Finally Wrap Up

I thought I would write one final chapter due to the number of requests I have received to find out what now.


First thing, is there anybody out there interested in doing a Kili trip followed by a safari and staying at St Jude's in Feb/Mar 2015.  If you are interested in all or even part of the trip, let me know as I am trying to organise a private trip.

As you probably already know we flew home after having three relaxing days in Dubai with the highlight being a sand dune safari and riding round the Dubai Motordrome several times on a bicycle courtesy of Joshua.

When we arrived home we were met by two of our daughters and a close friend.  The trip on the A380 was nice, but we didn't get any/much sleep.  We did consider Business Class, but at $7,000 extra decided to go cattle class.

After the first week back home I was ready to go back to work, but didn't do that until the following Monday.

Work is very much the same as what I left with the only changes being my role was made redundant - I still do the same work at the same desk with the same phone number.  They have done a restructure, and many people have left, but my observation is they shuffled the deck chairs.

I am back in to my Saturday morning hikes which started the morning after landing.

Everybody warned me about culture shock, but I didn't get any of that.

I was supposed to go to Kokoda, but that trip didn't eventuate.

Driving in Oz hasn't been too much of a problem, although I did get flashed by a speed camera in the first week so am now waiting for the picture in the mail.

After being back for two weeks we received news that one of the local staff at St Jude's had been killed in a vehicle accident.  This sad news made us want to go back to Arusha just to be with our St Jude's family.

Catching up with everybody in Oz is exhausting and the biggest problem is trying to remember who you have spoken to about the experiences so we are not repeating stories they have already heard.

Before leaving Arusha I did say I would probably only last two weeks in my old job so I have surprised myself as it is now over three weeks back at work and counting.

It is amazing to find out how many people were reading the blog that we weren't aware of, and finding out how many are now supporting St Jude's as a result what we have done.  It makes the whole thing even more worthwhile.

I haven't planned my first ski trip yet, but will have to do that soon.

What next - well we would like to volunteer somewhere closer like the Pacific islands so have started putting out some feelers.  If anybody knows of anything out there please let us know.

Thank you to you all for being part of our experience whether it was donating, visiting, writing us emails, or just showing an interest and I hope you got a sense of being there with us.

Until our next adventure.