OFF WE GO - COME FLY WITH ME!

Qantas just recently introduced a new flight schedule from Sydney direct to Dallas, and back via Brisbane. We were on the second only such flight. If we had been on the inaugural flight we would  have had John Travolta meeting us in Dallas!

 

As you can see there is not much between Australia & the USA , just a very boring and cramped 16 hours, ( and  only 2 meals, they also ran out of bottles  of water! ) I was in agony for much of this time, the old back injury & sciatica proving the long flight to be  most uncomfortable.

But I was very excited when I first saw  land, and that land being Baja California. I was already interested in this barren and beautiful peninsula, with it's craggy islands, stunning coastline and colbalt blue & turquoise sea. The Sea of Cortez! And I knew what was down there in the sea - giant Manta Rays, White Pointer Sharks & Hammerhead Sharks, Whales,  I had seen all this and more on TV documentaries, and read John Steinbeck's  book ( The Log from the Sea of Cortez ) so Baja California has held a fascination for me.

I wanted to take photographs but alas my camera was  in my bag in the overhead locker,  and I was squashed next to two other people.  ( not Cameron - he had moved to  a roomier spot up the back )

But here is an idea of what I saw: ( these are NOT My photos )

Decent into The Lone Star State!

As we started our decent into the Lone Star State, I kept my nose firmly pressed against the window pane. I managed to get to my camera and take a few photos of what was below us - Mexico!

In the top photograph, the round darker spots appear to be crops..or maybe they are crop circles??? 

Out in the west , Texas town of El Paso, from the air. The Rio Grande, (known in Mexico as the Río Bravo) conjures up all kinds  of images of the Old West when battles were fought between Texans, Indians and  Mexicans. Bandits, Outlaws, Texas Rangers...the goodies in white, the baddies in black. ( Cue Ennio Morricone Spaghetti Western music here, as I did on my MP3 player!! )   But looking down here  from the  plane, I thought of  modern day Mexicans trying to cross over into the "Land of the Free". Border Patrol cars would be a common site later on during our trip.