We are home in Mitcham and this is the day after our ariival. Let me retrace our last day in the US.

We drove from Santa Monica to Manhattan and Redondo beaches, walking along the Redondo foreshore and out along the pier. Further south we drove around Palos Verdes Point and Point Vincente to Long Beach.

The Queen Mary is supposedly an iconic sight and a top ten tourist attraction for LA. I think that must have been some years ago because now it seems tired and lacking any character. The engine rooms were closed for some reason, a film crew had the run of the ship for one of those reality shows and were blocking most of the walkways so it was difficult to get a true feel for the ship.

The Long Beach location for the hotel in the Queen Mary seems a poor choice - a bit like putting a hotel in Altona for people coming to see Melbourne.

We returned to LA International Airport around 6.30pm so had plenty of time for an 11.50 departure. Arrived in Sydney a few minutes early but the Melbourne leg was late leaving so arrived in Melbourne about 40 minutes late.

Met by David and Glenda who had been redirected for parking to the long term car park as the short term was full due to some construction activity.

No jet lag; we had plenty to do getting unpacked. Andy & Hazel had collected a box of mail and the bills had to be identified. Went to bed early and had over 10 hours sleep. Doing the same again tonight should get us to normal.

And so now its back to normal - whatever that means.