Let me start by stating that our trip to Australia (from North Central Wisconsin) was nothing short of magical! There's simply no way I can blog everything in one entry, so our trip will be split up by regions and the places we went to visit. It's probably going to take a while to blog everything, but I'll do it as quickly as I can. For those that were following us on Facebook, this blog entry will give a lot more information than the few pictures I posted every day. This will also be very picture intensive and probably kind of wordy, but just about all my entries are "kind of" wordy, so that's nothing new! I took over 1,500 pictures total, but don't worry, I'm not going to post them all! Ha! Here's the start of our trip.
We didn't just go to Australia to go to Australia. We had an ulterior motive. You may recall that our youngest, Abigail, left for Australia on June 9th (my birthday) for a six month internship on a very large dairy farm. Her internship was ending, so we were going there to meet up with her, tour around and fly home with her. Isn't that just the best excuse ever to "have" to go to Australia?!
We left on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2018. Our first flight was at 5:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, traveling from the Central Wisconsin Airport to Minneapolis, Minnesota. After a 4 hour layover, we were on our way to Los Angeles. From there, it was on to Sydney, Australia!
Here we are, all smiles at the airport and on the airplane, happy to finally be on our way! Our Amazing Adventure was finally, really, truly beginning!
(Hint: Click on any picture to see a larger version!)
I had questioned on Facebook whether or not Delta Airlines supplied pillows and/or blankets for their overseas flights. Because we flew economy, we weren't able to find an answer. So, here it is. Delta Airlines DOES supply pillows, very light blankets and ear plugs (noise cancellation) and an eye mask to block out light while trying to snooze. This little "kit" was waiting in our seats for us.
We were pleasantly surprised that there was more leg room on the overseas flight than the other two flights we took. It really wasn't totally awful to fly economy in the main cabin. It was a very long flight -- 15 hours to get from LA to Sydney, but we knew that. As it turns out a quick Google search revealed that Australia is the absolute furthest place on planet earth from North Central Wisconsin! Yes, our daughter chose to spend six months as far away as she possibly could from her friends and family!
Our very first view of Sydney! We arrived at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning, November 24, 2018. We lost a day in travel because we crossed the International Date Line, which puts Sydney 15 hours ahead of us.
When we got our luggage, we had to go through Customs. We were given a form to fill out while on the airplane. The form has questions about items you may be bringing into Australia. Things like food, money, cigarettes, etc.
It asked if you were bringing in more than 25 cigarettes. I answered "yes." I had a carton (10 packs) with me for my personal use while there. Cigarettes are very expensive in Australia and they don't carry my Marlboro's so I brought enough to last our entire trip. When Customs asked me about them, I stated that I had ten packs (one per day) for our trip. It was for personal use only. We were taken to another area, where there were two Customs Agents speaking with us. We were told that they could allow three packs each for me and Greg (seeing as he was traveling with me), but that I would either have to dispose of the other 4 packs, or pay the Customs fee, which amounted to $89! YIKES! Because they are around $20 a pack in Australia, it was pretty much a toss up as far as cost. As Greg and I were discussing what to do, we decided to just pay the $89. I was reaching into my purse for my debit card and stated once again that they were for personal use only, one pack per day. Suddenly, a third agent walked past out of the blue and said "no fee, don't worry about it. Thank you for being honest." And they let us go! Let me tell you, we hotfooted it out of there before they could change their minds, all the while saying "what just happened?" Wow!
After we got through Customs, we found Abby, who met us at the airport! It was so great to see her again! Smiles all around! She had a bit of a problem getting to Sydney, as day before she was supposed to leave, the girl who said she would drive her there (about a 4 hour drive from the farm) claimed she was ill and couldn't take her. Abby scrambled and managed to make arrangements with her boss and the farm to hitch a ride on the farm's private airplane, which was already going to the Sydney area, to take her along! She flew to a town in the suburbs of Sydney and spent the night at a hotel and then took the train the next day to the airport (with two large suitcases) to meet us! It turns out the girl who said she would drive her went to Sydney without her! She has no idea why this girl screwed her over, but suffice it to say that some people just suck.
Because we didn't have a lot of time in Australia and we arrived at 8:30 in the morning, we had to hit the ground running! There was a shuttle waiting at the airport to take us to our hotel but we couldn't get to our room right away because it was too early. They held our luggage for us so we could start our adventures without worry. Our first stop was the famed Sydney Opera House, but we had to figure out how to get there (this was the only time we had to make our own travel arrangements). Abby was already familiar with the train, so we walked to the train station and let Abby make the arrangements for us to take the train to the Opera House. This was only the first time Abby took charge and got us to where we needed to go!
The train station was really incredible! Considering that we live in North Central Wisconsin and don't have train service, and even when we lived in Milwaukee, there was nothing like this, it was quite incredible to us! Your opinions may vary. LOL
Because the Sydney Opera House is so fabulous, I feel that it deserves it's own blog post and will have that done shortly! In the meantime, I'm going to move along with other Sydney sights. After the Opera House, we visited the Sydney Harbour. We were totally enthralled with everything we saw at the Harbour! Hopefully, you will be, too!
One of the first things we saw at the Harbour was the Sydney Harbour Bridge and this gigantic cruise ship! Some of the people on our flight were going onto this ship, which was going to cruise to New Zealand! It was named the Princess, and played the theme from the Love Boat when it left the Harbour!
If you look closely here, you will see some white "circles" in the water here. Those "circles" are jellyfish! And they are the kind that sting! It's jellyfish season right now, so you need to be cautious whenever you enter the water. More on that in another post!
We decided to have lunch while we were at the Harbour, as there are tons of restaurants. It turns out, we humans were not the only ones to want lunch! The seagulls in this area are quite bold (and annoying!). This is what was printed in the menu from the restaurant we chose! HA, HA!
Not only that, but there was also this notice on our table: They were seriously not kidding about the gulls!
They are quite obnoxious, but we enjoyed watching them!
My lunch was chicken salad and fries. Quite delicious! Greg had a burger and fries and Abby had Fish and Chips (fries).
Here are a bunch of pictures of the area of Sydney where our hotel was located. We stayed at the Sydney Rendezvous Hotel, which was very nice!
The Marketplace.
Another view of the Marketplace area. I must say, Sydney is quite beautiful!
The view out our hotel room.
I LOVED this building with all the greenery growing on it!
I thought it was really interesting, how the signs for the shops were above the sidewalk, so it was easy to see what was where.
I liked the view of the buildings from this vantage point.
The work on this building really amazed me, as it was actually occupied while the construction crew was adding more floors! The picture on the right shows some of the construction crew heading up the elevator to the job site.
Funny story here! Well, maybe not so funny, depending on who you ask. On Sunday, November 25, we were to be picked up at 10 a.m. Because it was early, Greg and I decided to go for a walk. We happened upon a building that had an incredible marketplace inside. It had all kinds of vendors (many not open yet), including lots of fresh veggies and seafood. Just about anything you could want. It was really amazing! After walking all around, we found an exit. I said to Greg "we should leave from the same way we entered, so we don't get lost. Of course, he said not to worry, he knew where we were! (Famous last words!). We left the Marketplace and started walking back to where we "thought" the hotel was located. After walking and walking and walking and walking and not finding the hotel nor George Street (where the hotel was located), we realized we were hopelessly lost. We didn't have as much time as we thought and I started getting paranoid. After more walking and walking and walking and walking, we finally asked someone. What he told us caused us to walk even more, and was not helpful (to say the least!). We stopped another person and asked him how to get to our hotel. Greg first asked him if he was from Sydney, so we knew if we were talking to someone who actually knew the streets! He gave us the right information, and we had to backtrack about 1/2 a mile to get to George Street. We then had to walk another 1/2 mile or more to get to our hotel. We were running out of time! We couldn't call Abby at the hotel because I don't have an international phone, and we couldn't use Google maps to getus there for the same reason. We KNEW Abby was going to be mad (to put it lightly. All we could say was "Abby's going to have a fit and scream and holler at us, and we just have to take it. We (Greg) screwed up! Oh, geeze, Abby's going to be SO mad!" We finally got back to the hotel with TWO MINUTES to spare before we were picked up! Abby, as predicted was madder than an old wet hen, and we got our butts chewed out! Totally understandable! She had packed up the rest of our stuff (most of it was already packed and ready) and was watching for us out the hotel window, while chatting with Erica about us not being back yet! I can only imagine how concerned she was as the time got closer and closer for us to leave. When she saw us, she got all our bags together and brought them down to the hotel lobby.
Two rules came out of this incident. Number one: Greg agreed that we will leave any buildings the same way we entered so we don't get all turned around!
Number two: If we go anywhere like that alone again, we are to leave my phone with Abby and take Abby's phone with us. That way, she will have WIFI on my phone through the hotel, and I can use her international phone to message her so she can help get us "un-lost"!
Let me tell you, it was not quite so amusing at the time, because we had to take that shuttle to get us to the airport to get to Brisbane! I shudder to think what would have happened if we had not made it back in time. BUT, God was smiling on us, once again, and even though we had to walk MILES, it all worked out! And hey, what's a trip without a few mishaps and getting lost! "George Street" will always hold a special place in our hearts, to be sure!
Here are pictures of the Marketplace that totally screwed up our navigation!
This was just an area we wandered through when trying to find our way back to the hotel. I thought it was very pretty!
For those of us in the States, this is just weird! This is a public bathroom! And no, I did not go in and check it out!
So, that's pretty much it for our general Sydney adventures! It really is quite an awesome city, and quite metropolitan! There were so many different cultures represented just walking down the street! It truly boggles the mind of this (apparently very sheltered) inhabitant of North Central Wisconsin!
The next entry will be all about the incredibly stunning Opera House! Here's one of my pics of the Opera House, just to whet your appetite!
If you've read all of this, thank you! I told you it would be "wordy" and loaded with pics and I wasn't lying! Thanks for following along with us on our Aussie Adventure!
Love, Peace and Prayers for all!
Julie and Greg (and Abby)
As many of you already know, I work for United Healthcare. I happened to discover a cool program through our company intranet that would allow me to do some traveling and meet some of the people that have United Healthcare for their insurance needs. I was immediately intrigued and volunteered for the program! After all, the company pays for everything, so why not?!
The program has me traveling to various open enrollment events at businesses that have United Healthcare for their insurance. I attend the benefit fair and help answer people's questions about the insurance their company offers through United Healthcare. It's a great opportunity to really make a difference in the lives of our members. The department I'm currently in is "behind the scenes" so I don't have any interaction with our members any more, and I was missing some of that personal contact.
I flew to Denver last month, and just this week, I went to Virginia Beach. Even though I was traveling for work, there was a few hours on Tuesday and Wednesday to do some sightseeing, which is an awesome perk!
I flew out of Central Wisconsin Airport, so didn't have far to drive, but because my flight out was at 6:30 in the morning, I had to be up Tuesday morning at 3 a.m., (a/k/a "the crack of stupid!") to leave by 4:15 a.m. and get to the airport by 5 a.m. (90 minutes prior to takeoff is recommended for our little airport). After a three hour layover in Detroit, I was in Virginia Beach by 2:00 p.m. Lucky for me, it was about 20 degrees warmer than usual, so it was about 80 and very humid. The Norfolk Airport is a lot smaller than I expected, but that was a nice change of pace from Minneapolis and Detroit! I picked up my rental car and headed to my hotel in Virginia Beach. As I was listening to Google Maps tell me how to get there, I was thinking to myself that it is absolutely amazing that we were able to do that kind of traveling with just a map years ago! It's really amazing that we were able to figure anything out with just a piece of paper! Thank goodness for progress, as I LOVE being able to use GPS to get around in strange, large cities! BUT, I must admit, one of the nicest things about being home is traveling on familiar roads!
I know lots of you have done lots of flying, but it's still new and fun to me, so I had to take some pics from the plane. I just love when you get above the clouds and into the glorious sunshine! How can anyone deny there is a God when you see something like this?! Just the fact that you are hurtling through the sky at 500+ miles per hour at 35,000 feet is a miracle in and of itself!
My open enrollment event went very well. United Healthcare sends the documentation and other items needed directly to the company, so the only thing I had to bring with me was the tablecloth. Here is how my table looked. I had little tooth shaped containers of dental floss to give away, and we raffled an eletronic toothbrush to the employees. If you've ever been to an open enrollment event, this will look pretty normal/familiar!
I did have some extra time and was able to enjoy the beach a little bit! Here's a few pictures for your enjoyment!
Because it was late in the season, the pier itself was closed, so I wasn't able to take a walk on it, but I did peer through the gates (see what I did there, I "peered" at the "pier!" HA!)
Of course, being the bird fanatic that I am, I had to take some pictures of the seagulls! I think you'd be disappointed if I didn't!
A storm had rolled through as I was driving along Pacific Boulevard and it poured! You can see that storm behind the pier.
It seems all the rage to take pics of your feet in various locals, so here you go! The water was much warmer than I expected it to be, but still a tad chilly.
It was fairly windy out, which apparently brought out the local surfers! Certainly not the size of wave I would associate with surfing, but then again, I probably couldn't stand on a surfboard on dry ground, so who am I to say?!
I
did not book a hotel on the beach (I was about 6 blocks away), but I bet I could have gotten a smokin' hot deal on one! I'll have to remember that if I'm able to go to this same event next year! I think this is a pretty cool picture, though, especially since there are barely any people on the beach.
I'm really not one to take selfies, but I couldn't resist taking one with the ocean in the background!
I'm not sure what this creature is, but it was washed up on the beach. I figure it got washed up during high tide and couldn't get back in the water. I do believe it was quite dead, but I wasn't about to touch it! I assume it's some sort of ray? I'm sure someone will tell me!
I never thought I'd be working for such a huge company, but I must say, there are some incredible opportunities that are just not available at smaller businesses! I don't do enough flying to not enjoy it, and really look at all this as a fabulous adventure! I was a little sad that Greg was not able to enjoy the beach with me, and it wasn't the same without him, but being gone really makes him appreciate me and all that I do that much more, especially since I telecommute, so am home all the time. I could tell that Sophie really missed me, too, as she was quite needy all day today. (Sophie is our Newfoundland, for those that don't know.) She will normally "visit" me a couple times a day while I'm in my office working but today, she came to visit at least six times! I guess she wanted to make sure I was really there.
And now, for a funny story! When my event was over on Wednesday, I decided to go for a drive. I was headed north on Pacific Avenue and was enjoying looking at the houses that were situated so close to the ocean. After a while, I saw a sign for a lighthouse and lighthouse tours. I thought, oh hey, that's cool, I'll go tour a lighthouse! So, the lighthouse is on a military base, which didn't really mean anything special to me. I got to the entrance of Fort Story, which looked like a typical military installation. I didn't think much of it, because I'd been at Fort Leonard Wood and civilians are (or were?) allowed to drive around unattended and visit the museums, etc. So, I pulled up to the guard and the conversation went like this:
Guard: Hi, ma'am, you're looking a little lost?
Me: Well, I'm here on a business trip and I saw the signs for a lighthouse and lighthouse tours, so I thought I'd check it out.
Guard: Yes, ma'am, but the problem is that the tours are by tour bus and the last one is at 3 p.m. (It was 4:30 p.m. at this time). So, this is what is going to happen. I'm going to put a cone behind your car. You are going to give me your driver's license, and I'm going to walk a short distance from the building here. You are then going to make a U-turn between me and the building and will stop at the building and I will walk back and hand you back your driver's license.
Me: OK. Let me just get my license out for you. (He's watching me dig in my purse for my license, and I'm thinking to myself, should I tell him that I am not armed and I am just getting my license out? I didn't say anything, because I also didn't want to arouse suspicion! LOL )
I handed him my license and he walked a distance from the building to give me room to make my U-turn. Of course, I start to go too far, thinking I should make my turn behind him (obviously not paying attention!), and he hollers at me "BETWEEN ME AND THE BUILDING!" Whoops! I whip the wheel more and am able to make the U-turn between him and the building. I stop and wait for my license and the guard tells me to have a nice day.
This just cracked me up! All I wanted to do was visit a lighthouse! Maybe the signs should say something about "guided" tours, etc. Oh, well. It's always an adventure and I had a great time, even if I didn't get to see the lighthouse! I thought about taking a picture of the entrance to Fort Story, but for some reason, I thought that might be frowned upon! Ha, ha, ha!
Hope everyone had a great couple of days! I know I sure did!
God's Blessings to all!
Julie
So, we've gone through six IVIG treatments for Greg so far and they have been going very well. I was pleasantly surprised that everything went through our insurance at what I consider to be record speed! All the authorizations were completed and approved without issues or a lot of work on my part, which was fabulous!
IVIG is intravenous immune globulin. Immunoglobulin is part of the blood's plasma and has antibodies in it to fight germs or disease. When people donate blood, this part can be separated out and can be given to a patient in an IV or subcutaneously (under the skin, but not in a vein) to help strengthen their immune system so they can fight infections and stay healthy. It can take between 1,000 and 15,000 donors per batch. In Greg's case, his immune system hasn't been normal since his bone marrow transplant in 2000. That's really not unusual.
For anyone that's read my blog for any length of time, you already know that Greg has had a lot of infections. His sinus infections were almost constant, which was why he had the sinus surgery late last year. Thanks to the suggestion of our wonderful Case Manager, Jeanne, we went to see an immunologist and discovered that his IGG levels were indeed low. So, it was time to set up the IVIG treatments to see if we could boost that and get Greg finally to a place where he's not sick all the time!
We received a box of supplies via Fed Ex. These are all the supplies and medicine we should need for a month's worth of treatments. The picture on the left is all of the supplies in a plastic tote I bought to keep everything organized and away from the cats and dogs. The picture on the right is what needs to be used for one treatment: alcohol wipes, bandages, gauze pads, the Immune Globulin, a sterile drape to put everything on, two 60 CC syringes (he gets 50 cc's from each bottle of Immune Globulin), a subcutaneous infusion set (the "lines" that are used to infuse), five transparent film dressings to place over the needles so they don't pop out (like what is used over an IV), a mini transfer pin, which is used to transfer the Immune Globulin from the bottles to the syringes, a sharps container for the needles, the infusion pump and even an Epi pen, in case he ends up having a severe allergic reaction, so I can stab him in the thigh while I call 911!
The home health nurse came to our house three times. The first time, she instructed me on what to do while directing me on how to do it and the next two times, I handled the treatment with her just watching and answering any questions we had. I've now given Greg his treatments twice without the nurse and it's gone quite smooth.
It all starts by getting the serum into the syringe. That funky thing on the bottle is the "mini transfer pin" mentioned above.
Then the syringe is attached to the end of these. These are called an "infusion set." There is a tiny needle on the end of each of those 5 lines.
It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but the needle is what my index finger is kind of pointing to. It's really tiny, and thinner than a standard straight pin that you would use for sewing.
To insert the needle, you simply have to grab a bit of your love handles and, after cleaning with an alcohol wipe, insert the needle. Greg has said it's much like a mosquito bite. There are five needles in all, so we put three on one side of his belly and two on the other and cover with
Once all the needles are in, the syringe is placed in this infusion pump. It takes about 30 minutes for one syringe. Once that one is done, we simply attach a new syringe to the end of the infusion set and put it in the pump. Another 30 minutes, and we're done!
This is what it looks like when the medicine is being infused.
He ends up with a bit of a bulge where the needles are located, which is normal, but that usually goes away by morning.
So, that's what his IVIG treatment is! This is definitely an expensive treatment, especially when it's done weekly. The cost for one treatment is $4,081. If we are going to continue these treatments weekly, one year will cost $212,212! But, if it's going to keep him from getting sick, then it's certainly worth it!
Thank goodness we have wonderful health insurance. I'm glad United HealthCare did not take this into account when they hired me because they are certainly on the losing end of the financial stick!! Ha, ha!
Hope all is well for everyone!
Peace and Prayers for all!
Julie
Because the Sydney Opera House is so fabulous, I feel that it deserves it's own blog post and will have that done shortly! In the meantime, I'm going to move along with other Sydney sights. After the Opera House, we visited the Sydney Harbour. We were totally enthralled with everything we saw at the Harbour! Hopefully, you will be, too! 
