Erik Skye Travel Blog

24 Jan 2012

For the map, click here: Google Maps – Wizard of Oz

The 14 hour flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles passed peacefully, and we arrived a few hours before we left. I always love that part. There was a beautiful young Chinese-Australian woman on the plane next to me, and I think we enjoyed conversation. I’d show you a picture of her, but I decided to give the camera a rest (or perhaps I’m being selfish on this one).

Thank you to Australia - I love you and always will. Also, thanks so much to the people I met, and in particular those who welcomed me so warmly into their worlds, such as Adie & John in Melbourne, Alex & Erin in Sydney, Phil & Donna in Port Lincoln, and Kathy & Sarah in Orroroo - you added incredible depth to my experiences.

Although I often abandoned the Wizard of Oz theme (especially near the end of the trip), I still think it worked well as an analogy. I enjoyed finding quotes out of the book that hopefully took readers to whimsical places that somehow paralleled or caricaturized the reality I was witnessing (such as when the Lion relished being in the country again as I entered the warm forests of Tasmania after being in Melbourne). I matched up some people to characters in the book too. For example Adie was the Good Witch of the North, Ned Kelly was the Tin Man, Phil’s Super Cub was a winged monkey, Alex Photopaint was the Wizard, Erin Victoria Holland was Glenda the Good, we found the Scarecrow, perhaps I was Dorothy and perhaps you were the Lion or Toto travelling with me.

I created each article with a great amount of pleasure and passion. I hope it showed. I wrote and photographed from the heart and true to myself. If nobody ever read my words or looked at my pictures, I’d still be satisfied in the simple act of self-expression. This really is like a diary that way. But I also do hope I’ve entertained and inspired you - my friends, family, and acquaintances back home and now around the world.

I used two Nikon D7000 cameras (one fitted with a wide angle 16-35mm and the other with a telephoto 70-200mm), a laptop computer, and an iPhone as my blogging tools. My power supply for all of them was a 12v to 120v inverter plugged into my car's cigarette lighter. (I forgot my USA to Australian wall power plug adapter.) Finding an Internet connection to upload each day’s photos and story was sometimes a big challenge (which was always overcome).

As I did in the epilogue for the series “Return to Oz”, I’m including in this article my favorite photos for the trip (see below).

“Dorothy now took Toto up solemnly in her arms, and having said one last good-bye she clapped the heels of her shoes three times, saying, ‘Take me home to Aunt Em!’^29 But, of course, you knew that part was coming.

That's a wrap!

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Footnotes:

29. L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz (The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1903) p. 206.