AUSSIE LAND!!!

I made it, my first trip to Australia, 6 days is defiantly not enough time to visit a country the size of Australia, but I am so glad I went! I almost missed my flight, but this time it was not my fault! I guess the computer systems were down in Sydney and they had no way of checking very ones visas, so there was a few of us that were a little worried that we wouldn’t be able to get on the flight! But as luck had it, it all went through and I was the last person to board the plane! I had to pay a lot of money for my access baggage but, I didn’t have time to bat the eyes and work the sweet talk as I was a bit pressed for time, and when the people helping you don’t understand English it kind of was cramping my style! So I arrived into Sydney and my aunt and uncle totally went out of their way to make my whole trip AMAZING!!! The first huge thing was I had a place to store my luggage which was huge as I pretty much have my life in two bags….(well and a shed full maybe 2 back on the farm..but we won’t count that!!) so it made traveling up the coast nice and easy cuz I only had one bag to worry about!

I had the whole day in Sydney before I had a to catch another plane up to the Gold Coast . The only thing I wanted to do was have a beer, biggest Beef Burger ever, and speak to people in complete English sentences!!! A shower would have been ideal, but I would have to wait for that!! So I was walking around Sydney smelling Chinese still….but I have come to the conclusion when you smell….you don’t know you stink when that is all you know….so I now feel for all the smelly people out there…..they really have no idea they stink! So here I was ready to take a sip of my first Australian beer and I had to capture the moment on photo….which led to my first opportunity to meet someone….Amazing the people you meet on a trip! Turns out the guy was kiwi, living in Hong Kong as a pilot and learning how to speak Mandarin, so I gave my few lines that I know and he had a good laugh at my POOR mandarin skills! So I had my beer, burger and lunch buddy! It was ideal.
I walked around Darling Harbour, went and checked out Sea world and then it was time to get out to the airport, caught my flight and I was off to the Gold coast! I stayed at the same place my aunt and uncle stayed when they were there. So it was AWESOME…….I had a meat pie and a cold beer waiting for me…..can’t ask for anything more!!! It was GREAT!!! The weather on the gold coast was not the best, lots of rain in the morning..(making it easy to sleep in) but then it would dry up and just be over cast, which is a good thing cuz I am sure I would have burnt to a crisp!! I was stubborn though, I was at the beach no matter what….sure it looked funny when it would start raining and I was the only one out there though…HAHHA joking I didn’t take it to that extreme!

First day I wondered around, and in the evening I went to this production called the Australian Outback, and it was great dinner theatre with lots of horses, dogs, sheep, singing and more horses!! It was GREAT! I felt like the youngest person there but it was still lots of fun, I was hanging out with all these older ladies and we had a blast!! It was all you can drink beer…and by the end of the show I was almost gunned!! Feel like I am turning into an alcoholic traveling on my own….drinking by myself in the condo and then getting half cut at a dinner theatre by myself! The next day I was off to Surfer paradise to hang out on the beach, before I left got a book from a little book exchange store…”Stuck between a rock and a hard place” GREAT read! About the guy who cut his arm off after being tramped by a rock in Utah…it was such a good read, I read it all DAY! Couldn’t put it down. After about 5 hours of reading I thought I better walk around a bit, so I hung out around the boardwalk, and met with some people playing foot bag! They were amazing, turns out they were the World champions at foot bag, so no wonder they were good!!! I did not participate, only was a spectator! Went back to the beach to continue with the good read, Minding my own business…HONESTLY and this guy comes up to me so we strike up a conversation and have a great chat! He then asks if I want to go fishing….I said sure I love fishing….But it was getting dark so I said right now???? And he said no, at 9:30 tonight….didn’t really think anything about it, and said sure sounds great! So he drove me back to where I was staying, it was one of those oh shit, should I really be getting in his car kind of moments, had this moment before…..But I got in! all good he took me back to where I was staying and I said he would be back at 9:30…..so I said perfect! Went up, showered and started to eat…then I was thinking humm maybe I will take this knife just in case this guy isn’t for real!! Thought this was taking wise safety precautions….then I thought I should buy my own alcohol with a cap so he can’t slip me anything……..WAIT a second…. when these thoughts were going through my head, I was like what am I doing and WHO goes fishing at 9:30 at night…..hummm maybe a psychotic Greek tourist killer….It started to pour rain and then I got reading the book again…and well I didn’t make it down to meet him! Good decision eh mom! Hahaha sorry had to share the story…no worries I still have some sense, need to stop getting into strangers cars though! So finished the book that night! And it was off to Brisbane to see Kangaroos and Koalas in the AM…which turned more into a PM kind of affair!

I went to kangaroo and Koala sanctuary…and it was great! Got to pet my kangaroo and cuddle a Koloa…..Which I am sure is the equivalent of cuddling a gopher for foreigners who come to Saskatchewan! (not that I actually cuddled a gopher, could be hard to catch) Well I met a bunch of people here as well, hung out with a bunch of Danish girls for the most of it and then at the end there was a bunch of us all waiting for the bus to pick us up….so might as make friends with the whole lot of them! Well it turns out the other group of girls were all from Ithaca, the same city I went to school in at Cornell….so it was CRAZY!!! Small world! So we had this massive connection and I ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the night! Took the train back and had my last night in the condo, up bright and early for a flight back to Sydney for my last day in Aussie land!
Hung out in Sydney took in the Opera house, took a tiki tour around the harbor, huge Greek festival, worried I was going to see my Greek friend…but no worries! Just crazy amount of people…had my baklava and I took in a 3D Imax show….Met a fun Swiss family and it was back to the hotel for me!

Next morning it was off to NZ…..but this time I was not going to pay the ridiculous Baggage charges! So I layered…A lot of layers!! And wore my snowboard boots! I showed up at the little stand Sweating!! So I was going from paying $200 to paying nothing!! The lady was awesome, and she bent the rules a bit so I could have extra baggage without the charges….so with the good news I asked if I could put more stuff in the bags….and she said sure! Well then she had quite the laugh as I was layering down…..and taking off my snowboard boots! HAHAHAH too funny!! But really you turn up for a flight and there is always the token LARGE person or 5 of them at that…and they are allowed the same amount of baggage as you, and that doesn’t include all the baggage they are personally carrying around AKA FAT!!! So I think, and I think my argument is legit because….why should it be fair for someone who is bigger be allowed the same baggage allowance when they weigh as much as your baggage allowance! I was going to pull out this argument if I was going to get charged!

But all is good….until I got to customs!!! Jesus, I think I am a magnet here in NZ, well I got pulled a side and interrogated for the first hour an half. They searched everything and swobbed a bunch of my stuff….I guess I was a red flag cuz of being in China then Australia then off to NZ in such a short time span! Oh well…..I made it and I am now back in New Zealand….so good to be back, had my traditional Starbucks with my NZ Mom and it has been a great start to the next new adventure!!

LOVE you ALL,
Jenel