Minnesota MoJo: Back home, well almost

We landed in LA this morning at 6:30 AM. The flight back is quicker than the one out because of the direction of the earth's spin (as Megan smartly pointed out to me).

After several phone calls to Qantas, I was still nervous that I'd have problems at the counter checking my kayaks. To my surprise when I mentioned I had them, the agent just said "Oh yeah, no problem" and that was that! Here's a photo of the guys wrapping one of the kayaks in cling wrap so that the gear I had packed inside wouldn't come out.

A view of San Fernando valley as we drove toward Barb's house. The freeway was practically as wide as 4 Kiwi roads! The other thing that amazed me was how many cup holders the minivan has - I counted 7 just within reach of the driver.

We're spending two nights with Barb and also had a chance to visit with Kelly and Alan again. We fly back to Minnesota on Wednesday morning and expect to be a bit shocked by the snow and cold.

Here are a few photos from our time in Australia:

Jason and Chris enjoying some food at the international festival.

At the museum we got to design futuristic homes and cars and them see them in a 3D world.

At the wildlife sanctuary, there was a friendly wallaby. It was incredible to watch them move around. When hopping they used their massive tail for balance. When "walking", they support their weight on a tripod of 2 front legs and a bent tail and slide their back legs forward. The shuffeling sort of looked like an inch worm moving.