Leonard Family Around the World Adventure

It was Friday morning 6:30 am when we arrived. With only waiting in one incorrect line we finally find passport services – get our temporary visas with no problems – will out our exit cards and literally walk through customs without talking to a person or an inspection. We picked up out luggage. I hit an ATM and Pam got the address of our Hotel written in Thai and we headed to a Taxi stand. I was already a little nervous about the language barrier as the person at the information counter and Pam had some difficulty communicating. I got some cash out – still struggling getting my mind around the exchange rate I took out 10,000 baht assuming that was close to 300.00 US. At the Taxi stand they seemed to be quoting a fixed rate for the ride to the hotel and Pam kept asking for a metered rate. Eventually somehow we ended up in an old beatup taxi – our bags would not fit in the trunk so the driver used bungee cords to secure them. Pam was still concerned about the price of the taxi – be

I awoke early and spent a couple hours working and on conference calls. I do not feel well – my ankle and sunburn are very uncomfortable – I would not mind a down day but I can tell that Pam is going to try to make the most of this day. We have to pack for an international flight so we get our bags together – eat the rest of our eggs and meat and I am very rushed. We drop our bags downstairs and catch a bus to the Sky Rail to Kuranda. The sky rail over the rainforest is awesome – a bit pricey but cheaper than the train and sky rail – although later a cab driver tells us the best option is to take the train up and the gondola down. We hit the village and decide against the venom zoo, koala cuddle, and butterfly zoo. This is basically a tourist village with a bunch of shopping – not my cup of tea. We do buy some Emu oil and I will try anything on my sunburn. We grab a bite and head back down. We catch a bus back to the hotel – it turns out we could have got a family pass for a lot le

Up early – eggs and meat – sun block and then we catch a cab for the Reef Fleet Terminal. The tour operator was the Australian Down Under – when we arrived there were loads of people at the terminal – I was concerned – how many were on our boat – was our reef going to be teeming with face kicking amateur snorkelists? It turned out about 90 out of a capacity of 140. The boat headed out – there were 2 stops an internal place called Hastings reef and a reef on the outer bank – not the actual wall but we could see the waves breaking against the outer reef – about 50Km's out I believe. I was concerned about Allysha – she and I listened to the snorkeling briefing and Aria and Pam decided to go to the scuba briefing. They offered and escorted dive and they were bth interested. When we were filling out the medical questionnaire I told Pam to mark no to Asthma as I knew they would not let her dive if she did. I was a little nervous and concerned about Pam's lungs and ability to r

One thing I wanted to blog about – during the Zoo snake presentation we got a lesson on how to treat snakebite in Australia. Basically, Remain Clam Do not wash the bite site Using a ace bandage, or by ripping your clothes into strips wrap from the bite site up the limb – for example if you are bitten on the hand wrap from the wrist as high as possible - to the shoulder preferably. The poison actually moves through the body via the lymphatic system so you do not have to cut off the blood – just tight enough to interfere with the lymphatic systems. Using as little energy as possible get to a hospital – if you make it within 3 hours you are very likely to recover fully. Every hospital has a test kit and they will test the bite area to determine what type of snake bit you and administer the correct anti-venin – that is why you do not wash the bite site. I got up early for some conference calls. Pam went to the market to get some groceries – she got some cereals and some meats. The girl

I awoke early and spent a couple hours working and on conference calls. I do not feel well – my ankle and sunburn are very uncomfortable – I would not mind a down day but I can tell that Pam is going to try to make the most of this day. We have to pack for an international flight so we get our bags together – eat the rest of our eggs and meat and I am very rushed. We drop our bags downstairs and catch a bus to the Sky Rail to Kuranda. The sky rail over the rainforest is awesome – a bit pricey but cheaper than the train and sky rail – although later a cab driver tells us the best option is to take the train up and the gondola down. We hit the village and decide against the venom zoo, koala cuddle, and butterfly zoo. This is basically a tourist village with a bunch of shopping – not my cup of tea. We do buy some Emu oil and I will try anything on my sunburn. We grab a bite and head back down. We catch a bus back to the hotel – it turns out we could have got a family pass for a lot le

We arrived last night and due to the lack of DST it was already dark. Picked up our bags, caught a taxi and checked into the Tropic Towers. The keeper just happened to be in the reception area, she did not know what time we were arriving but was expecting us. We carried our baggage up to the room. It is nice a full kitchen, a living room with a convertible couch a bedroom with a queen and a bathroom with washer and dryer. We should be comfortable for the next few days. There is also a broadband router with access you can rent by the hour day, 3, 5, 7 day interval. I quickly calculate that I will get it for 3 days and start it sometime tomorrow morning. We walk to a restaurant a couple blocks away – Dunwoodys . It is large, has a bar, a small gambling area with slot machines, a dining area inside and out and outside a jungle gym for children. A quick check of the prices and we decide to eat – oddly enough it is much more affordable than I first expected. I hope that it is a gene

I slept in till 6:30am today. I thought it was much later it gets light very early here. I used SMS to let Michael know I would try to call him tomorrow since I think our conversation will take a while and I do not want to spend 1.49 a minute. I hope our hotel in Cairns (I think this is pronounced Cans) has internet. We are still a couple hours from Brisbane – the girls are still sleeping but I will wake them shortly to see if they want to surf. I am finishing up charging the phones and cameras. I was going to spend a few minutes tagging photos but I just tested to see if I tag them with the windows vista photo gallery does the new flickr uploader see the tags? It does not. Just took a look at the windows live photo gallery – it sees the tags I created using the windows photo gallery and has an option to publish to flick – I will have to see if the tags are propagated when I have internet access. I am going to spend some time working now. Pam just got up. We ended up getting the contin

Up early again this morning 5am – the girls are asleep – they all seem to be having strange dreams and talking in their sleep – I try to comfort them. I too had very strange dreams about inheritances, being arrested, protecting Allysha – bizarre. I get some good work in – nice iterant connectivity – even install a huge MS SP (386mbs). Had a nice IM chat with Mick. Also spoke with Michael briefly. I wake the girls – they decide to go check out surfing options will I continue working. I try the new flickr up loader – it seems like it has hung -I hope I did not lose all the tags and edits – only 1 of the 25 uploaded – frustrating. Oops – I think I figured out what was wrong – I moved the photos from underneath the uploaded – put them back and retrying – the tags still seem to be in place – if it works I officially declare this program is awesome – to overcome that kind of operator stupidity - impressive! It worked – the new fickr uploader is now officially given the Brian Leonard **

I was up early – 5am to get some work done. I completed a conference call, emails down in the business center to avoid waking the girls. Always feel I am up against a deadline when using a time based internet connection. Got almost everything done before time ran out – hopefully I can finish the rest tonight or tomorrow AM. We packed up – ate some bubbles – a quick stop at the gift shop – loaded in the taxi and off to pick up the rental car. I thought Pam had contacted the agency to validate our reservation but she just got the address. We were supposed to pick up the car at the airport – a 45 minute cab ride away. Fortunately they were able to find a car at the current location – a very nice car – Subaru Imprezza – our luggage fit very well and we were off. A lesson learned here – we really should have had more detail regarding this car reservation – contact numbers location etc. Why it would be reserved out of the airport is a mystery to me. Anyway – we were able to get on HW