Hi all,

"Alls well that ends well"!!!!

I had 3 great days in Perth of officialdum.  Monday the visa details arrived from the U.S. Tuesday I was able to arrange an interview with the American consulate for the visa. The visa and passport had to be posted out and these arrived on Wednesday.  This process should have taken much longer but we were helped enormously by a chap in the consulate who went out on a limb for us since I had to start teaching the following week.  This was great news so I rearranged the flight details with Harvey World Travel in Broome to exit Perth on Thursday midnight.  Dan and Karen dropped me off around 10 0 'clock so I would feel nice and relaxed to board the plane.  You can imagine my disbelief when I went to pick up my tickets and they said they hadn't been dropped off by the courier.  I went a little weak at the knees and then tried to find Plan B.  Fortunately, I had the name of the lady who booked me in Broome and we were able to find her home phone number.  She was probably in bed at that stage but the matter was becoming rather desperate.  She was able to reassure the chap at the counter that the ticket had been issued and paid for and she would sort out the details in the morning.  It seems that a company called Concord issued the tickets through Qantas and deliver them to the airport to be picked up.  I was given a piece of paper only to authorize my travel to Melbourne with no guarantee for further connections.

So, I arrive in Melbourne at 5:15 and immediately tried to work out a plan to be able to board the plane at 10:25 later in the morning.  I rang my contact in Broome at 8:15 (6:15 Broome time) and was able to give the contact number for the Qantas counter at Tullamarine.  The plan was that she would contact Concord when they opened at 8:30 and try to get them to re-issue the ticket and get it couriered to the airport by 9:30.  Meanwhile, I then had to contact United Airlines to get the same proceedure in place for the LA internal legs of the journey.  It became clear after another half hour that the ticket was not going to make it in time so we went to Plan C.  Issue an e-ticket, take a photocopy of my passport and credit card and if there is any problem I will be debited with a new ticket.  We rushed to check in my luggage which were put through with a priority tag so that I could it much quicker in LA.  By that stage it was 9:45 and when I arrived through the departure doors I found the familiar scene of the long snaking queue.  "Oh - no I'm not going to make it!"  Luckily there were about 10 people processing and I got to the departure lounge with 10 minutes to spare.  Everyone seemed so relaxed there - reading the paper or vaguely staring out the windows.  As for me I felt completely drained and in need of a gin and tonic.  Not a good start to a 13 hour plane trip.

So, that was about 4 hours from Perth going ahead 2 hours in time difference.  Now 13 hours to LA and loose a day.  I sitting in the the middle between a guy who tracks satellites in Canberra and a female barrister from New York.  She was making her first trip to Australia and was most impressed with Sydney and Melbourne and some of the natural features such as the Blue Mountains and the Great Ocean Road along the coast of Victoria.  They were great company for such a long journey.

All the seats now have a monitor imbedded so you can view a variety of movies, the news, sports, documentaries, games, flight details.  This is done using a remote "clicker" attached to the seat.  On the reverse of this you can make telephone call by swiping your credit card down the side of it.  Much more advanced than the last time I did this when Kate and I went to the States in 97 when we were married. 

Arrived in LA by 7:30 AM. Beautiful flight over that huge city and the backdrop of the mountains.  The weather was beautifully Broome-like.  No trouble clearing customs and boarding a United flight to Denver.  There it was 95 degrees Fahrenheit.  Lastly, an hours flight to Sioux Falls to meet my darling wife - at last!

Kate was a welcome site I can tell you.  After all the officialdum - jumping through so many hoops over the last 3 months and getting road blocks - we were together again and this adventure was really going to happen.  Kate looks great and it wasn't long before we drove off in her brothers car on the 'wrong side of the road'.  This is a beautiful part of the world.  Everything is so green and the old homes so distinctive.

Presently, we are staying at Kate's sisters house.  We have it all to ourselves.  It is in a very leafy part of town - very rural and quiet.  Just the thing you need to get over jet lag.  Funny sort of feeling of dizziness and sea sickness.

We woke up this morning to the sound of squirrels (pronounced 'squirls') knorring on the timber and running over the roof.  Its going to be about 75 degrees today and the evenings are pleasantly cool.  I'll be getting a lot more of "cool" before too much longer.

It was fortunate that Kate's sister has a computer here so I was able to type up this email and check the footy results and the Aussie news and do some Internet banking.

Well, now dear friends and family - you're up to date.  Today we take it easy and tomorrow we drive out to Crow Creek to start the new school year.  I feel very excited about this and the whole idea of living over here for now is wonderful to look forward.  There is a lot to experience and the promise of heaps of new friendships.

So, the next email will be from Crow Creek in our trailer home.  Kate has been very busy cleaning and setting it up.  It has 3 bedrooms and is located quite close to the school.  Looks like numbers are really up this year for the school with about 300 students on the books.

All the best and wish us luck in our new undertaking.

Love and best wishes

Kate and Brian