Saturday 11 February 2017

Short visit in Sydney, then 2 flights to San Francisco. Easy peasy although the 4 1/2 hour Virgin Australia flight from Darwin had no onboard entertainment. What!!? How can Richard expect people with modern attention spans survive that long sitting in a small, airborne tube without moving pictures to stare at? No worries, we arrived with little or no psychic damage.

Blizzard conditions in Heavenly at Tahoe for 3 of 6 days, but we skied four and had a great time. Irreparable damage to kidneys from drugs to keep knees operational was a minor price to pay for a week of fun (a permanent reminder of a temporary feeling?). Now back in San Pablo near San Francisco (lots of Spanish saints enshrined in CA names) where we've come to believe 15 C is sweltering as opposed to Darwin where 25 C is frigid. Favorite meals at "The Naked Fish" (raw fish) and "The Dead Fish" (dead fish).

Packing today so to see how much more crap we can buy and fit into two suitcases under 23 Kg. Head later to an Apple Store for a hitch in the giddyup of Jan's MacBook Pro and to purchase sufficient previously mentioned crap at West Marine. Out of here (assuming we get space-a seats out of Oakland) tomorrow and back in Darwin two days hence. Vietnam may have to wait for future consideration as boat prep continues and the Outback gets a bit of a wander instead.

Jack

*** PC Alert *** For those of you who are not easily offended by really, really naughty stuff look up Tim Minchin (musician/singer/comedian/social commentator) on Youtube who wrote the award winning (not naughty) music and lyrics for the Broadway musical "Matilda". If you are religious, please expunge this last paragraph from your consciousness, say 327 Hail Marys (or your particular faith equivalent) and gargle with Listerine.