy world travels to Canada, Vietnam, and beyond! She also took Norma back to home for a nap since Norma wasn't feeling too well...the rest of us continued to explore Freemantle and after finding out that tour buses were somewhat expensive, we opted to spend some time in a cafe drinking coffee. Before that though, I made a quick detour to a 2nd hand bookshop I had seen in the afternoon and ended up purchasing a collection of Henry Lawson short stories. While I knew nothing about him at the time of purchase he appears to be a prolific Australian writer. I'm looking forward to reading it.
Eventually we stopped by Michelle and Doug's house again for some afternoon refreshment before heading back to Norma and Michael's for dinner.
On Tuesday after accompanying him on a morning walk, Michael took us to an animal park!
Koalas were certainly some of the highlights, but we also saw some Kangaroos and Kookaburras as well as Quokkas and Emus! I took plenty of pictures but this post is already going to set records for length...we were able to get back in time for a late lunch with Norma and a somewhat relaxed afternoon.
Wednesday was sadly our last day in Australia. We spent the morning touring Mandurah with Michael and exploring all the ins and outs of the little beach town complete with walking through a local market. Then, we headed back to the house for some last minute packing and Michelle came over for lunch.
Far too soon it was time to say goodbye, and in the early afternoon we took to the airport for Auckland.
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