Australia Interrupted

25 July, 2009

I am sitting on the final airplane of my trans-world journey back to Australia. I have only 2 more hours of boredom to bear, so I’ve decided to try to be productive!

Wow, it actually feels like ages ago that I was tearily saying goodbye to Idaho. The poor guy next to me on my first plane; he actually patted my back and asked if I would be okay! I just nodded and he went back to his book. Ha, he was such a sweet guy. Never talked to me (I don’t usually like talking to people on planes), but when I woke up from a brief rest I saw the beverage trolly going by. I put my tray down and then realized she’d actually passed already. I just put my tray up again, not worrying about it. The guy didn’t say anything to me, but got the stewardess attention and told her I was awake! How nice was that! He just went back to reading again when I said thank you. I think I read my book for most of my flight to keep my mind off things, but – funny – I don’t really remember now! Maybe I slept a bit too?

I slept for most of my pacific ocean crossing from LA; eating dinner, watching a movie, sleeping awkwardly and brokenly, watch another movie, have breakfast, watch TV. I was slightly worried that my 2 hour layover in Sydney would put me close to missing the plane, as I had to go through customs. However, the long, slow line moved consistently and soon I was declaring my dive knife and American confectionary treats to officials (Dave LOVES Reese’s Miniatures, and I brought some small Butterfingers to introduce him to also). The quarantine guy asked if I had hiking boots and I just lifted my foot and said “just these”. To my surprise, he said they would need to be washed! Serious? I hadn’t even worn them in America, except through airports! When I took them off and looked, the dirt stuck on one sole looked red and sandy-ish….. I’m guessing it was Cunderdin dirt – traveled all the way to America just to be washed off in Sydney! LOL.

On this leg of the journey – Sydney to Perth – the entertainment leaves much to be desired. I’m sitting on an aisle row in the center column of the plane…. So no view out the windows ;( Apparently the left side passengers had a view of the snowy mountains too! I would have gotten up to look, but they had just served breakfast…I really couldn’t be bothered moving all my food just to peer over someone’s shoulder and out their window! I don’t have a personal TV and remote on this 5 hour journey, so I finished reading my book (the third in the “Twilight” series “Eclipse”) and watched the last half of a fairly dumb movie (17 Again).

As for me…. I think I’m doing okay. I get a little panicky when I let myself feel the hole in my heart to much, but thankfully I have seeing Dave to look forward to. Unfortunately, I’m already not looking forward to seeing him leave! LOL. I know, I haven’t even said hello to him and I’m already dreading the goodbye! I haven’t actually clarified with the Cunderdin Pub if I have job next week, when Dave and I have finished our travels. Assuming I do have a job, as a bar maid, I’m going to try working for another 6 weeks or so in the small farming town. I’m going to try very hard not to go running back to NZ. Afterall, it’s only 3 months until mom is in Australia too!!!! Yep, just 3 months and she lands in Sydney!!

ANYWAY – enough with the boring stuff! What I really need to share is the fun times I had visiting my family! If only I had HALF the pictures documenting those times! Wow, the pictures would describe so much better than the words I’ll write! LOL. Most of them are on facebook…. For those of you that aren’t on facebook yet, it really is a good way to share embarrassing moments! LOL.

So – yes, despite the extremely unhappy circumstances that brought me all the way from the other side of the world, there were quite a few good times.

The first I can think of was while dad was in the hospital. The doctors had just put him on high sedation (so we didn’t have to worry about his waking up and trying to comfort him) and he was making such good progress by being put on his stomach. Mom and I were feeling quite optimistic, so we left our vigil for the afternoon and went to the mall. Mom wanted me to get the next “Twilight” book I’d been craving for months (since she’d left the 2nd volume with me in New Zealand actually!). So, we opted for having a small bite to eat at the Cheesecake Factory first. We chose a few appetizers before we tried to choose just one cheesecake, out of the 50 plus decadent choices, we would want to try for dessert. Well – as I savored the delicious and unique food I told mom “This food is blog worthy”. LOL. So, here it is: I had to try the beet and goat cheese salad, as beets are a very New Zealand and Australian flavor (which I’d actually been missing lately!). The goat cheese with the beets was lovely, and the light vinaigrette and baby spinach finished it off nicely. The avocado egg rolls were extremely delicious, and rich, but contained twice as many as mom and I needed! The “Pièce de résistance” was the stuffed dates. I started eating dried dates as snack in New Zealand, but I’ve never had them fresh. These dates were first stuffed with mozzarella, then wrapped in bacon, and finally fire grilled until the bacon was virtually carmalized! Oh, it was so unique and so decadent – I had to close my eyes and eat slowly! All three dishes combined were the exact culinary experience I’d been craving for a good month or so…. So different, so interesting and decadent. Unfortunately, the eggrolls were so filling that we ended up having to split one slice of cheesecake instead of each getting a different on. ;-) The white chocolate caramel macadamia cheesecake was the perfect end to an indulgent afternoon. It was so creamy and yummy. Ugh, I was so full though! By the time we met my sister and aunt for dinner, several hours later, I was only able to order soup - I was still so full! LOL!!!

The second happy time was seeing my best friend Melinda. I know she arrived the day after dad passed and came over to the house in the afternoon, but I don’t remember many details. I just know it was so good to see her, she half grew up at my house since middle school; so she was like another daughter in the family. I had a really good time going through pictures with Melinda, trying to decide which ones of dad to use for his memorial movie. We had lots of laughs putting the movie together too – dad’s choice in final musical selection probably helped with that (“Joy to the World”, or as dad entitled in his paperwork “Jeremiah was a Bullfrog”).

Seeing Melinda’s kids was another joy. I hadn’t seen Miss Olivia (Livie) for well over a year (possibly 2?) and had never met her baby brother, little Richie. The first time I saw Livie was at dad’s memorial. She wanted to sit with her mom, and her mom was sitting with us Dohner girls. Livie kept looking at me like she kind of recognized me but didn’t know what to say. She got a real kick out of my cousin Ron, turning around in the pew and flirting with him. It wasn’t until the wake that Livie and I got to hang out. Her mom would let her come find me and ask if I would play with her. She would then lead me to “her room”, where all the toys and the “horsey bed” were kept (it took me a while to figure out the horsey bed derived it’s name from to the big BSU Bronco logo on the blanket and not from the fact that the blow up mattress bounced like riding a horse!). Melinda brought Livie and Richie over another time or 2 before I left. Livie and I got on really well and I was even able to entertain Richie long enough for mom to do adult things (how was it my idea to sort out the garage and then barely lift a finger before I was off playing with kids?). I was quite proud of my abilities as an auntie when I was able to get Richie to stop crying (after the cat declared enough play by using a bit too much claw) while his mom was on the phone! The day Melinda flew back to WA (Washington that is, not Western Australia!) I visited her and the kids at her parents place. Livie and I had fun rough housing on the floor and Melinda and I just enjoyed trying to keep the gravel and sand out of Richie’s mouth at the playground! It was a great time of remembering how much fun being an auntie can be.

One of the best events with the funniest pictures (which I don’t think I own copies of!) was dad’s wake. Dad’s reasoning for ending the ceremony with “Jeremiah was a Bullfrog” was to help people not waste time lamenting his loss, but to rejoice in the life he had and to keep living ours. So, we had one hell of a wake! It was really a typical get together for most of it, lots of people eating and drinking, kids running around, etc, etc. But, it’s always the ending that gets good – when people start thinning out and the remaining adults start playing (and riding motorized toys). The kids had been having water fights throughout the hot, sunny day. Pretty soon, all the kids the neighbor boys had been playing with were gone, but they weren’t ready to stop playing! I’m not actually certain of the whole chain of events, but somehow mom suggested they get me with water! As if I was going to take a face full and not do something! LOL. Luckily I was already done riding motorcycles (and, apparently ATVs – though I don’t remember that bit and therefore still say it didn’t happen) with my cousins (they were sober and driving, I was inebriated and hanging on). So, I had nothing else to do but chase the kids (literally) around the house until I could catch them and douse them back. There really are some compromising, and amusing, pictures on facebook. Thankfully the parents were right there laughing at their kids as they tried to keep the hose out of their face while I sat on their backs! LOL.

A week later found me in nearly the same position, only with kids I was related too! One advantage of my being in town was that I got to catch up with heaps of my family. If I didn’t catch them at the memorial then I saw them at the family reunion my cousin held. There was, again, lots of food and drink and kids running around. I had heard that people would be bringing water guns and “water balloon volleyball” equipment. I was intrigued with the volleyball idea, but that never got going. It turned out to be just the kids that were squirting each other with guns and the occasional balloon. Near the end of the night, some of the kids got bolder and started getting the adults wet. I’m going to have to implicate my mom again – as I watched her point me out of the crowd sitting in the dry zone! Pretty soon I was at it again; chasing kids around the yard, wrestling for control of water guns and hoses, and pinning them down as I put it right in their faces (or ears if I had to). Thankfully, I was actually dressed for the occasion this time! Instead of a nice skirt and blouse, I was getting wet in fast drying swim top and shorts. Oh – and I must also admit that my wrestling wasn’t just limited to children…. Nope, in my somewhat inebriated state I got schooled by one of my cousins. He may be miles older (I remember him carrying me around as a kid), but he’s still strong as a bloody ox! In the end I had to resort to biting him! LOL. I know, low blow, but it’s usually my last defense! His daughter said he had a bite mark for a couple of days --- oops. But it was a blast anyway. Really made me realize how NOT strong I am! LOL.

While we were at the reunion, mom and I set up a date with one of my cousins to ride horses the next morning. So, after a very restless night of waking up every hour or so to guzzle more water, I was up at 7:30 am. Mom and I met my cousin at his house, where he had us ride around the ring and arena to get a feel for our horses. Dick was pleased with how well Dusty behaved and handled (I hadn’t ridden Dusty in near 2 years and I’d pretty much been the only one riding her then!). He left us to it while he got his horse warmed up. When we are all set the horses were loaded and we headed to the Owyhee desert. I learned a lot on the ride to the trail. Dick told us about his first impressions of dad, his change in thinking, and of the good times he had riding horses in the desert with my dad. It was really neat! The ride itself was really cool too! It was the first time Dick’s horse was ridden in the desert, so it was productive training ride to. I can’t describe the whole journey – the brown, dry, sage covered hills with crazy rocks cropping up in interesting formations. Oh! And the “morman crickets”! Holy smokes! Those things are MASSIVE, and so very black. The crickets were EVERYWHERE – definitely looking biblical in their plague-like numbers! The ride itself was great too – the cool, light breeze kept the direct sun from heating us to boiling temperatures. While we encountered a couple of ATVs at the end of the trail, the rest of the time was spent listening to the silence and enjoying nature that probably hasn’t changed much in the last 100 years.

After getting the horses back to Dick’s place mom and I were off to meet my sister for some river floating. We didn’t have time to drive all the way back to the house to get our stuff (neither of us had the presence of mind to pack before leaving that morning, and the riding took longer than we had expected). So, mom and I did a ninja strike mission on the Walmart swim section. We got some good deals as we quickly picked some suits and lunch up before heading to Boise. Any girl knows how difficult finding a new swimsuit can be, so it is amazing that the first (and only) suits we took to the dressing rooms fit nicely! We figured they didn’t have to be ultra perfect, it was just the Boise River after all, but both our sets looked quite good! After a bit of stress about parking and getting our raft and tube rented, we finally got ourselves sorted and onto the river. Despite the heat of the day, the water was still extremely cold! Mom and I piled the life jackets and our bag in the raft while Kristi chilled her bum in the tube. Half way through I took a turn letting my lower bits freeze while Kristi and mom kept us out of branches and leaves. Back on the raft again, I did a far worse job of keeping us out of the low lying trees – Kristi let go of the raft a couple of times while mom and I ducked for cover and let the branches scrape by! It was a really good time.

My last night in town was celebrated with a few cousins, an aunt, and my mom. We all went to Tucano’s for dinner. I had heard of this place, where they bring you meat selection after meat selection to pick and choose from. My cousin had warned me not to bother with the salad bar, as it was to filling. We got our drinks sorted and then waited for our first round of meat. Basically, the waiter brings you a freshly done meat – such as filet mignon, teriyaki beef, or even chicken heart – and slices a bit off his skewer and onto your plate. I tried everything once (yes, even the chicken heart – which was a bit dry for me), but only had seconds of one thing; the mango fish, it was light and so flavorful. My sister joined us after work for dessert. I certainly didn’t need dessert, but I was already painfully full, so I didn’t see why a bit of Crème brûlée couldn’t fit too! It was a nice night of good company and interesting food.

The day I flew out was bittersweet. I hated to leave my family behind, but I did look forward to getting back to my life (and seeing David). As much as I wanted to stay with mom and support her through everything, I also knew jobs were scarce and that eventually she would have to get on with being alone. So, we packed up the car and headed to Kristi’s place. Kristi would be working when I got on the plane, so we were saying goodbye at her apartment. Mom and I brought the bottle of year old champagne from the fridge (I had bought two bottles for mother’s day mimosas the morning of my last departure – but we only used one). We also picked up some decadent chocolate to go with it. Mom didn’t drink much, as she was driving, and Kristi had to work soon so she had little too. That left most the bottle to me to finish with the pineapple orange juice! While we all had our sadness to carry, it was a lovely goodbye to family. Mom and I killed time at the airport café – she having a cappuccino, I having a bloody Mary. I was glad Kristi wouldn’t be seeing me off at security, as it would have made dad’s absence obvious and unbearable. As it was, I didn’t even shed a tear until I was on the plane. Nope – I went directly to the airport bar and drank a bloody Mary while I retreated into my book… and vaguely I hoped that I really would stop hiding my hurt in alcohol someday.

P.S.
I am posting this on 6 August – a Thursday. It is my second day off from work – yes, the pub took me back – after only 2 days of work (one of which was half day anyway!). Dave and I had a fantastic trip around Southern Western Australia, but I have yet to even begin blogging about it! I am doing well here and am happy to say that any alcohol I drink is purely for social purposes

and not related in any way to grief! I even kept myself from drinking alone yesterday after a very cathartic break down – I brushed my teeth and went for a walk instead! LOL.

Oh - and these are the only pictures I have. I'm sorry that they are at the end, but Internet Explorer 8 won't easilty move them for me!!! GRRRRR! Heee, I added color to a few words, just to make up for lack of pictures through out :-)