Our trip back to the States would be just as epic as the trip to OZ. We had four legs to get from Perth to Denver. The first leg was a red-eye flight from Perth to Sydney. Mom was also flying on that leg so we were able to sit together until parting ways in Sydney. Mom was continuing to Los Angeles on QANTAS while Jo and I were switching to Air Pacific Airlines via Nadi, Fiji to LAX, but first we had a 5 hour lay over in Sydney.

By Monday our time in Australia was nearing its end. We'd had many wildlife encounters, but I wasn't quite satisfied and Jo was insistent on hugging a Koala Bear, so we headed up North to Caversham Wildlife Park.

In the Tour De France rest days are scheduled to allow riders to recover from miles of racing. Saturday, Jo and I decided to take a rest day. We had been going non-stop since we got to Oz and needed a break. We slept in late and spent the day wondering around Fremantle.

After hang gliding on Friday morning there was no time to spare. Jo and I speed walked the mile walk back to the North Fremantle train station where we caught the train to Fremantle. My Mom picked us up and we drove to Beaconsfield and caught the bus to the Murdoch train station where we caught another train to Mandurah. Peggy's friends Jan and Bryn had invited us to Mandurah for lunch at their island vacation house on the Murry River.

Thursday on the train back from Perth I spotted a couple hang gliders ridge soaring the dunes in North Fremantle. They were pretty high even though the dunes didn't look very tall so the sea breeze must have been super strong. I managed to fire off a picture as the train sped by. When I revied my shot I noticed that the glider was a Moyes Lightspeed S which is a pretty high performance glider to soar on such small dunes.

After landing in Perth we enjoyed a scenic drive to my Aunt Peggy's house. She actually lives in Beaconsfield, but it close enough to call it Fremantle. The last time I saw Peggy was in England in 2004 when my Mom and I surprised her on her 80th birthday. Smiles and hugs were abound as she met Jo. Mom and Peggy had fixed us a late lunch and expected us to crash after eating. I was surprisingly energetic considering I didn't sleep much on the flights over. We enjoyed a lunch filled with laughs and stories and spent a couple hours catching up.

As I mentioned below it was a hectic weekend leading up to our departure for Western Australia on Monday, September 8th. Jo and I were busy running errands, picking up last minute items, cleaning, and getting Kate, our dog sitter, dialed. We worked right up to the last minute, making our 2 hour international check in time at Denver International (DIA) with a few minutes to spare.

G' Day Mates, how you going? After a 41 hour journey Jo and I are back in the states. It was an epic flight if there ever was one, actually it was 4 flights with 3 long layovers in 3 countries. I'll save you a long winded description of our flight home and say that:
There was a lot of this...

Tomorrow afternoon Jo and I leave for Australia. We are going to visit my Mom and aunt Peggy who lives in Fremantle, just outside of Perth WA, Australia. It's been a hectic couple weeks leading up to the trip. Tonight I've been working on finding us some bikes or surf boards in Fremantle, but other than visiting with family am unsure of what other adventures we'll have on the trip. All I can say is stay tuned for updates!

Something spectacular for everyone. That’s how I’d sum up our recent two-week trip to Slovenia. Bit of background. I’m a Seattle-based P2 pilot with 100 post-training flights at 18 different sites over the last two years since my instruction from Aerial Paragliding. This was my first non-guided/instructor supported flying trip. My partner Matt and I chose Slovenia based on the initial advise of