They say "Never have regrets.."

After leaving Pai we took a bumpy 3 hour journey to a larger city Chiang Mai...we had some time to kill so we went to the famous, or infamous, Tiger Kingdom to play with tigers. This is where I make a huge mistake. I REGRET MY ACTIONS AT TIGER KINGDOM. There I said it. Here is the story...

We get to the Kingdom and there are a few options for you to choose...you can "play" / lay down and take pictures, with small, medium and large tigers...all at different prices. I choose small, I assume I will be cuddling atleast 4 baby tigers and they will crawl all over me and I will have the "coolest" pictures. My friend Stewart chooses smallest as well, I think he did this for safety reasons, but I could be wrong! Jill, Condon and Wayne chose medium tigers, at a cheaper price, I am curious why smaller tigers are worth more, I assume its because they are better, IT MUST BE BECAUSE THEY ARE BETTER! (I was wrong).

After we pay up, we walk through the kingdom and can see all the tigers in their cages. The medium tiger was ready for its "photo shoot" so Jill, Condon and Wayne went in and their 15 minutes of tiger fun started. I watched with envy as this huge tiger is being forced to lay down and then Jill gets to lay down on its back and take pictures. It wasn't all fun and games either, there was the danger aspect. The Thai men handling the tigers were constantly hitting them with sticks, clucking at it, having you move back from the tiger. Its like they casually knew it was thinking about attacking...I COULD BE WAY WRONG about all this danger talk...But I think it was a risky move to play with tigers. Soon I was ready for my turn...

Stewart and I walk toward the baby tigers. We get to their cage and it is empty. I am thinking...yes, thats right! More tigers for ME. We get in the cage with them and i'm a little confused because there are only 2 baby tigers in the damn cage. The first one I see just stares at me and runs away...the other one is worthless, sleeping in the corner. I think to myself, time to wake it up! But the minute it opens its baby eyes all it does is run away from me and Stewart and play with the other tiger. The front desk told me I would have 15 minutes to play and take pictures with the tigers...but all I am getting is 15 min. worth of chasing two uninterested tigers around a cage that is WAY TO BIG for ONLY 2 tigers....The tigers would not even sit still long enough to let me hold them and get a decent picture.

I dont know how long we got to hang out in the cage, but it was too long. I was bored out of my mind. I think Stewart enjoyed it...or he is lying because he knows we made a mistake. Looking back, it was tragic. I should have gone for the gold, and layed down with a king size tiger. Much cooler than some baby tigers wrestling eachother. So do you know what I have to do? I have to go back to Tiger Kingdom and get what I deserve...a picture of me laying down on a humongous tiger. And it will be cheaper this time....always a plus.

Updates

What have I been up to? I haven't posted since September...WOOPS

I'll tell ya what I have been doing.

In October I was enjoying being back in Melbourne. The weather was slowly getting better...the sun was coming out! I was working at the Stroke Foundation as well as occasionaly doing hospitality work. I celebrated Halloween in major style as a Captain Jack esque type pirate. We had a big halloween house party which was also a farewell party to everyone living in it...the sharehouse was going to be demolished and we all had to move! Our bizzare landlord just magically had a new house for us all to move into. It was a big house...and he is very 'crafty" and knows how to turn a 2 bedroom room into a 4 bedroom room. You get the deal...he crams people in and demands lots of $$$. Oh the new house had a pool as well...his major selling point. WHAT A CREEP...time to bail!

But now I am in November. Do you know what I do now??????????? I decide to store most of my stuff at friend's houses and go to South East Asia. I tell the National Stroke Foundation that I am leaving for a bit and they say I can have my job back when I return. Perfect. So all of a sudden I am on a 9 hour flight to Bangkok with Jill and another friend, Stewart. We arrive in Bangkok and spend 3 days buying CHEAP CRAP, but I loved the cheap crap. We also met up with Condon and Wayne, a friend from Darwin. One day we decided to get out of the busy city and go to Ayutthaya...the old Thai Capital. We spent the day bike riding around looking at ruins and old temples.

Our next move was to go north to Pai. A little hippy town with lots of places to explore. I loved Pai! There was a night market everynight with food stands, jewelry, clothes, etc. Everything! One night I bought a bracelet from a guy named Boy. He was big into stones..my bracelet has a labrodite stone and I guess it is supposed to help and heal headaches...or something. That Boy...he really sold me! The major highlight was our scooter/motor bike rentals that we kept the entire time as our own personal vehicles. 100 baht a day...that is like 3 or 4$ a day! So we drove all around Pai, out of the little city and up the mountains to waterfalls and tiny villages. We rode along a back road where there were a lot of elephant camps as well as hot springs.

We pulled our scooters over at an elephant camp and decided to not only ride the elephant but also swim with them as well. The lady said it was really fun...and pointed to pictures of other people who were in the water with these huge elephants. She was right...it did look fun. SO WHY NOT? Stewart and I got on one elephant, Condon and Wayne were on another elephant. Each elephant was led by an old Thai guy. We think these men were high on drugs, we know one of them snorted something on our walk. But hey, too late now, we are all on these big elephants walking down a road being passed by cars. So we walk on, for a long time it seems...then we are walking down a hill and I see water. It looks pretty dirty, but like I said, its too late. So our elephant creeps towards the water and we are on the edge, about to go in. But I can tell he really doesnt want to get in! Condon's elephant practically jumps in and then just lays down in the water. This causes Wayne and Condon to fall off and the water is rushing pretty hard so they are struggling to get abck on the elephant. After our thai guy changes into his bathing suit...he pulls our elephants ear for a solid minute and we are in the water and our elephant looks suicidal as it just falls to its side into the water. Stewart and I fall off and struggle getting back on the thing. The thai guys continue making the elephants lay down in the water, we continue "swimming with them" aka falling off and having to climb back on. I literally laughed the entire time. If you want to know exactly how it happened I can literally show you because the whole time we were being taped and we have a DVD of this adventure.

Pai was a great 4 days! Our last night we went to a half moon party in the jungle. A real jungle you ask??? Im not 100% sure...But it was really far away from town, really dark, lots of trees, etc. so how was I to judge whether it was a true jungle. But having a party in the jungle was a great way to leave Pai.

More SE Asia stories to come....

Cha Chingg

Got a job. It was practically effortless. Which is RARE... Prime Example:

In Darwin, I thought I was going to have to live in the gutter. I was searching for jobs and willing to take anything. I caught wind of a bar needing a "dish bitch" and I sprinted to claim the role,only to realize a French guy had just got the job. I then gave them my resume to keep on file and said to write "dish bitch" on it, just in case the Frenchie didn't work out. Now that was a low point.

All of a sudden my job luck has changed being back in Melboure. I met with a recruiter and I am now the Receptionist / Administrative Assistant at the National Stroke Foundation. The foundation builds awareness and provides support to the community, people who have suffered from stroke, and families who have lost someone due to stroke. I am sure I will become more knowledgable with time. But I smell resume builder. I mean it builds up my resume better than "Waitress, Ducks Nuts Restauraunt, July - August 2010, Darwin, NT" Note : I felt I needed to clarify on my resume that Ducks Nuts was a restaurant, that is a sign I should remove it immediatley.

So now I can actually pay for that gym membership...However, I am now ignoring my personal trainer's texts. I'll contact "smash it" Dan when I'm good and ready. So that is the latest, yay me

Back in Melbourne!

Back in Melbourne! It feels great to be out of a van and back in a city! So much going on, so many things to do! Just the other day I joined a fancy gym. I'm a member! The trainers are such salesmen...it all worked on me. How dare they swindle me out of my small amount of money. Hello... I am a backpacker and I do not even have a job yet in Melbourne.

I think it was all the time in the van that made me feel really lazy and inactive. Time to get back to an active lifestyle. The plan is to get fit and make it worth my money. Summer is around the corner in Australia so I have motivation. Plus I bought a package where I get three sessions with a personal trainer to figure out my bioage (scary!) and then to go over goals and how to meet those goals. Should get good and interesting. I get my money back if i workout atleast once a week for 12 weeks...i told you, such salesmen.

A funny thing is I will have to figure out all of the conversion rates for pounds to kilos, miles to kilometers, etc. Otherwise my goals will be all out of whack. Ill keep you updated on my progress. So far I have worked out once since joining... I need to start "smashing it"
according to my future personal trainer, Dan.

Like I said, this will get good.

West Coast Trip in Review...The Basics

We left Darwin, the very northern part of Australia, and traveled around 5,000 kms all the way down the west coast to Perth. Guess how many maps we needed...none! We literally used the basic australia map in the back of our Lonely Planet Australia guide book. That was it! Mind you I cannot get 200 miles from Salem to Miami of Ohio without printing out a map quest...but I made it around half of Australia just fine!

The first few days of traveling we were still in Northern Territory in an area they call the Kimberleys. It was too bad we did not have 4WD because the Kimberleys consist of high mountain ranges, deep gorges, etc. So it was very treacherous driving that we were not willing to risk in our van. Speaking of our van, It was decorated with an aboriginal painting down the sides. I think it was a painting of a lizard. On the back of our van it read, "If you can't race it or take it to bed, it's not worth having". The van company insists on writing these dumb sayings on the back of all the vans, but based on comparisons with other vans, we were lucky to have that saying! We had lots of stares from people on the road, probably because they were so envious... My favorite thing would be when we were hanging out in our van, and someone outside would start taking pictures of our van, not knowing we were in their watching them. Note: the van had very tinted windows. Overall I loved the van! But back to the basics, we had to pass by the Kimberleys (only 4wd accessible) so we drove straight for the first few days to get to Western Australia, WA!

Oh yes, on our second day driving we ran out of gas on the highway! Woops! We were still getting used to the Australian highways and figured they were similar to America where there is gas, excuse me petrol, every 100 miles atleast. But here in Australia everytime you see a petrol station you pretty much need to fill up. Especially if you are at half a tank or less! Well again did not get the memo so we do end up running out of gas. It was so painLESS! We flagged a car down who said we should look for caravans, or people towing boats or mobile homes because they usually travel with extra petrol. Oh he also said "you have to fill up in this country"... Oh gee thanks, sir, for that hot tip. But he was right because after flagging down about 6 more people, who all pulled over so easily because everyone in Australia loves helping out, they also like getting all the details..."Where are you headed? Where are you from? How long you here?" Etc. But a man pulled over, he was towing a dirt bike, and he had just enough petrol to allow us to cross into WA and find a petrol station. Success!

Throughout the 3/4 weeks we slept mostly in our car and sometimes in our tent. By the end of the trip we were pros in setting up our tent and making our car bed...we got into quite a routine. Where did we sleep? Where did we park our van overnight? The answer is so vast and various! It depended on whether or not we were still on the highway, in a town, close to our destination, etc. But sometimes we slept in designated Parking/Camping areas which were along the highway. Other times in caravan parks, residential areas, or even in a few front yards of people we met along the way. Traveling is so common in Australia, not only among foreigners/ backpackers (like us) but with retired couples. The Aistralians call them "grey nomads". These grey nomads trade in their house for a mobile home/caravan which comes with a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, tv room, etc. I only ever peeked inside these homes, but they were set up! So due to all the travelers, along the highway as well in towns, people cater to our needs. They even offer free coffee for the driver in many gas stations!

We were on a strict eating and sleeping schedule as well. Basically sun goes down, we go to bed, sun comes up, we are awake. When driving we would have to pull over and find our sleeping spot at around 4:30/5 because we would need to make dinner while the sun was still up! Sometimes that plan didn't always work but luckily we each had a head lamp that we all could use to get dinner prepared.

Note: When I say dinner, I mean a mix of dry food options because we did not have a refrigerator in our van. Just a cooler, or as they say here, an esky. So food consisted of noodles, canned soup, tuna, canned chicken (surprisingly good!), fruit, peanut butter and jelly, and granola bars! Yeah I know, I was roughing it!

So there are the basic details of my trip. However the best details are the sights we saw and the people we met as we traveled the 5,000 ks. We saw beautiful beaches, endless red dirt, remote national parks, tiny one street towns, and again lots of red dirt. We met travelers as well as locals, and everyone had great tips on places to go and things to do. My stories won't do these places justice so I will be posting pictures soon to share! Stay tuned! Love and miss you all!

The Best of Darwin

I left! But here are the highlights of my 7 weeks in Darwin!

Work
I seriously loved my many and various jobs. I worked at Darwin Convention Centre, Darwin Cup Carnival, Darwin Sailing Club, and Ducks Nuts restauraunt. Between my jobs I was a bartender, waitress, and part of a "bump in" crew where I set up and teared down for various events. Somehow I was able to work between the jobs and have full weeks of work. I actually enjoyed the jobs...maybe it's because I only worked for 6 weeks. Ha isn't that amazing! I ultimately loved the jobs because I was able to make enough money to finally do our west coast trip!

Darwin Cup Carnival ...horse races!
Working at the Darwin Cup was my favorite job. It lasted from July 3 til August 2 with races every Saturday as well as certain races during the week. Every weekend I would go to the Darwin Turf Club and spend the day behind the Brinney bar in the Grand Stand. It was fun because the same people came to the races each week so I got to know many of the members who always made the days interesting. The members were fun but the best ones were the people I worked with. The staff was a mixture of full-time and casual workers (like me). We were all working on the same schedule, atleast during the weekends, so after work we would all get together which was always fun.

These get togethers bring me to another Darwin highlight...

Darwin Nightlife
More specifically...Deck Bar Happy Hour followed by Kitty O'Sheas Irish Pub and The Tap fishbowls.Every Friday and Sunday one of the many Darwin bars, Deck Bar, would hold a happy hour from 5-7 with 4$ pints. So on many Sunday nights would start at Deck Bar and then end up across the street at Kittys. Which usually had live music and was also where Condon worked! Score! Free drinks! Just kidding, she would never?Another great hang out was at the Tap Bar, which was home to fishbowls which came in many flavors and mixes. Every night there was something to do, so I was always kept entertained.

Mindle Beach Market
Darwin wasn't just about night life... Every Thursday and Sunday you could go to the Mindle Beach Market. The market had all types if food...Mexican, Thai, Chinese, "roadkill" where they had kangaroo, crocodile, and other Aussie cuisine, and a great selection of Seafood just to name a few choices. The market also had stands which sold clothes, jewelry, and other knick knacks. Finally there was musical entertainment, a didgeridoo player, who sounded like electonica type
ish music because their was a drummer with him. Really cool to listen to. I loved going to the market because after walking around, you could go to the beach and watch the sun go down. Darwin had the best sunsets!

Wicked Upgrade
No I'm not trying to sound like I'm from Boston and say wicked. The van company, Wicked, upgraded us from a three person van to a five person van. Which they should have! As you know we came to Darwin to pick up a van and travel but that plan crashed and burned. However
Wicked and our pathetic travel company booked us for an automatic van, to be picked up in August. Well August came and no one called us to tell us there was no such thing as a three person automatic van. Liars! But after some serious phone calls invloving lots of disappointment on our part, wicked upgraded us to accomodate our needs and keep our business. Good thinking Wicked!

Litchfield National Park
We picked up our van on Wednesday and that same day took a pre road trip to Litchfield National Park. It was about a 2 hour drive from Darwin. It was Jill, Sarah, myself and two boys Sarah worked with at Kittys. It was a cool park with lots of swimming holes and waterfalls. We spent two days seeing the sights and learning how to camp...haha we learned how to build a fire, set up our tent, and even got some cooking ideas. The two boys were very big woodsmen! It was a taste of what was to come when we would leave Darwin and travel down the west coast for 3 weeks.

Fishing trip
As a last hoorah in Darwin, right after Litchfield, I went on a spur of the moment fishing trip. I went with Lucy (who I worked with at the Turf Club), Lucy's friend Scott, the true fisherman and Jill.

We went about 2 hours away from Darwin and fished from 9am til 2 pm. We did not catch a single fish...Scott did actually catch one but threw it back. You are probably thinking what an awful trip...but you are wrong! All day long we saw crocodiles everywhere. Basking in the sun on the edge of the water, in the water next to our boat, in the marshes! Everywhere! It was so cool and also pretty scary at times! They are huge and look so lazy! However, at one point our boat beeped which caused the croc to come tearing into the water after us! They really do move quick. So no fish...but lots of crocs! It was an appropriate ending to Darwin, known for crocs. (see below, typical newspaper headline)

Western Australia here we come!

Fireworks Came Early This Year!

July 1st was a big day! For one thing, it marks Territory Day. Which is basically July 4th for the Northern Territory. For only this one day each year, you can buy and shoot off fireworks. So there were people lighting off fireworks, EVERYWHERE, which was kind of scary. As the major attraction there was a big fireworks show at one of the beaches, Mindil Beach. Weirdly though it was high tide, and it's not like you can stand in the water (crocodiles on the prowl), so the beach filled up really quickly and I ended up standing on top of the dunes having a pretty good view.

July 1st also was move in day to our Darwin Sharehouse! I was thrilled to be getting out of our hostel, which had too many rules and took too much of my money! After work I grabbed all my stuff and started the journey to Stuart Park, a little residential area about a 20 minutes walk to the city, or a 5 minute bus ride. Now I have a place to call "home"! It is nice being able to sit and watch tv, even if we only have 3 or 4 channels! Also I have wireless Internet again, Skype session? Anyone?

I must say, our house is hilarious because it has a lot of Asian influences, starting with:

Julia, our Chinese landlord. I thi k she is great...but she is very hard to understand, and it takes a lot of "what?", "sorry can you say that again", and of course smiling and nodding, to figure out what she is saying. As we paid our first weeks rent and our deposit, she started scribbling on a peice of paper. When she handed it to us, we realized it was our "contract". One of us will
put it in our scrapbook.
On the floor above us we have all Asian roomates, except for 2 guys Jill had met in Cairns, who are Canadian and Danish. I am hoping one of my new roomies can fish and roll sushi. Also I can tell Asians lived on our floor at one point because all of the signs are written in Chinese and broken English, and there is a sticker of an Asian boyband on the door in the bathroom. Also our shower curtain is decorated with dancing hippos.

So all in all, our Sharehouse has some real character! It's my second weekend in Darwin and also my birthday weekend, hip hip horray as they say! Who is buying me a schooner, or better yet a jug!

Darwin...Northern Territory...The Top End

How did I get to this place, Darwin? The best answer I can give is by plane.

Exactly a week ago I arrived in Darwin, wondering how I could see the "sites" in only 3 days. All of a sudden I am applying for jobs up and down the 3 streets that make up Darwin's city business district.

The "plan" was to fly to Darwin and the next day pick up our rental van, which we would drive for a month going from Darwin, along the west coast down to Perth. BUT when we went to pick up the van, we quickly realized it would be impossible to leave Darwin that fateful day...the van was stick shift, or manual, and I only know how to stall out when driving stick shift. Not to mention the fact that the drivers seat is on the right (so the gear shift would be in your left hand) and you have to drive on the left side. So while an option was to find the next person to teach us how to drive manual, the idea was quickly shot down. We have enough to think about already just driving an automatic. After a day of trying to make other vehicle arrangements, we were unsuccesful (mostly because all the vans in our price range are manual) and forced to stay a little longer, as in atleast a month longer...

So now it has been a week, and I am pleasently surprised by Darwin... First of all I love the weather. Darwin has two seasons, wet and dry. Currently it is the dry season so everyone is out and about. It is around 80-90 degrees Feveryday...and I am loving it.

I also love Darwin because given the unexpected issues, we have had to act fast in terms of looking for jobs, and we have gotten lucky. I have worked a business party (through a hospitality agency) at the Darwin Sailing Club, and I also (out of luck) met someone on the street who got me a job at the Darwin Convention Center. I also hope to work at the Darwin Cup and see some aussie horse races! Both Jill and Condon also have been lucky finding jobs, Jill is temping at a
company and Condon is bartending.

Next on our agenda was housing...we have been living in hostels, and because it is dry season, the prices are way high and making us go broke. Out of luck Jill ran into a friend from Cairns who just moved into a sharehouse. He checked with the landlord and sure enough there is a room available for us for a very cheap price. It is not only a room, but a whole floor because no one else lives on the first floor. We will have our own apartment practically. We move in on Thursday. Housing? Check!

Also, whenever we discussed going to Darwin the consensus always seemed to be "I won't die if I never make it to Darwin". So it was a shock when we realized it would be our home for atleast a month. We decided to see what the town had to offer in the fun department. Our first night out we placed third in a trivia contest and got a 50$ bar tab. They loved us, and we started to love Darwin.

And finally another reason I love Darwin is becase you never know what you are going to get. This past Saturday the Vice-President of China dined at the Darwin Convention Center. Then on Sunday, 3000 US Marines arrived. Check out their ship!

I got some info from a few of them and
they told me they were in Darwin to pick up their mail and supplies. When they are in the middle of the ocean (looking for pirates) they cannot recieve their mail, so they have to go to a port. I couldn't think of a better port city than Darwin!

So there is my new life in a nut shell. So what happens in a month??? The company we rented our van from has ONE automatic (3 seater) van in ALL of Australia. It supposedly will be in Darwin on July 22...we are hoping to reserve that van and finally take our west coast trip, like
we planned. In the mean time we are working like animals trying to make all the money we blew on this unexpected situation... which turns out to not be so bad.

Traveling the Atherton Tablelands with Celebrity, John Nicholas

That's right. Last Tuesday, Jill, Condon, and I hired (rented) a van with an Englishman, John Nicholas, and a German named Jorge. So before we leave Cairns on Tuesday I am running last minute errands when I get a call from Jill and she says " we are leaving a little later, there is a photo shoot going on right now". I assume the group wants to take a picture together. But when I get to our van, I realize it is a newspaper photographer who is taking Jill, Condon, and most importantly John's picture. John was the featured person because the article focused on English travelers in Australia. Jorge was not allowed to be in the picture probably because he didn't understand what was going on and kept asking the photographer what he was doing. Jorge, the man is doing his job. Right as I walk up the photo shoot was over, and I had missed my chance at stardom...there will be other photo shoots..

We had the campervan for 7 days and 6 nights. It came stocked with a microwave, refrigerator, sink, stove, sleeping bags/sheets, and a tent just to name some of the basics. There was room enough room for 3 of us to sleep in the back with the cushions pulled together and two boards underneath to support us. Above our sleeping arrangement there was a loft area where the 2 boys could sleep comfortably. However Jorge is over 6 ft tall and he was too clostraphobic to sleep with his head inside the loft so instead he slept the other way, causing his head to hangout sometimes, and for is pillow to drop all the time. Entertainment for me though. The Englishman would sleep in the tent whenever possible...I always thought the German would need the room more but John would beat him to it. Here is a picture of the campervan!

But we hit the road heading south. Over the first few days we stopped to see crater lakes, swim, hike, and have bbqs. On night 2 we arrive in a small town, Milla Milla. Population 300 people. We stop in at the Millaa Millaa hotel motel to have a drink and charge some of our electornics. We also are looking for a free way to charge our refrigerator battery. I ask a fellow townsman, Ben, about charging and turns out he has a battery charging outlet at his house right around the corner. Great! We get to talking and he learns I am from Ohio and tells me how he has a chat
friend in Lorraine, OH... And another chat friend in Baltimore. This is when I realize Ben is a little different. But either way the girls hang out at the hotel motel while John and Jorge go to Bens house to figure out the battery. Better them than us. Especially after Ben offered up his Internet to us atleast 3 times "Really, you can use my Internet, I have aol, msn chat, skype...". Ben loves the Internet! While the girls waited at the bar, we looked at the Milla Milla newspaper which a single piece of computer paper. The weekly brainteaser did not tease Jill and she ended up being the winner of the week. Her name "Jill from America" will be congratulated in the
following week's paper. Jorge and John get back from Bens house and it turns out the cords for charging were to small/big. But they were not completely empty handed, Ben had cut out the article from the Cairns Post that had the picture of Jill, Condon, and John. Serious celebs!

We left the local bar and went to Millaa Milla Lookout where we slept. At sunrise I got up and tried to take some pictures with my substitute camera, my iphone.

Other sites were Millaa Milla falls, Zillie falls, Ellinjaa falls.

Saw many more small towns. Including Queensland's highest town, Ravenshoe, and Queensland's tidiest town, Atherton. Day 4 gets really good. We arrive at the Granite Gorge Nature Park. Here you you could camp, explore the gorge, and feed wild wallabys. We had an American style dinner of cheeseburgers with corn on the cob and for dessert s'mores. During dinner a mother wallaby came to hang out with us with her baby in her pouch. Here is the best picture I could get! They are the cutest things!

Day 5 we explored the gorge and fed more wallabys. The wallabys in the morning were really fiesty. They no longer seemed as cute. The gorge was amazing, with huge granite rocks all around, it took us about an hour/2 hours to walk through the whole thing. After the gorge we go up north and back towards the coast to Cape Tribulation which you get to by ferry. The cape is famous because it is where the rainforest meets the ocean. None of the beaches allowed swimming though because the cape is also known for crocodiles and boxed jellyfish depending on the season. Sadly, no croc sightings for me.

Day 6, we leave Cape tribulation and go south towards Cairns. We stop for our last night in Port Douglas which is about an hour and a half from Cairns. It is a really pretty town, and happens to be where I got on the boat to go snorkeling. So pretty of a town that one day, when I have money to jet set around the world, maybe I will take a vacation there. A good relaxing way to end the trip! The next day we arrived back "home" in Cairns. FNQ, or far north Queensland, was
beautiful!

P.S. This story blog turned into a novel!

Welcome to Cairns!

Hi! A major move has just been made...I have semi-permanently moved to Cairns! Located in far north Queensland, on the east coast! Melbourne was amazing but the winter season was coming and it was starting to get colder (no snow, but cold) so it was time to move on! For the past month I have been working 24/7 to save money so I could move to Cairns and start traveling down the east coast!

Queensland is where many of Australia's beaches are located, and there is so much to do and see. I have already spent half of my savings on activities I will eventually do as we start traveling down. Yesterday I completed my first activity and went snorkeling AND scuba diving at one of the biggest attractions, the Great Barrier Reef. It was so amazing! We got picked up at our hostel around 6:45 am in Cairns and we drove about an hour north to Port Douglas to get on our boat. On board, there was a mixture of about 30 people who would be snorkeling, scuba diving, etc. We set sail and cruised for about an hour while our scuba diving instructor briefed us on the safety precautions and how scuba diving works. It was very serious as it can be dangerous... especially if you have heart problems or asthma...a few people ended up not being able to go due to health issues, doctors orders. But the main points were about equalizing your ears every foot or meter, to ensure your ear drums do not pop, and also constantly breathing in and out of your
mouth. It's funny, but once I finally got under water I understood why he focused so much on breathing because I got really caught up with the amazing sight of the coral and fish and almost forgot to keep breathing! But after the briefing we arrived at our scuba spot and the boat docked. We got into groups of 4 and put on our wet suits, weights to hold us down, tanks, masks/goggles and flippers. Then, one by one we submerged and did a skills test to ensure we were breathing right, we knew how to put our mouth piece back in if for some reason it would
come out, and also test to make sure we knew how to clear water out of our mask if it should fill up. All things that would cause someone to quickly panic. Once we all passed our little tests and we were under water holding on to a rope we gradually started swimming down and exploring the coral and fish. One of the first things the instructorshowed us was the nemo fish! Throughout the time there was a cameraman underwater with us taking our pictures! We were under the
water for 30 minutes and went down 6-10 meters. It was so amazing! After the first dive we came back up and took off our gear and we were able to snorkel. Not as cool after you have scuba dived but I had an underwater camera so I was able to take lots of cool pictures! Soon it was lunch time and we rested after a long time in the water. Sadly my camera screen decided to stop working for the rest of the time on the boat...maybe it was exhausted after I turned into a fish paparazzi and literally stalked the same 2 fish most of the time I was snorkeling.

After lunch there was an option to do another dive at a different location and I could not resist! The second dive was even better than the first! It was deeper and had more fish and coral to explore. It was also a lot more laid back because we had a better idea of what was going on. Another 30 minutes of peace in the water down 10 meters. If only my camera had worked for the second dive! Of course as we docked back at Port Douglas the camera man, who followed me, Jill and Condon all day, gave us a deal on a picture package so some good pictures will be posted soon! Along with the pictures of my snorkeling adventure because on the drive home my camera conveniently was back to normal! Some new potential jobs if all else fails are dive instructor
or fish paparazzi...back up plan of course...

Some of the tanks lined up:

Air Gauge:

Tram etiquette

This is probably the norm in every big city. But because this is my first time living in a bigger city for an extended period time, it is new to me. So here is what I have noticed with the most common form of transportation around Melbourne, the tram.

No talking on the phone loudly...and if you must, keep the convo to a minimum

Reading a book is good

Listening to your music is good, as long as the people around you are not hearing it too

Give your seat to the elderly

Give your seat to the pregnant women

Make room for strollers

Hold on, people do not like you falling on them
*one time a much older woman fell on Jill and she was so upset with herself, she said sorry so many times and was really worried Jill was hurt! Jill in no way could have been hurt by this 70 lb lady.

Now these few unspoken rules should be common knowledge. But let me just tell you, not everyone "gets it". Here are a few of my first hand examples of tram activity. I'll start with the small things and move on to the more drastic actions.

Lots of people like to stare. I do not mean make quick eye contact...I mean shift their entire body (when they are sitting on the same bench as you) and literally stare straight on at you. This happens to Condon atleast once every 3 days.

It's funny how many people cannot control their music volume. I have heard many types of people's music, from the kids coming home from high school to the man in the suit on his way to work. I would be fine with hearing other people's music if they would just put something good on...

Now I didn't mention in the rules above, because it is obvious to "us", but drinking, alcohol, on the tram is not technically allowed. But it is done, quite frequently. I like to call this tram happy hour. Whenever I go to data entry ( one of my jobs) I ride a tram on chapel street. Let me tell you, if the chapel street trams could talk. Tram happy hour usually starts at 5, right after work. But it could start at anytime because the people who partake in the tram happy hour must be jobless and as yet seem unemployable. They are bums, men and women. But of course around 5, the working citizens who just want to get home have to deal with these animals. The bums drink pre mixed cocktails like Jim beam and coke, Jack and coke, or something similar. One time in particular I happened to stumble on a happy hour after work and got stuck sitting a seat over from the "partyers". They reeked of alcohol and cigarettes and I started counting down tram stops until mine. At one tram stop left a woman gets on and I see she also had a nice pre mixed Jim beam and coke. Of course the two guys I'm sitting near know her so she starts to make her way to sit with them. Well the tram is not a particularly smooth ride, so the minute it takes off she gets jolted toward us, when i say us I mean mostly me. Luckily for me and my clothes she is to drunk to even try to stand so she falls on a side bench, still holding her drink! No party foul
there. Good on ya as they would say.

Um, what is vegemite???

Of course I know what vegemite is...Men at Work taught me all about it. But I played dumb the other day at work, and acted like I had never heard of vegemite.

Back story...One of my various jobs is through a hospitality agency. The agency finds me work each week and lately I have been working during the day at the Derabin Arts and Entertainment Center where I work functions like business meetings and conferences. Examples of such conferences have been with the Italian Teachers Organization, the Australian Fireman Association, music teachers learning about rythem and dance, etc. A typical day for for the conferences go like this:

8:30 - guests arrive, coffee and tea available

10:30 - morning tea and coffee with scones and muffins

12:45/1:00 - lunch (with a variety of hot and cold food like sandwiches, pizza, sushi rolls, sausage rolls, bruschetta, meat pies, veggie dishes, etc.

2:30 - afternoon tea and coffee with cookies, fudge, and pastries

What is amazing is that usually ALL of the food gets eaten...at least all of the best food. I mean, not a penny wasted! But it is problematic for me because I do not get any food to eat all day! Yes, I could pack my lunch, but I usually do not have time in the morning. And it is OUT of the question for me to grab anything off the platters as they sit and stare at me waiting to serve them to everyone. Not to mention, when there is food left over I have to wait for the chef, who has daily mood swings, to look over the left over food...probably to see what to make EVEN less of next time.

So back to me pretending not to know about vegemite. I literally was so hungry that I had no other option but to get the chef and manager on the subject of vegemite. By the way, both of them love chatting so it easy to get them going. In the past I have learned that if you say you have never had vegemite, the Aussies will run and get you some toast with vegemite, and maybe butter, and force feed you. So like I assumed they would, they ran and got me a slice of baguette and some vegemite. No butter, but I take what I can get. And so my plan worked, I finally got some food and they got the satisfaction of "introducing" me to vegemite. Which I actually do like...it is salty, so of course I like it. A few days later we were serving bite size pieces of sausage rolls. To be safe I asked to make sure they were indeed sausage rolls, and the manager replies "oh yes, you might not know, but sausage rolls are a very popular food in Australia. You should try one, quick before the chef Sean comes back..." So getting food is becoming too easy! I just have to act a little curious.

Mom and Dad, this story is about just one day when I was hungry. Usually I am fully sufficed each meal. Do not worry about this exaggerated story revolved around hunger.

A very Aussie weekend

I am a little late on this blog, but last weekend was so fun so better late than never! Now you might think everyday is an Aussie day, but when you live in a share house with people who are from all over the world it can be hard getting a true Aussie experience. But this weekend was very Aussie.

Saturday Jill, Condon, and I were invited to go to an op shop party. It was a "footy do" according to our friend Josh. I met Josh, a Melbourne native, at Miami while he was traveling in America. When I decided to move to Oz he was the first person I looked up! So anyway
Josh plays footy ( Aussie rules football) and his team had an op shop party at their club. Ok i'll slow down, an op shop, or opportunity shop is like a thrift shop or second hand store. And a footy do is an Aussie rules event...I think. I'm still trying to catch on. So we shop around for some good outfits, I happened to buy what the lady I believe said was "an exquisite shirt, with a wonderful label". I've never heard of my shirts "designer", but apparently she can make clothes. The footy do was so fun, lots of great outfits an we got to see the footy field, which according to many of the players is not where they play, but where the win. Yes sir, whatever you say. Such an Aussie night!

Sunday was first of all a national holiday for Australia and New Zealand, called ANZAC day. It is a day to pay respects and remember those of each country who fought in world war 1. Sunday also happened to be the birthday celebration of fellow Miami girl, Allie's boyfriend. So we went to allie's boyfriends for a barbie. The minute we arrived we met his roomates and they offered us a snag and pointed inside. Well we thought they said "do you want a snack", and when I
walked in I did notice food so we said sure and went in to get some of these snacks. As we left I heard some laughs, and I assume it was our accents that was so funny. But it turns out they said "do you want some snags", where a snag is a sausage that was been barbecued. And they realized when they offered we had no clue what a snag was. But we were not the only ones learning, because we taught the Aussies about the popular US game corn hole, which was the birthday boys gift from Allie.

Now because Sunday was a holiday, Monday was a work holiday. Sounds good to me, 3 day weekend! So we met up with Josh again and had brekky, breakfast, and decided to go into the city and walk around Southbank, a very cool area on the Yarra river. We sat by the water and had coffee/tea for a really long time just because it was so nice out and comfy by the water. The best part of Southbank would be the Melbourne Crown Casino. It is huge! Filled with of course the casino, but also restaurants, pubs, movie theaters, clubs, shops, fast food places, a hotel, and probably much much more. We tried our luck and gambled as a team at roulette and won some money, and then played this wheel spinning game where we really won! We ended up being up $135! We quit while we were ahead and decided to take our winnings and buy a nice dinner. We went to lygon st. Which is like little Italy and ate delicious Italian food. Such a good ending to a great day as well as a weekend.

Some more terms:
Mackers = McDonalds
Foot Path = sidewalk
Lemonade = Sprite/7 Up
Jam = jelly
Jelly = jello
Ta = thanks alot
Serviette = napkin
Cutlery = silverware

There are so many others...I will keep you updated on the good ones! Sorry...I will try blogging more often.

Has anyone seen Stephen?

Has anyone seen Stephen?
Where is Stephen?
Is Stephen sleeping again?
Is Stephen hiding again?

It's not like Stephen works, he doesn't need to. Which must be nice. And it's not that Stephen hasn't paid rent for the week. It just that everyone is always wanting Stephen because he is the most popular member of the house. Mostly because he is the youngest and the cutest. Even the males of the house are attracted!

Stephen moved into the sharehouse maybe a month ago. He is from just outside of Melbourne in the country, I think he once lived on a farm. But he doesn't work so he is usually roaming around the house, lounging on the couches or just entertaining people in the kitchen with his "tricks". None of us could believe it when he could actually fit in a kitchen drawer. I guess when you are home all day you figure out these little known facts.

Allow me to introduce Stephen, the king of the sharehouse.

Stephen is 1 of only 2 lucky cats who I actually like and can pet. The other is uncle Peter's cat Blackie. Both of the cats act more like dogs, so I can tolerate them. Stephen likes to lay down next to you and watch movies or he likes to run around the living area to entertain.

Here he is playing with trash or electrical equipment.

When we all have moved away from Melbourne and have to leave the share house, as new people move in and become Stephens new roomates, it's comforting to know I can come back to Melbourne and have a friend (Stephen) to stay with.

Trip along the Great Ocean Road

Finally got the urge to tell you all about my first road trip in Australia. We traveled for four days during Easter weekend along the Great Ocean Road.

First, we rented a fine station wagon. A Ford Falcon. Pictured below:

Then we hit the road and drove an hour and a half to our first stop in Torquay. Here we went to the torqauy beach to have a surf lesson. I love surfing. I wish I was really good, but in reality I only stood up once.

Maybe I was a bad surfer because I had a rather weird sleep the night before in the Falcon. Yes, this trip was brilliant but we planned it a little too late and were unable to book accomodation for the first night. So we slept in our car, which was illegal, so we sneakily parked in a residential area as opposed to a parking spot along the beach. My sleep was weird not because I was really uncomfortable, but because I kept having reoccuring dreams about us getting in trouble for sleeping in the car. The best "nightmare" was me waking up to a helicopter hovering over our fine station wagon and shining it's spotlights on us to arrest us. Luckily it was only a nightmare.

So back to the surf lesson. After the 2 hours were up we went to the rip curl surf competition at the very popular Bells Beach. After having a lesson, I had a whole new respect for surfers. Carrying your surf board to the beach is a feat in itself, let alone riding a wave! After cheering on Kelly Slater, fellow American surfer, we drove to the next town, Lorne.

Lorne was a very small town, popular for it's beaches and good surfing spots. We stayed at a hostel that had a very homey feeling. It had a full wrap around porch where everyone hung out as well as a fully stocked kitchen (we took advantage and made a pizza haha).

We traveled on to Apollo Bay and stopped for coffee/tea. We found out about a cool lookout spot that gives a nice view of the beach and town. It was about a 5 minute walk up and the sight was beautiful.

Our next stop was to see the 12 Apostles, which was along side of the road. We made it there around sunset which made for really good pictures. The 12 Apostles are rock formations from years ago...however, they have dwindeled down to about 4 to 6 apostles due to erosion.

Our final stop for the day was Port Campbell where we celebrated Easter by having a really nice dinner at a seafood place. We then decided to get to bed as we had a big day of sight seeing and a long drive home the next day. Oh yeah, we slept in our car and got kicked out of a camp site but finally went to bed on another nice residential street. "Everyone in Australia sleeps in the car..." so we figured it's ok if we do too. Hey, I'm still alive.

The next day, Monday after Easter, we had lots of driving to do to get back to Melbourne. On the way home we saw more touristy look out spots and made it back to Melbourne by 4 in the afternoon.

Overall, great trip! I'm excited to do more exploring all over Australia. There is so much more to do and see! A kangaroo is on the top of my list...as well as an Aboriginal. When I see either of those, you will be first to know!

Lollies and Mail

I had a delicious lolly the other day. What is a lolly you ask? Not a lollipop...it is the general term for any type of candy. I figured this out from a kid on the tram. School had just been let out and there were little Jonahs and Ja'mies running around in their various uniforms, trying to get home, get to band practice (many carry instruments), or go to some sort of sporting practice. I always eaves drop on the kid's conversations and literally it seems like they go to
Summer Heights High. In my mind I will say, oh there is a Jonah for sure, when I see a kid pick on another one lugging around a musical instrument bigger than himself. Or i'll notice a Ja'mie as I listen in on a convo about facebook chatting and how she cannot be bothered with it anymore, and I quote, "if you want to talk to me, you can call my mobile...until then just leave me alone". Ja'mie for sure.

If you do not know about this Jonah/Ja'mie nonsense that I have been reffering to...they are characters in an Australian tv show, Summer Heights High. It was made popular in the US on HBO... It is one of my favorites, very funny.

Anyway, back to the lolly. A pack of them were delivered to the commercial real estate company that I temped at this past week. The delivery "dude" had tatoos covering his arms, he was wearing a bike helmet, and he looked like he had just woken up. I was staring at a "bike pusher" or maybe it is a "push biker". Someone who delivers small envelopes by bike within smaller distances. As I finished writing this blog, while waiting for a tram, I looked up and a push biker, working for the Australian Post, pulled up right in front of me...so for your viewing pleasure: (Notice the bag on the back for the mail)

There are many pick ups and deliverys made throughout the day so I was always curious as to what, I mean who, would appear from the elevators next.

Another guy was wearing a padded leather jacket, boots, and dark padded pants. He had long strangly grey hair and sunglasses that he never took off. He was a motor biker (I could be wrong on these terms). Using his motor cylce to deliver. He takes a very important document that needs to be delivered within the hour to be signed...he never said a word to me. They usually never do...just in and out either dropping off a package or picking one up. Hopefully these packages all got to the right places, because I certainly was not going to try and get involved with this "method" they use for mail.

Sometimes I would sign something confirming delivery...these people requiring signatures wore uniforms...they were the normal "UPS" men that I was used to.

Mail time kept me entertained. Who knew I'd be in Melbourne temping at a real estate company enjoying mail time.

Day 22

So I have been in Australia for 22 days now. So crazy how time flies!
This past week was very eventful. The highlights:

• Learning the non-side-effects of goon (for me)
• Dancing at a bar called Cushion
• Celebrating St. Patrick's Day with lots of Irish
• Hitting the beach in St. Kilda (where we live) for 3 days straight. Picture below is a random that I took while laying out. Taken with my i-Phone.

• Eating in Richmond with fellow American, Jenny (we met her through her little brother, John Martin)
• Starting another temp job as a receptionist at a commercial real estate agency
• Going to the Australian soccer final! See picture below...this is the stadium located in Docklands...they play aussie rules football, soccer, etc. at this stadium. Taken with my iphone...I am still trying to figure out what to do with my pictures from my camera considering I do not have a computer....suggestions would be appreciated.

The game was Melbourne vs Sydney. It ended with a shoot- out and Sydney ended up winning. They are bitter rivalries, competing to be Australia's best city. I haven't been to Sydney yet, so I cannot judge yet, but Melbourne has been amazing so far! One of my favorite things is how diverse the culture is here. You can get Thai, japanese, coffee, hamburgers, and anything else you would want all on the same block in the city as well as in most every suburb. Everywhere in Melbourne are bars you would never know about because they are down dark alleys and behind random doors. (sounds so safe right ha). Below is a visual of the alley we strolled through.

Go down this alley, turn left...

Go to the end, turn right...

Then, walk all the way to the very end of the long alley...

Past the art work...

And when you cannot go any further...You are there...Walk in through the door on the left

But another cool thing about the night life here is how they go all out to decorate their bar/club. We went to 29th Apartment (a bar) and it indeed was filled with apartment decorations. We sat down on kitchen stools and drank around a wooden shaped ironing board. The dj booth was a bath tub, and the dance floor was equipped with a bed, very nicely made. Another cool themed bar was fully decorated to look like an Insane Asylum/Hospital...it was called the Croft Institute (see pictures above to see the path to the Croft Institute). There was a creepy operating table/bed in the bathroom. Another bar, called House, I think, looked literally like we crashed a house party with couches and paintings and a dining room table.

Needless to say, Australia hasn't been all fun and games (haha). Like I said I have been temping at a real estate company and have to wake up early, take the tram to the city and do the whole 9-5 thing. Working there has really helped me learn even more about the city and all the different areas you can live. There is so much more to Melbourne than I even realized and I am excited to explore more!

Did I spell things wrong? Did something not make sense? I am too lazy to proof read.

Goon

"I'm going to get some goon...anyone want some?"

"Yeah! I'll take the soft dry white"
"Yeah can you get me the fruity"
"I'll take the soft dry red"

"ok so 4 goons it is. I'll be back with the goon"

So goon is the cheapest alcohol here...8 dollars for a whole thing of
boxed wine. Similar to franzia...when I say similar I mean the same.
They claim goon to the aboriginals means pillow, which is what the bag
of wine on the box looks like. I'll gave to start "slap the goon" or
"tour de goon". (Miami was such a fun school)

Other little new sayings
How you going? ...not how you doing
Good on ya...good for you
This is my partner...usually means girlfriend or boyfriend, not that
they are gay.
Cheers! ...thank you.

I had my first temp job on Monday. I did filing for Victoria Legal
Aid. Very easy job, and they must have needed the help because I filed
all day, from 9-5. But as I was leaving the boss signs my time card
and says, " ok Katie (they actually have a hard time saying my name so
it sounds like kayeee)...but anyway he goes ok Katie, good on ya mate,
good on ya, hear you go mate, cheers mate".
And of course all i do is say ok thank you in the most American way I
could ever sound...it was funny how both of us noticed how different
we spoke. Eventhough it is still English, it is still very different.

St patrick's day is Wednesday! I'm very excited because most of the
people living in the share house are Irish. So it will be fun to see
them in their "element".

By the way, we really like the share house. Like I said before it is
like a frat house. It's rooms sleep 3 each, the kitchen is fully
stocked with a microwave, panini maker, pots/pans/silverware/plates/
etc. There is a computer as well as free wi-fi. A covered porch off
the back where you can lounge. The main living room has maybe 10
couches all put together around a large flat screen. Next to the flat
screen is a huge box of DVDs. Overall the share house is a great time.
Always something going on and people are so nice and helpful. For
instance yesterday, one of the roomates gave me a number for a data
entry job that you can do and be paid cash on the spot. Too easy!

We are currently planning our first trip along the Great Ocean Road
for Easter. We will be driving...on the left side of the road. The
driving might be the hardest thing for me to get used to! I literally
never know which way the cars are coming when I try to cross the
street. I have to look both ways 6 times. Which makes me look
ridiculous and paranoid. But better safe than run over!

Miss everyone so much! I have been really slack on picture taking so I
will try get better this week! Love you all!

Rain, Hail, Sun, etc.

This past weekend was so fun and so random. Fun because I'm in Australia,
and random because of the crazy weather. What they say is true, in
Melbourne you can experience all 4 seasons in a day. Friday it was
sunny so we went to the beach. All of a sudden the sun dissappears and
gets cold. We walk home and just as we get inside it starts to hail!
It hailed and the wind blew for a while, then stopped for the rest of
the night. Word is that since the "storm of 2010" as it is called, 8
people have died because they fell off their roof. I haven't fact
checked because I do not care to but wild story either way.

Saturday we go to the Future Music Festival. It is an all day event
packed with bands and djs that I mostly have not heard of...but none
the less a guarenteed good time. The day started out sunny and hot. It
ended up pouring down rain and turned so cold. We had to leave b/c the
place ran out of ponchos for sale! Still, no matter what the weather, it was a good first weekend.

Now to my next order of business. We have moved, temporarily, into a
share house. A share house is basically a hostel, except it is a
house, with less rooms. It's like a sorority house. It's all girls
and supposedly one guy. I cannot figure out who this token guy is,
because next door their is a share house with guys...so between the
two houses, there are lots of people coming in and out. We are the only
Americans, so we are surrounded with lots of accents. They all are
pretty nice and are just doing their own thing. Some work at night,
others in the day. I am still on my job search and one of my "house
mates" hooked me up with Esther, from a staffing company. I went to
the interview and met Esther, who was so cute and nice, not what you
would picture with a name like Esther. I guess she has
helped (or tried to help) most of the people in the share house. Ha I
guess some of them were lost causes. There will be more to come on
this share house and job situation. Hope everyone is doing well! Miss you all!

First 3 days = Success

I am in Melbourne! I made it! PIT>CLT>LAX>SYD>MLB! My bag made it 2 days later, no big deal, it saved me from having to lug my bag with me through Melbourne. So I absolutely love it and I have only been here for 4 days now. I must say, in the past 3 days I have been all business.

Day 1: I arrive in Melbourne around noon, and wait around for my bag...but I know that there is a 99% chance it will not come. I settle my claim with Qantas, and get on the sky bus to take me to the city. Then I hop in a cab to go to Nitsa's house. Nitsa is Condon's 3rd cousin, who has been so nice to let us stay with her and her amazing family. It is Nitsa, her boyfriend Glenn, and her two daughters Elly (23) and Sophie (18) in a really cute house about 2 blocks from the beach. I go into the city to meet up with Jill and Condon after they were done working. We catch up over Thooey's at a bar in St. Kilda. That night, Glenn made an amazing dinner. It was so nice talking with their family because they were so welcoming, not to mention the really great food.

Day 2: Wake up early, not feeling jet lag at all. I travel into the city with Condon and Jill on their way to work. Which by the way, the girls have been here for 2 weeks and they are pretty pro with how to do everything. So I first go and set up my bank account. Very easy process, i'll get my debit card in a week. Next I set out to get a phone...but deep down I want to figure out how to unlock my iphone from ATT&T, so I can just get a prepaid sim for my iphone. I have grown so attatched to it, but more importantly, it will be nice having it with us when we travel. I stop in a few different stores asking about iphone unlocking and 4 out of 5 say it is easy to get it unlocked, and give me an address. There was one nervous nerd who only talked about how illegal it was, but I do not see me going to jail over this. After lots of walking I finally get to this store that might be considered shady, as it was mostly a bunch of iphone/itouch cases and then a desk. The guy says he can unlock it in 30 minutes! Great success. When I came to pick it up he showed me how I can download ringtones for free off of this app he used to unlock my phone. Then he says "for $25 more dollars, I can download an app that would allow you to have any application you want.. for free". I thought about it, but then decided I don't want to run out on my luck with this iphone business. So after I got a new sim card and aussie number with a local network all was well. I went back to Nitsa's house and laid out on the beach for an hour, then met up with Condon and Jill to do some house hunting. I then had my first night out in Melbourne...we went to a bar that was having 90's music night. We will probably be back.

Day 3: I wake up and get ready with the girls because I have a meeting for a potential job. Jill had applied for the job...but found a job by the time the cafe had called her back. So with luck, she mentioned me needing a job, and got me an "interview". Mind you I planned on spending the day at the beach after this little meeting. I was wearing the same outfit I had worn the night before (I am still waiting on my bag from the airport). I go to the "meeting" and it turns into a "trial"... where I work for the day. So I get thrown into this positionless job, where they tell me to be a busser, then a food runner, then a salad maker, then a coffee deliverer. All the while wearing this dress...all the other employees are wearing the same blue shirt. Customers thought I was a damn customer half the time...until I would take their empty plate from them. Probably the funniest moment was when I was clearing off some plates with the dish washer, Ran-gee (that is how I will spell his name). I do not know where he is from, but he is foreign. As I clear this dish, I feel him smack me in the ass. I think to myself, "ok, sexual harrasment did not take long here...I have not even got the job yet". But I turn around and he is getting up from the ground...he slipped on the wet floor. I secretly thank the lord, he wasn't coping a feel. So I try to help him up...and instead of wiping the floor, he puts salt all over the ground and then goes back to the dishes. I laughed all day at this vision. The trial went well I mean I was completely qualified to clear people's plates...I am a pro busser. They said they will be in touch after they have a few more "meetings" aka "trials". Later in the evening we met up with a girl from Cleveland who has been living in Australia for about 2 years (her brother was a fellow Miami grad). She had lots of tips and was really helpful about jobs, housing, and stuff to do in Melbourne. It is nice being so far away, but being able to have nice people around to help out.

Day 4: Today...I am waiting for the sun to come out so I can hopefully get some sort of color. If not I will spend the day doing touristy stuff, where I can test out my new camera! Miss and love you all!

Australia??

Australia is so amazing...I love it here!!

Just kidding! I had to delay my trip by 2 weeks. I stayed to get my tonsils checked out. I had to wait a week to get into the doctor, yet I was determined to get an earlier appointment. After bugging the receptionist for 4 days to let me in early...I went to my orginally scheduled appointment and found out I did NOT have to get them out! Very good news. Now they are pretty much back to normal size. I am headed to Australia in 5 DAYS!! Very excited....finally!

Talk to you then...in Melbourne!!

Post #1!

My first blog......scary!

I am currently praying my tonsils will reduce to normal size! It just figures that 4 days before my "move" to Australia I realize my tonsils are starting to close my throat (see picture). I have had tonsil problems in the past and usually the doctor gives me an antibiotic and they shrink down eventually. So I went to the Doc, they take some blood, give me a cortizone shot, yada yada. The next day they call to inform me that I have MONO. Come along...I cannot have mono at a time like this. When my life is about to start. When I am about to travel 22+ hours to a new country. However, I am not really tired, I do not think I have full on mono. But now that I have "mono" I have used it as an excuse to sleep in and take naps, etc. But truly nothing out of the ordinary, I am doing just fine getting through the day. So I think to myself, I can do mono for a bit in Australia...but these tonsils have got to go down. The doc gives me the usual antibiotics, yet these tonsils are not shrinking very fast. Now that I am on a time crunch, this tonsil situation needs taken care of asap. I cannot go to Australia and a few days later realize I can barely breathe/swallow/talk and need a tonsillectomy!

Oh did I mention, the airports are canceling flights left and right as this is the snowiest time since the 1800's. I have never seen so much snow. Brett hasn't gone to school the whole week. I bet his XBOX is about to blow up. Anyways,

This brings me back to the phrase "everything happens for a reason". I am just going to have to go with the flow. Maybe my departure date will have to be pushed back, either due to my tonsils, or the ridiculous weather. This damn global warming...I blame it all on Al Gore. But i'll get to Australia, maybe on the 15th as planned, or maybe a little later. Either way, I cannot wait!