I’ll soon be off to Australia again! The last time I was there was in 1998-1999 as 
part of a six month trip to the South Pacific and Asia. You can read about that trip on my 
website, http://www.ctomberg.com. Click on "South Pacific and Asia". On that trip, I 
was traveling mostly on my own, but this time I will be going with my new girlfriend 
Christine.

	Followers of my travels will recall that in the past I traveled with my wife, Susan, 
and some astute readers have already pointed out that "Susan" is not the same name as 
"Christine". "Wasn’t your wife’s name Susan", they said after receiving an email telling 
them of my trip? "I’m confused".  Sadly, Susan and I got divorced. In fact, the divorce 
was finalized just last week. So this is a "freedom" trip as well as being about exploring a 
cool new place.

        I have been dating Christine since September, and I’m very happy being with her. 
So far, we have traveled together for a week or so here and there. Now we will be 
together for a much longer trip. You may get to hear her unique perspective in future 
travel dispatches, as she has promised to write a few of them.
       
       Christine and I will be traveling to Australia for three weeks, from February 16 to 
March 9. There will be an Aboriginal (native Australian) focus to our travels. We will be 
taking Aboriginal led tours in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, as well as in the Flinders 
Range and Yorke Peninsula near Adelaide. We will also be visiting Uluru (Ayer’s Rock) 
in the Northern Territory and taking the famous Ghan train from Adelaide to Alice 
Springs. It promises to be a full but awesome trip.
       
       Last Saturday Christine and I hosted an "Off to Australia" party that some of you 
attended. We did up my apartment with photos of Australia, stuffed Australian animals 
and Australian flags. There was Australian beer, Australian wine and Australian foods 
and treats. Sadly, the Vegemite was not well received. But the chocolates and cookies 
fared better. I remembered from my time in Australia that they have a delicacy called 
Lamingtons. This is a yummy desert that consists of a sponge cake center frosted with 
chocolate and coconut. I couldnÂ’t find it here, but I did find a recipe and Christine gamely 
tried her hand at it. It turned out great, just as I remembered it.
       
       Tomorrow we will be flying from San Francisco to Sydney. Our flight leaves at 
10:30 PM, and we get in two days later at 7:50 in the morning after a fourteen hour flight. 
We lose a day to the International Date Line now, but IÂ’m looking forward to gaining it 
back on our return. On our flight back, we will arrive home before we leave Australia!