Not exactly a direct flight

Twelve days, eight flights, six hotels, 10 Mai Tai’s and 1 missing wedding band later, we have arrived at our final destination.  The desire to abandon our suitcases and put our clothes in a dresser trumped any lingering apprehension.    We were more than ready to be “home.”

Without looking back, we left North Carolina with smoking tires. We headed north to PA for one last visit.  Not the most direct way to Australia, but for us, definitely necessary.  We spent the week relaxing, enjoying good company, and of course, eating.   While we were home we had to take care of one item of business; shipping our car to Sydney.  So, we took a drive to the Baltimore Port and said farewell.  Barring the ship not sinking, we’ll see her around the beginning of February.  Just in time for her first birthday. 

The perfect close to a great week was our farewell/Becky’s surprise birthday party.  It was a blast! Thanks to everyone who came.   It was incredible seeing you and catching up. We agreed, our visits with you are too few and far in between.  You better believe, it was the perfect send off.  Oh, and like our wedding, it was Jason’s family who closed down the bar.  Some things never change!

Don’t be jealous, not everyone gets to spend her 30th birthday sitting in a tube. Eye on the prize though, we’d soon be in Honolulu.  The day started bright and early when we left for the Newark airport at 3:30am.  In true Becky fashion, she slept the entire trip while Jason watched movies.  This leg of the trip was technically business, but we were really hoping for a “no vacancy” sign on base lodging.  This would force us to reserve a beach front room…off base.  No such luck. It was base accommodations for us. We checked in at 10pm eastern time (5pm Hawaiian).  Our first night in Hawaii was uber thrilling.  We laid down for a power nap.  Jason woke up at 7pm ready to go out.  Becky woke up at 7am the next day.  Oops….

We spent a total of 2 days on Oahu for Jason’s in-processing at Hickam AFB.  This is where his Air Force Supervisor is stationed.  It wasn’t all work. We made our way to Waikiki, Pearl Harbor (which was closed for painting) and to the North Shore.  To our dismay, the waves were Jersey shore good, but nothing exciting for the local Hawaiian surfer.

Day 4 took us to Maui.  We started off on the Road to Hana.  This 2 hour drive turned into a day with multiple stops and mini excursions.  The first stop was a popular surf beach where we watched surfers ride 15-20’ waves.  Jason took notes for his soon-to-be new hobby.  The rest of the road had scenic overlooks, waterfalls you could swim under, short hikes through bamboo forests, and black sand beaches.  We rolled into Hana around dinner time.  This place was quiet.  It had less going on than Reamstown.  Our generous neighbor offered us fresh raw Ahi that he bought from a local fisherman.  We seared it in our hotel room and both agreed it was the best fish we ever eaten. 

Swimming hole.  He says, "refreshing."  She says, "ice cold."

Black sand beach; not for delicate feet



Senior picture pose



Deep in the bamboo forest

  The next day we continued down the Road to Hana.  We sought out a red sand beach, ate fresh pineapple and hiked to a 400’ waterfall.  Our last stop along the highway was to Haleakala National Park. It was at Seven Sacred Pools that Jason became “single.”  The Pools are 7 natural waterfalls that cascade into the ocean.  Long story short, we were horsing around under one particular waterfall.  We’re still not exactly sure what happened, but just like that his wedding band was gone to the depths of the Pacific.   Jason blames Becky for the loss.  Becky can't confirm that.

400' waterfall

Who needs a ring, anyway?

Advertising for the ladies

Our next two days were spent on the west side of Maui.  This was a much needed break.  Instead of being on the go, we spent our days lounging on the beach, in the pool, snorkeling and of course… sipping Mai Tai’s.  Our snorkeling mission was to find a sea turtle.  Our search turned up short so we swam back to shore.  No kidding, 5’ from the beach and a 1’ from where we were standing was our turtle. If it weren't for the observant folks next to us who pointed it out, we would have missed it (or stepped on it).  So, we geared up and chased the turtle.

Endless scenery

Another colorful sunset

Our hotel





We had just a few hours before our plane left for Oahu (yes, we had to fly back to Honolulu to catch our flight to Sydney) so we made the most of it.  We trekked up to the volcano to watch the sunset.  It took about 1 hour to go from sea level to 10,000 feet.  That wasn’t the only change.  From the top of the volcano, the temperature dropped about 40 degrees.  It was freezing!  The surroundings looked like Mars with all the Lava rock.  We learned that this is the 4th best viewing location (on the planet) to observe the stars.  Just as expected, the sunset was beautiful and a symbolic ending to our Hawaiian vacation. 

Top of the mountain was 5,000' above the clouds.

Mars on Maui

Hours earlier it was sunscreen and bathing suits.

Qantas, known for the all too recent engine fires, was our airline into Sydney.  -Comforting.  Actually, our 9.5 hour flight was a dream compared to our United Flight the week prior. We were treated to FREE blankets, 2 FREE hot meals, FREE dessert, FREE alcohol, FREE headphones, and 4 movies.  Catching on, United?   The flight was long, but not nearly as painful as it could have been.  Stopping in Hawaii was clutch.  We touched down in the early evening.  It took us forever to get transportation to our hotel.  Never mind that partially being our fault.  Lesson learned: exercise your voice and ask when in doubt. Instead of a well labeled hotel shuttle they use a mini-van with small trailer hitched to it (think u-haul).  And, the kicker…there is no advertisement or indication for which hotel they transfer to.  That pretty much sums up Sydney.  We crashed for a few hours and the next morning went back to the airport to catch, yet another, flight.  This time, off to Canberra.

Jason decided we only needed to be at the airport one hour prior to our flight.  What could go wrong? Lesson learned: the time difference between The States and Oz is more than face value.  First, we stepped up to the Kiosk and weren’t in the system.  After waiting in a long line (or “cue” here) we made it to the service counter.  After the small talk, the agent somehow found us in the system.  Her modern work space was gorgeous, but more like an open air cubicle with no storage.  We dealt with minor issues that required the agent slowly meandering away from her station multiple times because she didn’t have what she needed.  Oh, and the 2 drawers she had were on the ground.  Up. Down. Up. Down. Walk away. Come back. Repeat. Lesson learned: pretty doesn’t always mean functional.   Next it was her jammed bag tag machine we were privileged to deal with.  “No worries,” after a few minutes and some side chats to her co-workers, it was fixed.  Then her computer locked up.  After a few more minutes of trying to fix it she determined it was time for a reboot.  After the reboot wasn’t working she sent us to another attendant.  By now, we missed our flight.  After a couple of phone calls to a higher up regarding our itinerary, the next attendant got us checked-in.  Continuing down the line, she then sent us to customer service to pay for our excess baggage.  The sales desk attendant decided we didn’t need to pay the fee anyway since we were still on an international travel itinerary.  One hour after arriving at the airport we made it through security.  Turns out, our missed flight was now delayed by 45 minutes so we ended up being right on time. 

By this time, we had no idea what day it was.  We were only counting down our remaining flights. Canberra is the sleepy capital of Australia.  It was selected because the country couldn’t agree on Melbourne or Sydney as the capital so they chose a location that was in the middle.  There’s no other reason for this town to exist where it does.  That being said, it’s a picturesque town with a man made lake in the middle.  It’s design is based off Washington DC.  The city designer was actually an American.  A member of the Embassy met us at the airport, gave us a quick car window tour of the city, then began a day of in-processing.  Luckily for us, we were able to complete the in-processing in a day and had the second day free to tour the city.  We took the opportunity to check out the Old Parliament Building and the War Memorial Museum.  The museum had a lot of great displays as the Australians have been alongside America in every war since World War I.  We actually ran out of time at the museum as they close every night at 5pm with a ceremony in front of their Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The next morning we began the final legs of our trip.  When we finally arrived, we were greeted at the airport by our sponsors and Jason’s squadron commander.  Thankfully, we were driven to our apartment (the first days of right hand drive is for another blog).   Our sponsors set us up with a sweet furnished one bedroom apartment on the bay, in the heart of the city, right above several good restaurants and bars.  It’s the perfect place for us until all our stuff shows up. 

We left Goldsboro on October 28th and arrived in Newcastle on November 18th.  The first weekend we washed six loads of laundry, reacquainted ourselves with the operation of a stove and accepted an unexpected Thanksgiving dinner invite.  It was the perfect way to settle in.