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Hi Everyone.We're home safe and well!
11/1/11
We left Las Vegas a little later than planned as we needed to get the motor home cleaned, washing done and then packed away at Bob's place then after having a cuppa and a chat we finally left Henderson around 3.30pm.Because it was so late we didn't get to have dinner with Raeleen and Russ in Apple Valley as we had hoped to but we are staying overnight in Victorville and will meet them in the morning instead.After checking into a hotel went for a drive around Victorville and had some dinner. We were both really tired but managed to get on to the internet and check out photos and videos of the flood water back home.Our hearts go out to everyone who is affected in any way by the floods. It's hard to believe that this is our last night in USA.
12/1/11
Our last day in USA.We got up early and checked out the photos and videos of the flood waters which peaked overnight our time.It is so sad and the memories of 1974 are all coming back so vividly to me. Unfortunately we saw Karalee go under water then and yet the council allowed so many houses to be built in areas that went completely under water in those floods as "it could never happen again" - well guess what!!!!!Tim and Steph had water in their back shed, which they managed to empty in time, and they had water lapping their back patio but luckily nothing in the house.Other family and friends haven't been so lucky!Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
We had breakfast with Raeleen and Russ and it was lovely to catch up with them.Big Bear Ski Resort is not that far from where they live and the snow on the mountains is amazing.We didn't leave Victorville until 1pm or so but managed to visit the NHRA Drag Racing Museum in Pomona on our way to LA.Noel has wanted to go there for ages but we just haven't had the opportunity before this and as we were almost driving straight past it, decided to call in for him to have a look. The drive to LAX was very uneventful although there were a few traffic build ups along the way but nothing major.As we got closer to LA we could still see snow on the mountains!It is amazing that it has been so cold.....We dropped off the hire car and got through check in etc without any hassles and then had a 3 hour wait until our flight.We flew Air New Zealand so met lots of Aussies and Kiwis at the airport and managed to have a chat with a lovely kiwi family before the flight so the time passed really quickly and our flight to Auckland left on time at 9.15pm.
14/1/11 (we lost a day in transit)
Although it was a bit bumpy in some parts our flight was good and we both managed to get some sleep and watched a few movies etc. and after 13 hours arrived in Auckland.We then had a 2 ½ hour stop over before boarding the final flight home and 3 hours later (we were 30 mins early) we arrived in Brisbane at 9.30am.Thankfully the water has receded a lot.From the air we could see that the Brisbane River is still very swollen and Moreton Bay was so dirty and brown from the flood waters.We got through immigration and customs without any dramas, in fact it was the quickest we have ever gone through. Noel's Dad picked us up in his van and in a roundabout way we finally made it home at 1.30pm.Our street was very busy as we had a lot of Llewellyn Motors cars parked in our street and we had all of their office furniture in our shed so they were starting to move things back (our neighbours are part of the Llewellyn family) so all of our kids were helping them out and Noel also ended up driving cars back to the yard also.They only lost 12 cars in the floods which was amazing (they couldn't find the keys for them in the mayhem).The IGGS car park must have looked really great with all those nice new cars parked there!Tim was on the machines helping with the clean up down at the yard there also.They have had to gut all of the effected buildings and the mess then has to be cleaned up and taken away.Tim and Steph have also been very busy in Karalee in the past couple of days helping neighbours and friends.The machines have come in really handy out there also.My parents are fine, although they are looking forward to having the power back on.Tim & Steph and their friends Sam & Sandy (who live down the road from Mum & Dad) have been checking in on them and helping them out.Our generator is doing the rounds of all their houses to keep the fridges cold at least.All of the kids came to our place for dinner so it was great to catch up with them and what they have been up to while we were away.Tim & Steph and Sam & Sandy are planning on going to USA together in early 2012 so it is nice to see someone else excited about a motor home adventure there also.
15/1/11
Well reality has set in - we are home!Today we face the task of starting the clean up under our house from the water that came in last week from the heavy rain.It almost feels like we haven't been away already!
We hope that you have enjoyed following our little adventure and hopefully we may have inspired some of you to do the same one day.Thanks again to everyone who sent us messages and stayed in contact while we have been away.It has been great to keep up with everything back at home and we look forward to catching up with everyone in person soon.Thanks also to our amazing USA friends who are also following our adventure.We managed to catch up with most friends we have met in previous trips, which was fantastic, and we have now met some more great people who we thankfully can also call friends.We greatly appreciate your hospitality, advice and most importantly your friendship during our trip, especially the group from Camp Verde who so generously opened up their homes and their hearts to us during the holiday period when we (especially me) were missing our families back home.We look forward to keeping in contact with you all and especially look forward to seeing some of you when you visit us in Australia also so that we can return the hospitality.
So this adventure is now over and until our next one - Take Care.
Lots of Love to everyone.
Noel & Pam
- comments
the paynes Welcome home.Sound like ya had a great holiday.Shame ya have to clean up under the house.Take care. Love the paynes.
Jane Welcome home. I am sure you enjoyed your holiday. Now back to the real world. Boo Hoo
jan gabbard god to see you are both home safe-we really enjoyed meting and spending some fun times with ypou both! Mike and I are in Mesa-way different from camp Verde-all is good-really nice,happy people here. will be in touch! Take care-luv you both! Jan and Mike
Brendan Van Vliet Pam & Noel Welcome home.It was great to follow u around on your trip.