Stranded...in a tent

blip, blop, plip, plop....squawk! Cooo cooo chaa chaa chaa chaa!!! Welcome to the wake up calls of our current holiday abode, Suffolk Park Holiday Park, located 7 km south of Byron Bay, NSW. We've been residents for 3 days and quarantined for the last 12 hours due to torrential downfalls. Note past the ellipses and you'll hear the beautiful calls of the resident NSW bird population soothing you to a morning wakeup, well, except they do that at sunup which happens to begin at 4:30am. The squawk is from the local bush turkeys and the "Cooo cooo chaa chaa chaa chaa!!!" comes from the big-billed kookaburras that tend to annoy even the heartiest Australians - even the deaf ones.

Five days into Christmas vacay and we've done quite a bit already. Nina, the word traveler, who's been back to the States most recently, got us a sweet setup of snorkeling gear and Clif bars to set us up for departure from Newcastle. Unfortunately, sickness had its own vote to cast in when we were going to leave for our roadtrip, disabling both of us last Tuesday with the flu. Lame. We nevertheless (at about 75 percent capability) hoisted north along the best freeway in Australia (all 2 lanes of it) in a Holden Astra filled to the brim with swimming gear, snorkelling gear, and tents galore.

We stopped for the nigth four hours up the road in Nambucca Heads. Americans who're reading this, try and pronounce that name, and I'll tell you that you're wrong. Don't worry, we did the same thing. NambBUCKA heads has mosquitos bigger than your face and a decent view onto the Pacific, but for us it was a resting and recovering point. The small tent was laid out, and we appreciated our normal bed the next morning as we awoke to the pains of s;eeping on the roll-out camp matresses (fail). We (expeditiously) got in the Astra and rolled up to Byron Bay.

The drive was quick and purposeful as Nina and I both had the weather radar playing out on the computer as we drove toward our night's campsite. Blue, purple, and red dotted the screen, and we attempted to figure out when the downpour was going to occur over the future-night's sight as we noted the swell towns that dotted the map on our journey northward. Arriving around 1pm we quickly donned the tent and tarp emclosure just to beat the light rain that followed the rest fo the afternoon.

We rolled into Byron Bay, got some lunch and laid out on the beach in the now sunny weather. Byron Bay is a HUGE tourist hotspot, attracting mega-large pops of backpackers from worldwide and an enormous Australian contingent as it's only a 90-minute drive from Brisbane and even less from the Gold Coast. Nervertheless, imagine great beaches and equivalent shopping and you've got Byron Bay.

Night in tent insert here - next day was snorkelling on an island 3km off the beach - sharks, manta rays, and turtkes galore. Great conditions, and I'm getting sick of writing this blog. I'll update later - have a great Christmas and happy New Years and we'll be with you soon...ish.

spring has sprung!

FINALLY the weather has warmed up!! It's been a coooold winter here in Australia... well, at least by Australia standards. I am SO glad it's warming up though! It's tough listening to everyone talk about how warm and gorgeous the weather is back home... while it's rainy and dreary here.

We are heading off on our first camping trip of the season this weekend and our second one next week! This weekend we are going to Myall Lakes National Park. It's a smaller national park with beautiful lakes and beaches. Here's hoping our luck with fishing will turn around this year!!

In other news, I have started my "Fall" semester classes... only two more semesters to go! I am currently taking Raster and Vector Graphics (a fancy way of saying Photoshop and Illustrator) and Digital Page and Web Graphics... so if anyone needs a website or company publications let me know (... well ok, in three months).

Happy Fall : )

Love,

Nina

Oops!

We kind of forgot about this thing didn't we?!? I think with constant updates on facebook we forget to update our blog! Sorry to those who still read this : (

It's been a pretty big month or two here. Charlie and I took an amazing road trip with our friends Duncan (a pilot in Charlie's squadron) and Emily (his girlfriend) around the Northern Territory. We visited three national parks and got a feel for the REAL outback. We got to see tons of birds and crocs (thankfully from a distance). We got to see amazing Aboriginal art and purchased some for our house. We also got to swim in some of the most beautiful pools below waterfalls. It was definitely something we will remember for a looong time!

It is a really exciting time for us because we are moving in less than a year and Charlie has made the decision to leave the Navy. He's decided he wants to get his MBA, so after returning from the trip Charlie had to buckle down and start studying for the GMATs. He will be sending out applications in October and hopefully by January or February we will know where we will be living for the next couple of years.

I'll leave you with a few pics from our trip....

Winter in Newcastle

Good afternoon, all. I made a bold statement a few months ago, alleging that I would post on the blog once a week, a promise that was broken exactly one week after my last post. I apologize for that, and I hereby announce I'll make no such claim again in the near future. Done and done.

As the rain again falls here in Newcastle, the Queen city of New South Wales, I'm reminded again that winter began five days ago on the first of June. We've had exactly two sunny days in the last three weeks and when you live in a city that revolves around the beach you're hard-pressed to come up with original plans for the weekend days. Venturing a guess, I would say that the top five google searches on our computers have been...

1. Fiji cheap awesome deal

2. Hawaii military special cheap awesome deal

3. Vanuatu

4. Cook Islands cheap

5. cheap fares from Newcastle (to anywhere)

Now we have to slap ourselves every once in awhile, remembering that we're in gosh darn Australia, living the dream of every young couple in the USA. We love it, couldn't be happier (the rain is responding to my typing by beginning to torrentially downpour - how is the lawn still yellow?!?), and we really are lucky that we're in a stable place, I'm not deploying for months on end, and we have the ability to explore one of the most amazing places on earth. Speaking of that, Nina's folks (Brad and Leigh, we can't wait for you to get here!) arrive in less than two weeks and we jet off to sunny (I may have just jinxed the trip) Port Douglas, Queensland with them in three weeks to explore the Great Barrier Reef, Daintree Rain Forest, and hopefully spot a few crocs to boot. Should be loads of fun and be a chance for me to get some color in my paling complexion. We're looking to play the rest of the trip by ear, but it will be a great chance to catch up and get some time off of work.

Work has been good, and I've been here and there since my last post, spending the majority of time local with a trip to Adelaide for a week, flying in support of some special forces teams. I'll be packing my bags after Nina's folk's leave and heading to the Northern Territory for a bi-yearly exercise called "Pitch Black" to fly for about a month. Following that I'm taking a week off and Nina's flying up to Darwin so we can cruise the outback, looking to explore Kakadu National Park and some other outback locales. Hopefully we won't get eaten by any stray crocs. Seriously, you can't go in any water up there that has any connection to the ocean, lest you desire to make yourself a dinner special for those things. We're looking forward to it!

All right, back to some taxes (we get a 2 month reprieve from the April 15th deadline being out of country and I'm using all 60 days). I'll post soon-ish, and I hope everyone back in the US of A has a great summer!!!

stella is in love....

...but I don't think it's mutual.

For the past day and a half we have been dog-sitting for our friends the Allens, while they have been at the hospital giving birth to their first child (it's a boy!). Bosco, their dog, is a super sweet and loving 80 lb. Chocolate Lab-German Short Haired Pointer cross. Stella has been constantly harassing him since he's been here. It's very entertaining. All she wants to do is to play with him and he wants nothing to do with it.

The Allens are the first of three of our friends who are due this week. It should be a fun week!! Lots of new babies to visit!!

tea party

I hosted a fun little baby shower last weekend for my friend Lauren who is due in May. It was great to have a reason to put my event planning/graphic design skills to use. It really turned out to be a fantastic afternoon - we had high tea at a local restaurant.

annnnnd i'm back

So, it's been waaaay too long since I've posted on here. I just lost all motivation to post. Partially because Charlie was out of town and I was busy with school. Sorry to you readers out there... I think I might only have one left. Thank you Jen G. for being a faithful follower, even when I wasn't a faithful blogger!

A lot has happened here - too much to write about so I'll just write about what's gone on the last couple of weeks. That seems doable : )

Charlie and I have been camping for the past two weekends in a row! We have enjoyed amazing weather, beautiful scenery and great company (the first weekend we went with friends and the second with Stella)! Charlie bought a new tent while he visited the US in March and it has turned out to be a great addition to our growing camping gear collection. Last weekend Charlie was lucky enough to spot a wild Platypus... of course I was off taking tending to the fire and missed seeing it : ( I guess it's pays to be a fisherman - even when you aren't catching fish.

This weekend I am hosting a baby shower for a friend of mine who is due in May. It has been fun to go back to my event planning roots and I have even been able to use my newly acquired graphics skills as well.

Here are some pictures from Easter weekend:

Charlie to USA - It Begins

So here I am onboard an Alaskan Airlines flight from Seattle to San Fran – exit row to myself looking out the window at the Oregon coastline trying to get the Mama Mia soundtrack out of my head. More on that later. Back to the start of the trip takes us back to Brisbane, Queensland and myself and Robbie Cousland, a young RAAF pilot, boarding a modified DC-10 en route to Pago Pago, American Samoa. We took eight F-18s to Vegas for Red Flag in order to get the RAAF pilots exposed to an intense war-like exercise and build some relationships with our close allies in the process. I’ll mention more about the specifics a bit later.

So Cousy (Robbie’s callsign) and I boarded flight Omega 10 and strapped ourselves in to the DC-10 for the 6-hour ride. Omega contracts themselves out to refuel US and foreign air forces during trans-oceanic flights and helps train pilots with refueling. My first experience was a bad one in the front of an F-14 which resulted in a several failed attempts to get my refueling probe in the refueling basket followed by me ripping off an antenna on the bottom of the jet which in-turn worked its way down the right intake. Minor damage to the turbine blades ensued and I got to give blood and pee to make sure I wasn’t flying drunk or high. I wasn’t - I just wasn’t too talented at getting “the thing in the thing”. Those are the technical terms.

Back to the ride from OZ to Pago. Robbie and I lounged in the business lounge of this ex-Japan Airlines DC-10 and I even got a JAL bar of soap. Nina, don’t think I wasn’t thinking about souvenirs for you! A nap, some studying of charts for the exercise, and some banter with the troops that were on the flight, and we were touching down in Pago Pago.

Now Pago Pago is a place we have to stop out of necessity only. You put two tankers and eight hornets up in the air and you’re realistcially only going to get about 2500 miles from your last departure point before you have to either land or run out of gas, and Pago Pago is that point when you’re lifting off out of Australia. It’s not ideal, but they’ve got gas, a runway, two McDonalds, and some really large Samoans to help you get your aircraft parked. I’m talkin’ BIG dudes, and it’s impressive to see a 400ish pound man shuffle around in a skirt and sandals whilst waving some wands to help you park a plane. Nonetheless, we got the jets there all in one piece and got ourselves (about 40 enlisted troops and the 10 pilots) to the hotel to get some food and get some sleep prior to the flight to Hawaii the next morning. A quick swim and a couple of Coors Lights (I accepted my tertiary choice for American light beer since it was all they had) and I was a happy sleeper, waiting to get up and strap in for the six-hour hornet flight to Hawaii.

A continental breakfast at the hotel (not a bad one considering we were on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere) and a quick flight brief by the Commanding Officer (CO) and we were out the door to the airport. Now we had a few things working against us before we even got to the airport, worst of which was the Category 3 typhoon (read hurricane if you’re in the States) that was bearing down on the island from the northeast and a few other issues that made two of our jets inoperable. This left us with six jets ready to fly, and I was content since I was flying as #4 of 6. A good spot with little responsibility and with a few guys behind me (5 and 6) to bite the bullet and stay in Pago in case of other issues. It started raining as we started the jets and we were anxious to get out since we were fighting against daylight and weather. After getting both my engines online I got the bad call from one of the refuelers that they couldn’t get the DC-10 (the one with the most fuel to give us) started due to a bad starter and of course, it being Pago and all, there wasn’t one at the airport to hook up to the plane externally. Hmm. Thirty minutes went by and the CO made the call to take three hornets with the second tanker (a 707) to Hawaii and let us work out the rest. The three hornets and tanker took off into the weathery abyss leaving me in charge of the remaining 3 hornets. I used all my wishing powers to will the DC-10 to start, but unfortunately I must have used those powers up on getting Stella through her second six months of life surgery-free. Dog-gone it.

Before we shut down the jets, in a comical move, we taxied the three “good” jets and two “bad” ones to the highest point on the parking ramp which measured in at a colossal eight feet above sea level. We learned later that the storm surge of the typhoon was predicted to be 25 feet. Of note, the buoyancy of an FA-18 is akin to an unlucky mobster on the Sopranos when it’s full of fuel. And the waiting game began.

We, now minus only three hornets and their pilots, a 707, and a handful of maintenance personnel, headed back to the hotel to ride out the storm. We walked in the lobby to a whiteboard full of information on how to ride the storm (now named Typhoon Rene) out (i.e. don’t look directly at the glass when there are palm trees flying through the air) and a A4 printout of the storm and its predicted path. Right over the island with predicted winds in excess of 100mph. Awesome. The eye was expected to hit at 4am local time. We prepared by getting two cases of beer and hunkering down in a second floor suite which Cousy and I were sleeping in. Now I’m sure there are different reactions to imminent disaster, and the good people of American Samoa were busy boarding up their windows and getting supplies. We decided to take a different approach and enjoy Rene. I don’t think anyone was awake for the 4am zero hour, but we woke to calm winds and cloudy skies – Rene, with respect for the low-lying jets, took a left turn about 50 miles from the island chain, and veered south, gaining intensity to a full-fledged Category 5 Typhoon. We thanked our lucky stars, nursed a few headaches, and ventured out to the actual town of Pago in search of some lunch.

Pago doesn’t really have a whole lot to offer in terms of great eateries, and it’s even worse when the town is expecting a devastating typhoon to hit. Most places were boarded up and we eventually found a resort with a restaurant and a view. Stomachs full and ready to be in Hawaii, we went back to the hotel and got a decent night’s sleep for the next flight.

Weather was good the 3^rd day of Pago, the 707 returned to help us get to Hawaii and we got three jets out with the 707. The DC-10 left with the remaining two jets about an hour later and we arrived in Hawaii about six hours later, crossing into the Northern Hemisphere and into good weather. The flight was mostly in cloud up to the 0-degree latitude line and tanking was rough but manageable. Oahu was a welcome sight although getting out of the jet I didn’t receive a lei, just a rather inquisitive look of a customs official, wondering why an American was flying an Australian jet. I told him I was an American flying an Australian jet made in St Louis and he looked even more confused so I just gave him my passport and we called it even. Waikiki lay in wait, and a day of relaxation before heading to Miramar on Tuesday. More on that in the next post. Until then…

USA 2010

Good morning and once again, I apologize for the hiatus I've taken from blogging. Don't worry, I won't try to sum up the last 3 months in one post - my typing skills and memory aren't up to that challenge.

We'll call this an intrologue (I made that up) to a few more posts that I'll hopefully be making over the next few days and on my flight back to OZ about the past month or so of being away from home here in the USA, working and catching up with family and friends. It's been a great work experience and I've been able to catch up with a ton of folks, including a few new additions to some families, but I'm definitely ready to head back to Nina, Stella and the waning Australian summer. It wasn't a six-month deployment, but for a guy on his shore tour it was long enough.

So, I'm sitting here at SeaTac waiting to head down to San Fran to meet my mom for a Hwy 1 roadtrip to LA, typin' away on my (sorry, Nina - our) new netbook and I'll leave you with a quick recap of where I've been and what's been happening. I left Newcastle a month and 2 days ago on a contract aerial refueler to spend a night overnight in Brisbane, followed by a trip to Pago Pago, American Samoa. Next stop was over the equator and into Hickam AFB in Hawaii for a weekend, followed by another flight to Miramar MCAS in San Diego. From there it was 2 weeks in Vegas for Red Flag with some crazy Aussies with too much money to spend and your standard Australian gambling habits. I left them at the craps tables 9 days ago and headed to Chicago to see Kato and Al (sans Mark) and also made a trip to Ann Arbor with an accidental Wisconsin border crossing. Then it was up to Minneapolis to see some family and realize that there are places in the USA that are way too cold (hold your comments, Schwarze family) and most recently a weekend trip to Seattle to catch up with my best man, Dave, his wife Tami and their new son, Drew. That leaves me at the airport and ready to hit Cali and see mi mama. I'll be back on the blog in a few days with more in-depth recaps, but until then, stay warm, Americans, and to you Aussies (and my beautiful wife), enjoy the beach. I'll be home soon.

-Charlie