We’ve been back from Australia for 2 weeks now so thought I had better post before I forget everything. Eleni and I flew to Brisbane via Atlanta and Los Angeles, with Christos joining us later. The flights were fine, Eleni was a great traveller but we had a terrible time with the connections and I nearly missed the flight from LA to Brisbane.
Once we got to Brisbane, Mum and Dad were there to take Eleni and I down to Mullumbimby. Unfortunately our bags and the car seat for Eleni got delayed so we had to borrow a car seat from Qantas. They turned up the next day minus several things in my bag which had been stolen including our new video camera which had all the footage of Eleni and the house from Feb this year. Not a great start.
Anyway, the first two weeks were spent between Mummumbimby and Sunshine Coast where we stayed with Tony and Julie, and also saw David and Jane, plus Lana, Zoe and Jake. Whilst there, we did a Frozen Embryo Transfer from our IVF cycle in 2004. After two weeks of waiting the result was a negative. We started with 3 frozen embyros and 1 did not survive the thaw so there was just one left for another attempt.
Christos arrived in early June and he too, had connection difficulties. He actually missed his flight to Australia and arrived a day late (fortunately nothing stolen from his bags). After a couple of days in Mullumbimby we drove down to Port Macquarie to see Anne, Mark and their children, Mat, Alex and Helena. Eleni just loved it there. Not only do they have a dog (her favourite animal), she also got the devoted attention of her cousin Helena. Christos got to meet Anne for the first time and we also took Eleni to see her first, real, live Koalas and Kangaroos at a nearby wildlife sanctury.
After this it was back to Mullumbimby where my good friend Kristin was able to pay us a visit. It was so nice to see her again – she never changes and as well as catching up on news and gossip we managed to go for a horse-ride. As usual Kristin was the game one – happy to ride around at a fast canter. Poor Eleni cried as I rode off (walking pace) and all I could hear as we left was “Mama, Mama”.
We then went onto the Sunshine Coast again where we caught up with Tony, Julie and David which was great. We also managed to get 3 nights up in Noosa staying at the Noosa Blue Resort which is where we stayed in 2004. Being winter, it wasn’t swimming weather but Eleni got some nice play time in the sand. We also did my personal favourite walk – from Noosa to Dolphin Point where Christos proposed in 2004. This time we had Eleni with us which was just the best thing as last time I was pregnant with her (although I did not know it at the time). We also saw some koalas in the trees as we walked the track.
We did another Frozen Embryo Transfer then it was back to Mullumbimby for Mum’s 71st birthday. Next thing we were boarding a plane in Brisane for the flight back which was uneventful until the final section. The last leg was from Cincinatti and was meant to take 56 mins. Unfortunately we stuck a severe thunderstorm over Charlottesville airport and had to be diverted to Richmond. There we hired a car and drove home. We should have been home at 9.30pm, instead it was 1.30am.
As a final note, the last embryo transfer did not work either so we are very sad about that. Still we had a great time in Australia and have some fantastic memories (plus a tonne of photos). Eleni got to go to her other home too which we think she really quite likes.
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