The joys of packing!

We leave for Australia in less than 24 hours... so today we started the packing process. I forget how much fun it is, trying to cram all sorts of gear (kiting and climbing, for this trip) - not to mention a month's worth of clothing and personal items - into 4 bags! A couple of most excellent purchases certainly did make the ordeal much easier: a spring scale, to cut out the guesswork of the luggage weight, and some 'As Seen on TV' vacuum packing bags. Those babies work pretty slick, I must say! It is also a good thing that as of yet, we have no living room furniture in our place in Red Deer. The large, empty space is perfect for laying everything out and getting it organized.

In the end - are you ready for this - we have four kites, three bars, one pump, three boards, two wetsuits, two helmets, two lifejackets, four leashes, two kiting harnesses, two rock-climbing harnesses, a full climbing rack, a rope, quickdraws, two pairs of rock shoes... plus a kite repair kit and spare parts... and a few other miscellaneous things. This is all squeezed into three bags, and our clothing is in the fourth. **WHEW** Almost 200lbs of STUFF! Yeah!

This will likely be the last post until we arrive in the land down under... the final hurdle being the 21-hour plane ride!

Cheers!