Month: March 2013

First Posted 24 February 2013 G’Day Mates,   First, a little background of my travelling style.  I landed for the first time in Australia, March 21, 2001, the best birthday and the best day of my life.  Every time I land in Oz, I get concerned that I will tear up and get overwhelmed with emotion as I cannot explain my passion and draw to the Land Down Under.   Within the first 5 minutes of sitting on the plane in LAX bound for Sydney, Australia, in 2001, an Aussie bloke offered that I could stay with him and his family.  Little did I know, but surprising me at the arrival gate, was the gentleman with whom I was going to fly to the Red Center for the Mooney Pilot’s Association Easter Fly In.  I got on the plane with no place to go and I got off with two blokes arguing about who was going to get to take me around Australia.   That is why I wasn’t too concerned about boarding a plane three weeks ago with no place to lay my head upon arrival.  To my astonishment, nothing manifested on the flights for a place for me to stay.  I did, however, meet Peter who gave me a rundown of the Yacht Clubs in Perth.  He suggested that the East Freemantle Yacht Club was a little more down to earth and may be a good place to start in getting assistance in finding lodging.  So I got off the plane, got on the internet, found the contact information for the East Freemantle Yacht Club, and called them up.   Eamon was a delightful young man and as it was very slow in the bar we spoke for quite a while.  I asked if there may be any reciprocal privileges with any USA Yacht Clubs or if there might be a place in the grass I might set up a tent.  He didn’t think the Club would be too keen on the tent idea and was unaware of any reciprocal privileges.  He didn’t directly ask me if I was a member of any Yacht Club, as I’m sure the Elkhorn Yacht Club folks are chuckling to themselves right now.  Remember I did inquire into EYC membership, but I wasn’t going to be around for the two month probation period.  FYI to the EYC members, there doesn’t seem to be too many reciprocal privileges for you over here.   Anyhow, back to the story.  Eamon pauses and says, “I know this is a little unusual, but if you can’t find any place to stay, my roommate is away for the Australia Day holiday weekend and you could probably crash at my place for the night.”  We chatted a little longer and arranged that I would take my stuff to his house, stop by the Club to meet him and get a key, return to the house, and he would be home after his shift ended at 1 am.    I gather my overabundance of stuff and get to the bus stop.  I hail the bus and this driver with a scruffy beard tells me to get on and sit down as I attempt to show him my ticket.  So I stumble to my seat as the bus takes off, glance around and see the eyes rolling from the other passengers so I figure I better just be quiet.  A minute later the driver raises his voice and says, “Uh, you need to get your stuff out of the aisleway.” “Sorry,” I reply, “I thought you wanted me to sit down.” “You’re stuff can’t be in the aisleway.” I quickly shove everything under the seats. “Hey, why don’t you sit up here so I can talk to you.” Oh, great I think, what else have I done wrong?  I get sympathetic glances from the other passengers as I move forward. “Where are you from and what are you doing here?” Phill, the bus driver asks me. I launch into my Australia circumnavigation and being a new permanent resident and before you know it, Phill is smiling. “I’d like a card so I can follow your trip and I’d like to make a contribution.” “Pardon me?” “This trip has got to cost money.  You said you were going to get sponsors.  I would like to make a contribution.” I’m thinking, this guy is biting my head off when I get on his bus and now he wants to make a contribution, hm, okay, I’ll go with it.  “Alright Phill, here’s my card.  Email me and when I am set up to take contributions, I will let you know.” “Great,” he says.   Phill’s happy.  I’m happy.  I get off the bus.  I meet Eamon and he lets me know, the house is open, just go on in.   I’m beat, so I quickly shower, and fall asleep.   The next day we’re having breakfast on the veranda and I can tell something is up.  “Teresa,” Eamon uneasily says, “uh, my roommate is actually my Mum and she is due back at noon.  Is there any way you could be gone by then?”   “No worries, Mate, I’ll be gone.  Thanks for letting me stay.  You really helped me out.”  Just then, Eamon’s girlfriend, Harriet, comes out and says, “Hmm, Eamon, your Mum just got home.”   Video and photos next time…  

First Posted 4 February 2013 G’Day Mates!   I had my first swim in the Indian Ocean.  It was absolutely glorious.  I had gone to the Swan River yesterday, but there were all sorts of jellyfish and as I did not know if they had stingers or not, I elected to do my physical therapy on the beach and watch the Black Swans.  See, I may be crazy in my ambitions, but if I don’t have information about something, I’m not going to be stupid.  I did not realize that the Black Swan is native to Western Australia.  They are so beautiful in the wild and there was no shortage of other bird life including a hawk that passed 30 feet/10 meters overhead.   I am going to backtrack a bit because I met the most fascinating gentleman on the flight from SFO to SYD.  Here’s another reason to come visit me; you never know who you may end up meeting on the flight.   Todd is the inventor of the SX Sorter which makes it possible to determine the sex of offspring.  This could have significant implications for endangered species populations.  By super-ovulating an endangered species female, collecting the ovocytes, and fertilizing them to produce primarily female offspring, the breeding population could be substantially increased.  The University of Sydney contracted with Todd to make the SX Sorter for them and Todd was able to give me contact information for the former head of Animal Reproductive Sciences.  Todd thought they would be very interested in my circumnavigation of Australia and data that I could collect for ongoing endangered species research.  Additionally, there may be funds available that I may be able to apply for through the University or they may be able to direct me to other public or private sources of funding.  I am very excited about following up with the University and will keep you posted on any developments.   I must be living somewhere since you are getting these emails, right?  Tune in next week to find out where I am and how I got there.  Of course by then, I may be somewhere else…  

First Posted 29 January 2013 Dreams do come true.  I have realized a lifetime achievement of obtaining the right to live and work in Australia.  Three Fridays ago, I had Medial Meniscus surgery, two Fridays ago, I had a Tonsillectomy, last Friday flew to Australia, whew!    On a funny note, a family that I met on the plane asked me in baggage claim how my knee was feeling.  I replied, “Oh, pretty good, but I’ve been taking so many pain killers it’s hard to really know for sure.”  Security walked up to me immediately and asked me to proceed straight to the yellow door.  What was behind the yellow door?  That’s right, immigration and baggage search.  I had so many drugs with me, they’re eyes popped.  I’ve never been stopped before.  I know technically I’m supposed to have the drugs in the original bottle with the prescription label, but I ALREADY HAD TOO MUCH STUFF.  I had combined my pills, labeled the outside with the prescription information, and had the discharge papers with me from my tonsillectomy showing the list of all my prescriptions.  Do not try this at home, let the professionals do it.    Looking back, it was just too much of a risk and I certainly did not think it through properly.  They could have taken all my medication, fined me, and called into question my immigration status.   To top it off, I hadn’t declared the medication.  The question began with, “Do you have any illegal or prohibited medication…”  At that point, I stopped reading because all my medication was legal, and checked “No.”  Apparently, the next line asked about ANY medication.  So…they tested most of my medication to make sure it was what it was supposed to be.  Then they grilled me about where I was going and what I was doing.  I guess my story was so crazy (who is going to make up flying into Perth without a place to stay, hope for the best, and start paddling around Australia two weeks after a tonsillectomy and three weeks after medial meniscus surgery), they let me proceed.  However, this delayed me enough to miss my connecting flight to Perth.   United was my carrier to Sydney, so when I went to check in for the connecting flight on Quantas, the nice lady advised me that I had only paid extra baggage charges for United and I still owed $30 to Quantas.  Fine, at this point I had just made it into the country by the skin of my teeth, I’m not arguing.  The only problem was that ALL MY LUGGAGE HAD BEEN SEARCHED AND I KNEW NOT WHERE MY WALLET WAS!!  I had to spread all my belongings out, AGAIN, and had to work very very hard not to panic, because it was nowhere to be found.  Finally, I found the wallet (of course in the last place I searched) and paid the charges with just enough time to make the next connecting flight to Perth.   To be continued…  

TERESA DIEHL–Adventurer & Realtor