- Arrived in Brisbane

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

The eagle has landed. Approximately 23 hours after leaving Tampa, Florida the tires hit the runway in Brisbane, Queensland. It's unusually overcast here and has been raining lightly on and off. For the people here the rain is more than welcome. They've been having a terrible drought.

I have adjusted the time and date shown on the blog. The time and date shown while I'm in Australia will be local - Queensland, Australia time.

Regarding making this trip - I know many of you have flown zillions of miles and probably usually are either asleep, intoxicated or deeply engrossed in your Danielle Steele novel when the plane is taking off. However, please look out the window as you approach and leave New Zealand. It is beautiful to see from the air. The coast line is jagged, there are lush green rolling hills (lush from the frequent rain. It's no wonder NZ is very "British". The topography of NZ catches the rain that would have gone to Australia - but that's another story.) . . . not much of the beauty of NZ has been polluted with bulldozing and over-construction. There aren't many people there. As you're flying in and descending, you might notice the lovely, lush, rolling green hills are, in some places, covered with little white dots - those are sheep. . . lots of sheep. When I first went there I read NZ had 3 million people and 75 million sheep.. . . but I digress.

My flight was very comfortable, yet after traveling for 23 hours I was not quite on top of my game. One of my checked bags was lost, but found and delivered within just a few hours. Today I needed to get a new mobile phone. Because of the change in Telstra's system, I needed to get a new mobile number. My new number is: 0458-742-547. (If you have too much money and too much free time, feel free to call. To call me from the USA, dial: 011-61-458-742-547. Because there is no coverage at the mine, you'll probably get my voice mail. I'm not promising I can afford to return your call, but probably will at least send you an email.)

Tomorrow I have an early flight to the small and peculiar town of Cunnamulla (pop: 1,217). The plane is scheduled to be landing in Cunnamulla around noon. I should be in Koroit by 2 pm. It's one of those airports where often someone needs to drive around the runway right before the plane lands to chase away the kangaroos. That's serious, not a joke. The Cunnamulla airport has 2 flights per week.

Tonight I'll sleep in a hotel in Brisbane. It will be the last bed I'll sleep in for 2 months.

I have to run. . . yes, I'm a bit tired, but tomorrow I'm flying from a city of 1.8 million to a town of 1.2 thousand, then driving to Koroit (pop: ? - less than 20) . . . and tonight is Saturday night in the town of 1.8 million.


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