TULSA to SYDNEY 3rd Nov to 3rd Dec 06

 Reggie & Joey left me at a library for Ruth & Dennis to collect me later, after they finished work, and I had a chance to catch up on my emails. The next day I was taken to The Brown Mansion in the State of Kansas, for a bit of USA History! It was an interesting building, showing how things use to be. It was really lovely meeting Ruthie (Piglet!) after known her for about 6 years of chatting etc in various Yahoo groups. She really is the genuine person I thought she was. It was good to get to know her good man, Dennis too. Time was only in too short a supply and I left with the feeling that it would have been good to have stayed longer, but my journey and Ruthie’s work dictated otherwise. I do hope that this won’t be the ONLY meeting. There seemed so much more to talk about. I returned to Oklahoma City to catch an early morning train to Benson in Arizona. This was via the short journey to Fort Worth and then rejoining the train from Chicago to LA via San Antonio and my stop at Benson. I get to meet extraordinary people on the train too. On this short journey I met a lady taking care of two beautiful American Native children. We had a good chat on the journey. At the dead of night the train stopped at San Antonio for 5 hours to be disjointed, part returning to Chicago, the rest rearranged and then joined to part of another train from the South of the States. Eventually the other train arrived and we left an hour late. Here I met an other lovely person, a 70-year-old lady, we had a good chat for hours on this train. Eventually after crossing south Texas bush country (the small & prickly kind!) we arrived at Benson station and I was the ONLY one getting off at 11.30 pm! Here I was met by Jess & her lady friend Carmen. It was GREAT to see my longest known Internet friend again. We stayed at a hotel in Tombstone. Tombstone is one of those towns that has preserved it’s past by staying almost unchanged since Wyatt Erp’s days in the 1880s. The shops and the people, were often, all in the clothes of that time. We had a photo scene taken of the three of us in 1880’s costume! We watched the re-enactment of the famous Wyatt Erp Shootout (presented daily in the open air theatre!) and at night till 2 am we were taken on a ghostly tour of this town frozen in time. The 2 days went by TOO quickly! (As it seems most of my meetings were, LOL). The next excitement was provided by Amtrak telling me that my train from Benson at 10.25 pm was to be 4 hours late! Poor Jess & Carmen very kindly stayed up and saw me to the un-manned station in order to get me to the train on time lol! THANKS SO MUCH you kind ladies. SMILES. With the train 4 hours late, and very unlikely to catch up, I was worried about my connection! But Amtrak had a plan! We were taken off the train at Palm Springs instead of LA, and whisked to Bakersfield in time to resume my journey as planned to arrive in San Francisco area ON TIME! Here I met Kami, the only other Internet friend I had previously met before, several years ago, when she was with her parents and Dilys & I took them round London for a day. Kami is now a knowledgeable Music student at university, training to be a music teacher. I was met by Kami & her B/F who seemed VERY nice and I stayed with them in Stockton in their flat. Another strange day followed after Kami taking me to a university Concert of Stravinsky and a day in the country near a rather low lake, one of Kami’s favourite spots. On the Monday I joined Kami in her typical days teacher training and her lectures at University! At the primary school I was invited to talk to her class about my trip, words in USA & UK, and the Beatles! It was lovely to see how well kami had developed in to this confident student teacher in training. Also it was great to meet her B/F. On Nov 14th I went back by train to LA and stayed at a hotel in the centre, found a lovely veggie café and had a delicious salad. LA was a great deal warmer than San Francisco, and thus in Shorts & T shirt I met the enigmatic SLT, who was with a friend. We had a lovely time at a salad bar and later at the beech, where I walked into Pacific for the first time! Oh and how short was the time we had….. (Another lovely friend was SLT). Returning to San Francisco was another journey of interest, first there was a Kim (Burns) look alike with whom a small group on the train got talking about many interesting subjects, then as the paid for journey did not get me to the airport hotel I was staying at, the driver VERY KINDLY took me, in the bus, just for me, to my hotel. Showing that there are a whole lot of good and helpful people in this world. It was several miles out of his way. My flight to Buenos Aires was via Fort-Worth/Dallas and though the first part was late we managed to catch the connection. My first ever venture into a country that I knew not the language, ON MY OWN! At the airport early in the morning there well spotted was I by Lisa’s Dad, who works at the airport. He very kindly guided me through all the various checkpoints and customs etc and then I met my very dear old Internet friend Lisa. It was such a great pleasure meeting her and her parents and brother, and later her fiancé. Lisa’s English is VERY good, and it was a great pleasure to really meet her after all these years. The long drive to their home was an eye-opener to how varied is the life in Argentina from rich to very poor. It happened to be Lisa’s brother’s 18th birthday a few days ago and thus he had a party on my arrival! This went on a long time till about 4am! The next day Lisa took me into the City centre by train and bus, and viewed several historical buildings, and saw a tango display! On the way back on the last bus I fell (The bus lurched forward & sideways suddenly) and was knocked out for a minute or two as I hit my left chest on the pole and woke up gasping for breath, and a bad bruise in my ribs. Arnica cream and tablets were taken and during the night hot & cold compresses were applied to the bruise. This was the second disaster on my arrival in Argentina, though the disaster occurred elsewhere, in USA. I pulled out my camcorder case to show them my precious camcorder and found it was no longer in its case, and nowhere else either. The worst part was the card had about 200 photos on since a long time ago, and are lost forever. I hope my friends have got their copies of photos taken at the same time, so I can complete my collection. The next day I made my stir-fry for the whole family, also a failed chocolate cake, which was found to taste good, even though it had sunk! I beat Lisa in a strongly fought game of Chess after 2 hours! A third disaster occurred on the Wednesday, when Lisa had taken me to a riverside picnic place to enjoy the quietness and freshness away from the city. When inside a shop on the station someone stole Lisa’s wallet containing not only money but also her important identity card, amongst other important stuff. Lisa was naturally very upset, and especially when we found out that the Police would not do anything about it, as it was not taken by force, but by skilled pickpockets. That evening Lisa was singing in the Music School’s concert, which I thoroughly enjoyed. This brought us back to feeling more cheerful. My last full day was with Javier joining us in Buenos Aires city for the lovely meal in a veggie restaurant, and a walk in a rose garden. All in all it was great meeting Lisa, her family, and her fiancé (Javier) and many of Lisa’s friends. The last morning Ernesto (Lisa’s dad) took us into the airport for a final farewell. I just hope that I will meet once again Lisa & Javier when they visit England. The flight to NZ was first to Santiago in Chile, where I had to wait 11 hours for my main flight to Auckland NZ So I could say I have been to Chile! Saturday 25th Nov never existed in my diary as we crossed the International Date Line that day (See my poem on that!) On the 26th I arrived in Wellington at 9.30 am, found the hire car and made my way to Palmers ton North, where I was enthusiastically greeted & hugged by Rhiannon.  That night I made my stir-fry again for Rhiannon & Her mum, which they seemed to enjoy (Especially her mum). This was now the 5th continent that I have cooked my stir-fry in! Sadly my stay in Palmers ton North was curtailed, even though all I was wanting to do was bring laughter and happiness to my friend, Rhiannon, as it had seemed to have done on my first day there. I went on a two-day trip to the sulphurous hot springs and geysers (one of the things I most wanted to see in NZ),  I wish Rhiannon all the best.

The next day I returned to Wellington and found a lovely motel, and the next day I met my third Zorpian, Madam Boo. We had a wonderful day in the Te Papa Museum, and a nice meal not far away. Later I was taken to Boo’s home and met her two youngest children and their father. I could not have asked for a better end to my New Zealand trip. The next day I flew out of Wellington to a rainy Sydney (Australia) to stay with my long-term friend Arun and his lovely wife Jayshree. I first met Arun in my University days 1963/4 at Swansea University.