The Longest Day

"We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love...and then we return home." - Aboriginal proverb

I'm home. Have been home for a bit more than a week now, but have been unable to admit that to myself, much less to the world at large. Both the pedestrian and the profound have taken all attention until now. Laundry and mail on one end of the spectrum, association budget toward the other end, DREAM Act at the other end. And, of course, procrastination has been there too.

Was the trip wonderful? Absolutely! Do I want to go back? You bet. Next time, which I hope will be soon, will be all land--the cruise was nice, and the people were utterly terrific, but the land portions of the trip were really the highlights. Great Barrier Reef, the Great Ocean Road, the trek across New Zealand's south island--some of the best ever. Rotorua, Sydney, Auckland, and much more were all great too.

The down side? It's a looooong way there and back. Going to Sydney was longest--about 24 hours, counting the 3-hour layover in LA. Coming back was no slouch, but about 5 hours less, since we started in Auckland.

As discussed in an early entry, we lost a day crossing the international date line going over. But the international date line had an interesting effect on the return too: it made the travel day, quite literally, the longest day of my life. We arrived in LA about 9 hours before we left Auckland, and landed at Dulles only two hours after leaving Auckland, notwithstanding the 19-hour trip. If I'm doing the math right, the net result was a 43-hour day.

Body clock-wise I'm still trying to get back on track. With Christmas less than two weeks away, and much to do before then, I need to speed that process.

With respect to photos, I'm still working on editing and labeling. There's only so many pictures of koalas and snow-capped peaks one can ask her friends to look at. The good news is, Australia photos are ready to go.


I'm still working on New Zealand, and will post when that is ready. So, it's not goodbye yet.

Next: Kiwi-land photos