Florida and the Visa

Friends,

I just returned from 2 great trips. A friend, Kam Sisco, and I spent Memorial day weekend in San Fransisco. We had a GREAT time visiting the Castro, Haight Ashbury and Chinatown districts.

When I returned home I got some news about my visa to Australia. We all know that dealing with governments can be a real hassle. So I found out I need to complete a full physical and have that submitted to the Australian immigration officials before they'll authorize a 457 work visa. There are only 2 doctors in Oregon certified to do this testing and I have an appointment on Monday June 16th to get this done. It will them 2 to 3 weeks to get all the test results back and send it to the Australian immigration officials. 4 to 6 weeks after that I should have a visa. Where I can then buy my airline ticket to leave. So my departure date is looking more like early August then June 30th like I'd hoped. The good news I get to spend summer here in Oregon and leave as spring is coming to Melbourne.

From June 3rd until June 12th I was in Fort Lauderdale and Key West. I spent 10 days with the fabulous Tony. He showed me all around South Florida including South Beach in Miami (the place were "the Birdcage" was filmed). I got to play my saxophone on Fort Lauderdale beach at night. The waves crashing at my feet and the stars above. We spent 4 days in Key West at Big Ruby's all male resort. The Keys were a place neither of us had been and both had wanted to go. We wandered around the shops, caught a beautiful sunset, went to the southern most point in the US, and saw Earnest Hemingway's house. We also took a all day tourist excursion were we snorkeled, jet skied and tandem para sailed over the islands. Of course I had to play the saxophone here too and managed to find a very secluded spot on Smathers beach and play way out on a rock levy with the ocean crashing all around me.

Now I'm back in Oregon waiting to get the medical tests completed and jump through the hoops of the Australian government. Most of my things are packed and ready to go. Over all my life is good. I'm just in a limbo state waiting for my new life in Melbourne to begin.

As soon as I know more specific details about my departure date I'll let you all know.

Brian