Back in Australia

It is the morning of my first day back home in Melbourne Australia. I arrived back late yesterday afternoon after a lengthy trek back from the airport. It seems Singapore to Melbourne was almost as long as LA to Singas.

The first flight arrived into Perth at midnight with a 6 hour layover. A little homework discovered a quiet dark 'closed' cafe upstairs with large soft lounges. I and four others all found our little corner and looked forward to some 4-5 hours of snoozing ONLY to find an ear piercing regular EVERY 10 minutes - GRRRRRR!! "security alert" intercom message from airport officials which was proceeded and ended with chimes. Say good-bye to any sleep! We were all ready to rip the intercom system out of the ceiling! The loud message was accompanied by freezing air conditioning which froze my toes! Having been in 35-40 degree temperatures for the last 6 months it has left me sneezing ever since! Bugger! Am downing Vitamin C and green powder like its going out of fashion! Think I may have heavy duty garlic prawns for dinner with garlic salad and garlic bread! Although the weather is pleasant here, I am finding it very cold and have the central heating on full blast!

The saga continues! My smooth and uneventful flight to Melbourne finally took off at 6.10am Perth time. Melbourne! After almost 7 months I was home! It is a strange feeling to be away so long and come home! I definitely had mixed feelings about it all, especially having just left my Becky!
I found that the airport bus had JUST left and so had to wait over an hour for the next. FINALLY in sunny Frankston, (don't you just love Frankston! Who doesn't! - I read that somewhere...) I had to leave the bus which ended there. Yep, with ALL those airport shuttles going down to Rosebud, mine ended in Frankston! Happy to be home my mood was good so I searched for taxis which had all disappeared. After half an hour of almost throwing myself into the traffic I finally harrassed some passerby to borrow his mobile (of course mine was dead as a church mouse after being out of use for so long) and made a call to book one! Its bright yellow shape took me into my drive way at last! Home!

I must say there is nothing as lovely as to come home to your own house! It looked so welcoming! My first surprise at my front door was a bouquet of the longest stemmed red roses in existence with a beautiful card from my darling friend Robert. I have no idea how they grow roses with stems a metre long but they are just superb! Thank you my darling Robert! Our Skype chats and emails have just been so touching for all these months! See you Sunday!
Katey also surprised me with a table and fridge of goodies and flowers so I could just rest and eat without going out! She has left the house so clean and tidy it was SUCH a pleasure to walk inside. Thank you dearest one for those thoughtful touches!
I also found a divine bottle of red with a gorgeous card from my friend Sue for my birthday - we are going to indulge tomorrow together for a dinner catch up! I can't wait to see her and meet Sunny, her new four legged companion!

Actually I can't wait to catch up with all my dear friends, its been a long time, but for now I must weave my way through a MAMMOTH box of mail, settle in, unpack, rest, activate suspended accounts......... the list goes on...At present I am waiting for my mechanic to come back. The car stalled AGAIN, and I want to shoot over to see my little mummy. I hope she still recognizes me! I have sent her some 20 postcards, emailed stories for the nurses to read to her and rang. I couldn't speak to her personally as she doesn't speak anymore.....its always a heart wrenching visit! Step by step I guess!

I have much to share with you all re Singapore and Malaysia! The orangutans were heart wrenchingly beautiful with personalities totally humanlike. There are stories to write and photos to post........so keep checking this blog in the next week. I will catch it all up as soon as I can.

Right now, I am heading back to the heater and a thicker woolly jumper........Brrrr!