Friday the 8th

Jan 8

The beautiful, warm, blue-skied days continued. It was almost chilly in the morning but the temperature rose and rose hitting a high of 34, but with only 16% humidity it felt really nice. The weather people are saying that a heat wave is starting and the fire crews are on high alert because the hotter it gets the more likely the fires are to start.

John and Janice talked about his upcoming side trip to Sydney. In fact, Janice had raised the topic by saying that the fares on JetStar Airlines were really cheap. They looked online and found one-way fares of $49 for the 90 minute or so flight. They charge $10 for a suitcase but John thought that was acceptable so agreed to that. In the end for some $142Cdn John had his return eticket, his luggage, and trip cancellation insurance. The only trouble is that his flight leaves at 6:00am. At least traffic won't be bad. Janice said that she would drive him to the airport. He will be back in Melbourne for a few days before heading off to Singapore.

There were some complications in the use of telephone contact numbers because the programmers of such systems cannot anticipate all the possible combinations of travellers. John could give his Melbourne contact address and telephone number but that was not his home address and he has a Canadian Visa with obviously no Australian address and if he gave his Canadian address and telephone number they would use that to contact him in the event of a flight change. In the end he figured out a way that the system would accept.

Next they looked at hotels using Wotif.com and found a 4.5 star hotel for a superspecial, last minute, price of $99Aus a night on Darling Harbour in Sydney. John decided to book 5 nights - from Jan 12 to Jan 17. And it was done.

John and Janice then talked about plans for the remaining time he is in Melbourne. She is very busy just getting her house organized and there are a number of events are planned. She had decided to cancel her birthday celebration on Jan 16 because the house is not yet in good enough shape for a party. She was concerned that John was not getting to see enough things around Melbourne. However, the way that things are working out he will have to do his sightseeing when he gets back.

On Saturday the 9th there is a party to celebrate the engagement of Glenn, one of Janice's sons, to his partner Rachel. On Sunday, much of Melbourne is shut down, the train connections into the city are minimal, and the forecast high is 41. Besides there is an NFL football game on live on the big screen TV in Janice's air conditioned first floor. On Monday, he has an important phone call in the middle of the day. And on Tuesday he leaves at 6:00am (actually he leaves the house at 4:00am latest).

After such heady conversation it was time to take a break. John took it easy and tried to find out if his dongle would work after he leaves Australia (it won`t) and Janice said she would buy it from him for half price. He was happy to agree and spent some time getting himself organized better and watching sports on TV with Stewart before they went to the nearby shopping mall, called Knox. John wanted to buy more data for his dongle. Janice needed some food for a barbeque. John inisted on buying the meat - pork chops. They were not only successful in finding what they needed but John also found some nice souvenirs for his family in the UK later in the trip and Janice picked up some meat for Barney, the beagle.

When they got home, Stewart, Janice, and John went to the house that Stewart owns nearby but rents out to pick up and wheel back Janice`s barbeque that had been loaned to the tenants. John`s job was to walk Barney. Whne they got back, John said he would light the BBQ and heat it up to clean it. But the tenants had used up all the propane and they settled for fried pork chops, salad, and oven prepared potatoes.

After supper they took another walk with Barney but as they returned up their driveway he was attacked by a little dog when the neighbour woman (who had her pet outside without a leash) petted Barney. No damage was done.

After that they watched an old movie called Flightplan with Jodie Fisher before John asked me to write the blog. John said that things turned out well, everything considered.

TRB