Dateline Down Under – Perth
Monday, February 25 – Friday, February 29, 2008

Monday, February 25, 2008
Rottnest Island, West Australia:

We were up at six and heading towards Rottnest Island. It was extremely HOT, HOT, HOT (40 C) – and there was absolutely no wind at all on the island. We set the alarm for six and were up and gone by 0700. We made our way to Perth, found the infamous city parking lot and walked to the pier where we would catch the ferry to Rottnest. We were really looking forward to trip, and were some what disappointed. It took two hours to get the island, although the narration was really interesting and we went by homes that were on the market for $85,000,000! Amazing but really beautiful and the information regarding the natural resources were really interesting. We rented Bikes and snorkel gear, both were marginally usable and Carol was really disappointed with the bike she had been given.

All of the information we had been given said the island is for bikes only, except tourist buses and other service vehicles that use the bike lanes as well – just a recipe for road kill here. It was so hot even the Island Quokkas (marsupials the Island is named after – see photo at the usual place) stayed out of sight all day. We had a very nice buffet lunch at the lodge and decided the next time we come here we will spend a couple of days on the island. The late afternoon ride across the Indian Ocean as smooth and we really enjoyed our time together! For more pictures take a look at the Rottnest Photo Album on Google Picassa!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008
York and Muchea, Southwest Australia

It is really heating up again in Perth today. Our five mile exercise route is killer today. Both of us are taking serious gas as we finish the route.

Off to York again to pick up a few souvenirs we forgot last trip – tea towels and a hand bag, some ice cream (very good in Australia) and, oh yeh, a handful of Mrs. Mac’s pies to take home and cook! We are both really getting into meat pies here. Steve was here before and really liked them a lot. He has Carol into pies now. We will have a lot more opportunity to test the best and the rest.

We also headed back North to get a few Road Train photos along the Brand Highway and “The Great Northern Highway.” Won’t bore you details (earlier blog has the stuff), but we saw Road Trains with names of the actual vehicles (or drivers) such as “Lots of Ballz,” “Spook” and “Gets Tha’ Job Done.” Steve talked to a couple of drivers at a road Train Assembly area where he took a few photos, as when they are on the road they have the jet wash of a 747. These are the “short versions.” Once you get north the size limit increases to 160-feet long and there is NO SPEED LIMIT. This is the job Steve MUST have when he returns here to work! Check out the photos on the Road Trains and Roads East Photo Album on Google Picassa!

Also note the photo of the “Bicycle Lane” designator we took. This is on a HIGHWAY no less, which includes bikers, stops lights, and cross traffic entering from all directions. Makes driving interesting. As we spend more time here we run into more less-behaved drivers, and oh, apparently no rules here about stopping for emergency vehicles on the road. Saw a bunch of fire trucks screaming toward some sort of field blaze (we could see it in the distance), and the guy behind us nearly rear-ended us and was pretty pissed at Steve. We watched as another fire struck came down the road in the opposite direction, and no one even made an attempt to pull over! Another driving lesson learned in Australia!

Big news is Steve, who used to look for ways to AVOID round-abouts when we first got here, now goes out of his way to practice in two-lane round-abouts while Carol hangs onto the door latch for dear life…. Fun, fun, fun…

Meat Pies and a nice glass of wine for dinner, and it is off to bed. So until tomorrow’s adventure begins, we remain, Steve and Carol, wandering around the world.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008:

We got up early this morning for our morning run and then we were off to the Perth Mint for the grandkids gold coins. We decided we would forego the traditional t-shirts and we would buy all of the grand children a gold coin with their name and birth date engraved. We thought that while it is probably not as cool as stickers, we thought it would be a really nice gift and they will never forget where grandma and grandpa went.

When we got home, Carol decided to call Erin (she had a feeling that she needed to call and you never mess with Carol when she has those “feelings.”) Well, things were not good…Erin was on the way to the hospital. Her back is hurting; she is coughing and is sick to her stomach. We tell her to send us an email as soon as she finds out anything and begin waiting. After about three hours we find out that they are admitting her to the hospital with gall bladder problems, liver problems and a host of other ills they are not too sure about. More tests tomorrow and then we will know what we are up against!!

Finally after more tests the doctors decide she has gall stones and schedule her for two procedures, the first one is to go in microscopically and break up the gall stone, they believe this will help with the pain and also reduce the liver enzymes (did I mention hepatitis too?) and then schedule Friday to remove her gall bladder. We ask her if she wants us to come home and she says in a very small voice “yes” then says no, she doesn’t want to ruin our vacation. We decide to start making plans to get home and send Matt (our wonderful travel agent) an email letting him know that we need to return to California.

It is amazing what you can do from 10,000 miles away from home and we are very fortunate to have computer savvy people in our family. We were on the phone with Shawna, Dan and Erin as well as on email with Tasha (our niece), we were also able to contact our family doctor and ask him to check in with the hospital to make sure things are going right! We were emailing, texting and instant messaging everyone!

We clean up the house and begin the arduous process of packing up and getting ready to hit the road at 3:00 a.m. in the morning on Friday morning. We were on a plane at Perth and flying to Sydney by 6:00 a.m. and heading to California by 4:15 p.m. that afternoon. We finished up our “souvenir” shopping at the Sydney airport, found some libations for the road home (the bad part of getting tickets at the last moment is you take what you can get, and there was no business class seats available!) We also did not have seats together so we relied on Carol pleading her case to the guy sitting next to her and begging him to change seats with Steve who had already tried but got no where with the cranky lady sitting next to him.

Our seatmate Cheryl was great and listened to Carol tell her sad tale of woe and the two of them began sharing stories…. Seems Cheryl and her husband weren’t together either, and she was okay with that but felt Carol’s pain. Finally after getting off the ground the cabin attendants starting handing out drinks before dinner, we both asked for wine. After drinking the first mini bottle (which is kind of like fancy vinegar in “cattle car” class) we asked our steward Nick if we could have another bottle when he had a moment and Carol told him she was rushing home because her daughter was having surgery. Nick was wonderful; he brought us four “short dogs” and said he would take care of us. Shortly after he came by with a bottle of the “first-class” chardonnay from France and glass glasses! It was great! We all shared that bottle and had dinner. By then we had become instant friends and Nick took care of us for the rest of the flight and just as we landed in San Francisco, Nick came by, gave us all a hug and gave us another bottle of red wine to take off the plane with us. We left the plane knowing we had new friends and there are good people in the world!

We went through customs, raced to the car rental and headed towards Sacramento. We called everyone and let them know that we were back in the USA and were heading towards the hospital. After about an hour and a half we met Greg (Vara’s Dad) at the airport and he loaded our bags and took us to the hospital where we were met by Peggy Stephens (Vara’s Grandmother and Greg’s Mom) who said we had missed Erin going into surgery by about 10 minutes. They had taken her in the operating room and she was undergoing surgery. We had about an hour before we would know what was going on. Finally after an hour of waiting the doctor came out and said that everything had gone well and Erin would be going home that evening. Steve took the car home and got the house set up for people moving in, and Carol sat in Erin’s room waiting for her to come back from the recovery room. All of the pressures, all of the craziness, all of the hassles were well worth it when they rolled Erin back into her room. Carol was sitting in the chair and as Erin came in she just started crying and so did Carol. I couldn’t have been any other place than in that hospital when Erin came out…it is something anyone who has children can understand.

So we are home, early but it is well worth it. Dan came up from Las Vegas with Allyson so we got to spend three days with Dan, Erin, Ally and Vara…it was really nice and good to see the girls and we made it home in time to go to Shawna and Gabino’s house to celebrate with Niko (Gabino and Shawna’s son) as he turns 18. Shawna and Tasha were a HUGE help to Carol getting through all of this stuff, as they coordinated and handled phone communications with every one. As Steve always says, everything works out in the end, and maybe we were supposed to be home! We will get to see all of the grandkids and all of the kids!!!

So, Carol spent her birthday with Erin, Vara and the Hargis’ (our friends from Moreno Valley) and we are planning a big 50 party for the end of the month! If you would like to join us, send us an email and we will get the details to you!

Until the next trip…we remain yours…

Carol and Steve