Finally Home - wherever that is! (Friday 4th Oct)

It has been an amazing few days since arriving back into Tasmania on Wednesday morning.

We arrived into Australia on time but because Libby, Peter and I were near the back of the plane it took us forever, or so it seemed, to get off. We headed towards the Duty Free area and I stopped to get some Gin and so lost track of the other two as they continued on through passport control to get their baggage.

When I got to the baggage area I waited for some time for my case to appear and even after nothing came through I waited and then my case appeared - I don't know what happened but I got it and headed off through customs. I had a small wooden Nativity Piece which I declared but that was ok and when I got out I couldn't see any of the others so headed off to the Qantas desk to book through to Hobart.

Sent a text to Libby and Peter then waited for Gay to arrive in the departure lounge. She and Libby arrived a little later and we chatted for a time before boarding and heading to Hobart.

It was coldish when we got off the plane and after getting our bags we were picked up by Majella Kelly, a Presentation sister, who dropped me off at the Royal Hobart Hospital where Mary Murray was waiting to pick me up.

She dropped our friend Sandy, who originally was to pick me up at the airport, at the hospital a little earlier. After putting my bags n the car I headed off to say hello to Sandy who was waiting to have some tests but I was so tired I could only stay a short time before heading to New Norfolk.

After a long shower I started to feel a little normal so I did a few things but by mid afternoon I hit the sack and had a good long sleep.

On Thursday I did a few things but still went fairly slow. I phoned a number of people and caught up with the news and dropped fund to see how Sandy had got on yesterday but she will be waiting a few days for the results. I also started putting titles on some of my photos so I know where they are from but by late afternoon I was ready for bed.

Sadly I didn't get too much sleep so today has been a long day. 

I heade out on my Communion round this morning and caught up with everyone and added a few more to the list - quite a number of Ne Norfolk people have been in hospital these past few weeks so catching up was good.

The trip back to Queenstown was ok - managed to catch up with all the crew at Derwent Bridge so that was good too.

My drivers Licence expires this weekend so called into Service Tasmania when I arrived in Queenstown but had forgotten that because it was Burnie Show Day everything was closed so will have to do it on Minday.

Did a few things round the house, had a meal and now time for bed - hopefully to get a decent sleep which after last nights effort shouldn't be too hard.

And so the journey ends.  I'll go back to blogging on my Daily Lving Blog which can be found at mikeadelaney.blogspot.com.au

Thanks for being part if this incredible journey and especial thanks to all who made it possible.

Traveling Home - Day 2 (Tuesday 1st)

After our long stay in Dubai we managed to find a Qantas desk in a part of the Emirates section of the airport so we got our boarding passes - joe is staying over in Melbourne for a few days but Peter, Libby and I got passes throug to our final destination (Peter & Libby to Launceston and me to Hobart). Gay is going on to Honart but here was some difficulty with her seat so she said for the rest of us to head off and we didn't really see her until we were about to board the flight.

Peter, Libby and I have sat together in 3 seats all the way from Tel Aviv with a slight change of order depending on circumstances.

On the flight I managed to watch 3 movies - The Heat with Sandra Bullock, Man of Steel with Henry Caville and Russell Crowe and The Sapphires with Jessica Mauboy - so it was an interesting flight back.

As I am writing this part of the blog we are over the Great Australian Bight with just over 90 minutes flying time to Melbourne arriving just a little ahead of schedule at 5.20am.

Then it is through the Duty Free area to get some things before getting our bags and heading to customs and then onto have our bags checked through to our final destinations and then I'll update the blog later in the day when everything is all 'over'.

Traveling Home - Day 1 (Monday, 30th)

Today has been a really long day.

I woke early and finished packing before heading down to breakfast and then started the long process of goodbyes. Even after I'd said goodbye upstairs it seemed that people came down to the Reception area in case they'd missed somebody.

We headed down to Lion's Gate to catch the taxi which was due to arrive at 8.30 to get us to the airport at Tel Aviv in good time for our flight but things got a little dicey as we waited and waited. My patience when that sort of thing happens starts to get a little frazzled so by 9.10 I was getting a big bit worried and then when the taxi/people mover arrived he couldn't turn in the tight lane so we reversed all the way back down the hill which took quite some time because, of course, there was traffic coming  up the hill and down the hill as well.

The driver told us that he'd been stopped a number of times and his papers checked - just another example, sadly, of what many Palestinians go through each day.  Anyway, after all that we managed to get to the airport in time to get into line to have a big bags x-rayed and all 5 of us managed to have something in our bags that needed to be explained. The system is good because they put a barcode on your bag then if it needs further exploring they check the barcode and it brings up the item/s that need checking and exactly where it is in the bag.

Then It was time for a drink before heading through passport control and thankfully none of us needed to do too much explaining about where we had been nor what we had been doing. The flight to Amman was a little late leaving, which after the late taxi, made me wonder if we were going to have a repeat of the trip over with everything being late.

We had an 6 hour wait in Amman before the flight to Dubai so after wandering around the shopping mall and then getting something to eat Libby, Joe and I joined Gay and Peter in a little cafe where they had ordered a meal. There was wifi available and so we basically stayed there for the afternoon with purchases of tea, coffee and biscuits at various times to keep the 'business' satisfied.

Then it was off to Dubai and the plane left almost on time so that was ok. It was a 4 hour flight and I was able to watch one movie and still have a chance to doze but although I was getting worried because I now had an upset stomach and was desperately needing to get to a Pharmacy in Dubai to get something to make life a little easier.

We had quite a deal of wandering round in Dubai before we actually got to the lounge we were booked into for 4 hours but in the end we got to the right place and we settled in for a slightly better place to relax during our stay of over 9 hours.  I got some tablets and didn't eat anything in the lounge or afterwards to give my stomach a time to settle.

A long day and an even longer flight back to Australia leaving at 9.50am (Dubai) time to look forward to.