Hi everyone --

Barry and I got back from Australia last night after 3 weeks' driving and birdwatching through Queensland and the Northern Territories. We had a great time and everyone -- recall we had to pull the plug on our Oz trip last year weeks before leaving when Barry was d'x'd with HNC -- was really happy to see us and see how well Barry is doing.

Lots of great experiences -- one was Barry trying to stop a 6'-high female Cassowary -- a large aggressive bird with 5" velociraptor-like claws on its feet-- from entering our cottage..Stop! No! BAD cassowary! Impression on cassowary -- zero -- so we slammed the door and then she walked around the cottage and looked in all the windows -- you have FOOD in there! Who said birdwatching was a tame sport?

On the way home, suffering through the added security restrictions, I realized that if Barry had been relying on Oral Balance liquid or gel for dry mouth, as many oral cancer patients must, these would have taken away from him and he would have had a 15-hour flight without them. They did take his water but that was easily replaced. Luckily xylitol gum works well for him as his dry mouth is not bad (and improving) but I think TSA needs to be made aware of this issue. They allow prescription products but are suspicious of OTC or unlabelled items -- no problem with our few prescription drugs but they were not happy with the supplements (in a "daily pill box" so not labelled), and only Barry's saying he is a cancer patient got them through (they did look guilty at taking his water). Just a word to the wise if you are travelling by air in the near future.

Anyway, back to piles of mail and oodles of email messages -- and dirty laundry...

Best, Gail and Barry

Australia is great, everyone very friendly and helpful. I was surprised that almost everyone drives big cars (like here) and in the Northern territories, more SUVs' than our suburbs which is saying a lot, despite their $4-5 a gallon gas prices.