one more draft…

first off, let me say that no matter how much fun or wondrous or relaxing our travels are (and we’ve been extra-ordinarily fortunate in this, without question), there is simply nothing that holds a candle to coming home to our own bed.

that said, i had intended a much better, more coherent post on our return home, but jet lag is a bugger and we were up again at 2am this morning after 4 hours sleep. we got in yesterday morning at 2am. there’s some kind of synchronicity thing there, somewhere, and i hate it.

anyway, i also wanted to post pics, which i am, but thanks to modern technology and a 16GB memory card gift from my father, i have more than 10 GB of pics and vids to go through. i’ve made it about halfway through the set, culling significantly, but the brain has ceased to function, so i’m just going to throw a smattering of things up here, in no conceivable order, with almost no explanation. maybe i’ll clarify bits later this week.*

as for HHNF, i did nothing more than to tighten the outline over the first week. after that…zippo. i had grandiose plans of getting a few chapters out by the time we returned, but that just didn’t happen. and that’s okay. as soon as my body clock rights itself, i’ll be diving in.

so, here you are: some random highlights of our trip Down Under over the last 3 weeks!

and that’s all i can swing at this point. i need sleep.

*probably not.

yesterday was more productive than i’d hoped, particularly considering it wasn’t for nearly as long as i’d intended. nonetheless, the outline is complete, and (if i may be allowed a bit of crowing) it rocks.

yesterday was filled with a number of other pre-departure items (laundry, sweeping, downloading podcasts for the flights, etc.), but i was prepared. after taking care of the low-hanging fruit on the list and starting the first batch of laundry, i put myself above the garage and wrote like the wind for about 2 hours. in tiny, line-squeezing, back-hunching text, while listening to The Crow soundtrack*, because i was so excited by what i was writing!

i’ve talked before about the ‘discovery’ element of my writing process, and there was more than a little of that yesterday, but it was also interesting to note at points where my evaluative side would identify something that just didn’t work, as neat as it sounded or seemed like it might be.

normally i just run with it in these outlining sessions, only to stumble all over the page when i get to writing that section out, but yesterday i was consciously aware of some of these pitfalls, which is a wonderful feeling of growth.** better still, was the fact that when i saw these problems, i worked until i figured out more effective, interesting and powerful ways of doing what was needed.

but now, i’ve left this post til the last minute and we need to get a move on!

Oz, here we come!

* on repeat, multiple times, which is one very good reason for having a space apart from the rest of the house.

** not that i got them all, of course, but we’re taking steps, here.

so, tomorrow we fly out for australia for 3 whole weeks!* it’s been four or five years since our last trip, and it’s long overdue. my wife has family there, which is obviously a major plus, and while we always love seeing them (they have all taken me right in, making me feel right at home), this time will be a little different.

on a down note, my wife’s grandmother passed since we last went, so this will be our first trip out there without seeing her, which will be harder than i think i’m ready for, when we arrive. however, this trip is has been made possible thanks to a gift she left my wife, which is allowing us to rove around the country for the first time, so Nan will be with us every step of the way.

so, after we visit with family for a week or so, we’re off to do some touristy stuff. her family’s all on the eastern coast, which is tropical, rather than the bush or outback that is most commonly associated with Australia. this area is absolutely lush and gorgeous, with mountain forests of enormous trees and beaches that reach out of sight and which are considered crowded when there are ten people along a 5-mile stretch. seriously.**

this time, though, we’re off to the Great Barrier Reef:

Kakadu National Park: (oops. wrong park. i’m terrible with names)

Kuranda National Park:

The Red Centre (Uluru and Kata-Tjuta):

and Kangaroo Island:

with stops in Cairns, Adelaide, and Melbourne throughout, before heading home.***

however…

before any of that happens, i have to put in some serious HHNF writing time in, today. yesterday was my first day without either school or web work, so, instead of making the most of it, i frittered almost all of it away. very bad bill. a whole glorious rainy day, perfect for writing, squandered.

so this morning, as soon as i finish this blog (and a rather mediocre red grapefruit), i’m off to finish the last of the outline. i am that close, actually, which is good, and some good stuff came out of my brief lapses into productivity yesterday, but i want the outline done before the plane takes off, because the actual writing is begging to be started and i want to be writing throughout our trip, as we’ll be spending more than a little time on planes and we’re in no rush from one place to the next.****

therefore, if the outline is done before we go, i can dive right in.

so stop talking about it already!

fine!

* anything less on a trip all the way to the opposite side of the planet is wasted, from travel time to jet lag to time loss.

** every aussie we’ve met has always wondered why people would want to live anywhere else, and it’s very hard to disagree.

*** when we get back, we’ll have our own pics, obviously. it’ll take a while to cull through the 4000+ photos that i’m sure to take, though. digital cameras and i are a bad combo.

**** we’re not trekkers, by any means; we’re sojourners.