Back home - debrief.

Back home and a few pounds heavier and a few £s lighter.
Here's a list of all who made it a good time.

1.  The check-in staff at Qantas who moved us and others to Singapore Airlines after a volcanic cancellation.
2. The coffee shop below the Peninsula Hotel in Singapore which was good for breakfast and a cool-off. They waived the bill on our last day! Very friendly people.
3. Laraine and Mike in Perth. All the best - Laraine don't stop laughing!
4. Keith at BTOW (Binocular Telescope & Optical World) in Perth who refused to sell new binos in favour of forcing the left ocular of my old ones back into the socket.
5. Herbert Hoover (deceased) whose old home put the willies up us at bedtime.
6. Fraser Ranges sheep station, nr Norseman. I will spend longer there next time. Moonless nights are fabulous.
7. Laurie and Cheryl and family in Ceduna: laid-back people in a laid-back town in a laid-back landscape.
8. The ex-Greek guy who runs the cafe on the front at Whyalla. This is a steel-making town but it resembles Scunthorpe in no way whatsoever! 
9. Peter and Vicki in Port Augusta and the waiter in The Standpipe restaurant who looks like Roger Federer.
10. David and Barb in South Island who are enjoying their lovely location on few resources. Good luck to you both.
11. All at Explorers' Tours http://www.explorerseclipse.co.uk/ who pulled off the near impossible task of re-arranging when a hotel closed down near to the last minute. Very well done all.
12. Bob Gray of the Sproud Ranch for the 4x4 drive in the Texas countryside and getting my bag back to me after the rain washed over the road too deep for our Hyundai.
13. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection doing their job.
14. All the staff in all the businesses of N America who ask, "How are you guys today". Honestly 'you folks', it sounds tedious and repetitive and gives one the urge to walk right out of the place.
15. David and Doreen who have truly unlimited dedication to their family. And deserve the best cottage in Muskoka.
16. Finally Will and Angela who kept the house intact while we were away!

All the best to you all.

Gerry and Sue


The negative list....

1.  The large blond cabin attendant on Jetstar no-frills airline who did a good impression of the Julie Hagerty part in Airplane! the movie. Her style of ripping off a credit card slip would waken the dead.
2. New Zealand Railways who seriously overcharge foreigners for no good reason.
3. The restaurant manager at the Plaza Resort Tahiti who complained about too many customers being a problem!
4. The 'very important' guy in the lounge at Toronto airport who plugged his mobile phone into the wall behind my left knee without saying a word, then called me an asshole for telling him to take it away when it rang. I suppose office furniture doesn't usually speak.