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ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......Alice Springs and Sydney

November 7, 1998 - November 8, 1998

More Goodbyes

At last it was time to say goodbye: many members of the group were staying on, but for a great number of us this was the end of the road!  There were lots of hugs, exchanges of e-mail, and everyone waved "bye!" as the bus left for parts unknown.

Mike, Marco and I had the same flight out of Alice Springs, but it wasn't going to leave until later that afternoon, so we put our bags in the storage locker and walked into Alice Springs for a look around and some shopping.  I picked up a few things I had been waiting for on the trip: a didjeridu, which make those sort of low humming sound you hear in a lot of commercials, some boomerangs (can't got to Australia without getting a boomerang) and a few other assorted items. 

We also stopped at an Internet Cafe to catch up on the latest news (It was surprising how many of them were in Alice Springs: I guess that was better than getting one on your own).

Marco got our tickets changed so that we could all sit together on the flight back to Sydney that evening: we flew over some storms and had quite a bit of turbulence as we came in: unlike the first day I arrived, Sydney was fairly cloudy by the time we got in: we had to circle around a bit before finally making a landing.  The landing reminded me of National Airport (Now called Ronald Reagan International): you see nothing but water below you until you are seconds from landing.  A little nerve wracking!

Marco had a friend of his pick us up from the airport, and she gave Mike and I rides back to our respective hotels (Thanks!)  I said my goodbyes, and I was on my own again back at Aarons Hotel.  I grabbed some dinner and went to bed, falling asleep watching a movie on T.V.

Appropriately enough, it was "Crocodile Dundee II."

See you in 2000!Last Day in Sydney

Getting up early the next morning, I performed a few last-minute tasks that I had not completed my first time around in Sydney.  I mailed out postcards (which I was to beat home by about a week), and took the elevator up to the AMP Tower.  Sadly, because of the overcast sky, my view was not as good as it could have been, but at least I made it to the top!  After lunch, I had to hurry back to catch my transfer to the airport: customs people are hell to deal with...

One surprise: I ran into David and Elizabeth at the airport!  They had the same flight to L.A. as I did, afterwards they would catch a flight to San Diego.  We chatted for a bit before boarding the plane: I would see them again at the luggage carousel in L.A. before flying back to Dulles International.

The End?  Or Only the Beginning?

Relaxing on the plane, I pondered my experiences and thought about the new friends I had made.  I hoped I would be able to keep in touch: being a Navy brat, I know how people tend to lose contact with each other over time.  Thanks to modern technology, I have e-mail and web sites (like this one!) to help, but there are so many distractions in life: your job, your home, your life!  So I put up these pages to remember, for I don't want to forget any part of my trip to Australia or any of the faces of anyone I had met on this trip!

Their names, though... now THAT is another matter...    :-)

Happy Traveling, Everyone!  Thanks for Everything!

William Geoffrey Shotts
December 5, 1998
On the Threshold of a New Day
 

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© 1995-2002 William Geoffrey Shotts. Last update: Tuesday, March 09, 2004