Great Australian Adventure

[CanDman]

Hope to finally hook up Ben.....I plan to do lots of riding ....once the wrist heals.........and not so fast Monkey man...I will be arriving in LA in about 24 hrs....and I will be there for a good 6 hrs....plenty of time time make a splash.....lol

MONKEY MAN (Evolution) THE ROLLING STONES


OOOO  OOOOOOOO  OOOOOOOOOOO AAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[racerrad8]

and not so fast Monkey man...I will be arriving in LA in about 24 hrs....and I will be there for a good 6 hrs....plenty of time time make a splash.....lol

Might want to plan on less time...it took us 2 hours to get through customs and immigrations.

Randy - RPM

[Klavdy]

And that was for U.S citizens.

[CanDman]

and not so fast Monkey man...I will be arriving in LA in about 24 hrs....and I will be there for a good 6 hrs....plenty of time time make a splash.....lol

Might want to plan on less time...it took us 2 hours to get through customs and immigrations.

Randy - RPM

......wow.....I got in last night 11:00 pm Eastern standard time(Toronto) and had no issues whatsoever.....US customs allowed me  through in less than a minute.....and 1 minute to go through the TSA people.....and just walked through the Canadian customs like a light breeze.....absolutely had nothing to deal with...the challenge was with United from Sydney. There was a cancelled US flight the night be fore so they were loading my flight up with the other flight and ran out of space. They  got me on another flight 90 minutes later but that meant missing my connection flight out of LA.......it took them no time to throw me on another Air Canada flight home......which was great....was only 22 minutes from exiting the plan to sitting next to my woman in the car......
 It is nice to be home as it was 33 hours from door to door...and I didn't sleep at all....Although it is officially Spring here in Ontario, there is still lots of snow on the ground. Anyways......lots to do..lots....but I will get to that tomorrow.....today I will relax and reflect on all that I learned from this experience...stay tuned.......report coming....
   
 
  Thanks again to everyone who made me feel welcome...and a special thanks to Doug for letting me crash the "Blue Tuna" ; Dena who graciously lent me her Toyota Corolla to drive around and sight see; to Ray and his family, for inviting me to spend time with he and his Family.....Luv ya Bro...and lastly.... to Rich and Julie.....who opened their door and their hearts to me and showed me the real heart and soul of Australia. I thank God (sorry KLav) for putting such wonderful people into my life. I am a better man than the one I left in Toronto .........hands down !!!!!!
Kev

[The General]

  Thanks again to everyone who made me feel welcome...opened their door and their hearts to me and showed me the real heart and soul of Australia. I thank God (sorry KLav) for putting such wonderful people into my life. I am a better man than the one I left in Toronto .........hands down !!!!!!
Kev

Well said Kev...Mission Accomplished, FJ Team.  

Ref 45 "Barefoot Aussie kids"-  http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?action=profile;u=630;sa=showPosts;start=45

[racerrad8]

......wow.....I got in last night 11:00 pm Eastern standard time(Toronto) and had no issues whatsoever.....US customs allowed me  through in less than a minute.....and 1 minute to go through the TSA people.....and just walked through the Canadian customs like a light breeze.....

Good deal on getting through quickly.

I will say this much, the international travelers where much less than the Americans. Plus, we landed early in LA and had to sit on the plane for about 40 minutes as customs did not begin working until 6:30am and they would not allow the doors to be opened. By the time we got off the plane, and there must have been a couple of planes waiting to unload too, because there was probably 600-700 people in line.

We just took a seat and waited for the line to subside and then went through instead of standing there the whole time.

I noticed those continuing on didn't have much of a line

Glad you got through so quickly.

Randy - RPM

[oz.fj]

Glad to see you made it home safe and sound Kev
Now get back to work so you can come and play next year

Darran

[Harvy]

Kev....sorry I didn't get to spend more time with you mate, hopefully next time!

Was a pleasure meeting you - I just finished the last of the Moosehead last night and have yet to get to Rovers place to pick up the puzzle (my son keeps hastling me so I better organise that soon)........stay tuned.

Hope that wrist is healing well - you have some riding to do now that you have your wheels back.

Cheers
Harvy

[pdxfj]

Good to hear everyone made it back ok.  I had to wait longer for my bag than it took to get though Immigration and Customs.  Whole process took about 90 minutes.   After dropping my bag off, I sat outside in the sun for almost two hours before going back into the airport and through security for the flight back to Porkland.  After spending 15+ hours on planes getting to L.A., it felt nice to just be outside..

Did have a bit of an issue getting out of Australia... Air New Zealand's computers would not take my passport.  Took nearly an hour for them to force the system to take it and print my boarding passes...

Bit of a funny thing happened on the flight to Portland.. I was in the phase of being so tired (didn't sleep at all on the other flights) where you doze off and don't realize you fell asleep until you wake up.  On the flight I dozed off and wound up hanging in the aisle..the nice flight attendant put me back upright in my seat... Just as she put me vertical again, I woke up and said "shit!".. She laughed and asked where my international flight came in from..  When I told her, others were interested to hear what I had been doing..and were very jealous of me.   

Hope to come back in a couple of years.  Had a great time and was nice to meet forum members there. 

[pevers]

Glad you got back ok and still enjoyed the rest of your trip. Hope to catch you when I'm in Toronto in July.

[CanDman]

 
  Well......for almost 2 years I have been chomping at the bit to head across the vast Pacific Ocean to meet my Commonwealth cousins living underneath the rest of the planet. I had no idea what I was in for and all my notions and imaginations couldn't prepare me for what and who I was going to see. This is the first installment of my epic journey Down Under.

Chapter 1. "From Snow to Sand"

It was Wednesday Feb. 26 2014 5:00 am and I had to be at the airport at 6:30 am. Grabbed my luggage loaded the car and was ready to take off. It was -20 Celsius and I was not going to miss this ice and snow even a little bit....




Now it was off to the airport and on my way!




Stopped in at San Fran for the day and wondered throughout the downtown region from 12 noon until it was time to catch my connecting flight.




Sadly, because it rained all day, I was not able to play "the tourist " so I caught my 10:30 pm flight and it was off to Sydney !!! I arrived in Sydney at 8 am and left my bags at the airport, grabbed the first cab to downtown and told the camel jockey to take me to the biggest sports bar.....my leafs were going to start playing a game at 10.... . Got downtown..and hit  every sports bar on George street with no luck finding the game......so I headed for the local watering hole and started making the rounds. My flight wasn't leaving until 8 pm so I had lots of time to knock elbows.



.

By 6 pm I was already flying....... .....was great walking up to all the Auzzies and saying...."Gooday eh...CanDman Dandee from up over" ......ya I had fun with that......but sadly after 10 shots....5 beers and a dozen new friends...I was on my way to Bris........got into Bris at 9 and there I was greeted by the Rover........his large frame and neandertholic stare sobered me up quickly and I was thinking.....where the hell am I ......am I still asleep on the plane? Nope......reality was staring me in the face




Got the awkward greetings out of the way...and it was off to the Richard Farm.......where I was half expecting a paddock full of goats...none of which I could look at..... .......but no such animals......except one......the Princess of the manner.....who greeted me with open arms and a genuine smile...

.

The next morning it was off to the Yacht club for lunch with the gang......it's a funny thing to sit in the left seat with nothing in front of you....but a windshield......a real trip driving on the wrong side of the road.....and everyone does it..... .

We arrived at the right place ....finally.....(Rich got lost.... ) but eventually we made it.....the gang was all there and we spent the afternoon....exchanging gifts ....shots....and lots of laughs.... Rays entire family came all the way there to join in and his youngest daughter was kind enough to make me a rubber wrist band which I wore for the entire trip !!!





......By sun's set we had all made our way to the Ocean and I stood there with my distant cousins and watched the Sun drop below the horizon from underneath...... How cool was that !!!


 


It was there that I realized that the snowman had landed !!!





Here's a little summary video I put together.......


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oBSB3E2sY8&feature=player_detailpage


Chapter 2   "The trip to Jyndabyne" coming soon  


 

[FJscott]

LMAO, cant wait for chapter 2...thanks for sharing

Scott

[CanDman]

LMAO, cant wait for chapter 2...thanks for sharing

Scott

I am glad you enjoyed it.......I did too......I also can't wait to do the next chapter !!!! Should be even more fun...some of the pics and Vids I have will be entertaining...lol .. I will likely do that one next weekend......
Kev

[Bones]

I didn't get the chance to meet you while you were here CanDman, there was always something else happening at the same time, or didn't know about a get together till the last minute, so I'll have to get to know what you were like through your stories, video's etc...

They say Aussies & Canadians are similar in their easy going laid back nature and warped sense of humor, so if that was the case, you would've fitted right in.  Look forward to your memoirs.

                                                                  Tony.

[CanDman]

I didn't get the chance to meet you while you were here CanDman, there was always something else happening at the same time, or didn't know about a get together till the last minute, so I'll have to get to know what you were like through your stories, video's etc...

They say Aussies & Canadians are similar in their easy going laid back nature and warped sense of humor, so if that was the case, you would've fitted right in.  Look forward to your memoirs.

                                                                 Tony.

I am sorry I didn't have the pleasure..I was looking forward to meeting the Doc who started this little number off

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=UPuXvpkOLmM


....and you are correct......Auzzies and Canadian truly are cousins !!! ........and I will be happy to tell you what's on my mind........
Kev