Our New Life.

I hate to admit this but... the weather has been unseasonably rainy. A typical Australian summer's day is uncomfortably warm from early morning to mid day, and is then cooled down by a big storm lasting from 10-45 minutes. To note the few positives in a subject I find to be generally quite negative; it's very green here, and Chris and I are turning it into a great excuse to watch gross amounts of 30 Rock. 

And so, the great fill in begins...

In my last blog (I believe) I wrote about how Chris and I were planning to "relocate" a vehicle from Byron Bay to Brisbane but pass Bris and go to Maleny to meet with the HOL people before returning the car because it was within the km and time restrictions of the deal. SO on Wednesday Chris left our hostel at 8:40 am to pick up the car at the agreed pick-up time, 10 am. At 10:20 the car place called to "make sure" I'd received the notice that we would have to wait until Friday to pick up the car. I said "uhhhm. That doesn't really work for us... my boyfriend left over an hour ago to get the car and was supposed to pick it up 20 minutes ago." She apologized and suggested I call another car relocation company and see if they had any relocations available... Meanwhile Chris arrived at the car place after an hour or so long bus ride (which cost about $10) and a 3 km walk to the airport and was pretty peeved to hear what they had to say. He argued that he had the confirmation letter in his hand as well as an online mastercard statement saying all payments had gone through. They apologized for not letting us know our car could be cancelled with two days notice and said it was the fault of the middle man company which booked us and was supposed to call us. The middle men said they had called yesterday (even though they were supposed to give two days notice). I later checked my messages and found they had in fact called, but only to confirm what time we were picking up and said they would call again later. After about two hours of arguing with many people on the phone, Chris admitted defeat and went to catch the $10 bus back to Byron... only to find it didn't come again for two hours. He set about trying to hitch hike and got picked up pretty quickly by a 60 something year old massage therapist named Dave. Chris explained his woes of the day and told him that now we would have to pay $30 each to get back to Bris. Dave said he was heading to Bris that evening and would happily give us a ride if we met him out front of his office later, which we did. 

Dave is a lovely person. He used to run an aroma therapy shop, worked as a sports therapist for many famous Australian athletes, is now teaching massage therapy in three places, and was at the time heading to Bris for a meeting with Olympic organizers to talk about boxing. As if that wasn't enough... but he used to have pet wallabies and has a 10 foot python named Bredie which is play on the word 'bredi' , the type of snake she is. He asked us if we've heard of Steve Irwin. We said yes (obvs) and he told us he and Steve grew up together. One time Steve called him up and told him his snake who he used to put on zoo visitors' necks for photos had been snapping at people. Steve wanted to know if he could buy Bredie from him. Dave told Steve he didn't have enough money to buy her but offered to let him borrow her. When Dave went to the zoo to drop her off using his key to the back gate - he mentioned this privileged possession a few times ;). He handed his snake to Steve and went to check on Steve's snake. He realized quickly that she had a bright red rash on her belly. He then figured she was getting people's sun screen under her scales and it was then painful for her to be on people so she was snapping to get away, not to hurt people. He went to the 'chemist' and got some stuff and fixed her right up. Awww. And super cool. We also talked about his views on Steve's death. Very interesting. 

After Dave dropped us off at the bus, Chris and I went to our hostel called 'base' which we'd booked that morning through an agent back in Byron. We checked in and went up to our room. Now, let me tell you: we've had some crappy rooms... but nothing has compared to this. There is a sign in the room saying to never leave valuables in the room. Fair enough... I guess that's common... but it also says to never leave the window open when out of the room or SLEEPING! This room, I should mention, did not have air conditioning or even a fan. So, not AC, no fan, no window. In Australia in summer. Right. Above all the door was a grate with no glass or anything... just open. We could hear people's flip-flops flip-flopping all the way down the hall (all night). Then there was the paint. It was bright green and was missing patched in places sometimes as big as two foot circles. I noticed after sitting on the edge of the bed that the entire beige blanket was covered in short black curly hairs. I refuse to speculate who they were from and what part of their body they came from. Then I looked under the bed and found a piece of garbage which cemented my suspicion that no one had vacuumed... then I noticed three dried boogers on the wall. Then I looked down the side of the bed and was hardly surprised to see toe nail clippings. I went downstairs to inform the front desk guy who told me he was very sorry but there was nothing that could be done about it tonight but to inform the manager in the morning. At 9:30 am I marched down and told the manager that to start, Chris and I had been startled awake in the middle of the night by someone screaming and it took us a minute to figure out they we're just goofing off. Chris got up and yelled "shut up" out the door - which is very unlike him. *Chris would like me to add in that he only did that because I told him to... and that it's not unlike him to do what I tell him* I explained to him that we paid SEVENTY DOLLARS for a private room and we felt we may as well have been sharing with everyone on the floor. He interrupted and said he was sorry about the noise but it goes hand in hand with staying in an old building. If we wanted quiet, we should have booked in at the much nicer, older demographic Base hostel down the block. I said "oh, I'm not finished!" and I continued on with all the disgusting details of our room. When I was done, he was totally appalled and very apologetic. He refunded the night's cost, and moved us to the other hostel. Which was quite nice. 

We left Bris on Friday morning for our "day trip" to Maleny. We went to the train station and found we had a while to wait for our train and then had McDonald's for breakfast. What a let down. Yuck. After the train ride, we again found the bus wouldn't come for a long time (small towns and there public transit - sheesh). Hitch hiking was again the best option. Chris was standing under a tree talking to other Chris, our potential boss, and I started putting my thumb out  (actually, I put my arm down at a 45 degree angle with my pointer finger out which is how one hitch hikes here) like, the third car stopped and Chris and I ran over with our bags. The man that stopped was a very friendly Australian who has never left his country and therefor had never seen snow, he told us. He was thrilled to find out we were planning to stay in the area for a while and pulled over twice to show us the views. 

http://www.google.com.au/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=glass+house+mountains&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=702

As a side note, I'll mention that every person we told we were going to Maleny said some version of "Oh, there's a cheese factory there". I laughed when I saw the cheese factory is right across the street from House of Laurels. (small towns and their cheese factories, I tell ya) To make a very long story a little shorter, Chris and his wife Amanda are incredibly awesome, welcoming people. Their property is a group of 5 lots each with one building. They all have cute names like "Badger's Wood" and "Wattle Lane" (as a second aside, I just said to Chris "what was it called? Wattle...?" and Chris said "I didn't know they had names" I said "wow, you are incredibly unobservant" and he said "if by unobservant you mean good at disc golf..." haha!) So, Boss Chris has hired us on to basically do all the work he doesn't want to do (repainting all of the cottages etc) for probably 4 days per week so they can rent out the cabins on weekends for weddings (and we can travel around the East Coast) or we can stay if there is room (which, he said, there almost always is) and it's rent free (!!!!!!!!) And then they invited us to stay for their big annual party the following night. And then they invited us to come to dinner that night for a bbq with their friends. And then they offered us their car to go check out the town. So we accepted.  

http://www.laurels.com.au/Gallery.html

In town we went for lunch at this great little cafe. Then we went grocery shopping and then to the bottle shop to get beers. On the way there, a fricken huge lizard (2' with tail?) scampered across the road and stopped right in front of us. We both made a bit of a scene (not on purpose) and I could see some locals laughing at us through a window in a restaurant. I asked the guy in the bottle shop about these things and he said the one we saw was not the biggest they get and they are commonly referred to as "water dragons". He said they are "placid as". We met lots of really nice people and had SO much fun in the hot tub, talking with everyone (most of all George from Atlanta, Georgia and his wife Woneda - sp?) At the big party the next night, they had two big slushy machines going. One with margarita and the other was pina colada. 

Boss Chris gave us the low down on snakes and spiders. Snake to be afraid of: Red Belly something, and the Brown Snake (most deadly in the world?) but they don't see them often. The rest are boa constrictors. He said to remember all snakes are more afraid of us than we are of them, so we will probably never come across them. Spiders to be afraid of:             black one with red dot (but he knew what it was actually called), and the funnel spiders. The funnel spiders live in the ground in tall grass and build funnel shaped webs to catch their prey. They stay underground all day and come out at night. So we have to wear shoes at night if walking in the grass. I think Boss Chris said if we get bit by a funnel spider we have about 20 minutes to get to a hospital. After that it's quite serious. My Chris was just reading from our lonely plants book and learned we are 100 times more likely to drown here than to be killed by an creature, there are roughly two deaths per year from shark and alligator attacks but 1000 road deaths, and there hasn't been a human death from spiders in 20 years. That's good news :)

We got a ride from George and Woneda back to Bris and stayed at "somewhere to stay" for one more night before coming back to Maleny to start working. Very excited. 

Today we hitch hiked from the train to HOL again. A young woman named Tabitha picked us up and we folded ourselves and our backpacks into the back seat of her car. The front passenger seat was taken up by a tiny little wallaby joey in a basket. He had just spent several days with an IV drip due to a very bad cold. Tabitha works in animal rescue and told us the animals have been a bit crazy with all the rain. Koalas have been wandering out into the road and 8 are in the animal hospital right now after having been hit by cars. She has 22 wallabies living at her house right now. I asked her if she needs any help and she told me she's be happy to have me come over and help bottle feed all the little babies. I'm really looking forward to it!! She also invited Chris and me to go to a wallaby release event at Steve Irwin's dad's house in January. Hitch hiking has brought great opportunities so far!

I'm sorry if this message has been hard to read with all the brackets and asides. I'm pretty tired. Home sickness has set in but I hope it's brief. I can be on skype again now that we are settled and have an internet connection. I look forward to talking with you all asap!!

Love, Jeri

Byron Bay (Round One?).

We love it here!!

We arrived in Byron Bay (NSW) on Sunday Dec. 12th (yesterday) and have been thrilled with the place other than a few minor details. The beach is amazing. It's beautiful sand and tons of healthy (with the exception of sun exposure, perhaps) beach people. I mention this because I recently learned Aus is now leading ahead of the US in obesity and adult onset diabetes in children.  When we arrived on the greyhound yesterday morning, we were greeted at the bus stop by some hostels inviting us to stay there. We chose "Main Beach" for the free WiFi and the close proximity to the beach. It's a little more expensive than our last hostel ($85/night) but much better. Other than the kitchen (which is disgusting - Chris washes our dishes before and after we use them) the place is nice. Really friendly people, nice staff, and great policies. The areas bordering on residential property are closed at 10 and all other areas are shut down at 11 and seem to be enforced rather well. Also, we can borrow boogie boards for free and use our room key as a deposit. As Chris pointed out, that means we wont lose our keys at the beach. The beds are crap and I couldn't fall asleep for a while because my lower back was threatening to go out from the sagging in the mattress. We also have an en suite.

After we got set up yesterday we went down to the beach and boogied in the waves. I've never done that before. It was awesome and it made me want to learn to surf, which we may be able to do for super cheap at.... the Beaches of 1770... I think. I don't remember. Chris was looking into that. After dinner (Mom's tomato basil mozzarella) we walked over to this super cool hostel/ brewery/ pub called "Art's Factory" and each enjoyed a local brew and listened to the live music. The performer was this woman named "Lou" who sang country. Chris and I both thought she was about 30 (she resembled Mama Cass some-what) but then saw she has a tween daughter. I guess she still could be 30. She had a beautiful and very young sounding voice but had a good amount of power behind it. I'd like to figure out her name so I can listen again. She had a song called "I'm in love with a cowboy" I thought dad would really like. Her song after that was called "I'm in love with your mind". One the way home Chris and I admired the stars (you can't really see them in Bris) and talked about Orion. It's the most obvious constellation here but I also spotted the little dipper.

The salt in the ocean or something put my eyes back into itch-overdrive and I couldn't stand it anymore so I stopped by the local "chemist" (have I already mention that's what pharmacists and pharmacies are called?) and happened upon the most pleasant of Chemists. He was so helpful and friendly and genuine. I guess it's silly to go on about it, but I feel like he was just such a shining example of how people in the service industry should be.

On to the bugs: 
Last night Chris and I were in the common room checkin' up on the internettings, and we saw a HUGE spider run across the room and stop on the other side. I jumped up to check it out and alerted everyone else in the room to it's presence. A woman maybe from Germany took a photo of it so I ran back up to our room and took a photo for myself (will upload some time).

After dinner last night, Chris was washing the dishes and I went back up to the room to put the dry food away. While I was in there I thought to close the curtain as it was then dark out. As I slid them to a close, I noticed there was a MASSIVE cockroach right beside my hand. Rather than panic, I quickly began looking through the room to find a cup big enough to trap it. We only have one size of cup - some small plastic wine glasses I bought for Sadie and me to use down by the river. It's about 2 or more inches wide and I felt sure this wasn't large enough, but it was all I could find. So I went back with the cup and a piece of rigid paper. I was about to try trapping it when the little creep took a run for it. Luckily, right out the open window. Unluckily, it ran right back in then I reached to close the window. I grabbed my piece of paper back and tried to flick it out the window, but no, this only seemed to attract it. So it ran at me, grabbed on to the paper and I flailed (I think I was emitting loud squeaks by this point). My flail caused it to fall to the ground... or toward the ground. It actually landed on my ankle. I was screaming at this point. It ran off and under a backpack as I heard a knock at the door. It was my temporary hero, Chris Sutherland. He had a very amused look in his eye. I told him the situation in a laughing panic and proceeded to collapse onto the bed, happy to let Chris take over. He dealt with it after a lengthly chase. He still wanted to trap it, but I said No, kill it. I call him my temporary hero as I was left to deal with the 2nd giant cockroach of the night. After that we discovered there is a screen on the bathroom window so at night we are setting up the fan in the bathroom to cool the room and keeping the other screen-less windows shut tight.

After dinner tonight we were happily chatting about whatever when Chris unlocked our door and flicked on the light. He let out a panicked noise hopped a few times before practically taking flight and landing on the bed. I thought he was just overreacting and asked "Cockroach?" No. Biggest spider of life ***editors note: this is the biggest spider of MY life (thus far) - Chris slept with much larger spiders in Danetree National Park. A fantastic story. Ask him to tell you some time if you don't know it.*** Chris told me to leave, which brings me to now, blogging downstairs. Chris joined me a few minutes after that and reported the spider was about three inches with its legs and had a body the size of a small walnut.

Ew.

We will be shaking everything out thoroughly. Chris said at one point it went under the door... which means they can get in under the door. I don't even know what I'd do if I had to kill one of those. It makes me think of Jena. For the first time since arriving in Australia, I'm glad she's not here. She would probably pass out. Or give me a black eye while trying to run away.

Tomorrow we are going for a walk up the beach to a lighthouse. Chris said Byron Bay was his favorite place when he was here last year and this walk is just beautiful so I'm quite looking forward to it. Then the next day we'll head up the coast back into Queensland to check out House of Laurels.

Hope you're well!

Love, Jeri

Chris. Is.... Here.

So, Chris is here. He arrived at 11 am yesterday.

I walked down to Sadie's place of work to enjoy a flat white and was quite pleased to find she had two minutes until her scheduled 30 minute break. We sat together and chatted. When her break was over I walked a block or so to the train station and was getting ready to set up camp (I was about half an hour early) when a train pulled up. I looked left and right hoping to see Chris... AND I DID. He arrived only about two minutes after I did. We had big hugs and walked promptly to our hostel to check in.

Our room is kind of crappy. It has only one tiny window and the only other lighting is a bare lightbulb hanging in the middle of the room. We've made it quite homie though. We were talking about getting some sticky notes and labeling each of the shelves "Jeri's room" "Chris' room" "kitchen" "storage room" and other such to pretend it's a full home.

So far today we walked to Cole's for breakfast food, made breakfast, had a dip in the pool... went for kebabs and met with Sadie.... got a library card... researched travel options...

Our plan as of now is to leave on Sunday (today is Friday) and head to Maleny to scope out the "House of Laurels" scene... then buy greyhound passes to Byron Bay. And then back up to Airlie Beach to look for work of nothing catches our fancy before then.

The rain stopped the day before Chris arrived and it has been HOT and sunny out since. Perfect beach weather... now if only there was a beach around.

That's all for now!

Things that are wrong with me right now.

I still have my jelly sting (just itchy). Now I have also have sand flea bites on my foot, at least 10 bug bites on my arms and legs (and one unsightly bite on my face). My eyes have not stopped itching for three and a half days, minor marks around my mouth (tequila allergy?) and a mysterious burn or scratch on my jaw...


I still feel great though. It's all slightly annoying. Just wanted to let you know.  

Adventures on our way to, and then at Tangalooma.

I'm sorry if the following story is boring... I've already told the stories enough times that my mind is now a little mushy. Here are the events as best as I can now write them.

So, Sadie and I got up at 6 am on Saturday to get started on our journey to Moreton Island. Sadie and looked online the night before and found it was going to be pretty difficult to take the bus there, but possible. So we just out at 6:45. Seconds later Sadie realized neither of us had grabbed the vouchers! She went back inside and grabbed them. We then headed up the hill. A few blocks later we realized neither of us had grabbed the bag of food after we'd gone back for the vouchers. Sadie took of running down the hill, got the food and met me back where she's left me. We figured we'd lost too much time so we axed getting coffees at my favorite little place. We made it to the bus stop with 15 minutes to spare... amazingly. Our bus arrived on time and we began the long journey to the no-where area where we would transfer. Upon arrival, we checked the bus time and found we had an hour of waiting to do. Better too early than too late, right?

We set up camp in the bus shelter and shared a few tim tams with the guy sitting next to us. Half way through, a bus pulled up across the street which we could have caught to bring us to where we were, had the transit web site told us about it. Oh well, better too early than too late. Shortly after, our bus arrived. We smiled and flagged the driver (as one must to in Bris to get it to stop) only to be informed the bus wouldn't be going to our stop again until 2:30! I was only 8:30 then and the boat was leaving at noon. I walked across the street to ask a woman there if she knew a taxi number. She didn't. I then went to ask a woman about to enter her front yard if she knew a taxi number. She recited the number for me and asked my situation. I filled her in and she said "Well, best of luck to you" and turned to walk away. Then she stopped and said "ah, what the heck. I'll drive you there." We were thrilled and so thankful! When we arrived we found out there was a 10 am boat as well, and that we could go on it!

We arrived on the island at around 11:30. It was kind of like chaos. We didn't really know where to go, but an employee who didn't really speak English told us we could come on the bus to reception. We got in the maybe 30 seat bus with two other people and went along for the one (maybe two) minute drive. We quickly realized this place was very poorly set up and the employees were not made to provide very friendly service. We were told our room might not be ready until as late at 3 (contrary to 2 o'clock check in time the website said) but they would announce on the loud speaker if it was ready early. Although it was raining, we decided to suit up and go for a swim in the ocean. That was nice for a while but it was a little chilly with the wind. Plus, we'd heard that there were some announcements but couldn't make out what they were saying. We got dressed again and went back to the... blah blah blah... they were impatient and unapologetic and we were annoyed they were that way... went for a walk... came back at 2:45, still no room... so we sat and watched them and waited for 3:00. At 3:02 we went to the desk and no one looked up to help us. Then a manager walked in and asked "has anyone helped you?" we told him not really and were about to ask about the room when a girl working there interrupted and said "here is your room key" etc. We went to our room and found that it was nothing like our expectations. We had been told it was a "luxury room" by our travel agent. It was unclean and awful. There was a twin size bed and a single bed. What a bummer. The couch was made of plastic like material and felt sticky and there was grime in the shower. We couldn't accept that we were paying over $300 per night for a dive. I called reception and explained our disappointment and issues with the uncleanliness and told her we would like a less expensive room if we were going to get a dive no matter what the cost... and she said she could send house keeping over but otherwise there were no options. If we left we would sacrifice all our money. If we had further complaints we could send an email to "feedback@tangalooma.au".. obviously that would be less than instant results. We hung up and  filled Sadie in. Then I called back and talked with a supervisor and was a little more forward about it. He was extremely apologetic and seemed to feel it was his fault. I reassured him and he told me he would do anything he could to help us enjoy our stay. After much discussion he offered us a free upgrade to a room on the 4th floor in the kookaburra
building (which we soon realized was the nicest of the buildings) we were unsure at first because unlike our current dumpster room, the new room didn't have a kitchenette. We agreed to go look. We were sold almost immediately by the king size bed, gorgeous bathroom and balcony with picturesque ocean view. We were cemented with the complimentary bottle of wine and chocolates. It was all better from then on.

Although it rained almost the whole time we were there, we had a great time. We spent the rest of the first day looking around the resort and getting sorted. The next day after we went to the breakfast buffet at 7 am (a huge let down - awful food and super crowded with kids and idiots) we went for an adventure walk up the beach. We figured we would walk around the norther tip of the island and check out the other side. Then we got a map and started walking. After about half an hour, we walked past "the wrecks", a feature for which Moreton Island is known. I just checked online to see if I could find out why the ships sank there, but I couldn't find anything, leading me to believe what my friend Alan told me, that they were sunk there to attract fish... We check the map and saw we hadn't really covered any distance at all.  check it out: http://moretonislandrecreationcamps.com/Pages/Map.html
We started half way up the island at Tangalooma and it was an exhausting walk to the wrecks in the sand.

Then we climbed a huuuuge sand dune and ran down it. That was SO fun. I've never done anything like it.  We got about half way up the red dotted road at Cowan Pt in an hour and a half and decided to go back. We were back around 11:30 for our lunch of cheese and crackers, mango, and three shots of Jose. Then we went to the beach and had a great talk. We went back to the room to grab Sadie's bathing suit (I wore mine all day for three days) had a shot and went for a swim. Then as you can imagine, knowing me, we passed out cold for about 2 hours in our room.

Both nights we boiled noodles in the kettle and then ate them with cold sauce from a jar and cheese. I am proud to have not purchased any food from the "restaurant" as it was obscenely priced. We were planning to get a small bowl of seasoned fries ($9) at some point and an ice cream cone ($5.5) but we didn't get around to it.

I've learned that your surroundings can be as awesome as the people you're with. Although the resort was pretty lame, Sadie and I had lots of fun. Even though it was cloudy, we both got some nice colour (and some not so nice colour despite being slathered in the 'sun milk' UVA,B,&C coverage) I learned to look into "typical weather" reports for a given time of year when I expect to be on vacation, and to not let the rain get me down when it pours for three days in the height of summer.

Today is Tuesday and Chris will be here on Thursday. I am soo soo sooo soooo excited. I've booked a room in a hostel for three nights from the day he gets here. I'm not sure what we'll after but I am sure no matter what it is, it will be great and I will be thrilled. Chris has basically got us jobs at a resort if we choose to take them (I think...?) and we'll scope that out. The breeze coming through the door is lovely as I sit on my bed writing this. Last night I had my first touch of homesickness. I hope everyone will update me on how you're doing. I love getting messages and emails. Talk soon!!

Going away.

Okay. So I figured I should update this before disappearing for 2 nights and 3 days. Sadie and I are leaving early in the a.m. to go to Tangalooma on Moreton Island. We have purchased foodies for lunch and dinner as the breakfast will be included. We have also purchased 700ml of Jose Cuervo... each. And 5 limes. For $2. So.. pretty set.

I went to the sunshine coast today! I went to a little town called Noosa. It was a pretty far drive and I only ate junk food so I've been grumpy. After the two and a half hours of driving plus a half our stop at a shopping centre for snacks, we arrived at the beach. Almost in the same second Demitri turned off the engine, rain began to dot the windshield. We were not to be deterred. We got our stuff out of the car and walked through the current of people more or less running from the beach to get out of the rain. So we were three of few left when we were all set up. The rain had stopped by then. We sat under the overcast sky and chatted the afternoon away. Then went for a long swim in the warm gentle waves. Then the sky opened up again and it poured. I decided to call it a day and we headed back to the car for the long journey home.

It's 10 pm and I'm very tired. I'll keep a diary so I can blog all of the cool stuff that happens in the next three days. Then three days after that Chris will be here.

Washed out.

Today as I was talking with Mumma on Skype, I heard through the window behind me that it had started to rain. This isn't unusual for Queensland... one moment it's a clear sky and then with little warning the dark clouds slide in and it is POURING... then 5 or 10 minutes later it stops and the sun comes back. I figured we were mostly done for the day so I set out in my summer clothes to get coffee with Sadie before she started work.

While I was sitting out front of Sadie's work, enjoying my "George's Yogurt" and sipping my flat white, it began to sprinkle once again... then it began to pour. Sadie had had the sense to bring an umbrella which she was kind enough to lend to me. I walked a ways to the wednesday market on George St (assumedly not the same George as the Yogurt maker, but what do I know? I'm new here) where Andrea was selling "Andrea's Cupcakes". Along the way I encountered rain from all directions and puddles about 4 inches deep. My Birkenstocks were filled with water - something that's not allowed. I stopped by to say a quick hello to Andrea before setting off in search of rubber thong sandals that would be better suited for the weather. I found some along with some super touristy Australian flag beach shorts and some patriotic shot glasses.

When I arrived back at Andrea's table with my new digs I was delighted to be presented with my choice of cupcake from Andrea's selection. I chose a vanilla cupcakes with chocolate buttercream. Mmmmm. They are a sophisticated cupcake - not too sweet - with a great buttery flavor and light texture covered in a delicious and sweet topping (of chocolate buttercrem - as I said - duh). A great pair! Andrea and I then headed out to grab a quick bite for lunch. I had my first kebab. Hmm...

I then set off for home and along the bridge back to the West End, I got SPLASHED by a BUS. Well, it could have been worse. I didn't get my face splashed but it did soak the front of my skirt and much of my shirt. I had a quick little chat with two people near by that saw it happen. We all agreed that this sort of thing isn't supposed to happen in real life. The water may have spoiled my outfit for the day but it did no dampen my mood! Ha.

Since I got home and have dried off, I've been working through the lengthly and at times mind numbing process of re-writing my resume and cover letter to applying online for Hamilton Island. I am very hopeful we will get hired on for the December 15th intake. Cross your fingers for us!!

Three sleeps until Sadie's and my vacation and eight sleeps until Chris gets here.

BEACH DAY

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Today was SO much fun!! Andrea took me to the beach! I don't know the name of the exact beach we went to... but it was very close to a place called "Surfers Paradise" -  I'm sure you can look it up. For some reason I can't upload photos (I'll have Chris fix that when he gets here) so I can't show you how AMAZING it was. I was simply enamored with everything I saw (except one thing - more on that in a moment) The sky was the most beautiful blue and full of perfect white fluffy clouds. The water was a mix of the most picturesque tropical colours. The breeze was lovely... the sand was lovely... the temperature was quite warm but not scorching. I enjoyed looking at the tiny little seagulls. They are about the size of crows and many of them, rather than having black eyes, have little yellow-y/ orange eyes. Pretty cute... and they leave the cutest little flipper prints in the freshly exposed sand.
The water was so warm and it was so fun to stand and let the waves crash into us! I got pulled under once when I wasn't standing properly. I fell right now and got pulled along a very quick 15 or so feet. I was perfectly fine other than having my sopping wet hair in my face, a little salt water inside my face, and plenty of sand in my bikini bottom.

So here's the lame part... just moments after arriving at the first beach, we went into the water for a little walk around. We couldn't have gone more than 10 steps before Andrea screamed and bent down to grab her food. I immediately thought she had stepped on glass but it was actually a tiny little jelly fish with a very thin stinger about 3 feet long that had washed over her foot! (she knew it was called a 'blue bottle' which is in some situations - like this one - is referred to as a 'f****** blue bottle') It seemed to hurt a lot so we got out of the water to find the life guard. He offered her some sting spray of some sort and she decided she was okay and could go back in. When we got back to the water we noticed many more of these damned little things all over the place. They were washing up left right and center with their flippin' stingers hanging out waiting to be stepped on. I figured it would be better to walk a little further out where they weren't washed up... but seconds later I myself was letting out a scream of panic when I found one was wrapped around my ankle! Owwww. It felt like shock from an electric fence the way it went zap zap zap. Andrea (fast thinking) scooped up some sand and wiped it off pretty quick... but obviously the damage was done... We went to have a little rest on our towel to survey the damage on each of our feet. Andrea was starting to feel nauseous so we decided to break from the beach for lunch. We went to this super cute little cafe and had exactly what I had requested earlier in the day - paninis! (Roasted red pepper, hummus, arugula {called 'rocket' here}, egg plant, haloumi  (sp?) cheese, that may be it... but maybe not) Mmm.. we were both experiencing stomach cramps (whatever - when am I not?) and Andrea was feeling a shooting pain up her leg and was convinced she'd been stung all the way up her leg. A quick google search on her iPhone revealed these were all common symptoms of a Blue Bottle jelly fish sting. Laaaaaame.

After lunch we went to a 2nd beach which is where I saw the cutie seagulls and went in the water and had tons of fun... we left at about 4:45. Far too soon for either of us but, alas, Andrea has responsibilities.
Tomorrow I will be researching Hamilton Island resorts as I have decided that it the place to be. An island paradise just waiting for Chris and me to come work on it!

I'm feeling great about being here now that I've figured out I belong on the beach. Covered in sunscreen. As I was today. In case you were wondering.

Not much to report.

Okay... so I've been quite the bum these last few days. I haven't ventured very far and I've been eating mostly chocolate (in a bad way). I do have a few things to say though...
1) My tummy doesn't like being full of chocolate.
2) I have mostly decided that I for sure do not want to stay in Brisbane and that I will look for a job in a little piece of paradise somewhere on the coast (any coast will do).
3) Guess what the newest most interesting trend to hit Brisbane is!! Just guess. No, seriously, you'd never in a million years guess it...








It's granola.

Sadie was talking with a group of girlfriends the other day and one said "You have to go to *(insert unknown trendy breakfast place name here)* they've got this amazing thing called 'granola'" and all the other girls were like "What is it?" And she described this exciting new food no one knew about... HA.
4) Twelve days until Chris arrives.

Jeri vs. The Ants

I awoke this morning at 6:30 and decided to see if anyone was on Skype. I had a very nice conversation with Jena.

After skype I noticed a brochure Sadie had picked up (for job application purposes - not as a hint) to a hostel called "Somewhere To Stay." Rather than go through the hassle of turning on my internet again (it is a bit of a chore) I figured I would send Chris a quick message from Sadie's open lap top on the kitchen table (I was and am home alone)
I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. It took me a moment to register that what I was looking at was a mass of black ants crawling in through the cracks under the window frame. I jumped out of my chair and assessed the situation further. There were hundreds of ants crawling in and out of the kitchen via the closed window and up and down the window frame and down the wall onto the floor. I refocused my eyes on the dark wood floor and followed their path all across the kitchen floor and into the garbage can where another probably 2 hundred ants were crawling all over and in the garbage. I spent probably half an hour sweeping them up and dumping them outside and then sweeping more and dumping more. Then I washed the walls and window frames. Hopefully that does it.

But who cares about ANTS! As I was typing the last bit, the "landlady" came by to ask if the plumber had come (he had). I then told her about the ants and she then told me about the PYTHONS. Yes. The pythons. Apparently all the suburbs with lots of trees have pythons in the trees and living in the roofs. She assured me in all the years she's lived here (20) she has never heard of a python in any of the suites - except in her house. Which is next door. She shared some stories.
One evening many years ago, she had just arrived home and was walking down a hallway and noticed out of the corner of her eye a python curled up on the floor in her room. She called for her then-husband and he came running. Together they prodded the snake with a mop and a broom out of the house. YUCK.
She noticed a week or so ago a python making its way into her gutter. She said they live in her roof but not ours.
She also told me of a camping trip many years ago where she woke up with a python wrapped tightly around her leg. It bit her. Her advice: Don't leave the zipper open even an inch. All they have to fit in there is the tip of their face and they slip the rest of their bodies in easily. Also, don't leave the windows open at night.
The woman who lives across from us' kitten was killed by a python (I think she saw it happen...?)
A mother and daughter who used to live in the house had to pry a python of their very small dog.

I got a cel phone number yesterday but then realized today I have to "unlock" my phone to have it work on other networks. That will cost some money for sure. On the bright side, when I do get my phone unlocked I will have **warning: the rest of this paragraph is super boring** 500 megs of data (GPS - hollaaaaaa) and unlimited calling to any cel phone on Aus' most popular network and one other called "3", and $350 worth of calling Aus land lines or texting or international calling. All for $35/ month with NO CONTRACT. Woo woooo.
When Chris gets here we may switch to the $45 monthly plan with unlimited calling in Aus, unlimited texting in Aus and internationally, unlimited access to facebook, 1 gig of data, and $45 toward international calls and voicemail. Wooo

Big news: We booked a TRIP!! December 5th Sadie and I are going for two nights to Tangalooma  Resort (link attached) Where we will feed dolphins, go snorkeling,
We're staying in a Resort Unit (double in the low season in case you are wondering) $340 for two nights, each. It's supposed to be "paradise". I hope we get fantastic weather but we will live it up to the max even if it's crap weather.

http://www.tangalooma.com/info/home/

I am going to go find some shade at the river and read my book. Miss you all!! Looking forward to updates via comment or facebook. Anything at all. Please. Thank you.

A different sort of day.

This morning Sadie and I went with her sister on a beautiful walk along the river (which is dirty and full of sharks but nice to look at) and I saw a few types of birds I hadn't seen yet. I'd like to buy a "Birds of Queensland" book and just sit in a park somewhere and wait for them to show up. I'm going to make it my goal to bring my camera with me so I can remember all these unfamiliar creatures.

Today has been more about realizing just how far away I am. I couldn't ask for a better type of friend to have around than Sadie. It's as if we share a mind 90% of the time. We were each tying to act as if we were bursting with excitement for what to do. She said "so what do you want to do for the next four hours until I have to work?" and I said "Hmm.. I'm not sure. I'm up for anything" but we soon realized we both just wanted to get back in bed with our bread and dip and some ice cream bars and watch our new fave show "Party Down" A very nice way to spend mid-day.

Sadie left around three to drop off resumes and then go to work. I called a girl I know through Grandma Helen to follow up on our plans. Unfortunately she had double booked herself so we have rescheduled for breakfast tomorrow morning. Much of today has been quite lonely. I think talking to everyone about this crazy snow on the Island has made me realize just how far away I am.

On my walk to get dinner ($7 even for two meals worth of fantastic Indian food!) I was feeling sad about being alone and how long I have to wait (not that long) until Chris gets here. I decided then that I wont mope. I am so excited to be here in Australia and I will make the most of it!! I am one for being social and keeping busy so I'll work on that. I think I'm still very tired. And I keep getting sunscreen in my eyes. I look forward to Sadie being able to sort her job situation so we can get on a trip. I'd like to go to the beach.

It's only 8 pm here but it feels like 2 am. Which it is. In wonderful snowy Victoria.

Getting Settled.

I woke up yesterday at 7:30 am. Just after Sadie left for work. I wasn't really sure what to spend the day doing so I asked Sadie's sister, Sylvie for tips. She was amazingly helpful. She printed off two maps of Bris and highlighted the bank, and some roads I would want to walk down. My plan was to go to the bank, open an account, go for breakfast, then look in shops and get a big acquainted. I walked to the bank and found it was closed (duh, it was Sunday) so I figured I would go on with plan 2 and 3. Well, I didn't have a single Australian dollar.. so I just ended up walking around for a long time. Sadie and I 'reckon' it was about 10k. I'll attach a link to the map so you can check it out. I walked from our house on Dudley (which will be at the very bottom just to the left of the middle of the map all the way up Boundary to the yellow fork in the road where I kept right. I walked across the bridge and around town a bit, then back across the bridge before turning left onto Grey St... back up Grey (I realize now how very far that was out of my way) and all the way home. I then happened upon my lover-boy Chris on Skype (thrilled!) and then Aunt Vic (also lovely) then had a two hour nap. I met Sadie at her work at 4 and we walked home. And since google maps talks in miles, I guess you can add another 3 miles on top of my other walk.

We went out that night with friends of Sadie's to the most ridiculous bar I've ever seen in my life time. It called "Cloud Land". We thought it was strange that when Sadie went to show the door man her ID, he said no no, and opened the door. We now think that was because the place was EMPTY and he was worried he would be laid off if they didn't sell a drink. It wasn't actually empty, three of Sadie's friends were waiting for us on the 2nd of three floors. The music was remixed (by the live dj) super lame late 80's or early 90's girl pop. Like the songs from FernGully... but remixed. The room was open to all three levels with a two story window waterfall. Plants hung from the ceiling and many light coverings at a distance appeared to be covered in some type of silver basket... upon closer inspection it was actually black and white whicker. Weird. The bar on the 2nd floor was made of glass balls like in Labyrinth. There were also hideous burgundy Flordia-Grandmother style pillows atop black and white vinyl couches with lights in them. Sooo odd. I've attached a link to the venue - it looks kind of cool in the photos but I promise it wasn't. We went to another bar after that and while we were all chatting outside I spotted a little gecko on the wall and yelled "aw COOL". I was laughed at.
I got tired at 11:30 (5:30 Victoria time) and took a taxi home.

Today has been fantastic. Sadie and I were up again around 7:30 but we puttered around the house unti about 10:30 in which time I was able to fold all my clothes and put them away and Sadie used my laptop to video skype with her boyfriend Caleb (one of my dearest friends for those of you who don't know) for the first time in 3.5 months. We then walked to the pharmacy where I bought a massive bottle of 30 SPF sunscreen which protects against UVA, UVB AND UVC rays. I didn't even know about the third type. I said to the woman working 'I don't even think we have those in Canada.' I'm not sure if she was amused or not. I'm chuckling about it again now.

We walked to Coles grocery story and got tasty lunch stuff and found a beautiful little shaded spot by the river for our pic-nic. I think we stayed there for maybe two hours with non-stop conversation. We went to Coles on the way home too for ice cream bars (10 for $4 - choc mint, vanilla, and malt choc) mmm.

We'll take it easy for the rest of the day and make a nice light dinner. Earlier while walking home I was thinking about what I wanted for dinner and came up with "ice cubes" haha! Don't worry. I've had some water and cooled down since then.

That's all for now.


Link to map:       http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=-27.479263,153.018351&spn=0.043404,0.071154&t=h&z=14&msid=103990994785642517793.0004959e4a68a6f367b39

Link to bar site:  http://www.cloudland.tv/#/cloudland/the-venue/

Arrived. Oh my.

This country - the teeny tiny little piece of it I've seen so far looks nothing like I expected. Sadie lives in Highgate which is a suburb of Brisbane. It looks like I imagined Cuba would look. Or how parts of the Dominican Republic looked - very ramshackle with the occasional fancy house. The trees look nothing like home (as expected).

The breeze feels like body temperature. So lovely. We walked down the streets of the West End in our shorts and t-shirts and it couldn't have been nicer.

Sadie will be working tomorrow and I am really looking forward to seeing more of the city as I can't really see myself living in this neighborhood. I haven't really given it a chance yet. Nothing feels "right" and I'm slow thinking and a little confused as a result of having not really slept in the last 40 or so hours. I had little cat naps on the first flight but it was very uncomfortable.

I know I'm here but it hasn't really hit me. So far Sadie and I went for a little walk then came back to the 'hood' and sat by the river and had a really nice talk. Then we came back to her house and I've felt good about pretending I'm at her house that's perhaps in Fernwood if I block out the sounds of birds I don't know and all the Australian voices just outside the window ;)

Sadie and I were laying on her bed an hour or so ago and I said "Is that a car or a bird... or an insect?" and she asked me what I was talking about. I said "that whiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrr sound" she said "oh, like the ch ch ch ch sound?" "no, like the super high eeeeeeeeeeeeee like eeeeeeeee but higher?" She said "I don't know what you're talking about." I said "That sound. That high pitched sound that's like squeaking... squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee - can't you hear it?"
We decided for a moment that she probably just can't hear the frequency I'm hearing before she said "wait- do you mean the cricket?"       ".......is this what our lives are going to be like?"   "yes"

The restaurant we went to for lunch was not byob, but I hear that many places are - I like this. I would like to find a little place where everybody knows my name and the drinks are cheap. Like I-brought-it-in-my-purse cheap.

that's it for now. Sadie is off on an ant massacre in the kitchen. I should help. We have dinner plans with her sister Sylvie and Sylvie's manfriend Paul this evening. Then I'll go to sleep.

Day One

So, I promise right now that my posts will be longer or at least more interesting after this one.
I have just said "ttfn" (tata for now) to Chris, Chris, Mom, and Dad.
The first thing about backpacking that I've noticed (rather, my knees noticed) is: It's hard to carry a backpack and a front pack. They're very heavy... not too heavy, but very heavy. Walking up the hall to board the ferry I was thinking "I need to unload some of this before I fly!"
The first few minutes of the ferry felt very lonely. I am so excited for the upcoming events and adventures but at this point I can't help but think about all the friends and loved ones I'll be missing in the coming months. Of mention, I am sad to not be around to see Ella and Fia learn all the things they learn. That being said, this is a part of life - a great part of life.
Tonight should be fun! I'll be seeing Zoe and Katie and later Carli!! Brunch in the am with Carli and then I'll re pack my pack and fly at 6:45.
That's all I've got to say for now!