TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS of our travels

We started out with big smiles on our faces and just expecting everything to be perfect. Well, not exactly how it happened......

First, at the YVR I thought I had forgotten the tickets.....I panicked and finally April dumped my bag and found the tickets and itinerary. That was easy....

Sydney is a wonderful city full of history and beautiful buildings and places to walk, gardens, tours etc. Our hotel, on the other hand, needs some help. Our room was dirty. April had a shower when we first got in and her towel had been used and still had make up and mascara on it. Yeck. The carpet looked like someone had blooped and it was not cleaned up properly. Behind the night table, more of something spilled. Not pleasant. The location is perfect but that is where it ended. Breakfast is $24 AUS per person and there is not a lot of choice. Learned our lesson.

On the morning we were taking the train to Canberra, we were up at 4 am at the railstation at 5:45 am and froze waiting an hour and a few minutes for the train to arrive. Ok, we survived that.

While in Canberra, we needed some cash so I went to the bank and guess what,,,, my bank cardS had expired and I could not access any $$$$ .... We have been improvising but the dollars are currently getting thin...

On leaving Canberra 6 days later, we were all packed and on our way to the airport and someone asked if we had our tickets and passports......NO !!! I could not find my passport. We returned to the house and Sarah and April double and triple checked all my bags. NO PASSPORT. We could still travel to Adelaide and continue our trip but I would not be able to leave the country without getting a new travel document from the Canadian High Commission. DAMN!!! I chose to ignore this little glitch and continue on. The next morning Sarah (April's brother's wife) called to say she had contacted the Canadian High Commission and gave us instructions on how to obtain the needed documents and told us to report it to the police. Well, the police in Adelaide took the report but filed it under completed. Nothing went to the Canadian government. To hell with worrying. I will do something later, when, I am not sure but not right now. So our journey continues.

We went to Kangaroo Island for 2 days then back to Adelaide and were picked up by our guide/driver for our outdoor adventure and camping in the Outback. Good.....

Our trip from Adelaide to Alice Springs was different. Our driver/guide was a bit of a control freak and some mornings he would take the kettle with boiling water and use it to put out the fire. On the last morning he took it right out of my hand and said there was no time. I was in the middle of pouring boiling water into my cup! He nearly wore the rest...but I let him survive.

The take a camel to dinner was a lot of fun in Alice Springs but the dinner left a bit to be desired. April ordered steak and it was hard as shoe leather. Matter of fact, we repaired her soles with it. My fish was raw in the middle so I did not finish it. Our dessert was scrumptious but we were rushed through it because the chef's little boy had his 1st birthday party so we had to finish in a hurry and leave.... Not nice.

Getting to Cairns and the events here have been fun. The weather, on the other hand, is not cooperating. Yesterday and today it has been cloudy, rain on occasion, very rough seas going out to the Great Barrier Reef and in the rainforest today, it was muggy, hot and damp.

But other than all that, we are really having the time of our lives......

Oh, I forgot. While at Uluru, after taking lots of sunset pictures, I picked up my camera and erased the whole 1 gig of pictures. I am told there is a recovery program available so I really hope so. The other thing that happened after Uluru at Kings Canyon, my computer quite working. I think we hit one too many bumps. Glad it is still under warranty. So, no more computer to download my pics etc until we get home.

Chat to you all soon. Hope all is well with you and sending big hugs.

Nancy Q & April too

Several days into our trip, I accidently found my passport!!!!! It was right in front of our eyes the whole time. It just blended into the lining of the back pack !!!