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Published: June 13th 2013
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The plan to tour the USA for 3 months and fly home from LA in September had been binned and the final leg of this trip now involved a flight with Air NZ back to Perth via Auckland.
The three suitcases were bursting at the seams with new clothes and we were so excited to be heading to our new life!
We left LA at 10pm on Thursday 6th June and the first flight was 12 hours.... It arrived in Auckland at 6am on Saturday morning which means that as a result of crossing the International date-line again we had lost a whole day... We missed Friday 7th June altogether?! I'm completely bemused by all the date and time differences but I do know that I can't afford to lose a day out of my life at my age!
After booking the single to Perth some weeks ago we had received an email from Air NZ offering us the opportunity to bid for an upgrade. Basically you make a random bid in an on-line auction and if your offer is accepted then you get an upgrade. We made a ridicously low bid for the LAX to Auckland leg as we
were already happy enough with the seats and flight arrangements but we really, really wanted an upgrade from Auckland to Perth. This was to be the very last leg of this amazing journey and we wanted to arrive in Perth in style... We also had an 8 hour stop-over / wait at Auckland airport and the upgrade we wanted would allow us to use the Business Lounge for a shower, freshen up ... and of course avail ourselves of their complimentary hospitality for this long 8 hour period.
So, with bids offered of $270 each we were delighted to learn that we had won the auction for an upgrade from Auckland to Perth. On arrival in Auckland we made ourselves comfortable in the lounge and relaxed .... with a few champers all round of course!
This was our 3rd visit to Auckland in just a few months although we didn't need to leave the airport on this occasion. Everything we needed was available in the business lounge. So we boarded the plane slightly tipsey and the champagne, beer and wine continued to flow on the flight!
We arrived in Perth at 6pm on Saturday evening 8th June
where we were met by John and Andrea (again!) Who have kindly taken us in (again!) and lent us their car (again!) ..... what it is to have family eh!
This is it then... the end of our amazing adventure and the start of our new life in Perth. A dream that we have talked about for years that has come true. We now have the real life scenario of Madam starting her new job on Monday 17th and we need to get on with all the practical aspects of emmigrating to Australia and most importantly finding a new home.... and a decent ladies hairdressers of course!!
The journey that started at Heathrow on Boxing Day 2012 has ended earlier than planned on 8th June 2013 in Perth. But it has been an awesome adventure! We always thought that we would try and make the move away from the UK permanent and emmigration was always at the back of our minds but this opportunity of a new life in Australia is a dream come true.
The premature end to this trip is a choice that we are happy to make given the chance of a new life
in Perth.
My wife has done an amazing job, she really stepped up when it mattered and I am simply in awe of her capabilities.
People thought that the two of us together, alone in a campervan for a month .... or in a small bungalow on a deserted tropical Island would be a recipe for disaster, murder or at least a divorce .... but we have loved every minute of it!! We are closer now than ever before...I love her with all of my heart.
We have met some lovely people en route, made some fantastic new friends and some of the places we have seen along the way have been incredible.
Its been a simply amazing trip and this blog has helped us keep in touch with our family and friends back home. It has been a great tool and we have enjoyed creating it. We hope that you have enjoyed reading about our travels and exploits!
We have made 34 blog entries consisting of 24,800 words and 1119 photo's .... and they have been viewed 2219 times!!
We knew that our family and friends viewed it but we were unaware that others might read
it. Complete strangers have made contact with us as a result of reading it to either make comment or ask travel questions. It will be a record of our adventure for years to come and we will use it in the future to help us create an album/book detailing our "Adventure before Dementia" trip!!
Our priority now is making Perth our home. The holiday is over, I need to find work and we need to get back into "real world" mode.
The final photographs of this blog are a fitting tribute to our travels and it contains a photo from virtually all of our destinations ...... It is also contains a photo tribute to my beautiful and talented wife and her fixation on her hair ... each destination shows her different hairstyle!
On June 10th she finally entered a haidressers for the first time since last December!!!
Goodbye Boris Hair ... no longer a beach bum and...Hello City Chic!!
Farewell.......
Signing off ...... Stan & Annie x x
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Bill
non-member comment
Settling down!
Hope Australia is the place for you as France is for me! The travels and experience, a great blog and you finally understand each other! Will not see much of each other but a great chance to pop across the world now and again! Uncle Bill(y) xxx