April 3, 2012 Tue Day 55 Los Angeles-Toronto

This morning many tears saying goodbye to Chrissy, Karena and Nathan at the house, 
and Ian at the airport.  Ian again came to the rescue and offered to drive us to the airport, take the rental van back for us and then take the train to work. Their generosity is endless.  Chrissy lent us her GPS for our trek through Aussie. After returning it and being without the GPS, we knew we would have difficulty finding the airport and would  probably end up in Perth.   We quickly took Ian up on his offer to drive us. 
Customs did not check the name of my passport, so we sailed straight through. 
I asked if anyone was anxious to go home.  Happy, but not anxious was unanimous. 
Could have stayed longer. 

The Lounge
Comfort galore.  Delicious cappuccino and breakfast.  Including alcohol. 
Little too early for us....nope, wrong again.  Immy's on her second glass of wine.
The lounge beats playing euchre on the floor.
Yeah, they just brought out lunch.  Excellent food again.  

Skyping with brother Herman.  Free Internet in the lounge also.
We went downstairs only to find out our flight was delayed 40 minutes, which turned out to be 1.5 hrs.
Now, we will have to wait amongst the 'common people'.
Nope...went back to the lounge.  Packed with people downstairs. Thank you Ian. 

I think we all read about 5 books on this trip.
Most camp sites throughout our journey had a free book exchange.
Well used by our group. 

What to tackle first when I get home! 

7th flight.  Leaving Sydney for a 13 hour flight.  We had the double seats in the back.  Pre-booked.
Lots of room, but little sleep.    

On route, they fed us supper, then after lights out for a sleep, breakfast.
Peter did not even eat his breakfast. Very, very gross.  Think we may have to fly first class from now on. 
Or fill up in the lounge!

Arriving in LA the same time we left Sydney.  Pretty neat trick.  Found the lost day plus 7 hours.
We were going to try the lounge again, but decided against it.  Only 1.5 hrs to wait for the flight. And we would have to go through customs again.  U.S. airport is sooo unorganized.
They send you from one line-up to the other, and aren't even sure if it's the correct line.
Took 2 hours from the time we got off the plane to getting through all the line-ups through customs. 

Leaving LA.  8th flight.  

Arriving Toronto on time.  11 at night. Time three hrs. forward again.  Called Henny (5 min away) to pick us up with my van.  She got stopped for speeding.  Couldn't find the ownership (in my wallet).  The policeman even helped her search with his flashlight in the glove compartment.  Amazingly, he let her go with just a warning to slow down.   

Heading straight for the shower when we got home just before 2 am, just to find out we had no water.
Marcel checked in the basement.  Flood.  Pressure tank had a leak in it. Welcome home.
After vacuuming up the water, he turned the water on, we had a quick shower, turned off the water  and we went  to bed.
I slept till 12:30 the next day, while Marcel was up early, busy in the basement replacing the tank..

A welcome home lily from my dad

Our granddaughter Erin made this sign for us.  It was in our front flower bed. There was also a card on the coffee table from her, and a beautiful yellow mum (below) from our friends Herman and Amanda on the veranda.
What a wonderful home coming.  

Thank you, thank you, to our daughter Teresa and Doug for keeping an eye on our house, and vacuuming up the water in the basement the day before we got home.  
To Debby and David for looking after our plants and mail. 
To everyone who followed our blog and left comments or sent emails.  
For all your prayers for safe travels and flights.  Love to you all. 
But especially to Ian and Chrissy for their unending help and love before and during our amazing 2 months in New Zealand and Australia.  For spending time with us on outings and making wonderful memories.   
For all the great coffees and meals.
 To Karena for the delicious cupcakes, and Nathan for giving up his bedroom.   
For the laughter and fun we had together. And most of all, for making us feel so welcome in your home. 
We pray that God will bless you, as much as you've been a blessing to us. 

Side by side or far away...friends as dear as you.... are always close to our heart! 
 Don't cry because we're gone. Smile because we were there. 
Till we meet again.
Love always
Alida, Marcel, Immy and Peter. 

April 2, 2012 Mon Day 54 Sydney

Our last full day with our new family.  A gorgeous sunny day.
Great breakfast of french toast, strawberries, and of course Ian's special coffee.  

Willing to try the fruit!

Peter looking super cute with his new hat.
The four of us went shopping for a few hours to pick up some last minute things.
One last attempt by Peter to drive on the right side of the road at an intersection.  "No, no, no, left side" we heard from the navigator.
We were home by one.  Ian came home from work and told us he used his connections and got us the lounge at the Sydney airport. None of us even knew what a lounge was!

And our last dinner out with the whole family.
On our way down to the restaurant Ian kept laying rubber...all that engine power got to his head...we were having kittens in the back....good thing we had the O....handles!!  

Delicious food.  And great company again. 

The famous chocolate machine.  Remember Paul and Janice?

Very addictive.  Everyone donated their gold coins.  (loonies and toonies as we call them)

Twenty bucks worth of little chocolate bars.  Such a bargain.  And lots of fun.  Win..Win. 

Chrissy trying to get Marcel to try the machine.  

Off to McCafe for dessert.  The first McDonald we found did not have the Jaffa Torte cake I like.
Chrissy asked Ian to drive to the next McDonalds and he shook his head no.  She said, "Alida wants to go", and he said "yes".  Such a sweetie. 

Chocolate makes anybody smile. 

Nathan and Karena.  Two precious children.  

Miss you guys. 

Sharing the cake.  The pieces are large and very filling. 

When we got home, it was time for a few thank you gifts.  

Chrissy hadn't even opened her gift yet, and she was in tears hugging us all. 

A 'The Beatles' book for Ian. He is a huge fan of  The Beatles.  Not sure how many t-shirts he has with their picture on them, or how many Beatles pictures hanging on the walls.
Definitely a fan.  

Many thank you and we'll miss you hugs. 

As usual we had a fantastic evening,
especially because Chrissy and Nathan were able to join us.
Tomorrow is home time.  One more sleep. 
So looking forward to seeing everyone again back home.  

April 1, 2012 Sun Day 54 Sydney

A very lazy Sunday morning.  Delicious Ian coffee, toast and then apple-rhubarb pie we picked up yesterday.   Around 11 we left for the day's adventures.  We saw some knocked over pileons, and  Chrissy asked "Peter, have you been here?"  He'll never live that down.
First we went shopping in Engadine Town.  Very successful trip.  Both Immy and I bought 5 articles of                      clothing, of which Chrissy picked out quite a few.

Off to Royal National Park for a surprise adventure.
We were treated to paddle boat rides on the Hacking River.  Aqua bikes they call them.
Piles of fun. 

Immy looks like she's pulling out her hair.  

This little guy took a peek above water to see if those crazy Canadian drivers were gone yet. 

It's a great life!

Pukeko

Our legs were worn out after only half an hour.
A wonderful treat.  Thank you so much Ian and Chrissy.
  Neither Marcel or I had ever tried them before. 

Then the 'Wattamolla  Beach' (still in the park).
Watching people jump off the cliff.  

Forgot our bathing suits, so here we waded in the water.
Large waves...of course some of us got pretty wet!  

We were home by around 3:30, and 3 out of 6 went down for a nap.
Ian is carving up the 2 roasts of lamb that he put in the crock pot in the morning.  

Lamb, roasted potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes and beans.  Wine to top it off.
And delightful company.  What could be better than that.
A perfect ending to a fabulous day.  Boy, will we ever miss you all.  :(

On the news in the evening we heard about the hurricane and floods in Fiji.
Originally, we had planned to stop there either before or after Aussie.

One more full day and we go home.  Very sad.
By now we should all be ready and eager to go home.  But no one was.