Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christmas in LA

Sorry for the late update, but our feet haven't touched the floor since we got here. Christmas Eve was spent preparing for the evening feast and for the Christmas Day feast. Michelle and Luke worked like trojans to provide a sumptuous meal for all the guests. We had 9 guests for the Christmas Eve meal and 17 people for the Christmas Day banquet.

Luke and I drove around on Christmas Eve, picking up extra tables and chairs for the Christmas function and dropping off sound equipment to free up some space in Luke and Michelle's unit. At one of Luke's acquaitance's place I got to meet Billy West. Who's Billy West you might ask? He provides the voices of Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Dr Zoidberg and Zapp Brannigan in the animated TV series Futurama. Rachel and Colin please note as they are huge fans of this show, as I am too.

Tables set for Christmas dinner
Christmas morning we all piled into the car and went to Josh and Sam's pad for breakfast. Pad is an adequate description as it was originally a garage that has been converted into a complete self-contained unit. We had cinnamon scrolls and fresh-ground brewed coffee and opened our Secret Santa presents, although most people knew who their "Secret Santa" was.

Luke's turkey smoker
The Christmas Day menu was as follows: Turkey that had been soaked in a brine mixture of salt, sugar, oranges, maple syrup and spices for two days, then cooked all day in a special smoker, roast potatoes, cauliflower au gratin, french beans, brussel sprouts, bacon-wrapped sausages, honey-roasted ham, with trifle and apple pie for dessert. Needless to say it was delicious, especially the turkey and the cauliflower au gratin! We did not sample the pork products but the people who did said they were also very good. It was a very good night of good food and good company where the stragglers finished up playing Uno and Cranium till 2am! Needless to say we slept in this morning, with poor Michelle coming down with a cold and has retired to her bed after having breakfast.

Today we are going shopping for clothes and shoes as the prices here are insanely cheap compared to Australia. Luke, Joshua and Gill are all going cruising in a hired Mustang convertible down the Malibu coast and other destinations along the Pacific Highway.
Luke and Michelle's unit

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Long Haul to LA

Up at 3am Friday for the dash to the airport, Ryan kindly drove us there. Because of favourable tail winds it only took us 3 1/2 hours to get to Sydney only to have to circle for over half an hour due to bad weather over the airport. As we came into land I managed to snap a shot of the wing just passing the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.
Harbour bridge and Opera House

We transferred to the International Airport and boarded our Airbus A380. What a massive plane! Two full length decks, bigger windows and higher ceilings make it feel very roomy, although the economy seat room is only slightly better than standard aircraft. However when reclined, the seat bottom moves forward too which makes it slightly more comfortable for sleeping. The sides of the headrest also bend upwards to help support your neck while sleeping. After watching a couple of movies on my own personal seatback screen, I took a sleeping tablet and settled down to get a few hours sleep. Ros, the movie addict, watched about 6 movies!

One new feature on the A380 is the tail cam. This lets you see the whole aircraft from outside and can be viewed on your screen. Since we were sandwiched in the middle aisle away from any windows, I watched the take off and landing via the camera. Quite a unique view indeed.
Tailcam view

The A380 is much quieter than other aircraft, despite having four huge engines. Again favourable tailwinds got us into L.A. half an hour earlier than scheduled, only for that to be gobbled up by the hour or so it took us to get through Immigration and Customs. Immigration now captures all your fingerprints, left and right as well as your photo. Last time we went through it was only the index finger of each hand and the photo. Here's hoping next time they don't strip us naked and photograph everything!


Michelle & Tessa
Despite travelling for 24 hours, we arrived 9.30am Friday, just 4 hours after we left Perth, because of time zone changes. Josh and Sam picked us up from in front of the terminal and whisked us to Luke and Michelle's place, which is in a lovely little huge gated community with green lawns between different blocks of units. Michelle broke her ankle 8 weeks ago on a camping trip and only just got the plaster off and graduated to a walking boot a couple of days ago. Here she is with said boot and their Dalmation Tessa.

We had lunch with Michelle, Gill and Ela, Josh and Sam before retiring for a much needed afternoon nap. Tonight we are going out to the famed Woodranch Smokehouse for our traditional L.A. meal.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Hawaiian Wedding Trip

Hi all

Ros and I are off to the United States for Christmas and New Year. We will be spending Christmas with Luke and Michelle (Ros's son) in Los Angeles before flying to Hawaii for the New Year and Joshua (another son of Ros's) and Samantha's wedding on the beautiful isle of Kauai.

We depart early Friday morning at 5.45am and arrive in L.A. at 9.45 am Friday after 27 hours of flying!
I shall update this site once I have recovered from my jet lag after we arrive in L.A.

Merry Christmas and Aloha!