I did go to Australia and I have proof!

Low Isles, about 30 minutes off the coast of Australia near Port Douglas. You can snorkel right off the beach. Several tour groups anchor off the coast and send their charges via glass-bottomed boat to the beach where we don equipment and hit the reef - - not literally!



So many fish, so little time to see and snap them all! Went snorkeling at the Low Isles on my birthday. How fun!



Raise your hand if you spotted the GIANT clam in the upper right corner of this somewhat hazy underwater photo.



Breaky with a view. Does it get any better than this? 9am Monday at the Soul 'n' Pepper in Port Douglas.




Not the average souvenirs at Market Day in Port Douglas, no sir!



Aboriginal paintings at Nourlangie Rock. Very interesting tour all around.



What a beautiful little instrument of death, huh?



Sunset at the Wharf in Darwin. I watched the sun rise in Port Douglas and it setting in the Northern Territory. Life's pretty good.



If you don't know this building, you seriously need to get out more.



This was my view from my apartment at the Archipelago in Port Douglas. Is there any question as to why I abandoned the crappy weather in Sydney to go back there?



Despite the loud screeching and 100-mile-an-hour rocketing past my balcony, I really loved these guys.



Market Day in Port Douglas brings out vendors in all shapes and sizes, even those bearing no trinkets to sell. If you have hands, you're a customer.



I'm taking my row boat and going home!



You can keep your drive-through liquor stores, I'll take the belly-up-to-the-counter type.



Can't get much fresher than buying the just-picked produce at Market Day.

If you want to see more photos, go to www.mjs.smugmug.com

First awkward steps back into reality

I walked out of the elevator and tried to remember which key fits the deadbolt on the door of the condo I've owned in Chicago for more than six years. It felt weird coming home after almost a month in Australia. I'd really immersed myself into life there and now I didn't know what to expect.
Dropping my bags in my living room, I walked to the kitchen and tentatively open the refrigerator like you would after a friendly host tells you to "just make yourself at home." Nothing much to eat.
Where to start? Since Thanksgiving is a postal holiday, I knew I wouldn't have mail waiting for at least a day or two and laundry could wait.
Too tired to think about getting anything done, I got ready for bed. Couldn't for the life of me remember how to turn on the bedside lamp and thank God I didn't have to set an alarm.
Woke up in the middle of the night and knew I had to pee. Muscle memory took me to the bathroom, but I really wasn't surprised to find myself fumbling around on the top of the toilet tank for the half-button to flush. (We have a lever on the side.)
This is home, huh?

Going 'home'

SYDNEY, AU - -I've got a little bit of time before the shuttle comes to take me to the airport to fly back to Chicago. I should say 'back home', but it's getting harder and harder to leave Australia because it feels so much like home to me. I guess seven visits in as many years will do that, huh?
Of course, in a bit of finger-wagging, Mother Nature has given me a very beautiful day to leave. Jeez! Couldn't it rain or be windy or something like that? Even the infamous Australian flies aren't bothering me today.
I must say, I did have a nice sendoff last night with two German colleagues who are doing business in Sydney this week. We had a nice dinner and then moved up to the Horizon bar on the 36th floor of the Shangri-La hotel for drinks. What was really the perfect ending for the evening was when we downshifted to the Observer Hotel (really casual local place) and heard some nice live music. My colleagues saw a bottle of whiskey that looked interesting and decided to try it. Turns out, Slate whiskey is from Chicago!

Last day in paradise

PORT DOUGLAS,AU - - I've just finished my last breakfast at the Soul 'n' Pepper. Okay, you caught me, I ordered a strawberry smoothie as dessert after brekky simply because I didn't want to leave yet. Nothing like a 2-hour breakfast to start your last day off right.
There was something about the bright orange flowers on a nearby tree set up against the backdrop of a fresh green coconut palm and a baby blue sky that made me want to pack a bag and move right in.
As you may have guessed, now the melancholy has started to set in.
My flight to Cairns leaves tomorrow morning at the ungodly hour of 5am! On Wednesday, I fly back to Chicago. Back to a reality that has nothing I want in my life (okay, maybe my family...and the Cubs, but that's about it).
As abrupt as the hemispheric change will be, I guess it's a good thing that I'm spending one day in Sydney before leaving for Chicago. I don't expect it to be warm, but it certainly won't be freezing like my home. Long pants? Yes. Gloves? No.
When I get home, I think I'll start planning my next trip. How many days till Spring Training starts?