Being on the road is ALWAYS interesting… This trip more so than most, as I’ve actually been able to spend a little time with some blogfriends in Hawaii and meet one in Australia.
Farm Mom and Farm Girl from Tractor Tracks took a little trip and ended up in Hawaii the same time I was there, so we got a couple of chances to get together. They got to “enjoy” the vicissitudes of airline travel, with quite a delay getting out of Denver.
They ‘played tourist’ while we worked, and ‘claimed’ they actually went in the water, but I didn’t see it and they ‘claimed’ there were no pictures… 🙂
I did get time to give them da kine local tour of a bit of Oahu, including the North Shore, but Waimea Bay was absolutely flat. Sunset and Pipeline were running pretty good, and I think they got a picture or two. We did get out for one good meal, but no luck on seeing the green flash at sunset.
Down in Sydney, I met up with Julie from Jigsaw Thoughts; for those who haven’t read her blog, she’s a mom, computer/software consultant and instructor, and a shooter out in Western Australia. We met for dinner and I was absolutely amazed at what they have to go through to even GET a pistol much less ammunition… EBRs are a non-starter, you can’t buy a pistol, rifle or shotgun until you have the SERIAL NUMBER of the weapon for the purchase permit (which can take up to 90 days), you can’t buy ammunition unless you have your card proving you own a gun in that caliber, can’t have any pistol with a barrel less than 5 inches long, can’t have any rifle unless it’s a bolt action or single shot, and pretty much the same for shotguns. There is NO concealed carry, and also the travel restrictions are just plain nuts…
For example, if you take your weapon to the police station for updating your permit, and the gun store is next door to the cop shop, you can’t walk next door to get work done, you have to go home, then come back to the gun store to stay within the law. Also, since she flew over, she had to make damn sure there were no spent cases in any luggage, as that would have been a $14,000 fine and possible jail time FOR A SINGLE SPENT CASE!!!
And I’m not even going to go into the stuff she has to go through to get spare parts… sigh…
But she is a super nice lady, very upbeat and working hard to get more people interested, especially women in shooting. We talked about the infamous AD and the Nurse K posts, and she pointed out both her daughters 6 and 8 are shooting now. She does read a lot of our blogs, and got ‘really’ tired of all the Blogorado blog posts, mainly because she was envious of all the shooting, and couldn’t attend, or get most of the guns we were shooting…
Oh yeah, Farm Girl you no longer have the smallest hands… Julie’s hands are TINY- She shoots a single stack 1911 in 9mm because it’s the only gun she can get her hands around…
And I managed to make it though dinner without going face down in the food after 30 mumble hours with no sleep…
Speaking of which… zzzzzz
It was great seeing you in Hawaii! Thank you so much for everything. It is so much nicer when you are there with someone that has a clue about the area and can show you some of the more interesting attractions.
We made it home and now have to get back to the business of day to day life but the break was fantastic.
Hopefully at some point in the future Julie can make it over the water and can come have some shooty goodness with us!
You take care of yourself and get some sleep! The photos you asked for will be on the way today. Thanks again for playing tour guide!
NFO, it was really nice that you got to meet Julie. She’s dropped by my blog a time or two as well. Frankly, I just couldn’t put up with all the crap she has to in Australia. There are so many parallels between the US and Australia but it appears the statists won Down Under. I wonder if that would have happened to us if we’d lost the Revolution?
I have some distant relatives in Australia near Julie (Perth). Perhaps someday I’ll get to visit.
In Hawaii, man, didja see Dog the Bounty Hunter??
Dog ain’t go no teefs, and his wife has likely the biggest boobs in the Hawaiian chain.
BZ
FM- Agreed!
Crucis- Yes it was, and the parallels are scary…
BZ- Nope didn’t see Dog, and trust me she DOES NOT have the biggest ones, the Samoan women do… (insert brain scrub here)
I’m going to kick myself in my ass for not linking to Julie’s blog. Well, after I do link to Julies blog, that is. No excuse, just stupidity.
I didn’t get tired of reading about Blogarado, especially since I got to eat some of the infamous venison a week or so later. Jealous, but not tired of reading about it.
TOTW- She’s a good one!
A few bright spots in an otherwise dismal week make life better, don’t they? Glad you got to meet up with some terrific ladies!
I’m certain that the reason things aren’t much worse (not saying they won’t get worse during the next three years—OMG—three)is because our gun laws aren’t as onerous as they could be. The summer before the election Cec and I went to our local pawn shop slash gun store and got a Taurus .38 Ultra-Lite for me and actually walked out with it the same day. Seems to me when I bought one in Vegas several years ago there was a two or three day waiting period during which I expected the jack-booted BATF to beat down my door and drag me away. The experience here where we live now (notice how coy I’m being?) was so easy I went back and bought a cute little.22 after the election just because I could. No, I’m not a shooter, but I enjoy blowing the heads off mushrooms here on the hill where live. Cec shoots the copperheads with the .22 rifle because with my luck I’d miss and get bitten. Maybe I should practice more. The day may come when we need the skills for other snakes.
Welcome home, NFO
Love
Granny
Snigs- Pretty ladies ALWAYS brighten my day 🙂
Granny- Agree 100% and yes, you need to shoot more 🙂
hey now that’s not quite accurate .. i only got “tired” of the blogarado posts when they went on for THREE WEEKS after the event … 🙂