#73 NOW October 28, 2005, 1920—UTC +10 hours (East Coast Australia Time) East Coast Marina, Manly Harbor, Brisbane, Australia Temperature 75.2 Greetings Everyone! "Vacation" is over and it is time to get back to "work." The past two months have been a wonderful mixture of touring Australia by car, and flying back to the U.S. to visit family and friends in California, Florida, and Alaska. Pictures will be posted shortly on the newly designed Web site, which Gordon has been revising and improving. Looks great! (See URL below.) After our arrival in Brisbane, we rented a car and drove down the coast, stopping to visit some of Carol's relatives. We stayed with one of her cousins who owned a 20-acre macadamia nut farm. It was fascinating to see the processes involved in producing and bringing them to market. When we left, they generously gave us a large supply of nuts that I will be enjoying for some time to come. Just North of Sydney in the town of Avondale we visited with some more of her relatives and they treated us to a grand tour of the area, including some close encounters with Kangaroos. In fact, one of the most fascinating things about Australia is the indigenous animal life that is so unique to this part of the world. Next, we spent a couple of days touring Sydney, which I read recently was voted the second best large city to live in (the number one spot went to Vancouver, Canada). We enjoyed a great tour of Sydney's landmark, the Opera House. It is really an impressive place and a live concert is on my list of things to do. We then took a harbor tour, which is perhaps the best way to get an overview of this great city. Finally, we enjoyed dinner in the revolving restaurant overlooking the city. Yes, there was kangaroo on the menu-we both passed on that. The following day Carol flew back to the US and I drove the car back to Brisbane. A week later I also flew back to the US where there was great news awaiting me. YES! I am to be a grandpa, thanks to my son Gordon and his lovely wife Cheryl. We are all eagerly looking forward to this momentous event. Congratulations! I made a quick trip to Florida to see Janene and Stephanie, who was on a long weekend break from college. Then it was up to Alaska to help my sister and brother-in-law move into their lovely new home. Located about eight miles from Juneau, it has one of those "take your breath away" million-dollar views overlooking Indian Cove and Auke Bay. Flying back to California, I spent some time with my older daughter, Wendy. Wendy plays the bassoon in the Contra Costa Symphony and she treated me to a front row, balcony seat. It was a great performance with my favorite violin concerto by Mendelssohn. Thanks to everyone for giving me such a wonderful time. While back in the US, I had accumulated two large duffle bags of parts and supplies for the boat. So, it was time to get airborne and wing my way back across the Pacific. What took me 9 months to do now passed below me in just 13-1/2 hours. Life is a Cruise, Larry Larry Rick Done Dreamin' Nordhavn 40 #33 Site: http://gricknet.homedns.org/Dads%20Web/doneDreamnHome.htm Email: donedream@pacbell.net