Guess it’s time for an update – especially in light of the fact that in three weeks we’ll be in Australia *gulp* Not sure we’re ready (or maybe that should be that I’m ready) but it’s coming up fast.

After a lot of searching for airfares (in town, on the internet and through ads in the paper), we finally found a travel consultant who was helpful and knowledgeable. To our surprise, she was located in Toronto, Ontario (even though I emailed the Victoria office of the same company). For travel to Australia, I highly recommend Melissa Soward of Pacesetter Travel. She recently lived in Australia and had a lot of suggestions (quite a few of which already matched what we had decided were on our must do list). The airfare to Australia (plus 3 domestic flights and a stopover on the return trip in Phoenix) was just under $2600 each. We also had her book our car and campervan rentals as her cost was much less expensive than any we came up with.

I’ve ordered a fruit platter meal selection for myself on the flights – it seemed to be the safest way to avoid eggs and will take some granola bars and sandwiches with me to supplement the fruit.

So, I guess we’re mostly set – just packing left to do and to make sure that none of our luggage weighs too much or is too big. I’ve been “scouring” the permissible and non-permissible items lists for Canada, the United States and Australia to make sure we don’t inadvertently pack something we shouldn’t and cause a security breach *s*

Our revised itinerary: (Edits on April 1st in bold type)

• April 12 – catch 10:15 ferry from Duke Point to Tsawwassen and then the bus to the airport
• April 12 – Leave Vancouver on United Express at 1:16 p.m. – Flight AC4142(was Alaska at 4:51 p.m.)
• Arrive Los Angeles at 4:18 (was 7:13)(6.25 (was 3.5) hour stopover there – enough time, I hope, to do the immigration stuff – have I mentioned I hate LAX?)
• Leave Los Angeles on Qantas – Flight QF012 at 10:30 (was 10:40 p.m.)
• Lose a day crossing the International Date Line
• April 14 – Arrive Sydney at 6:05 a.m. (was 6:20 a.m.)
• April 14 to 17 – Worldmark, Sydney studio suite
• April 18 – Pick up rental car at Sydney Airport – Drive to Lakes Entrance (route still to be determined – either via Canberra or along the coast)
• April 18 to 21 – Worldmark, Lakes Entrance 1 bedroom suite
• April 22 – Phillip Island Nature Park (to see the little penguins)
• April 23, 24 – stay in Melbourne
• April 25 to 28 – Worldmark, Ballarat 1 bedroom suite
• April 28? – Great Ocean Road
• April 29 – return rental car – fly from Melbourne at 10:25 a.m. on QF081 (was 11:10 a.m.) to Adelaide (arrive 11:15 a.m. – was noon) – yeah, we realize that this was kind of silly – wasn’t really thinking when we did the planning.
• April 29 to 5 – Campervan rental from Oz Maui Motorhomes and travel from Adelaide to Alice Springs adding Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) and Kings Canyon as we have an extra night and most of the day to explore Alice Springs before our flight leaves
• May 5 – Best Western Alice Springs
• May 6 – fly from Alice Springs at 5:10 p.m. on QF1948 (was 4:40 p.m.) to Cairns (arrive 7:45 p.m. – was 7:15 p.m.)
• May 6 to 10 – Cairns Queenslander Apartments
• May 8 – Skyrail Rainforest Cableway to Kuranda (so I don’t chicken out *g*) and the Kuranda Scenic railway back to Cairns
• May 10 – Great Barrier Reef trip – not sure what one yet – will wait until we get there and see what we like
• May 11 – fly from Cairns at 10:05 a.m. to Brisbane on QF709(arrive 12:10 p.m.). Pick up rental car at aiport.
• May 11 – Hockey game – Brisbane Blue Tongues vs West Sydney Ice Dogs at Gold Coast Iceland
• May 11 to 17 – Worldmark, Golden Beach 1 bedroom suite
• May 13 or 15 – overnight camping tour of Fraser Island
• May 18 to 24 – Worldmark, Kirra Beach 2 bedroom suite (room for visitors to stay overnight)
• May 25 – travel by rental car to Pokolbin Hill (possibly leaving Kirra Beach on the 24th and staying overnight at a hotel on the way to Pokolbin Hill)
• May 25, 26, 27 & 28 – Worldmark, Pokolbin Hill 1 bedroom suite
• May 29 – travel to Sydney via the Blue Mountains
• May 29 – Airport Sydney International Inn at the airport
• May 30 – Leave Sydney at 9:45 a.m. on QF149 (was 10:20 a.m.) for Los Angeles (arrive 6:05 a.m. – was 6:40 a.m.)
• Retrieve lost day crossing the International Date Line (which explains how we arrive in Los Angeles before we leave Sydney *g*)
• May 30 – Leave Los Angeles at 9:40 a.m. on US Airways US156 for Phoenix (arrive 11:04 a.m.)
• May 30 to June 3 – Worldmark, Rancho Vistoso 1 bedroom suite
• June 4 – Leave Phoenix at 10:11 a.m. on US Airways US506 for Vancouver (arrive 1:43 p.m.) – figures that this one which I wanted later didn’t get changed.
• Bus to ferry terminal and home