Well, I over estimated how long it took to get here, not 36 but 34.5 hours and that was with landing 30 minutes early at
Orlando, LOL.

Jason dropped us off at Perth Airport about 15.30 and after a wander through the shops we ducked into the ladies shower (for
the bench) so Marian could give me a hand putting on some compression socks for those dreaded swollen ankles. Well,
didn’t work, socks too small, so after another wander through the shops and purchasing another pair, we once again
attempted the feat, LOL,we must have looked a sight, and a South African lady helped with the finishing touches. A wait at the
gate and we twere off on our Emirates flight to Dubai at 6.09 (one minute early, LOL). The plane had lots of empty seats, so
we managed to have our row of four to ourselves. Didn’t sleep much, my longest for the whole trip was the first 2 hour nap on
that flight, after that they deteriorated to intemittent very short naps.
The food was very nice, with some interesting foods I’ve never even heard of, but rather tasty. However, overall we had 3
dinners and a pizza snack before we got a breakfast coming into New York.
There was lots of turbulence so a rather bumpy trip, and once at Dubai we had to circle as there was lots of traffic. Interesting
that it was so busy in the middle of the night! Anyway, watching the lights of the runway getting closer on these great cameras
they use nowadays, when we rather sharply went skyward again. Apparently there was still a plane on our runway, so we
circled yet again, and they were big circles, to the extent when we got off the Departures board had our next flight as
Boarding! So very rapidly we headed for the train to the other side of the airport and our gate, Missed the train and had to wait
another 3 minutes. Got to the other side and the Departures Board now says Final Call,6 minutes. Well to say we hurried is a
little understatement, but we got to the gate where they were still boarding, only to discover the 6 minutes meant walking time,
the plane was leaving in 10 minutes! Shattered we found our seats and as this flight was rather full, managed to have one
spare seat in the row of 4 this time. Shared it with a nice Indian man who slepy most of the time to our envious astonishment.
When he finally woke and was asked, apparently he does the trip quite often and has trained himself to sleep the time away.
Lucky beggar, lol.
Sunday in immigration in New York – 2 people on checking the arrivals with new travel visas, so needless ro say the queue
took a while, but reinforcements did finally arrive. Had our fingerprints scanned & photo taken and then on to claim our
baggage and go through customs. Caught another train to the domestic terminal and as our cases had already been checked
through to Orlando, we found the drop point and then queued for check-in. The man there designated us as TSR checked,
which meant we were not to take anything out of our cases at security, eveything had to stay inside them. Very odd!!!
Another wait at a gate, and then finally on the Orlando flight which was very full as well. Got off the plane, caught another train,
claimed our baggae, and then picked up the hire car, I am driving a grey Volkswagen Beetle on the wrong side of the road on
the other side of the world, LOL. The GPS took us quite nicely to Joan & Hal’s, and as it was still light made it a lot easier,
though like home, no one likes sitting on the speed limit! Joan fed us some great home made soup and some strawberry
cake, and then I left Marian there and made my way to my motel room for the first 2 nights. Am now unpacked & showered
and blog written and as it’s 20 past 10 in the evening, am going to see if I can get some sleep. First priority tomorrow is a sim
card and then some walking after these 2 days of inactivity interspersed with airport walking!
PS I know it’s late, but it is still Sunday here, Happy Mothers Day. xoxo
PPS It’s thundering outside……

Well, here I go again, off munzeeing in strange foreign places, lol. I am accompanying my friend Marian, of egg decorating persuasion to Florida. Marian will be spending the 2 weeks fully immersed in eggs and fancy stuff with Joan Huff, whilst I hit the streets in search of a munzee or 2. Starting from Perth we fly Emirates to Dubai then New York and then on down to Orlando, 36 hours without hiccups.

Joan is based in Poinciana, Kissimmee which is nice and central. So I will be visiting not only Kissimmee but Merritt Island (Cape Canaveral), Celebration (Disney World) and Brandon, before returning to Kissimmee to collect Marian and a night near the airport for a very early start back home.

OK, now to get back to the packing (most of the list is ticked), food shopping for Lucy Goosey, and a spot of housework before I can leave the house about 13.00. So I will catch you all later. Might be able to update from JFK as we have 5 hours there, but otherwise it will appear when I am compis mentis again, LOL.

Well, once again out walking the streets, this time of Mooroolbark (say that 3 times quickly) and Lilydale. There are just so many munzees here, that it’s hard to work our were to start or finish. However, we finished early today, 15.30 and came back for a little R&R, well munzee online stuff anyway, LOL. Just sitting on the balcony, enjoying the view, the surrounds and the birds. There is a bird here that has been driving us a little crazy. Really distinct calls but no one seems to know what it is, and as soon as we try to record it, it shuts up, of course. We have listened to recordings of bird calls trying to identify it, but no joy. Oh well, maybe next visit we can uncover the mystery bird. My phone/notebook connection is currently being difficult and I can’t get the photos off the phone, sigh.

Early flight home tomorrow, well I land an hour after takeoff, 4 hours later, lol, and then once home have to train it back into Perth to see/hear the Dr Who Symphonic Spectacular at the Arena. Should be fun!

Not much of interest today, just lots and lots of walking, 20.7 kms worth. Through the streets of Kilsyth and Croydon capping mysteries, jewels, weapons and motel/hotels. We did have lunch at a park with a giant snowman, Olaf, formed from virtual munzees. Eric and Natalie popped in to give me my sunnies which I had left behind the night before. We actually bumped into them again as they were out deploying more munzees and with the whole area to pick from we found them! We had fish & chips for dinner, as too footsore and weary to cook instant dinners, LOL.

And forgot to say we did 12 kms yesterday. Here’s one of the great roadside trees we saw.

Well with news of hot weather and bushfires at home, I’m sorry to say I had to put a coat on this morning as it was cold!!!! We started off this morning with an hour+ wlak of a small circular route in Lilydale, just so we could miss the rush hour traffic. Got to Parkville at 10.30 and proceeded to cap the Boom!erang munzee garden. Covering quite a large area, we even wandered into Ormond College grounds and the streets of Carlton. Didn’t quite get into the Cemetery, could cap those munzees from the road. From there we then did the Heart garden, but ran out of time for the parking, so had to set off a multi-cap or 2 to finish off. We then got stuck in the rush hour traffic going home, but the freeway wasn’t anything like at home, this actually had cars moving fast on it!!!!! Back to the house for a little while and then we had dinner at our Clan leaders’ house. Eric, Nat and Jacquie were great hosts and we had a lovely meal and conversation, mostly munzee of course!!!

The heart & Boom!erang

Couple of the rather old buildings around the place.

Well today was an easier day, only walked 9 kms LOL. First part of the day we walked the road near Emerald Australia and then moved on to Australia itself, 458 emeralds. Most of them we were actually able to do from the car so quite comfortable and able to keep the phones charged up. We did have to do some walking along the Yarra River to cap Darwin and the tropics, and out into an archery field to cap the southwest of WA. It actually took longer than we expected, so after a chicken & salad sandwich lunch (remains of yesterdays) we drove a little further north and found one of the really early caches, hidden in 2001, in the top of a tree stump!!

The next place we tried was quite disappointing as several of the munzees were missing and a couple of them were on small round poles, which are almost impossible to scan. We drove home through the back roads,much nicer than all that city traffic.

Photos of the Yarra River and the finished Australia. Sorry the photos of the finished munzee capping aren’t great, I have to photograph my notebook screen as I can’t snip with XP, sigh.

Well, we spent 8.5 hours at Brimbank Park today, and I walked 12.7 kms, and feeling it, LOL. It was a rather cold morning and a lot of the day it was overcast, with a tiny touch of rain at one point. As it was pouring last night when we went to bed, we did very well weather wise. Lots of new munzee hunters to meet and greet, and I’ll have to check how many munzees later, but around 900+. The park was very busy for the holiday, but a lot of people started pointing out where the munzees were located as they had so many people wanting to scan their table, chair or barbecue. Great time was had by all.

View from our house

The stone ford that had to be crossed for just one more munzee’

Oops, nearly forgot, here’s the finished picture to compare with the First Day photo I put in.

Left the house at 7.30 and headed for the city. It was unbelievably busy for early morning Sunday, lots of people and cars!! We first did Flinders St Station and along the Yarra River behind it, but as we only had an hour parking it was quick. Then another hour parking sport and wandered a few more streets. Another move to an untimed spot allowed us to concentrate on the Southern Cross train station and some of the Etihad Stadium behind it. In Europe one can wander the train station platforms, but here you have to have a ticket to get to the platforms, so some of the virtuals were unobtainable, until we used the 100-virtual capping button.

We then headed for the Royal Botanic Gardens with a view to having some lunch and a pleasant walk amongst the gardens and the munzees. Plans foiled as the gardens are near the tennis stadium, and there was no parking to be had anywhere! So we once again had to resort to the multi-cap.

Heading home we stopped off for lunch and food supplies for tomorrow’s barbecue and meals at the house, had lunch at 3.15!!!

Currently having a rest after our 9 kms today, and then out to Italian tonight for a munzee get-together.

This was our attempt to spell the word munzee using people at last night’s barbecue!

I picked up Helen &Gary just after 7 and we were in the check-in line by 8, after leaving my car in the long-term car-park and catching the shuttle bus to the terminal.

The plane took off at 9.50 and landed in Melbourne at 15.50, 3 hours later, lol. Picked up the hire car and headed for Coldstream and our accommodation. What a lovely place, everything laid on including the makings for a couple of breakfasts. Didn’t have much time though to look as we had a barbecue to go to with our fellow munzee clan members. The head of Munzee has flown over from Texas for the main event on Monday, so it was great to meet him and fellow clan members. Good food, good company and Nat and Eric have 2 babies like mine so I got to talk to them as well.

Even though its 20.20 at home it’s 23.20 here and should go to sleep as we are walking the streets of Melbourne CBD tomorrow.

Off to Melbourne for a week of munzeeing. The Big Event is the Australia Day barbecue at Brimbank Park. Still haven’t finished packing and I have to leave home in 2 hours, oh well, the list is half ticked, so should make it, LOL.

Here are the main areas we are heading for.

 Australia in emeralds Boomerang & heartBrimbank Park