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I'm home safe and sound.
A great two weeks!

Great Trip to L.A.

The day started off very stressfully as my shuttle driver picked up the wrong person at my hotel and then had to circle back for me. That got me to the airport 30 minutes late and with the incredibly long lines to check in and do security, I got the the gate with just minutes to spare. But the day quickly turned around when I got seated next to three great people who made the 14 hour flight go quickly.

On the down side, the audio/video consoles in our row weren't working so we went the whole way without any movies, but on the plus side, the airline gave us a comp from the duty free shop to apologize for our inconvenience.

On the down side, my body was not cooperating with my sleep goals, so I'm writing this pretty much exhausted. But on the plus side, it was a really pleasant trip with excellent conversation and laughs and to top it all off:

Peter Buck from R.E.M was sitting five rows ahead of me! I finally got up the courage to talk to him while in line for customs. He was really nice and waved to me later as I was leaving the airport. What a great day!

At friend Susan's in L.A. now. Going to bed soon and will fly to Philly tomorrow afternoon.

Sunday in Melbourne

Melbourne is well set up for tourists. I walked about 10 minutes from hotel to catch a free tourist tram that goes all around the city, and is narrated so we can learn about the city while we travel. My goal was to get to the Queen Victoria Market which is huge. A giant sort of flea market with all kinds of clothing, crafts, foods, and and Aussie items. Did my shopping, then trammed it back to another area where I had to return my "loaner" cell phone, then walked back to hotel. This footbridge that I had to take is actually a piece of public art. Sounds and song snippets come out of speakers that you pass as you walk along. The effect is that you're overhearing various conversations and interactions and musical exchanges as you would as you pass by any groups of people on a street or bridge. These voices and songs, though, represent different countries. It made the hike from the main part of the city to East Melbourne, where my hotel was, that much more enjoyable.

I was met at the hotel by Andy who's David (from Sydney's) best mate. Andy showed me around last time i was in Melbourne and was kind enough to do it again this trip. We went out to dinner in an area where there are lots of restaurants by the Yarra River.

FYI, I didn't realize when I booked this Melbourne trip that the Grand Prix would be underway. Have seen many many crowds, and was advised not to take a taxi today due to the traffic congestion. Plus there was an Aussie Rules Football game going on right near my hotel. That's why I spent much of the day on foot.

Melbourne/Earth Hour

I woke up in Sydney feeling a bit under the weather. Just a head cold so not a big deal. Had an easy one hour flight to Melbourne. Got to hotel and just relaxed by the pool for an hour or so. Then I went for a walk to no where in particular. Just wanted to grab a bite to eat and see a bit of the city. Turned out great because I found myself in the middle of a big event: A festival to celebrate Earth Hour. A big stage, musical pefromers, including some of Australia's top singers of the moment. And some comments by Peter Garrett, lead singer of Midnight Oil who is now Australia's Minister for Environment! Very cool! Then at 8:30, some of the lights went out and the bands played on. Also at this festival, a bank of bicycles were set up and people were peddling away, so that the energy they created could be stored and used to power the lights for the concert.

Final Night in Sydney

This pic was taken on my final night in Sydney. Love that skyline!

Various Bits from Sydney

Catching up a bit on various things:

The woman who's gorgeous home at the coast I spent several nights at, also has a flat in the city. I'm there for two nights now. Her name is Louise and she was one of the Rotary exchange program team members that I hosted last year. The other woman who stayed at my house during the exchange was Sophie. Last night, Sophie and Louise and I went to dinner and enjoyed catching up.

Today, one of the guys from the exchange, Evan, and his wife took me to Koala Park. They enjoyed it as much as I did joined me in the koala photo taking frenzy. In the gift shop Evan put this goofy hat on my head so here's a pic for you to use as blackmail.

Then it was a rush to get to the post office to ship some things back home that were making my luggage heavy. Then I had a great hour sitting outdoors and drinking coffee and eating a most delicious jam donut. After really having a sort of busy vacation, doing a lot of travelling and visiting and doing, it was nice to finally be able to relax and people watch on this lovely street in a quaint beautiful neighbhorhood. The bakery owner was very friendly and told me that Russell Crowe is a regular customer there!

Speaking of Russell Crowe, and totally by coincidence, the restaurant I just ate dinner at is in the same building as where he has an apartment! This is a nice waterfront property with a great view of the skyline. Dinner tonight was with another guy from the Rotary exchange, along with his wife. Nice that we were able to reconnect on this trip.

More Koalas

Okay, I admit, I'm obviously obsessed with koalas. I went to the Koala Park today outside of Sydney and loved every minute of my time with the adorable marsupials. After standing in line to get the photo of me with koala, I hung around and just watched the critters hang out in the trees, as well as walk around their enclosure. The sight of them waddling is really quite cute! I got still shots and video and there really wasn't anyone else around so it was really a great day to get up close and personal with "Tadpole" (the name of the 2 1/2 year old female in the photo) and her friends.