What a great holiday (vacation) I have had.
    It was so good to get back to the "backpackers" style of living to help focus on
    the satellite view of the world we live in and bond with nature. We saw a tremendous
    amount of wildlife, nature, scenery, and humanity. Australia was a great country to visit
    and experience. We were constantly amazed at how friendly, helpful and nice the people
    were. We met lots of good people from all over the world. 
     
    I want to thank everyone that helped and support me on the trip. First, I can't thank
    my parents enough for their support and encouragement. If there was just one thing I could
    pass on to my daughters, Sherry and Stacey, I would hope it could be the model or clone of
    the relationship I have with my parents. They knew how much I wanted to make this journey
    and it almost meant as much to them as it did to me. With the help of the web dispatches,
    I felt like they were on the trip with us. Jacque, my coworker was such a big help at
    work. She helped with the web setup that was necessary to make this experiment work and
    she provided guidance and tolerance over the months of planning leading up to the trip.
    Roger, my boss was also very helpful and understanding to make the long time away from all
    the duties at work possible. Andrew made us feel very welcome in his life and home and
    tolerated two old fogies very well. His knowledge of having lived in Australia for the
    past year proved very valuable to us time and again. 
    Finally I would like to thank my Sister Jane. When we were loading up our packs the
    other day one of Andrew's roommates asked, out of the blue if Jane and I always got along
    so well. Even to a stranger the special bond we have was instantly visible. How fortunate
    I am to have a sister who's love is truly unconditional. She has always been a friend,
    supporter and confidante to me and she accepts me as I am. She puts up with and works
    around my ideo-synchronies and flaws. Jane, thanks for helping to make this one of the
    great experiences of my life. I can't believe I am going back to work while your tour
    around New Zealand for three weeks.... You bum!
    For all the readers of our cybertrip, thanks for you feedback and humor. Your
 funny comments and observations made keeping up the web site
    journey fun (somewhat). Stay tuned because I may continue to post Jane's journal via email
    sans pictures. 
    G'day and God bless. Rusty