World Tour - Departure

The night before... final preparations were under way and low and behold at about 18:00 Internode decide to action my application for our VoIP numbers (needed to allow multiple simultaneous incoming calls) up to this point the message was not getting through seems that "multiple simultaneous incoming" holds a variety of different meanings to a number of people, personally I just see one meaning... anyhow needless to say this is just too late in the day to be getting this rather complex setup started but a few emails to a friend should see this in place in a day or two.

We were collected by the Toowoomba Flyer at 06:30Hrs precisely. All good! doing well, all bags packed and loaded so off we go.... well.... about 45 minutes into the journey I check my time... I would have if I hadn't forgotten my watch which was on top of my wallet...oh dear! ... my wallet?... Yep! I had forgotten it too...bugger!! (You know that sinking feeling you get in the pit of your stomach, when things go from bloody horrible to absolutely catastrophic - yep, had it in spades!)  "YOU WHAT?" says Ronnie delicately...Surprisingly! I did feel a little better at that point but I think that was because I thought Ronnie was empathising in her unique way, while other passengers frantically patted pockets and checked handbags with very audible sighs of relief. Nope!! I was the only dipstick on board... everyone else had everything!

"Calm down mate and think!" I thought and slowly the panic began to abate as I considered my options. A plan began to take shape but there were several elements... would it work... could it work? Called Michelle and asked her to let in Paul if he was available, she agreed. Called Paul who advised that he could juggle a couple of jobs and would race the wallet and watch to the airport. Informed Michelle who then raced off to let Paul in to the house.... time was the enemy. During the time of organising this we had encountered road works and traffic jams.

There are just that many road works and traffic issues between Toowoomba and Brisbane Airport that you either get a good run (perpetual motion) or a bad one (perpetual stop-start) and ours was the latter. If Paul struck the same problem we would be leaving Australia with no drivers licence, credit cards or cash... not the end of the world as Ronnie has her own credit card but the holiday would be far from relaxed.

We arrived at the airport just in time for check-in, all going well until baggage weigh in... one bag too many and about 6kg overweight on the allowed baggage... Ronnie's turn - those damnable New-Ways product's (they may be good but you don't take 6 months worth of every conceivable product in the "help me lift it" size when flying abroad!!!) Well... we reshuffled, repacked, argued, re-argued and re-weighed until finally we reached a compromise as Paul arrived... Only one bottle of each (essential??) product allowed and all the rest including my CPAP machine would be returned home with Paul. Finally we were ready wallet and watch included.

Time for a quick cup of coffee and off we went through Customs, and boarded the plane to NZ.  As the plane left the runway and started to climb Ronnie became very emotional and started crying, "What's wrong?" I asked. "I've never left my babies behind before" she sobbed! So began our great world tour adventure.