Interest Rates Climb as the Federal Reserve Board Grants Leave

It's true. Americans and Aussies alike have taken quite an interest in my plans for a voyage OVER the ocean to Oz. I have managed to track down quite a number of friends down under, thanks to Google, and now must prepare to give a full accounting of my life since I left Aussie in 1989-90 (the first time I left, that is).

Kudos to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, who has granted me leave for the month. Taking a month off as a contractor and having a job to come back to is no small feat. At least, not for an American. The rest of the civilized world (and I include Australia here) has the good sense to provide adequate vacation time to the proletariat.
Here's the itinerary so far (Be fore-warned, it is a bit circuitous. But it's still faster than sailing!):
Depart Washington DC Sun, 22 April at 11:00.
Arrive St. Louis 12:05
Depart St. Louis 12:45
Arrive LA 14:50
Depart LA 21:05
Arrive Melbourne (via Auckland) Tue, 24 April at 08:20
Depart Melbourne 10:00
Arrive Sydney 11:20
Collapse in a heap at 12:00 (Thanks to Marcie and Coca Cola, I'll be able to collapse in a heap in grand style at the Quay Grand Suites at Circular Quay in Sydney.)
The return trip to the US is a bit more straight forward. Currently I am due to depart Sydney for LA on Fri, 25 May at 09:45, then on to DC, due to arrive at Dulles at 16:25.

Just writing the itinerary is exhausting! Can't wait to see what happens throughout the rest of the trip. So far, my plans are still in flux. I plan to stay in Sydney for about a week and then take the bus down to Bermagui by way of Heathcote. That will put me in range of Canberra should I connect with CMDR and Mrs. Georgelin, who provided me, quite literally, shelter from the storm (a cyclone, actually) after I jumped ship in Micronesia.

I will attempt to post to the blog while in Australia in an effort to keep everyone up to date on my whereabouts, and to track interest rates as the voyage progresses.

Post script: I received a call from Steve last night. Seems he found the charger for the handheld GPS I loaned him. I think he's offering it up in return for the mast cover I took off Victory to clean. Actually, I left the clean mast cover with Tad some time ago. So now all bets are off on whether I'll get the charger before I leave for Australia. Tad said something to the effect that Steve got the union involved in his case to get the year off, and ended up, possibly, with a month or two later this year or next. Tad seems to think there's an ocean voyage to Europe in the making. I'm not holding my breath. And I am not renting my house any time soon!