What did our Australia RV trip cost?

Yesterday, I received the insurance refund for the original flights that we had booked to Australia. If you remember, back in May Ruth was ill with a painful kidney infection and we ended up cancelling the original flights that we had booked.

So, the cancellation insurance did in fact cover all of our expenses for the part of the trip that we cancelled. It was also processed fairly quickly, but we didn't get the payment until we arrived back in Canada to pick up our mail.

A nice day at the park

We slept in a little bit again. Not letting all that travel and time change stuff affect us though. Other than not getting up until 8:30am, we have kept to our regular schedule and feel no ill effects of jet lag.

Planned on going for a morning hike, but it was almost noon by the time we got out to do it!

Back at Cabri Regional Park

Last blog post we were in Minneapolis airport waiting for our flight to Saskatoon. The two and a half hour flight went fine, and we arrived on schedule at 9:00pm.

Had to be the fastest ever processing through Canadian immigration and customs. I think from the time we left the plane, went through immigration, picked up our bags, and made it to the lobby was maybe ten minutes! Welcome back to Canada!

Heading back to Canada

Our 5 hour overnight flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles went without a hitch. It's funny how, after doing a 17 hour flight from San Francisco to Singapore and a 9 hour flight from Sydney to Honolulu... a 5 hour flight is nothing!

Hardly slept at all though. Sometimes I can nap, but this time I just couldn't doze off. Ended up watching the original American Graffiti movie. 1974, I think it was made?

Waikiki Beach and Honolulu

We had to get on the road by 7:30am this morning in order to return our rental car which was due back by 8:45am.

You would think that an hour and fifteen minutes would be lots of time to drive 20 miles (32 kms), but it almost wasn't.

Exploring Oahu, Hawaii... day 2

Out of the house by 9:30am. We drove over to Diamond Head Crater where there is a popular hike to the top.

Parking was $5.00, so we found a spot right at the bottom for free, and walked up to the main parking area. Good thing too, because it was full. Some people were in line for a spot, and others were turning around to head back down.

Exploring the island of Oahu, Hawaii

Slept like a rock last night!

Whenever we do time zone travel, we always try to put ourselves right into the time zone of our destination as soon as possible. So other than the nap we had when we arrived yesterday, we stayed up until 10:00pm last night which would have been extra late. For the most part, jet lag does not have too much of an impact on us.

Because we were extra tired, we slept right through until 6:30am.

Hawaii... first impressions

We've only been here half a day, so first impressions are exactly that! We realize that we are only here 3 days, so even then we're not giving it much of a chance. And, of course there is more to Hawaii than just the island of Oahu where we are.

Weather... well, maybe it's different at different times of year, but right now, it is hot and humid. Highs of 86F (30C) and lows of 70F (21C). And humid. Did I mention humid??

Goodbye Australia, Hello Hawaii

Hawaii is a special place, because it is truly "the 50th state" for us! Yes, we have now been to all 50 of the United States.

We've also been to all 32 states of Mexico, as well as all 10 Canadian provinces and two of the three northern Canadian territories. (One day we will make it to Nunavut!)

Last day in Australia

Wow, we've had a great stretch of weather here in Sydney to end our time in Australia. Ever since we arrived here last Tuesday, it's been decently warm with clear and sunny skies! Could not have asked for better.

There is so much to see and do in Sydney. Yes, a lot of it is geared towards expensive touristy things but we found that we had no trouble using up our time just sightseeing the free stuff.

More views of downtown Sydney

We relaxed for the morning because Ruth wanted to see the sunset from downtown on the other side of the Sydney Opera House. So we didn't leave the cottage until after lunch.

We figured that because it was a Saturday, the train wouldn't be very busy. And it wasn't busy at all... because it wasn't running!

Exploring downtown Sydney, Australia

We left the cottage at about 10:30am. A bit of a late start, but we wanted things to warm up enough that we didn't need to carry sweaters with us.

We walked the 2 minutes up to the Kogarah train station, and stopped in at a news stand to buy two Opal transit cards for the public transportation system here.

Not every day you see six lions...

Another beautiful day here in Sydney, Australia. Sunshine, and a high of 21C (70F). Perfect.

We are staying in the suburb of Kogarah. We are located about 5 kms (3 miles) from the airport, and about 13 kms (8 miles) from the main downtown area.

Saying goodbye to Bundy and Joyce

Yesterday afternoon, Garry flew up here from Melbourne to pick up Bundy and Joyce. He arrived at 4:00pm and brought along a couple of bottles of wine to share!

Ruth made dinner for us all, and we spent the evening chatting and drinking wine.

Last night was in fact our "last night"!

Our last night sleeping in our Australia camper, that is.

Does anybody else think that two and a half months went by really fast?! Man, it's a good thing we always have another adventure around the corner... wouldn't want to get bored or anything!

Today (Tuesday), we had to drive into Sydney.