Author: Peg

I was having a really hard time getting my stuff together for the Aussie trip and the trek back to the Asylum. I was trying to pack to go to Australia. And to pack up every thing else – to leave here – looking towards dealing with it in March When I get back to Kona. 

This wasn’t working for me. I decided to pack for the Aussie trip. Gotta do that. And to pack up the room and put it away until next year. I will not have to deal with this part of the stuff again. And, to put a small collection of stuff – Forbin the Computer, heavy sweater, wetsuit aside and pick them up in March. 

At least when I get this done. I will be done. And when I come back to Kona for my 4 day post adventure rest – I can just rest. And not deal with unpacking and repacking. Or getting stuff ready to store until next winter. 

So today was serious breaking camp. Going to Hilo on a girls road trip tomorrow. Maybe I’ll have a new picture. Not one from the archives. 

 

Just an ordinary day in our little drinking village with a fishing problem. Big cruise ship showed up today along with the regular little ship that shows up a couple of times a month. 

Sort of into my regularly scheduled pre-trip slump. I am so mentally ready for the trip to start. But, no where near physically.  When I went out on adventures when Carlton was still alive – I had to stock the freezer with enough sandwiches to keep him fed. Which means, if I were going to be gone for 28 days – I would put 56 individually wrapped ham, turkey and cheese sandwiches in the freezer. Every morning he would put 2 sandwiches out on the counter. And, he would have breakfast and dinner. He could put mustard on the sandwiches. He could make coffee. And he would go to the grocery store and buy bananas and ice cream. And that is what he would eat. 36 days was as long as I left him Home Alone.

It was a chilly, gray, drippy day today. By sunset, I was suffering from cabin fever. And, I didn’t even have 1,000 steps on the fit bit. So, I went for my morning walk. about 11 hours late. By the time I got back, I had 11,000+ steps and some yogurt. 

I spent some time today trying to figure out how to fit my “necessary” stuff into Aussie carryon rules. 7 kilos. On the plus side they seem to have 23 kilo check bag for free. Well, 7 kilos doesn’t work for me this time. I will carryon on Hawaiian. That will help me get through customs and immigration. Then in Australia I will carry on the electronics and primary camera and old lady meds. The rest I will pack in the funky rollaboard and check it. After I am reunited with the rollaboard at baggage claim – I can put the electronic etc back in the rollaboard and roll off to my hotel. 

Speaking of hotels. I rechecked the Melbourne airport to hotel plan. And took another look at the hotel. 

Still feeling like an overstuffed tourist that I can not get my stuff down to 7 kilos. Think I’ll have to revisit this. 

 

For the first time in a long time Billy didn’t have to work, we were both feeling good, and the weather was also fine. So, we did a little road trip. We wanted to check out a little private museum devoted mostly to plantation days in Hawai’i. 

The guy collected everything. He even has a phone booth. When school kids come – the phone booth is their favorite thing. 

Stopped off at Waipio Valley on the way home. 

I have been unhappy with my accounting/financial tracking software since I became a “Mac person” 10 years ago. Last summer I spent way too much time trying to convert “everything” to a new system. I gave up. 4000+ transactions were more than I could deal with when I was also trying to complete the Last Great Photo Shoot. So, I decided my current system wasn’t really that bad.

Well, this morning – the system went off the rails again. It has been replaced. I decided to just start over from scratch with new software – starting January 1. And, in less that 2 hours – almost all setup. This is a very first class problem. 

“Cool” and cloudy today. Got the steps in, got yoga done. Skipped the swim.

The wrinkled beige thing is a sleeveless long jersey nightie. It can be a beach coverup. It is great for lounging around the hotel room. It will protect stuff in the luggage… Plus 4 undies and 3 bras.

Swim suit, short sleeve rash guard. Long sleeve shirt that can be a rash guard or a long sleeve shirt. The short sleeve rash guard can be used with the O’Neill shorts as an alternative swim outfit. 

Dorky Hat, huge brownish crinkle cotton gauze scarf, big red silk scarf. The hat is an essential. The brown scarf is for a little  warmth or sun protection. The silk scarf is just for lagniappe. 

This afternoon, I weighed all the clothes – except for sneakers. 6..5 pounds. 

OK – that is the clothes. Now the hard stuff. Cameras, technology, creature comforts. Keeping it as light as possible.

Four tops. The cami is to use as a base layer if it gets “chilly”.  Or to wear by itself if it is hot. The pink and yellow shirts are generic athletic-shirt type material. They dry really quickly. The flowered top is fairly heavy silk. It washes nicely and dries pretty quickly. 

The beige one is tissue weight silk. The white one is polyester. Both of these wash and dry in a flash. On the right is my beloved old black cashmere hoodie. Hoping it will not need washing. But, it washes great. Just use shampoo. For planes and trains. What you don’t see is a rain jacket. That comes in the “just in case” category. If it rains – I’ll just get wet. Or buy an umbrella or rain jacket. 

Today I rounded up my debit and credit cards and notified the companies about my travel plans. They are all the chip kind and I remember the PINs on all  of them . Good for me. 

Accept the things I can not change: I am taking my elderly iPad on the trip. It has a T-Mobile SIM – my plan was to swap it out for a Project Fi SIM card. The SIM tray is stuck. Shamu the Phone will be the only cell device.  I just like to have technology redundancy.

Had a nice swim today – but, I am pretty sure I didn’t get any good pictures. 

My friends from Iowa are coming in tonight for 30 days. Glad that we’ll have a one week overlap. 

 

The tsunami was just a warning. If you didn’t happen to be awake in the middle of the night – you missed it. I was awake. And for sure I didn’t go to sleep until “they” decided that there wouldn’t be a tsunami. So, I had a really great nap this afternoon!

Here are my packing options. The old 3 pound backpack. And the much newer 4.5 pound wheelie bag. Strange problem. The backpack is much smaller but it isn’t 100% carry-on legal. It is 3 cm too wide. As I said – it is very old. It is very sturdy. If need be – I can check it. It is nicely water proof. We have been together on lots of adventures. 

A couple of years ago – as a concession to my advanced years – I picked up a really funky rollaboard at REI. It is totally carry-on legit. As long as I keep it under 14 pounds. 

Don’t know which one will go to the antipodes. 

Brown cotton wide leg pants. These will be my traveling pants. Don’t think they will be too hot.  The problem will be if they get wet. Not quick drying. Next, men’s O’Neill Hybrid board shorts. These are about perfect. Have no clue why they can not make women’s pants as good as men’s pants. And finally, a black skirt.

Blog update using elderly iPad. Photo taken with Pen F, note to self: use Snapseed vice Lightroom for post processing.

Blog update by Shamu the Phone. Photo from the underwater camera.

Time to start at least thinking about packing. So, I decided to start at the bottom. Shoes and socks. I need a couple more pair of wool socks. But, I figure Australia is next to New Zealand. And New Zealand has LOTS of sheep. So, it stands to reason that Australia will have wool socks. So, first adventure of the Australian Adventure Before Alzheimer’s will be to score socks in Melbourne. 

In all my years of chasing fish around Kailua Bay – this is the first red Hawaiian Bigeye that wandered in front of my lens. They aren’t uncommon. But they are nocturnal. So, I usually only see them snuggled up under a rock. Guess this guy was having trouble sleeping.

Lavender Tangs also come in brown. I think, but am not sure, that they are brown as juveniles and turn lavender when mature.

My January Resolution was to “Do yoga everyday”. I fell off the yoga wagon a couple of days ago. First day I missed the yoga app wanted to put a yoga session on my calendar. By yesterday, it sort of pitifully asked “Would you like to try to find 10 minutes for a mini session”. I decided I’d best hit the mat first thing this morning.

It was a normal bright sunny day – but sometimes B/W puts the focus on what matters. 

The marchers were very polite – always making space for cars that wanted to turn. And, most of the cars gave a honk of support. We gotta keep this spirit going.

Had a very lazy day today. A little photography, a little laundry, a little napping. 

I have been playing around with updating the blog sans Forbin. But, the biggest problem might be the lack of wifi or cell for at least ½ of the trip. But, hey, that is good too. A forced digital detox. 

Testing blog update from old iPad. Photo taken with shamu but cropped with Snapseed on iPad and exported.