Home safe and sound

Well, we've made it home. It was an extremely long flight! It was so much worse than the ride over there it made me really sick. From Boise to LA was 3 hours, from LA to Auckland was 12 hours and then from Auckland to Cairns was another 6 hours. The flight was the same on the way back except that I got sick on the trip from Auckland to LA. It was an amazing trip but it is so good to be home. The Mazur family that we stayed with in Australia were so gracious and went out of their way to take care of us. They took us to see so many amazing things and went out of their way to make sure that we were comfortable and that we had what we needed. The time change is really throwing me for a loop. I lost all sense of time and day and am still trying to figure it out. It is now 8:00 am on Thursday and I am sitting here dazed because I have been unable to sleep since 11:00 am yesterday morning. I sat up all night long wishing I could go back to sleep but not able to. Part of that could be because I am having a minor procedure today to have two small bumps removed off of my chest. After an ultrasound, it was decided that they were fibroid tumors and that while they wouldn't cause me any harm, I should probably get them removed. Since I am off work anyway, I thought I would go ahead and take care of it. Back to the fun stuff! I will be posting some updates about my trip along with some pictures but thought I would show the highlights first. James was an adrenaline junky and found himself doing all kinds of things. He scuba dived, went bungy jumping and then jumped out of a plane at 14,000 feet to sky dive. I hope you enjoy the videos....

It's half way over

Well, the trips almost over and so far we have been able to mark several items off of our list that we have wanted to do. Bungy Jumping, the Kuranda Train, the Zoo, etc. We are scheduled to go out on a Reef Tour this Friday. James will scuba dive in the morning and then my Mom, Dad, James and myself are going to do something called a scuba drift. The guide take us to one part of the reef and we drift with the current for about an hour back to the boat checking out the reef and it's inhabitants. We are all really excited for it and are looking forward to the adventure. Hopefully my ankle will hold up and Dad won't dislocate his shoulder. They also have submersables that take you down into the water so that you can see what's deep down in without scuba diving. We have had a few clouds and rain the past couple of days but today was gorgeous and we should have similar weather for Friday. We are still trying to get used to the lingo they use hear. Words like fortnight, fairdinkum, chuck and others all take getting used to. James has been practicing using them in his everyday speech so don't be surprised if you hear him say "No worries mate" when we get back to the states. We are amazed everyday at the number of people that we see walking bare foot around town. Their feet are like leather but are as black as can be. The gravel of the roads or the rocks on the sidewalk don't seem to bother them a bit. We have done a little shopping and when looking at the cost of shoes, we now understand why so many people walk around with out them. A standard pair of Nike's is selling for about $180.00. With the exchange rate being almost dollar for dollar, I can't imagine paying that much money for a pair of basic tennis shoes. I know, I may be cheap but that is just too much money. I have been learning a lot about their culture, government and day to day living. It is mind blowing to think of how an average person could live over here with the price of things. Everything seems to be really inflated compared to what you can purchase similar items for in the states. But, we are enjoying our time here and trying to make the most of our holiday (vacation - holiday is another australian term).

We made it and are having a blast!!

We haven't been able to post for a little while so now that we have the opportunity we wanted to update you on what we've been up to for the last couple of days. After a 20 hour flight to Cairns, we made it at 11:00 on the 11th of June, (which to confuse you is the 10th in the USA). We have been struggling trying to figure out the time changes, and realized that the best way we are going to be able to figure out what time it is there is to look at the cell phone which did not change times. The best we can figure is that it is about a 16 hour time difference and that you are all a day behind us. Fathers day for us was yesterday, while it is today for you. We have been pretty busy since we got here. The day after our arrival, we took the train through the rain forest to Kuranda. It was a beautiful ride up but the sky rail back was even better. It was amazing to ride over the top of the rain forest and see the amazing waterfalls and lush forest. James decided to go ahead and bungy jump, so we took him to the world famous AJ Hackett Bungy Site and he jumped 50 meters (about 150 feet). I had mixed feelings about this one, but decided that he is a grown man (kid at heart) and that he should be able to decide this one for himself. Naturally he was going to jump.

Not a lot can top that adventure, but other than that we have gone to the Cairns Zoo, went to a CableSki Water Park which when I win the lottery we will be opening in the US. Remember, you heard it here first so you can't steal my idea!!! We went down the coast a little bit to a township called Charters Towers which is where my dad started his mission in Australia. It was really awesome to see the people that he hadn't seen for about 40 years remember him and welcome us into their homes. Later this week, we will head to the Great Barrier Reef where James will be scuba diving. My ankle has created a little bit more of a problem for me than I would have liked, so it has limited some of the activities that I can participate in. I am going to attempt to snorkel hoping that the flipping motion won't bother my ankle too much. More to come later now that we have been able to get to the blog, but remember you can post comments here if you want and we will be able to read them. We hope all is well with everyone at home and will write more soon!

G'Day Mate!!

It's 10:33 pm on the night before we leave for our big vacation. I have stressed myself out so much that I sat down tonight to finish up some work before I leave and can't seem to figure out my wireless connection for my work laptop. So, here I am using time that I should be working....updating my blog. I guess that means that I'll be working a bit tomorrow before we go. For those that we haven't talked to, James and I are leaving for Australia tomorrow!!!! We have been talking about this trip since we got married 8 years ago and finally decided it was time to go. We are traveling with my parents and are really excited to go. THE ITINERARY: We fly out of Boise at 5:30 pm to LA. We then leave LA at 9:30pm for our 14 hour flight to Auckland, New Zealand. We have a 1 hour layover there and then get back on another plane to fly to Cairns, Australia. That is where we will be spending a lot of our time. We have the opportunity to spend 2 1/2 weeks in this beautiful country and are hoping to take advantage of it all! Whether it's scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, riding a train through the Rain Forest to a city on the top of a mountain or Bungee Jumping...we plan on doing as much as we can. OK, James might be Bungee Jumping but I don't think I'll be participating, because I'm a chicken. I am going to have to wear my air cast while we are there, but it's better than not being able to go. THE PREPARATION: Oh my hell!!!! Between the work stuff, to the house stuff to the financial planning, getting ready for this trip was stressful. Maybe I am a little over cautious but I am making sure that every t is crossed and i dotted. My siblings often make fun of me for my Anal Retentiveness and OCD issues. It reminds me of those damn times tables tests I used to take in the third grade. I was so worried about getting a perfect score on those tests that I often found myself throwing up before every single one of them!!! I just want everything to be done so that nothing goes wrong while we are gone and that if something does happen, it will be easy for someone to pick up the pieces (depressing, I know but none the less realistic). The hardest part of the trip, dropping off the dogs at a friends. (Thanks again Mike and Amanda for taking care of our kids). I'll admit it, I cried the whole way back to my house. We have never left them for that long, and they tend to get a little stressed out when they are away from us. I have had to stop myself from calling to check on them about 5 times and haven't even left town yet. Heaven help us when we do have kids! I am going to try and update my blog while we are gone, so stay tuned and I'll let you know what happens!!! Hopefully I'll get good enough that I can upload some of the pictures we take!!!