Wow! The last few days have been crazy! So much is different in my world since I walked through security at the James Richardson International Airport. I got on a little jet there and flew to Vancouver, my first time flying. Gotta say, take off is the best part of flying, landing is pretty good too but just cause you can walk again then. Since I checked in at the last minute I got stuck in an exit row with no recline for the first leg of the journey, but didn’t have anyone beside me so that was okay.

   After a short stop in Vancouver, hour and forty or so, I boarded a huge plane and this time got a seat that reclined thank goodness! And to those who are wondering, no I did not have to sit beside a fat smelly guy. So I settled in for what would turn out to be the longest night of my life, literally. By the time I saw the sun again it was almost twenty hours since it went down in Winnipeg. The flight had some rough spots about three and seven hours into it, thats always a good time. Saw Honolulu’s lights from pretty far up, 36000 ft. or so. The distance traveled from vancouver to Sydney is 7900 miles. Even with a jet thats an awfully long way! 

   When we were coming into Sydney to land it was super sunny, above the clouds. When we finally got on the ground it was pouring rain and looked like it had been raining for a while, water everywhere. Went through customs without them even sending it through the scanner, everyone else I saw had to. Little did they know I had a pocketknife in there :) Australia is very strict with quarantine stuff, I said I had been in contact with agriculture in the last 30 days and the guy wanted to look at my shoes to see if they were dirty. Not sure what he would’ve done if they had been.

  Anyway, finally made it to my hostel were I get to share a room with five other people, and my bunkbed with some girl from Germany. One of the other guys snores incredibly loud, and of course he was the first one in bed yesterday. Spent the rest of thursday just hanging around close to Base (thats the name of my hostel). 

   Then friday rolled around and thats when the party started. I figured I would just explore the city a little, see some stuff and just pretty much chill out. So I started by walking down to the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge. Got some sweet pics, also some with me wearing the Johnny’s Java shirt someone insisted I buy, Lol.

  Then just to west of the Opera is some kind of park or Botanical Gardens, beautiful place. I walked through there for about two hours, not only is it awesome, its also huge. Saw my first palm trees there, and some other tree that I don’t know the name of. I have pictures of them. So i’m walking along looking at trees and plants and its quite peaceful, suddenly about ten feet beside me this stupid cockatoo comes diving out of a tree and screams super loud, scared the crap out of me! I got to see some more of these guys yet, a lot more, there was a group of about 100 or so that hung out by some big old tree.

   So after meandering around in the Gardens for a while I decided to head to Bondi Beach. But. being from a rural area and never having to use public transit, I decided it would be more fun to walk than figure out which bus to take. Well it was more fun. Ever been lost in a city you don’t understand in a country you just got to? I have. Silly me, didn’t bring a map when exploring a city. What should have been a two hour walk turned into four and a half. I knew the general direction I wanted to go and figured it couldn’t be to hard, however, I made one wrong turn and ended up 7 kilometers away from bondi beach in something called Centennial Park. Not sure how I got there but I eventually found a map and realized that I had gone seriously wrong. But, trooper that I am, I started toward bondi again, this time with some actual directions from a woman on the street who flagged me down wondering if I was from the UK. Not sure why but she turned out to be helpful.

    When I finally got to the beach, wow! No wonder its one of the worlds top ten beaches, the sand and surf are amazing! I didn’t actually swim but went to stand in the waves, first time seeing the ocean. So I hung out there for a while just listening to the roar of the waves and watching the surfers do their thing. Pretty sweet if you ask me. After that I headed back to Base, this time taking the right road and getting back in just under two hours, my legs and feet are killing me right now, I think I walked at least thirty km today. I should try and figure out an accurate ish number. 

    Grabbed some supper from subway, I love it that the tax is included in the price, makes life easier. and headed for Circular Quay. This place is sweet, restaurants, yachts, street performers and just a whole lotta party. I was on my way back to Base when I stopped to watch a guy do some juggling stunts, ended up helping him get set up for his finale. He put a bmx on a shaky pole about fifteen feet high, kept steady by four ropes held by people from the crowd. Then he climbs the pole, gets on the bike, and gets me to throw him a knife, some one else threw him a bowling pin and an apple. Then, he stands on the bike seat, and juggles the three objects, by the time he finished he had eaten almost the whole apple without missing a beat in the juggling, It was pretty cool. 

   Then I headed back to my room and here I sit, typing this blog. Its been fun and unbelievable so far but I can’t wait to get out of the city and onto the farms. I can’t quite grasp it yet that I am here for an entire year, I keep thinking that I will be back to reality soon, but this is my new reality and its nice. Some things about this country will take some getting used to, I saw a dog driving a bmw and it took a few seconds to remember that the driver is on the other side lol! Even on the sidewalks, pedestrian traffic flows like  the cars and I keep ending up on the wrong side of the sidewalk, better figure that out before I drive anything on the road. Anyhow I need to hit the hay. I though jet lag would effect me but other than going to bed early yesterday, it doesn’t seem to be a factor. 

   Everyone take care and miss me lots, cause I miss you a little :)