From OZ

Howdy from Down under!
Well as you all know I have made it safely down under! I am keeping a hand written diary of my trip so I figure my blogs will most likely be transcriptions of my written diary with additional tid bits included along with photographs. SO before I proceed with my trip thus far I just want to say that I love you all and miss you bunches!

My Trip, I started my trip on Dec 30 2010. Dad drove me down to Gainesville where he handed me off to Jasmine who took me down to the Orlando International Airport. In the Orlando Airport they didn’t want to give me my boarding passes due to the fact that I didn’t have a forwarding ticket. Aunt Andy had created a fake return for me but I thought I was going to have to show it in Australia not in Orlando. But they did eventually give me my ticket. It was strange I was completely fine up until the point that I had my boarding pass in hand.

I caught my 5 hour flight out of Orlando to LAX. It was the only time I have ever been to LA needless to say I didn’t see much. I just managed to make my Sydney connection. It was a double Decker plane (pretty cool and flipping huge). I was on this flight for around 13 hours I was thinking towards the end that I just might lose the last shreds of my sanity (I am probably not the best judge but I think I managed to keep a hold of some shreds). I managed to pick up a cold while flying my nose at the moment is not really functioning(It seems like a constantly running nose and a slight cough is something I have to look forward to at least for the duration on my time in this area the weather seems to be suffering from menopause!) I did have two very nice ladies sitting next to me for my flight to Sydney and then to Melbourne. They were really cute and I think a little concerned for my safety.

While swapping planes in Sydney before we could head to Melbourne we had to go through a secondary security check (Just in case we magically created counter ban on our 13 hour flight) but during our security check I got to enjoy the fun of being swabbed for bomb residue and patted down.

All told to reach my present location it took about 24 hours of flying! Starting on the 30th Dec and ending on the 1st of Jan. We totally missed New Years Eve and I don’t mean we were in the air for it and missed it that way. I mean I never head a Dec 31st the way we hit the International Date Line Dec 31 never happened for me.
Once I got in to Melbourne I had to go through immigration. I had a harder time in the US. All he did was scan my passport stamp it and say welcome to Australia!

I did have to go through Quarantine because I was uncertain of my dried fruit and nuts as well as my hiking boots. My food turned out to be fine and my boots were given a nice little washy wash.

I got through everything at the Airport booked my but to my hostel that I was staying at for the first 5 nights. Went to catch the bus and made my first North American blunder! I looked left instead of right and got honked at by an oncoming bus. OOPs! And now I find myself when approaching a road repeating to myself look right then left, right then left. Needless to say I still tend to look left before I ketch myself.
As soon as I got into my hostel I passed out. I entered a 14 hour coma I did manage to wake up long enough to take a shower. It was the best shower I have ever taken!!!! I could feel all the airport grime falling off me.

I am presently in St Kilda which is a beach strip in Port Phillip. I met some very nice people a pair of sister from Sydney (they are my first overseas Facebook friends) and according to them I am a traveler! I am officially a traveler!!!! I am starting to meet some very nice people. I met my first American today, according to her you don’t run into many of us over here. The one down fall so far has been the people that I make friends with all seem to be leaving for other parts the day I meet them.
I did get to see my first prostitutes!!! Apparently 5:30am is about the time they are winding down for the night at least in my area.

I have been doing a lot of walking it is really beautiful here. So green and lush, the architecture is so beautiful. And I love the front yards my favorite so far was a little yard that was all garden including the front walk. There were strawberry’s planted at every crack. It was very cool. It is a bit lonely over here but it is getting better! The first full day I was here I was sad and really just wanted to be at home, but my explorations have really helped me feel better there is so much stuff to see here. I think tomorrow I will brave the tram and just see where it takes me, I haven’t left my little bubble that is St. Kilda yet.

So far I haven’t seen much in the way of wildlife so far the birds that I have seen are:

Magpie-lark, Tree martin, Australian Raven, Rainbow Lorikeets, Black Swans, Pacific Gull, Franklins Gull, Laughing Gull, Spotted Turtle-Dove, Feral Pigeon, Cockatoo (not sure of the species), Little wattlebird , Galah Cockatoo, and the Australian Magpie hypoleuca race.

Hopefully my paper work that I am waiting on will go through soon so that I can start looking for jobs. I will never complain about the price of things back in the states ever again. It is so freaking expensive over here. You can probably get the same amount of stuff over here for 50 AUD that you could get at home for about 15 USD. The pay over here is really good so once I start working it won’t be that much of an issue but until then I will be cooking my own meals and spending as little as possible. I really can’t wait to be able to afford to eat out. Apparently Melbourne has some of the best most authentic food from around the world.

Any way I am off for now

Love you all



I will add more pics later. I am at Mc Donald's and their internet connection sucks. But its better than paying 2 bucks an hour back at the hostel